http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: War on Cars - experiments with urban design for happy cities en Sun, 17 May 2026 14:38:03 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11533#post-131160 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 11:20:49 +0000 chdot 131160@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Continuation from above</p> <p>"<br /> He threw out the ambitious highway expansion plan and instead poured his budget into hundreds of miles of cycle paths; a vast new chain of parks and pedestrian plazas; and the city's first rapid transit system (the TransMilenio), using buses instead of trains. He banned drivers from commuting by car more than three times a week. This programme redesigned the experience of city living for millions of people, and it was an utter rejection of the philosophies that have guided city planners around the world for more than half a century.</p> <p> "</p> <p>Mmm, not sure that UK mayors (even Boris) have such powers! (Or the will) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11533#post-131158 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 10:54:53 +0000 Rosie 131158@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Good article with plenty of detail about how fewer cars = happier cities:-</p> <p> "<br /> Peñalosa insisted that, like most cities, Bogotá had been left deeply wounded by the 20th century's dual urban legacy: first, the city had been gradually reoriented around cars. Second, public spaces and resources had largely been privatised. This reorganisation was both unfair – only one in five families even owned a car – and cruel: urban residents had been denied the opportunity to enjoy the city's simplest daily pleasures: walking on convivial streets, sitting around in public. And playing: children had largely disappeared from Bogotá's streets, not because of the fear of gunfire or abduction, but because the streets had been rendered dangerous by sheer speed. <strong>Peñalosa's first and most defining act as mayor was to declare war: not on crime or drugs or poverty, but on cars.</strong><br /> "</p> <p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/01/secrets-worlds-happiest-cities-commute-property-prices" rel="nofollow">http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/01/secrets-worlds-happiest-cities-commute-property-prices</a> </p>