Module: Academic and Professional Skills

Code: UNL1001
Leader: Ben Reid

CITY CENTER CAR-FREE

Summited by 7000128
Date: 03/12/2021
Word count: 2262
 Executive summary

This report will highlight the importance of a car-free city centre and will show the
process involving the transformation and the impact that will have not only
environmental and the economic but also the social impact of the people in the
community. Analyzing environmental, economic and social aspect will provide a better
understanding of the benefits that this change will bring to the shareholders implicated
in the life of the city center. Beside the environmental benefits of having more
greenspace and open urban zone for pedestrian and cyclists the aimed of the report is
the economic aspect like investments in parks, green areas, infrastructure, and the social
benefits that the community will adopt bringing closer the people to the city. After
analyzing from this tree perspectives will have a conclusion accordingly and will give
tree recommendations that should help in the future decision-making to continuate the
project of a car-free city center.
 Contents page

Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 1
Analysis ……………………………………………………………...………... 2
Environmental ……………………………………………………….…… 2
Economic ……………………………………………………….………... 3
Social ……………………………………………………….……………. 4
Conclusion …………………………………………………...……………….. 5
Recommendation ……………………………………………………………… 6
References ………...…………………………………………………………… 7
Introduction

One of the major problems that the modern world is struggling today is global warming.
Climate change is already happening: drought and wild fires are starting to occur more
frequently, temperatures are rising, rainfall patterns are shifting, glaciers and snow are
melting and the global sea level is rising. A delicate subject that has different variables
one of which is the use of cars on fossil fuel and the release of toxic gases in the
atmosphere. Air pollution occurs when certain gases, dust and smoke particles are
released into the atmosphere, which becomes harmful to the population, infrastructure
and the environment. Profesor Hartmut Topp and Tim Pharoah wrote in their report
from 1994 that the idea of a city center free of cars began early 1990 when some of the
big cities like Nuremberg, Bologna, York City, Aachen, Lubeck and has a positive
effect in terms of improving the quality of life and urban space.

The definition of a car-free city center is finding ways to reduce unnecessary private
motorized traffic, reduce air pollution, ambient noise and to promote active lifestyle like
giving easy access to green areas for physical activities, implementing non fossil fuel
public transportation and the use of non-polluting cars.

From the point of view of the stakeholders that are involved in the life of the city center
like business owners this could bring advantages and disadvantages depending on if
they live, work, visit or have their business there. Some of the advantages of the city
free car center will be the improvement of the quality of the air and improving of the
fauna around the center, more green spaces for pedestrians, cyclists, restaurants and
shops, less noise pollution and promoting a healthier and more active lifestyle.
Nonetheless the disadvantages of banning the cars from city center will bring problems
with delivery times, high level of crowded public transportation, faster spreading of
diseases and viruses and time related problems for the people that work or conduct
business in the center.

The main goal of this report is to high light the impact that will have a city center car-
free on people and the environment.

1
Analysis

The fallowing analysis will highlight aspects of the impact car free city center from
environmental, economic and social perspective with bought benefits and potential
risks.

Environmental.

Analyzing the environmental part, in the Special Report of 2018 the World Health
Organization (OMS) ranks air pollution as the highest environmental risk to human
health in Europe and for that is the obligation of everyone to participate in finding
innovative plans of action to reduce carbon gas emission in the air. Bought involved
parts, government administration and the people, must support each other and work
together to achieve environmental benefits that have an impact on the quality of live in
the city center.
Nevertheless, in consequence with reduced car traffic in the city center the volume of
gas pollution will greatly decrees improving the quality of the air therefore bringing
benefit to the wellbeing for those that work, live or visit the city center.

The city officials that oversee pollution and gas emission levels are the main persons
from inside of the institution that by seeing the result could recommend efficient
solutions to reduce those gas emission levels. In one of the articles The guardian (2015)
stated that cities around the world are already put in place ways to promote car center
free of cars. Madrid, Oslo, Helsinki, Hamburg have recently announced their plans to
embrace mobility solutions by focusing on environmentally friendly means such as
creating free car zones, banning cars that are using fossil-based fuel, creating more
cycling lanes, promoting non-polluting public transportation. Also stated in the same
article of The Guardian (2015) one of the cities that is car free is Venice, but the
difference from other big cities is that instead of roads they have canals and rivers so it's
easier for them to enforce car-free city center.

Furthermore, by developing more open space and urban parks for pedestrian and
cyclists not only will create a more human-friendly ecosystem but also will play a very

2
important role in absorbing CO2 and bringing the levels down. Interesting data is
reviling Wambugu (2018) in his article World Facts about large cities around the world
that have a considerable percentage of public green space. The list only contains 10
largest cities, beginning with Moscow that has 54% of green space and is finishing with
London that only has 33%. All the cities are constantly trying to implement new
strategic projects that improves environmental green spaces such as public parks,
community gardens, green areas around schools, rivers restoration and new habitants for
wildlife to ensure their involvement in climate change and minimize the carbon
footprint.

Economic

Regarding the economic point of view the first problem of the city it's the cost of
building or remodel the infrastructure that would integrate pedestrian, cyclists, and
urban transportation in the same area, secondly finding different programs to generate
income in order to maintain the same level of the taxes paid by the stakeholders. Clearly
in order to reduce public resistance and make them aware of the change, different parts
of the community should be involved in the decision making, providing them with a
understandably process that ensures the strategy of transforming into car free center a
reality. Discussing and sharing ideas in public dialogue could also be a strategy used by
municipal technicians to guarantee the efficiency in the process of discussing the
policies and implementing the strategies.

Another important factor is the involvement of a key partner that is the car industry, and
this sector should be implicated in the transformation of the city center as well, mainly
because of the changes they had to make in adapting this sector to the newest demands
of our time. Nowadays the vehicles that are most promoted are the vehicles that are
using electricity, natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells or hybrid cars. Skidmore (2021) wrote
in his article that the electric vehicle sales had a huge growth in 2021 comparing it to
2020 by 160% passing the mark of 2.6 million vehicles sold only in the first half of the
year and in the first place was the Chinese market, the second place was the European
market and in third place is the United States market. Taking advantage of the changing
trend in the car industry and the interest that the people are putting in buying them the
governments promotes programs that are aiming to accomplices the idea of a free city
3
center. Furthermore, the public transportation suffered transformations in the benefit of
the population that are using it making it greener and cheaper.

Talking about the economic aspect of a city free car center it is impossible not to talk
about the impact that will have on the jobs, local businesses located in the center all the
services that are involved like deliveries and services. Doesn't matter if they work leave
or just visit the city center all of them are going to suffer the change maybe for the good
or in a bad way by losing their jobs. Some businesses will flourish because of the
possibilities in growing their business some of them will suffer losses because of the
space that will grow between them and their clients they will have to rely on deliveries
or adopt new marketing strategies to reconnect with the clients. Jobs will disappear
clearly with this change as well as a lot of new job will emerge from adapting the
business model to our modern times.

Additionally, The Guardian (2015) article showed cities that by banning cars from the
center, creating parks and open spaces had a great impact at financial level in increasing
the land value and rents near the city center or around parks areas. Consequently, all the
cities that have open spaces and parks near the center are promoting a greener and
healthier lifestyle with higher standards of living.

Social

At accelerating rates, humanity is experiencing profound social, demographic and

technological changes. Among the changes absorbed by citizens in the las decade is the
modern lifestyle that brought transformation on all levels like greater female
participation, equality between men and women, family restructuring and diversification
eliminating sexual boundaries and the changes in infrastructure that affects the way we
travel for work or pleasure. It is not easy to determent the net impact of these changes
on urban displacement because of the rapid change in technology mainly the car
industry and the impact that has in our lives.

The car is undoubtedly a fabulous invention of the last century, which offers individual,
family remarkable attractions, speed and freedom of movement in time and space.
Nevertheless, these individual theoretical virtues, when added collectively on a urban
4
scale they tend to transform in problems like traffic congestions that affect directly our
every day lifestyle by creating time related problems, frustration, stress and health
issues by polluting the breathable air. The survey conducted by Statista 2021is
highlighting that the mobility based on the private motorized vehicle constitutes the
main producer of CO2.
By country distribution of fossil fuel CO2 emission in not a surprise that the first place
is China one of the biggest countries in technology industry and population, followed by
United States the biggest consumer on the planet and in the third place is India that has
a very high number of populations.

In addition, with the change that innovation is offering in the car industry by building
environmentally friendly vehicles and adapting the current infrastructure the goals of
the cities officials are closer to became reality and have a modern, cleaner and
sustainable city center for people to enjoy. European Commission, (2016) wrote in
Science for Environment Policy Report that more space will bring high standards of
living, fresh air to breath and more time to spent outdoors. Whether the focus is
healthier live, green space, open roads for cyclists the city centers without cars will
bring closer the people around it by improving the quality of the air and the way of
living in the center.

One of the processes that public officials are using in a community is to directly involve
their constituencies in planning and managing resources, parks, open spaces in order to
keep them engaged with the community needs and help the residents to have better
interaction and a better communication. By doing so not only are creating spaces for
people to interact and feel safe but also are eliminating the social boundaries between
mix rases giving them the opportunity to integrate and relate with their community.

Conclusion

In conclusion the idea behind this report is to demonstrate that by using less cars or
none of them the life in the city center will be a lot better. With the help of the analysis
is shown that beside the negative impact of losing jobs, creating time related problems,
investments in infrastructure in the center, the positive impact is much higher because is

5
changing the vision of the life in city center and improves not only the quality of the air
but also the quality of the lifestyle. Nowadays living in the center or around big cities is
related with environmental problems like pollution (air, noise, light) and crowded areas.
Furthermore, that way of thinking is possible to change by implementing active
involvement of the citizens in decision making regarding changes and improvements
around their neighborhoods.

From the economic point of view and the beginning process of transforming city center
car-free the shareholders will have to considerate the financial impact that will have all
that change and all the discomfort will bring for the city in general and the people that
live, work or visit the city center. This type of change is expensive not only in adapting
the land scape but also maintaining all that urban open space and parks.

Recommendation

After analyzing the environmental, economic, and social aspects of city center without
cars and based on the findings we can recommend three ideas that could improve the
decision making in major cities and improve the wellbeing of the people that live there
every day.

 While continue to use technological advancements in the car industry and

innovation in their decision making the cities that adapt and change to a
healthier perspective with large open spaces and parks near center will increase
at economical level and this factor will help them to take advantage and expand
more than ever before. If they embrace innovation and continue with
environmental programs will have a sizable advantage in meeting the needs of
the stakeholders and make a difference in the environmental impact.

 Considering the economic impact that the cities and the taxpayers must endure
this report is demonstrating that will bring a large number of benefits not only to
the way of life but also giving high value to the land in apartments in the city
center. It demonstrates also that will bring money to the city, having more green

6
 and open spaces will attract tourists, visitors and will foment the people to spend
more time outside taking advantage of the shops and restaurants in the area.

 The report is also reflecting that at social level will bring improvement between
all stakeholders involving and integrate them into the process of transforming
the city around there needs. By using this method, the city officials will find
very low resistant and much more collaboration from the community and the
citizens that are living in the center area. Assuring future social programs and
mix races integration building safer environments for the community.

References

European Commission, (2016). Science for Environment Policy Report [online].

Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/
car_free_cities_healthier_citizens_476na1_en.pdf [Accessed 27 November 2021]

OMS, (2018). Special report – World health statistics 2018 [online]. Available from:
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/gho-documents/world-health-statistic-
reports/6-june-18108-world-health-statistics-2018.pdf [Accessed 26 November. 2021]

Skidmore, Z., (2021). Power of technology – Electric vehicles sales surge 2021 [online].
Available from: https://www.power-technology.com/news/electric-vehicle-sales-surge-
in-2021/ [Accessed 26 November 2021]

Statista, (2021) – FinTech Report 2021 [online]. Available from:

https://www.statista.com/study/44525/fintech-report/ [Accessed 25 November 2021]

The Guardian (2015) – Will we ever get a truly car-free city? [online]. Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/09/car-free-city-oslo-helsinki-copenhagen
[Accessed 27 November 2021]

7
Topp, H. (1994). Car-Free City Centers - Research article [online]. Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226668125_Car-free_City_Centers [Accessed
27 November 2021]

Wambugu, D., M., (2018). Cities with the Most Green Space – World Facts [online]
Available from: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/cities-with-the-most-
greenspace.html [Accessed 27 November 2021