Speaker A
Traffic in U.S. cities is a large issue. For instance, in Los Angeles, the average commuter spends nearly five cumulative days a year stuck in traffic. In Midtown Manhattan, the average car travels 4.7 miles per hour.
Explores why cities worldwide are banning cars to reduce traffic, improve pedestrian safety, and promote sustainable urban living.
Key Takeaways
- Car-free zones can reduce traffic congestion and improve pedestrian safety.
- Walking in dense urban areas can be as efficient as driving due to traffic delays.
- Pandemic street closures demonstrated benefits of prioritizing pedestrians and outdoor spaces.
- Global examples show car-free initiatives face initial resistance but yield long-term urban improvements.
- Future urban planning should focus on people-centered design, public transit, and sustainable mobility.
Summary
- Traffic congestion in major U.S. cities like Los Angeles and New York severely impacts commute times and quality of life.
- A test in Midtown Manhattan showed walking can be as fast as or faster than rideshare cars due to heavy traffic.
- During the pandemic, many cities closed streets to cars to expand outdoor space for pedestrians and businesses.
- Car-free zones have significantly reduced pedestrian injuries in places like Times Square and Herald Square.
- The concept of car-free or nearly car-free urban areas, such as 'Autoluw' in the Netherlands, is gaining popularity globally.
- Copenhagen's 1962 car-free street project faced major controversy but proved successful in improving urban life.
- Car-free zones prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit, improving safety and reducing emissions.
- U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco are increasingly adopting car-free street initiatives.
- Innovative projects like Culdesac in Tempe, Arizona, are building entire car-free neighborhoods integrated with public transit.
- Younger generations show declining car ownership and increased preference for walkable, transit-rich urban environments.
Chapters
- 00:00Traffic Challenges in U.S. Cities
- 00:57Walking vs. Rideshare in Midtown Manhattan
- 02:17Pandemic Street Closures and Outdoor Spaces
- 03:29Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Fatalities
- 04:47Global Car-Free Initiatives and Controversies
- 06:38Car-Free Zones in U.S. Cities
- 07:23Innovative Car-Free Neighborhoods
- 08:36Changing Urban Preferences and Future Trends
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
That's barely faster than the average walking speed. So which is faster? Walking one mile across midtown Manhattan or taking the same route using a rideshare. To test this producer Zach Green went from 47th and Madison over to 47th and 10th Ave in a car while I walked the same
Speaker A
That's barely faster than the average walking speed. So which is faster? Walking one mile across Midtown Manhattan or taking the same route using a rideshare? To test this, producer Zach Green went from 47th and Madison over to 47th and 10th Ave in a car while I walked the same
Speaker A
Yeah. This is the fabled start and stop of New York traffic. About 5 minutes and 45 seconds into this ride, we're finally crossing Sixth Avenue.
Speaker A
route. And so right now I've been walking for about four and a half minutes, and I'm pretty sure Zach is eating my dust.
Speaker A
Yes. He passed us again. He passed us again. Okay, so right now I'm about three ish avenue blocks from the final destination.
Speaker A
Yeah. This is the fabled start and stop of New York traffic. About 5 minutes and 45 seconds into this ride, we're finally crossing Sixth Avenue.
Speaker A
Here we go. We did it. We did it. All right. There he goes, my champion.
Speaker A
And I don't know if you can see it, but we just passed Liam. We just passed him.
Speaker A
11 minutes, 56 seconds. We beat Liam. We beat him. In fact, here he is right now.
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Yes. He passed us again. He passed us again. Okay, so right now I'm about three-ish avenue blocks from the final destination.
Speaker A
I got like 15:45. So that's honestly not that much. That's just a couple of minutes.
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His Uber ended up diverting to a different path instead of going straight across just to avoid some of this heavy traffic.
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However, the constant honking and need to dodge traffic proved to be quite unpleasant for my walk.
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Here we go. We did it. We did it. All right. There he goes, my champion.
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During the pandemic, shutting down streets to give businesses and pedestrians more outdoor and social distanced space was a common trend.
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We're at 10th Avenue and 47th Street. I want you to see this. See that right there?
Speaker A
As traffic rates rise and congestion becomes a bigger problem in large cities, designing neighborhoods and communities around people and prioritizing public transportation instead of cars seems like a no brainer.
Speaker A
11 minutes, 56 seconds. We beat Liam. We beat him. In fact, here he is right now.
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A recent report found that nearly 7,500 pedestrians died in 2021 after being struck by cars — the highest number in 40 years.
Speaker A
How do you feel being beaten by superior technology? By how much was it? I got 11 minutes, 56 seconds.
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It's about, also, turning the city of New York as a most pedestrian-friendly, pedestrian, cycling-friendly city in the whole nation.
Speaker A
I got like 15:45. So that's honestly not that much. That's just a couple of minutes.
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2021 was the deadliest year for New York City in about a decade, with 124 pedestrian and 34 cycling and moped deaths. But there's actually a rather simple solution to this problem.
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So driving in this area is barely faster than walking. Zach beat me by a few minutes, but his trip also cost $15 and emitted about 400 grams of CO2.
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I think there are a lot of places around the city in all five boroughs that would benefit from that kind of treatment.
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However, the constant honking and need to dodge traffic proved to be quite unpleasant for my walk.
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The whole project could be renamed controversy. I mean, it was controversial from from the day we began and.
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But just a few years ago, this street was quiet and mostly car-free when COVID-19 hit New York.
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Turning the area into a pedestrian plaza brought pedestrian injuries down 40% in Times Square and 53% in Herald Square within just a few years.
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During the pandemic, shutting down streets to give businesses and pedestrians more outdoor and socially distanced space was a common trend.
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And now the several hundred thousand pedestrians who pass through Times Square every day can more safely look at the large advertisements in all their glory.
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But this concept of car-free communities or even cities is becoming more popular. So it shows this change in preference where people actually want to be in dense urban cores, where there's reliable transit and amenities within walking distance.
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This concept is known as "Autoluw" in the Netherlands, roughly translating to nearly car-free, where pedestrian and bike friendly plazas are extremely common.
Speaker A
As traffic rates rise and congestion becomes a bigger problem in large cities, designing neighborhoods and communities around people and prioritizing public transportation instead of cars seems like a no-brainer.
Speaker A
It was in Denmark, too. So controversial that when this concept was rolled out on a street named Strøget in 1962, Copenhagen's mayor of town planning received death threats and had to travel with bodyguards.
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It's imperative that we make all of our high-density places as pedestrian-friendly as possible. To encourage people to walk ten blocks instead of looking for a cab, for instance.
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Nearly car free zones in cities like Copenhagen or Amsterdam singularly allow public transportation and emergency vehicles to use roads, making busses and emergency responses much faster.
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A recent report found that nearly 7,500 pedestrians died in 2021 after being struck by cars — the highest number in 40 years.
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That's a greater amount of space than two Midtowns. But if you remove all that traffic, suddenly you have a giant street with nothing to do.
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In U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco, turning more streets into car-free areas is becoming a popular proposition.
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You could build in the street potentially more apartments. You could create parks in the street, you could widen the sidewalks, you could make restaurants in the streets.
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It's about, also, turning the city of New York into the most pedestrian-friendly, pedestrian, cycling-friendly city in the whole nation.
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There is one project in the U.S. putting this concept to the test. Culdesac is a real estate developer building a car free neighborhood in Tempe, Arizona.
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People are recognizing that value has to be placed once again on the human condition in the city for it to be successful.
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It has also partnered with Lyft, giving residents a discount and it connects to the local light rail system.
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2021 was the deadliest year for New York City in about a decade, with 124 pedestrian and 34 cycling and moped deaths. But there's actually a rather simple solution to this problem.
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It has raised 200 million in real estate capital so far, and the company says it has already started on its next set of neighborhoods in growing cities around the U.S.
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In 2009, after a spike in traffic accidents, the city closed off Broadway right next to these sections of Times Square in Herald Square.
Speaker A
that's explicitly designed to be car-free. But it represents a larger trend. Young people broadly are kind of dissatisfied with the status quo of what cities look like.
Speaker A
I think there are a lot of places around the city in all five boroughs that would benefit from that kind of treatment.
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That's Paul Stout. He's amassed a substantial audience of over 200,000 followers on his TikTok account, Talking Cities.
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Initially, when this was turned into a pedestrian plaza, there were worries that tourism and consumerism would decrease.
Speaker A
It's something I've seen too, with like just within TikTok and YouTube and all sorts of other social media is like this sort of like urban planning space has just kind of blown up in the past couple of years.
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The whole project could be renamed controversy. I mean, it was controversial from the day we began and.
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And that drop is substantial. In 1988, 77% of 18-year-olds had their driver's license. Now that number is around 58%.
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Foot traffic is actually up about 15%, and Times Square still sees 360,000 visitors a day.
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One of the biggest obstacles to more people taking the bus now is that they're not reliable because they tend to get stuck in traffic behind private motor vehicles. And if you get a lot of those private motor vehicles out of their way, then the busses will be a
Speaker A
Turning the area into a pedestrian plaza brought pedestrian injuries down 40% in Times Square and 53% in Herald Square within just a few years.
Speaker A
This is something that many of us saw in our neighborhoods with the initial spread of COVID.
Speaker A
Still, though, the controversy was warranted. Nobody had really ever done anything like this in a city like this. New York is a special place, and there's only one Times Square.
Speaker A
That I think really opened up a lot of people's eyes to the potential for reducing the amount of car traffic in New York City. You were able to cross the street, walk down the middle of the street in a lot of places,
Speaker A
And now the several hundred thousand pedestrians who pass through Times Square every day can more safely look at the large advertisements in all their glory.
Speaker A
A coalition of over 80 groups, including unions and public health organizations, backed a goal to convert 25% of New York City space taken by cars into space for people by 2025.
Speaker A
I think it's proved itself over and over. It is a very good example of what you can do when you take space away from single-occupancy motor vehicles and give it to people on foot or on bikes.
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million going towards protected bike lanes, designated bus lanes and tracking reckless driving. For far too long, our cities have been just basically, vehicle focused.
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This concept is known as "Autoluw" in the Netherlands, roughly translating to nearly car-free, where pedestrian and bike-friendly plazas are extremely common.
Speaker A
And it took a spike of cyclist deaths in 2019 to get the city to begin prioritizing bike-related infrastructure.
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This Dutch urban planning environment is what inspired the change in Times Square. Just as the change was controversial in New York.
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And when you prioritize bikes and other modes of modes of transportation in the way that we currently prioritize cars, you see a lot more use.
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It was in Denmark, too. So controversial that when this concept was rolled out on a street named Strøget in 1962, Copenhagen's mayor of town planning received death threats and had to travel with bodyguards.
Speaker A
And I would say that that number is quite deceptive because a great deal of it, I believe 40% of it went to things underground that you can't see.
Speaker A
And it's become like one of the most successful pedestrianized streets within Europe. And it's even, it's even been a source of international inspiration.
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And it's just completely not not the case. And you look at thriving downtown areas in European cities that are, you know, mostly pedestrianized streets. And business is great.
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Nearly car-free zones in cities like Copenhagen or Amsterdam singularly allow public transportation and emergency vehicles to use roads, making buses and emergency responses much faster.
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Now, does this mean that Times Square should be recreated everywhere? No, it does not mean that.
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But in American cities like New York, cars still usually take priority. Right now, nearly a quarter of Manhattan is dedicated to space for cars in the form of roads and parking.
Speaker A
To change the status quo. Local governments can either use persuasion or punishment. The persuasion being increased cycling infrastructure, pedestrian plazas and public transportation. And the punishments being reduced parking space, paid parking within a city, fewer gas stations and congestion tolls.
Speaker A
That's a greater amount of space than two Midtowns. But if you remove all that traffic, suddenly you have a giant street with nothing to do.
Speaker A
That would charge drivers $23 to enter the lower third of Manhattan. Some cities that have cameras to enforce against drivers failing to yield to pedestrians who are crossing a street with the light at a crosswalk.
Speaker A
So it's got really wide lanes and tiny little sidewalks. So you could see how those streets could be made into more real estate.
Speaker A
However, congestion tolls and paid parking would greatly favor those who can afford it, and having a car could quickly become a luxury for the more fortunate. So Prieto-Curiel suggests persuading could be more effective. Charging time instead of money,
Speaker A
You could build in the street potentially more apartments. You could create parks in the street, you could widen the sidewalks, you could make restaurants in the streets.
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What if public transport you have a station close to your home, one station close to your destination, and you know that you can get there faster than by driving?
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You could do so many things with the space left over that is provided for cars today.
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While some might have hoped would be traveling in pneumatic tubes and flying cars, considering some fans say George Jetson was born in the year 2022, futuristic forms of transportation are unfortunately a bit more down to earth.
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There is one project in the U.S. putting this concept to the test. Culdesac is a real estate developer building a car-free neighborhood in Tempe, Arizona.
Speaker A
and get to the metro station within 3 minutes. Well, certainly in recent years, especially with all the kind of personal mobility gadgets that appeared on the sidewalks and on the streets, there's a great deal of experimenting and willingness, I think, to try out those things.
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With retail space, e-bike garages, over 1,000 bike racks, on-site EV car share and rideshare pickup zones, every immediate need is a short trip away for residents of the community.
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And many people think that rentable autonomous electric vehicles could be the answer. Having cars that we only have possession of when we need them are always in motion.
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It has also partnered with Lyft, giving residents a discount, and it connects to the local light rail system.
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Definitely. No. This is one of the tricks that has happened throughout decades. That is, we just need one extra bit of technology and that is going to help us then this is going to be perfect, right? All these
Speaker A
The Tempe neighborhood is expected to open to residents later in 2022 and will have more than 600 homes once complete.
Speaker A
Metro public transport, something that is shared, walking, cycling, something that adds cycling mobility, something that doesn't require an individual infrastructure because that's the issue with cars.
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It has raised 200 million in real estate capital so far, and the company says it has already started on its next set of neighborhoods in growing cities around the U.S.
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Department of Transportation announced a $20 billion investment in public transit this year. In their prime era, there were around 17,000 miles of streetcar lines in the U.S.
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While there are other car-free communities and vacation destinations like Mackinac Island, Michigan, and Bald Head Island, North Carolina, Culdesac markets itself as the first community built in the U.S.
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Cities like Los Angeles used to be largely dependent on their streetcar network. But now the City of Angels is notorious for getting you stuck in traffic in 90 degree weather with essentially no convenient public transportation options. However, in 2017, Los Angeles started to show
Speaker A
That's explicitly designed to be car-free. But it represents a larger trend. Young people broadly are kind of dissatisfied with the status quo of what cities look like.
Speaker A
But by 1957, the entire system was shut down, making way for cars which were becoming increasingly popular. But starting in 2014, the city began reconstructing a modern streetcar route that's nearly identical to the last one that was in
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There's this big push for walkable cities and transit-rich places. And I think that you're starting to see that with this generation.
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And there's a lot of, I would call it like incumbency bias with car centric design.
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That's Paul Stout. He's amassed a substantial audience of over 200,000 followers on his TikTok account, Talking Cities.
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walkable. I think a lot of young people have seen that online and they've been like, 'Hold on a minute, why don't we have that?'
Topics:car-free citiesurban planningtraffic congestionpedestrian safetypublic transportationsustainable citiesNew York CityCopenhagenpandemic street closureswalkable cities
