Light rail hills are far away
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From today’s indo………
RUS IN URBE : Light rail hills are far away
By now the thousands of pedestrians who drag, push, side-step and crawl their groaning way through the centre of the metropolis day and night have more or less become inured to the cranking of machinery, pounding of power hammers and the scraping of back-hoes as the machines grasp slabs of old tarmac or hurdle paving stones into great metal buckets as snappy barmen might generously dish out ice cubes in cooling drinks.
You can get away from it, of course – if you grab a bus or the Dart or get on your bike and get home or to your local as fast as you can. But many can’t. These are people whose business it is to work on the streets where Louie (Luas) is banging his head and who have to stay there all day. Then there are those who actually own and run the shops, offices, service trades, restaurants, cafes, art galleries even, who must resolutely bear these slings and arrows – and who certainly do not grin at their own misfortune.
Some are lingering on behind closed doors in hopes of a better future. Others have gone away. One business in Harcourt Street, where you might not be surprised to encounter a Humvee military patrol in fatigues with weapons at the ready, has shut down. ‘Closed by the Luas’, declares a sign. It’s a sign of the times for sure. And don’t even think about wildlife!
If Dubliners are in despair let them ponder the wonders of faraway cities, one of which might not be expected to be at the cutting edge of town planning because of its location. This is a place called Curitiba in Brazil, which once had the fastest urban growth rate in the country with appalling concentrations of poverty and an explosion of shanty-town dwellers.
Not, er, exactly Dublinscape. Now it’s a source of inspiration for sustainability because of far-sighted planning decisions. One is the transport system. The mayor Jaime Lerner is credited with the idea of rejecting a central overpass to solve congestion problems. and instead opting for pedestrianisation that evolved into what is described as a 24-hour street.
The city is planned around five roads radiating from the centre, each with an express bus route and each with transfer stations to local buses. The city bought land along these routes for social housing. There are cycleway networks, river corridors protected from development and turned into linear parks. Social inclusiveness is crucial.
In the great continent to the north, Portland, Oregon, to be precise, has done more than any other US city to encourage alternatives to the car. And it has become such a popular place to live that it has had to bring in laws to curb expansion.
One of the most dramatic pieces of replanning was the demolition of a riverside motorway and replacing it with a park as part of a pedestrianisation and traffic-calming programme. Can you image our quays being turned into a park with Luas carriages whirring along up one side of the Liffey and down the other?
Oh, yes. And no fares please! You don’t pay for city centre travel on Portland’s light rail system. And all new housing must be no more than five minutes walk from a public transit stop. If you want more information from the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development, tap into http://www.sustainableportland.org, and for the story of Curtiba: http://www.curtiba.pr.gov.br
A specialist publication, Green Futures, published by Forum for the Future, has brought this information to my attention. It’s a wonderful world out there and Dublin has a lot of catching up to do. O’Dea
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I remember seeing a documentary about Curtiba a few years ago and it certainly looked like a fantastic example of vision and commitment to producing a better environment.
Everything was considered. I even remember that the bus stop are all tubular structures which keep everyone dry/ cool (depending on season) and which open out to the same level as the bus for easy access. Each contains ticket machines and seats. Practical , functional and fully accessable.
The blanket pedestrianisation has freed up streets for people and the city was full of cafes and parks and fountains. All that claptrap you hear about how if you were to remove cars from busy thoroughfares then businesses would suffer didn’t seem to have happened there.
I am sure the plan had its problems but it was refreshing to see a city government actually daring to be radical.
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I was in Nottingham last week where they are building a LUAS type system. In adition they are removing all pedestrian underpass’s, flattening out traffic flyovers and roundabouts and reducing dual carrageway through the city centre to single carrageways. New pedestrianised zones have been created and one retail area reputedley has the highest footfall of any city in the UK. The retail deliveries are restricted to out of hours and traders are reporting increased levels of trade as a result…..but it works as the council provides 6000 park and ride facilities on the otskirts, some dual tram and bus.
The population is only 500,000. The city centre is vibrant and lively and great to walk around. Shows what can be done with the right attitude. Stop listening to the car lobby !
JJ
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