BUSINESSES have thrown their weight behind international planner Jan Gehl’s ambition to remodel Sydney’s central business district for walkers instead of drivers and the proposed demolition of the Cahill Expressway has received surprising levels of support.
Personally I would love to see Toronto move in this direction. It seems that despite our continual laments about traffic, about drunk driving, about smog, about street racing and about a city that has become unsafe for pedestrians as well as cyclists that the city won't seriously consider anything that would inconvenience drivers or reduce the number of cars on the road.
If we're going to get the city we want, we have to stop designing things based on what's convenient now, stop trying to please everyone and start designing the city we want to live in. In terms of quality of life and environmental sustainability that means more public space, more pedestrian friendly, and more bicycle (scooter, rollerblade, skateboard) friendly and all of that means less parking and fewer automobiles.
Unfortunately, and unavoidably there are going to be people inconvenienced by this but the reality is that to design the city we want we need fewer cars on the road and however we get there, drivers are not going to like it.
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