I am one of the lucky people who can still work from a safe home during this crisis. Like many others, I have been spending my free time taking long walks. This time I have had to walk and to think has given me a new perspective on the space around me, particularly the roads….
Year: 2020
Before the pandemic hit, there was growing momentum in cities around the world for a host of traffic reduction measures. Congestion pricing was finally front-and-center on the agenda of cities from New York to Mumbai; Los Angeles launched planning efforts for a low-emissions zone; and major cities such as Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro…
Today, May 1, is a day full of meaning. Although some know it as May Day, a celebration of spring in the northern hemisphere, it is better known as International Workers Day. Here at ITDP, May 1 is the day when, exactly 35 years ago, ITDP founder Michael Replogle and a group of antiwar and…
In 1985, Los Angeles created the “911” emergency system, replicated both nationally and internationally as a model for emergency response. It was also the year of the city’s first no-smoking ordinance, which would grow to a bar and restaurant ban a decade later, and then grow further to inspire the country and world to tackle…
Thirty-five years ago, London was struggling with growing traffic congestion and pollution. Margaret Thatcher’s government fought against a greater commitment to transit, and passed a sweeping national deregulation and privatization policy called the Transport Act of 1985. Today, London is a very different city. According to Transport for London, over half of trips in London…
Jakarta, the capital city of the 4th most populous nation, sits on the largest in an archipelago of almost 17,000 islands. 35 years ago, Jakarta was building up at a rapid pace. 1985 saw the opening of the city’s International Airport, a culmination of a major infrastructure push that included roads and bridges for cars,…
The explosive, transformative growth of Chinese cities over the past 35 years is difficult to overstate. Take the city of Guangzhou, on the Pearl River Delta, just north of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. In 1985, the population was 2.36 million. Ten years later, it had doubled to 5.04 million, and doubled again in another ten…
Over the past month, as the spread of COVID-19 has upended daily life throughout the United States, cities have been grappling with how to adjust their transit systems and streetscape. As in other nations, US cities face the daunting tasks of keeping people apart, while keeping transit running. In the US, essential workers are disportionately…
We have long known that our cities are in the midst of a global air quality crisis. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of urban residents are breathing air that does not meet standards for health, with middle- and low-income nations suffering from the highest exposures. We already knew that exposure to toxic air…