Posts tagged with 'Ben Welle'
Public Space in Cities – What’s the Measuring Stick?
Public Space in Cities – What’s the Measuring Stick?
The famed American landscape architect and Central Park designer Fredrick Law Olmsted said that parks are the “lungs of the city.” However, many cities around the world—from growing Addis Ababa to sprawling Mumbai and dense Sao Paulo—currently lack adequate public ...
7 Proven Principles for Designing a Safer City
7 Proven Principles for Designing a Safer City
Traffic accidents kill more than 1.2 million people every year, nearly the same amount that die from HIV/AIDS. But there’s an undervalued approach to making the world’s roads safer—good urban design. While most traffic safety initiatives tend to focus on ...
Seoul, Korea Children's Road Safety
Designing Safer Cities for Children
When you consider the global statistics, it’s no surprise that this year’s U.N. Global Road Safety Week focuses on children’s safety.  According to a 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) report, 21 percent of all road traffic-related fatalities worldwide were among ...
London and congestion charging
Pricing congestion to invest in sustainable transport: lessons from London
In 2003, London adopted a program of congestion pricing that now places a roughly $17 (£11.50) daily fee on motor vehicles entering central London. The effort was expected to reduce car traffic, air pollution, and emissions in the area, and ...
Active transport and SDGs
Why are the two most sustainable forms of transport missing from the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
Walking and cycling may be the two most basic modes of transport, but they may also be the most promising for a sustainable future. In a car-filled world, it’s the people who use their own two feet or two wheels that ...
2015 World Bicycle Forum
Want a cycling city? Design for traffic safety
Two weeks ago, the World Bicycle Forum in Medellín, Colombia brought together more than 4,000 attendees from across the globe to discuss the challenges and opportunities of urban cycling. Many have praised the event for its ability to bring a ...
As motorcycle fleets grow in cities worldwide, governments must prioritize improving street design and alternative mobility options to slow the rise in motorcycle crashes. Photo by Frank/Flickr.
Growing motorcycle use creates a global safety challenge
Cities worldwide face the pressing challenge of growing motorcycle fleets and remarkable increases in related traffic fatalities. With streets ill-prepared and motor-bikes whizzing in every direction, the scene might best be described as urban transport anarchy. The problem is especially ...
Despite daunting challenges, rapidly urbanizing Asian cities have a range of options to improve road safety and save lives. Photo by Ashok/Flickr.
Safer cities for the Asian Century
With the next few decades expected to witness to Asia’s swift rise in economic and political influence, the eyes of the world have focused on Asian cities as the engines of this growth. Last month’s Asian Development Bank Transport Forum ...
New York City’s Vision Zero approach to road safety makes streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists and serves as a best practice for cities around the world. Photo by Moe_NYC/Flickr.
How advocacy creates safer streets and saves lives: A Q&A with Paul Steely White
TheCityFix recently interviewed Paul Steely White – Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives – regarding the organization’s role in successfully advocating for New York City to adopt a “Vision Zero” approach to road safety. First adopted in Sweden, Vision Zero is ...
New York City leaders have begun implementing a Vision Zero policy in the city, which has helped to create separated bike lanes and greater traffic speed enforcement to decrease road fatalities. Photo by the New York City Department of Transportation/Flickr.
How ‘zero’ became the biggest number in road safety
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global status report on road safety 2013, only 7% of the world’s population is governed by comprehensive road safety laws. In a world that already sees 1.24 million deaths from traffic crashes each ...
Trees bring a multitude of benefits to cities, helping the environment as well as residents' quality of life. Photo by Tristan Higbee/Flickr.
Urban trees boost quality of life for city dwellers around the world
Trees often fade into the background of what people understand as the city, yet they bring immense value – including environmental benefits like filtering water run-off and cleaning the air as well as increasing health and quality of life – ...
Cities around the world seek out ways to shift, avoid, and improve their infrastructure and transport modes to decrease air pollution. Photo by WBUR/Flickr.
Right to breathe: The link between transport and air quality
Today, the highest levels of air pollutants are concentrated in developing cities, particularly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Motor vehicles contribute between 25 and 75% of this air pollution. In March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) released ...
Medellín, Colombia has undergone a drastic urban transformation, and will now host the Seventh World Urban Forum. Photo by PehMed2020/Flickr.
A safe city is a just city
As cities in the developing world continue to grow, so do their traffic safety concerns. Latin America, for instance, now sees three times as many deaths from traffic crashes as Europe, the vast majority of which occur in cities. Vulnerable ...
Parque Madureira in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provides a place for residents to engage in physical activity and connect with the local community. Photo by Higor de Padua/Flickr.
Two case studies show cities return to physical activity
Worldwide, people are moving less – taking their car, abandoning walking and bicycling, or perhaps unable to visit a neighborhood park or play space because it may not exist. In real numbers, as outlined by the Designed to Move campaign, physical activity ...
Bikers in the Forests of Palermo, Buenos Aires. Photo by Claudio Olivares Medina/Flickr.
Show off your skills – and your streets – with the ‘Open Streets’ Video Contest
Each Sunday streets across cities in the Americas are blocked off to all motorized vehicles. In the absence of cars from their normal ecosystems, new patterns of public interaction emerge in these public spaces. Instead of automobiles, people appear: runners, ...
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