Kevin J. Krizek How COVID19 reshaped US cities TED

when you think of most cities in the u.s

images like this come to mind little

green space lots of fast-moving cars

bumper-to-bumper traffic

and humans waiting at curbs and

crosswalks clearly outranked by the

automobile

since the dawn of car culture urban

transportation planning has been fixated

on moving automobiles quickly now

one-third of all the land in cities

is set up for cars we add lanes to six

lane highways

we cut down trees to widen two lane

residential roads

we pave over scarce open space for

surface parking

many car owners effectively pay double

to reserve up

space at home and work

providing for cars was a massive

investment and has provided us

immeasurable flexibility in how we

travel

but our dependence on them the costs the

noise the pollution

have taken a toll on us we can now do

better

and here’s how i’ve been studying

transportation and environmental design

for 25 years

i’ve encouraged designers engineers

decision makers and the public

to look beyond our current car as king

model

but widespread change has been slow to

come

and then covet 19 hit and we went into

lockdown

conventional rules that kept the auto at

the top of the heap

were ditched almost overnight

we opened up our streets for people

walking in the middle of them

we open them up for outdoor dining

and those emerging techie modes of

getting around town this meant more room

for

regular bikes electric bikes and all

forms of wheeled devices that are

cleaner

lighter and more convenient than cars

signs like

this went up scenes like this appeared

using street space to preserve

physical and mental health became an

imperative

now many cities have been trying their

hand at alternative street designs for

decades

these initiatives gained sudden traction

and natural experiment was unfolding

what happens when cars take a back seat

to people

it propelled my colleague and me to

start studying these changes in 55 of

the largest cities in the u.s

and what we found is thrilling the

cities that are innovators in our study

are closer to finding solutions to some

of the most pressing and challenging

problems of our time

like climate change equity

safety seattle was one of the first to

jump into action i was on their bicycle

advisory board

20 years ago with bill nye the science

guy for decades they’ve dealt with

that crumbling auto infrastructure all

those bridges and viaducts

they’ve long been striving to bring more

equitable access to more people

on the streets shortly after the

lockdown

the city unfurled a 30-page playbook

to use their street space better a few

weeks later

26 miles of streets were closed through

car

traffic opening them up for people on

foot and bike

the city chose these particular areas

because they were underserved by

existing

pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure

and they were in neighborhoods that were

experiencing more of the impact

from the pandemic both from a health

perspective and

an economic perspective a month later

the city mayor of seattle announced that

20 miles of these streets were going to

be closed to cars permanently city

engineers are now

working with neighborhood groups

volunteer based organizations like

neighborhood greenways

to bring together residents in designing

alternative visions for streets

over the summer on the other side of the

country pittsburgh rolled out a bike

plus plan

as the number of people opting to block

and bike

exploded this plan enabled the city to

slow down car traffic on even more

streets

now pittsburgh has a long-standing

commitment to innovation and this bike

plus plan helps usher into the

transportation system

new innovative forms of mobility it

might be that dusty schwinn

hanging on the garage now refurbished

with battery power

a cargo bike or an electric

three-wheeled variant of a bike

that provides more comfort safety or

protection

from the weather you see these types of

modes

they can serve mostly the same purpose

as cars trucks suvs

but they do so using a third of the

space to get around

and these new modes they can be great

for older people or those without a car

so they can run errands or visit friends

you see pittsburgh

is redesigning their city streets now to

accommodate more of these human scale

vehicles

and what we’re seeing is that they’re

redesigning 50 miles of streets over the

next two years

to bring in more welcoming environments

for bike plus type vehicles

and in so doing they’re ensuring that

technological advances meet the needs of

humans

and not cars further the bike plus plan

is helping the city reduce

transportation related emissions

50 by 2030 all while expanding

affordable access

to jobs and destinations i’m excited to

keep an eye on pittsburgh as they share

lessons for street transformations

with other cities moving forward

we also looked at austin texas a city

always on the fastest growing cities

list

now that growth can be good but the

residents have felt the strain

they too launched a healthy streets

program opening up select streets to

just walking and cycling

now this action proved valuable in

helping residents

realize and broaden the benefit of their

tax dollars that typically pay

to serve cars new designs were

implemented on south congress

the iconic main street of texas in

downtown austin

we see in these historic photos how the

stretch of road has changed character

over time evolving with advances in

technology

civic priorities or public preferences

with city council’s direction this

stretch of road now has two

fewer lanes of car traffic a third of

the street space was given over to

people

bicycling and rolling on scooters taking

them off the busy sidewalks better

suited for dining under the oak trees

and giving them increased

comfort and safety austin residents

recently and overwhelmingly approved

more than seven

billion dollars in an unprecedented bond

referendum

a nice chunk of which is going to just

transform

streets for active mobility and safety

hundreds of low-cost

high-impact projects are going to help

build out a new bicycle and pedestrian

infrastructure

for residents of all ages and abilities

seattle pittsburgh austin and other

leading communities they’ve all done

their research

more than half of all car trips in urban

and suburban areas

are less than four miles think about a

trip to

the grocery store to the gym or to grab

a bite to eat

unlike a few years ago we now have more

mobility options for these short hops to

be easily satisfied using vehicles that

are lighter cleaner

and greener now we didn’t need a

pandemic or 80

reduction in our local economies to

realize that our love affair with cars

has lost its luster but the public

emergency

helps spur quick change we can now build

on this momentum

and push it further you see coven 19 has

allowed us to time travel to see what

our cities would be like

in 10 years when there’s other ways of

getting around town and

the car is not always king we’re past

sitting indifferent

as multi-ton vehicles go hurling by our

homes at highway speed

cars are too big for these short trips

we don’t need insulated hiking boots to

attend ballet class within 20 minutes

of where most of us live that is in our

existing communities

we already have the goods and services

that we access

on a daily or weekly basis streets are

the single largest physical asset in

cities they are owned by the public and

we can get more out of them to achieve

our goals

but to do so we need to open up our

aperture

and look beyond having them always be

set up for cars

rethinking streets ramps up our climate

crisis plans nationwide

it draws into focus how these spaces are

engines for equity

by adopting new formula for how

infrastructure resources

can be spent to increase accessibility

for all

and let’s not lose sight of another

public health crisis the number of

people who die

in car crashes equal to a boeing 737

going down every other day

the city actions that i’ve described

document how streets

can change to accommodate emerging

cost-effective solutions

all while out without sacrificing much

comfort convenience

or accessibility a hundred years ago

as cities were grappling with issues of

clean water and safe housing

streets were handed over to a relatively

narrow goal

of maximizing vehicular traffic flow now

owing to technological economic and

environmental change

we hold in our hand the prospects for a

much brighter future

and we know how to get there we’re in a

once in a century situation with the

pandemic

we have the public’s attention

repurposing streets by inviting smaller

vehicles into our lives

and de-emphasizing cars is possible

the evidence shows us that in the long

run we’ll save money

lives and will make our communities more

just and resilient

thank you