Imagine stepping into a city with healthy, clean air, public parks, and people riding bicycles, skateboards and scooters. This is how city life should be, revolving around people and not cars.
If car usage is reduced in cities, the much needed space can be used for better infrastructure and active transport, allowing more room for bike lanes and sidewalks, while also creating safer environments for pedestrians.
Not only would an increase in development for active transportation create safer conditions, it would also enhance the physical health for those who participate in keeping active. According to Forbes, only 28 percent of Americans are exercising enough.
Allowing more opportunities for people to stay fit can increase that percentage and help Americans live with a healthier lifestyle.
Opening up space for parks and biodiversity can lower temperatures in our environment and help fight climate change.
According to Greenpeace, when Paris city centre went car-free in 2015, nitrogen dioxide levels dropped up to 40 percent in certain areas, and noise levels dropped by half. Similarly, many parts in the Florida Keys have gone car-less, where residents and visitors take trolleys, bikes, or walk to get around the Islands. This has helped preserve some of the parks and wildlife that inhabit the islands.
“There’s a lot of ways that our cities could be a lot better, one of them is to reduce urban sprawl, which is building out and having everything be car-ori-ented,” Environmental Science teacher Amy Leonard said.
According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, factories where cars and oil are produced emit chemicals and greenhouse gases into our air, releasing byproducts like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, with most vehicles emitting carbon dioxide.
Minimizing urban sprawl would reduce this pollution that is partially responsible for more than 7 million premature deaths a year and ease health concerns.
“Nitrogen dioxide and Carbon monoxide are respiratory irritants causing coughing, wheezing and exacerbation of pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as asthma,” Anatomy teacher Lisa Berner. “Carbon monoxide’s exposure can be fatal, and Formaldehyde causes respiratory irritation that can cause permanent tissue and organ damage.”
Additionally, cars also take up a mass amount of space in cities. According to the Department of Energy and Big Think, each household vehicle on the road generally holds 1.5 people per trip, leaving each car around 80 percent empty. But that’s not all, if you own a vehicle, you’ll need a place to park it, whether it’s at home or in public and unfortu-nately, parking lots take up about one-fifth of land in U.S. city centers and 20 percent of its prime locations.
Overall, cars are less efficient compared to other methods of transportation like buses or trains, where they hold much more people and take up less space per person. To create a healthier environment and life for people, cities should be built around those values and people instead of motor vehicles. If safe, pedestrian only zones are built and sidewalks are expanded along with more bike lanes and crosswalks, active transport will be encouraged and life