Cars are getting a bad name as major polluters taking up prime downtown real estate that could be turned into sidewalk cafés and sales areas.
Without cars, downtowns would have no need for parking lots, creating more space for shops and apartment buildings. Pedestrians and bicycle riders could make their way around safely and quietly. Or so the theory goes.
“Walkable” downtowns are supposed to be compact, fun and attractive. The air would smell fresher – no diesel fumes. They would encourage people to spend time wandering through shops and stopping to chat with friends.
Think in terms of old European cities like Venice, with photo-worthy buildings everywhere and exquisitely car-free streetscapes. Cars get parked in vast lots outside the city; people get around Venice on foot or in charming gondolas or water taxis.
Think again. Most of those quaint, car-free European streets and squares were already old by the time the internal combustion engine was invented. People lived close to where they worked, shopped and dined. They had to.
With few exceptions, our cities developed around motor vehicle transportation routes. Instead of little self-contained communities, they had commercial areas stretched out along major routes or clustered in malls, and residential enclaves devoid of anything but houses on the outer rim. As time went on, people who could afford a house in the ‘burbs lived further and further from where they worked. The only people who lived downtown were the poor.
Mind you, some wealthier folks started to compare gridlock and two-hour commutes with life in a conveniently-located city condo. Once-shunned downtown residential areas got “gentrified” and became hot commodities.
The pandemic and telecommuting caused a mass exodus from those city condos to communities where people could walk or bike downtown and enjoy a better quality of life. Now our small communities are sprouting residential developments in the usual location – the outer edges – where people need cars. And they expect to have nice, wide streets with ample and conveniently-located parking spots, not glorified country roads with awkward angles, visibility issues and so much traffic that pedestrians are taking their lives in their hands every time they venture downtown.
Pedestrian-friendly 21st century communities do not just happen; they require planning.
Those “walkable” European cities with the proverbial “butcher, baker and candlestick maker” plus coffee shops and other amenities on every block grew that way naturally, when walking was the usual way of getting around. The addition of automobiles causes a different growth pattern.
We need to acknowledge we are not inclined to require little grocery stores and other shops in every subdivision; they would not be profitable. We want the residents increasing the profit margin at our existing downtown stores.
In addition, our small rural communities tend to have a large number of elderly people – retiring from farming and moving into town is what people have always done around here.
It worked well when every small, rural community had its own grocery store, pharmacy, doctor, dentist and bank. That is no longer the situation.
The availability of various forms of transportation has directed the growth patterns of our urban areas, and transportation will dictate how our communities grow in the future.
If we want people downtown, shopping, we have to ensure they can get there, when they want to get there, and are able to transport their purchases home. The personal car makes that easy.
Eliminating cars from downtown, but keeping the shops – and shoppers – means providing some kind of public transportation. Everyone from the teens who work summers in tourism-related businesses and coffee shops, to the owners and clients of those businesses and shops, would benefit.
This area has seen businesses close for want of staff, people forced to move when they are no longer able to drive, and collisions on roads not designed for the volume of traffic using them.
If we want our compact, vibrant downtowns to remain viable, as the province continues shifting away from fuel-burning vehicles, we have to include public transit in growth planning.
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Pauline Kerr is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter currently working for Midwestern Newspapers. She can be reached at pkerr@midwesternnewspapers.com.
