walking, driving and future-ish thinking

Oh dear ranty nuttiness must be still with me, as in highly unusual turn of events am blogging for second night in a row, to personal blog no less!

Been thinking about walking. I was until a couple of years ago a total non-driver. I was a sort of angry pedestrian who shouted at cars, even my daughter started to! I remember one night in the Prince in Moseley, maybe ten years ago, giving a district nurse grief for driving everywhere (I cringe at the memory there are just some jobs were having to drive is sort of part of the deal). Anyhow three years ago my brother moved to New Zealand and when it came time for me to go and visit I was under strict instruction 'you need to be able to drive once you're here, there's very little public transport and I'll be at work and I can't drive you about'. So I learnt to drive. As it turns out, of course, there is public transport in NZ, just being a driver and a reasonably new resident he hadn't yet investigated it. I did however hire a car and my daughter and I took a bit of road trip Thelma and Louise style around a little bit of the North island, staying in Motels all the way and got to see some of the very beautiful places.

Anyway I digress - so I learnt to drive and this year, 12 months after my first NZ trip, I finally bought a car it cost me 100 great British pounds and was certainly a recycled, many times, piece of equipment, this at some level eased my guilt, as well as feeling like I'd managed 17 odd adult years as a non-driver. The thing is now I find I am becoming more and more like all those other drivers I used to get so cross with. Today as a pedestrian I took my time walking in the early afternoon sunshine and I got to thinking, reminded of how this all happens, how folks become dependent on their vehicles, how the cycle of car dependency leads to fewer folks on the streets, fewer people policing their neighbourhoods, in turn a perception that the streets become dangerous places and further car dependency ensues. Obviosuly this is my observation not an area I have researched but let me share an anacdote. I used to work with a woman who would drive from the Perry Barr campus of the university where I work across the road (albeit a big old road) in order to use the one-stop shopping centre! This was all to avoid using the underpass. Such was her fear of being a pedestrian, bearing in mind my district nurse lecture you can imagine the ear bashing this lady received.

I mean I guess this is all pretty obvious stuff. In recent discussions on how to make Birmingham (where I live) a better place there has been much made of a need for less cars and ultimately that would make a hell of a difference.The city centre is pretty much pedestrianised but all around the city are these huge, fast roads. These roads are not really compatible with walking. I have for the majority of my employment in Perry Barr used the (what I consider) fast and relaible bus service. I have considered cycling but the prospect of negotiating Newtown Road and onto PB on two wheels is pretty scary. Anyway the thing is I understand that the existing infrastructure of a city requires these big roads, goods and people in and out. But surely we need to be looking urgently at alternatives, not just from an ecological perspective, but these roads frequently go straight through the middle of residential areas.

I think we need to be taking a much more holistic approach to our big city plans recognising that all our citizens experience the city in very different ways. There is a bunch of cosmetic stuff that might make our external image a bit better. But wouldn't it be fantastic to be known as a city that took a really innovative approach to developing its neighbourhoods , had empathy for its citizens and where they live and led in innovative approaches to getting folks out of their cars. Easier said than done I realise. I reckon the battle with making a place a better place to live and be is 'buy-in' from the residents. But here's the thing couldn't taking this approach lead to all the magic ingredients for a dynamic city and prosperous economy something like this - fewer cars, more pedestrians, safer feeling streets, increased well-being amongst all citizens, potentially leading to increased inclusion, leading to greater diversity in the workplace, this diversity potentially leading to a more creative and dynamic knowledge economy, leading to a more attractive city for potential employers to be based and recruit from. Anyway I need to think this through a great deal more, but I can't help thinking that there are some linkages here in this crude and simplistic outline, that if they could be evidenced could be the basis for a convincing approach to address a bunch of issues.