"Is walking transport?" - Perceptions and ideologies of sustainable

“Is walking transport?”
Perceptions and Ideologies of Sustainable Transport Modes
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
6th International Symposium of Networks for Mobility
University of Stuttgart, 27-28 September 2012
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Declared objective
by most governments:
Making transport more sustainable
e.g. by promoting walking, cycling,
public transport
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
The reality
Slow progress, many barriers and setbacks, difficult changes
Sauter,
Mobility
Research,
Zürich
DanielDaniel
Sauter,
UrbanUrban
Mobility
Research,
Switzerland
Why?
An observation:
The will for change is usually there, but when
it comes to walking and cycling, we come
across interesting perceptions and ideologies
that (unconsciously) undermine the good
intentions.
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Overview
How the spirit of the times influences perceptions
– of walking, streets & public spaces. A historical-sociological approach
Institutional perceptions and treatment of walking
– what the figures say – and what they imply
Three paradoxes
– “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” or “This is not a crossing”
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Spirit of the times
In 5 steps through 100 years…
…of how walking, streets and
public spaces have been
perceived and treated
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Futurism (ca. 1910 to end of 1920‘s)
Glorification of unleashed technological forces, of speed, violence and war
“We declare that the glory
of the world has been
enriched by a new beauty:
the beauty of speed…”
F.T. Marinetti,
Futurist Manifesto 1909
Luigi Russolo: Dinamismo di un automobile, 1912/13
Sources: Hansgeorg Schmidt-Bergmann, 1993; Martin & Grosenick 2006
Sauter,
Mobility
Research,
Zürich
DanielDaniel
Sauter,
UrbanUrban
Mobility
Research,
Switzerland
Futurism (ca. 1910 to end of 1920‘s)
•
•
•
•
•
Unleashing of speed: from 10 km/hr to no limit at all
Sharp rise of accidents; fear for safety of pedestrians / other road users
Battle for street space – who can use it for what purpose (also legally)
Social inequality reflected on the street (class / culture struggle)
Pollution (dust, noise)
Swiss Postcard; Source: Merki 2002
Advertisement for Spyker
cars 1910
Source: Beduhn/Klocksin
1995
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Functionalism & Totalitarianism (end of 1920‘s to ca. 1945)
”Traffic channels must be classified according to type and constructed in terms of the vehicles
and speeds they are intended to accommodate.“ (§ 60)
“The pedestrian must be able to follow other paths than the automobile network.” (§ 62)
(The Athens Charter 1933 / 1943/1973)
Excerpt from Le Corbusier‘s 3 million city, source: Le Corbusier 1945: Grundfragen des Städtebaus
• Functional view of city, street and traffic; city as machine
(also socially/culturally – e.g. films: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times)
• Separation of functions (horizontally & vertically)
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Functionalism & Totalitarianism (end of 1920‘s to ca. 1945)
• Traffic education and disciplining with two objectives:
1) reduce accidents & casualties; but in reality: more of both,
because structural changes went into exact opposite direction
2) obedience and subordination under the (totalitarian) rule(r)s, dominant social
classes & the car; disguised as „in the interest of the nation, of the commons“
Wall picture for schools, Swiss Automobile Club;
source: velojournal 2/2011
Street as place to demand obedience and to demonstrate the
ruler’s power: Munich 1937; source: Franke 1987, p.83
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Internal and external disciplining and subjection to the car logic
Chur 1939
Sources: St. Galler Verkehrsbüchlein 1930 (Haettenschwiler 1990), BfU 1997
Interlaken 1953
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Mass-Motorisation & Consumer Society (starting)
(ca. 1945 to early 1970‘s)
Source: Heathcote Williams: Autogeddon, 1992
“The decline of the price of fossil fuels, which began in the fifties and
intermittently continued to this day, has decisively influenced the
economy and society.”
Christian Pfister, The 1950‘s Syndrom, 1996, p. 27
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Mass-Motorisation & Consumer Society (starting)
• Loss of space and network for pedestrians without gaining safety
• Changing public spaces into driving and parking places
• Traffic safety campaigns: individualising a structural problem
• Motorways, shopping malls and suburbanisation (=> car dependency)
Opening of first Swiss motorway 1955 Horw;
source: VCS Magazin 2011
Schaffhausen, 1969; source: Stadtpolizei Schaffhausen
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Turning advantages of walking into disadvantages
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Limits to growth (mid 1960‘s to mid 1980‘s)
• Visionary ideas by pioneers
Dennis Meadows et al. („Limits to growth“, 1972); Jane Jacobs (“The death and
life of great American cities”, 1961); Colin Buchanan („Traffic in Towns“, 1963);
William H. Whyte (“The social life of small urban spaces”, 1980); Jan Gehl (“Life
between buildings”, 1980); Donald Appleyard („Livable Streets“, 1981)
• Cultural and social liberalisation
(music, gender, race, nature, world solidarity etc.)
• Structural and institutional changes
(e.g. re environmental protection laws)
• Creation of advocacy organisations
(e.g. WWF 1961; Greenpeace 1971)
Source: Meadows et al., 1972
“If the present growth trends in world population,
industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource
depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this
planet will be reached sometime within the next 100 years.”
(Club of Rome; Meadows et al. 1972, p.29)
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Limits to growth (mid 1960‘s to mid 1980‘s)
• Singular improvements and “experiments”:
first pedestrian areas in old cities, first woonerven, introduction of speed limits
in built-up areas; start of bicycle renaissance; pedestrian routes (linear A to B)
• Peak of traffic casualties in late 1960‘s, early 1970‘s
First woonerf (Wohnstrasse) in Switzerland 1979/1980
Pedestrian zone Cologne 1976, Deutsches Bundesarchiv
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Neoliberalism (early 1980‘s to today?)
Neo-liberal assumptions:
“Freedom can only materialise itself within the market logic. (…) Justice is when no one is
prevented from free-market access, social is, when the market-economy can freely develop
its momentum." (Ralf Ptak 2005, p. 63, translation D.S.)
• Deregulation reaches the streets; e.g. Shared Space
• „Walking is more than just walking“ (Jan Gehl); „Link & Place“
from linear to area wide planning – public space, social aspects
• Health and active lifestyles
Source: www.begegnungszonen.ch
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Neoliberalism (early 1980‘s to today?)
• High quality public spaces as economic assets
for tourism, businesses, investors => ‘liveable cities’ ranking
discovery of pedestrian as consumer; (over-) commercialisation
• City as party place: intense use, conflict, surveillance & social exclusion
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Institutional perceptions
and treatment of walking
What the figures say…
…and what they imply
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
100%
3%
3%
4%
1%
90%
80%
51%
70%
60%
69%
12%
50%
11%
40%
12%
30%
6%
20%
37%
41%
20%
10%
6%
0%
5%
40%
45%
time spent
number of stages
28%
2%
distance
walking
5%
trips (main modes)
cycling
public transport
Common effects and assumptions:
“If it looks negligible it will be neglected”
“The longer the trip the more important it is”
motorized transport
other
Source: FSO, ARE, Swiss Mobility and Transport Microcensus 2005
Mode share based on distance underestimates walking
Average distance/day in CH: 36.7 km
but: 72% < 36.7 km; 29% < 5 km
Median: 14.8 km
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Distance and income: both very unevenly distributed
Household income (per month)
810
up to 3.300 €
7'843
3.300-6.700 €
2'406
11'059
3'216
1'518
12'433
Change 2005/2010
-2‘100km / -16%
18'285
4'334
5'852
6.700-10.000 €
1'996
17'232
6'403
25'631
8'399
10.000 € & more
21'273
2'227
10'117
33'617
12'344
Everyday mobility
.
0
5'000
Day trips
10'000
Overnight trips
15'000
Change 2005/2010
+3‘100km / +12.4%
20'000
25'000
30'000
35'000
Distance in km (per year)
Source: FSO, ARE, Swiss Mobility and Transport Microcensus 2010
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Distances and resource distribution
Distribution of trip distances
Distribution of resources
Long-distance trips
Distances more than
30 km (7%)
Middle-range trips
Distances 5 to 30 km
(30%)
Short-distance trips
Distances up to 5 km
(63%)
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
“Funds spent” should follow “time spent”
not mobile:
23 hours a day = 96%
being mobile:
1 hour per day
= 4%
=> Necessity for a fundamental shift of political focus, planning
resources and funding towards public space and walking/cycling
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Paradoxes
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
The subsidy-for-sustainability paradox
The most sustainable modes –
walking & cycling – are often excluded
from sustainability programs because
there is nothing to make them more
sustainable.
As non-technical, non-commercial
mode the situation for walking is
worst…
Why not include walking in the
emission trading schemes, in reward
and subsidy programs, in energy
saving promotions, in research et
cetera?
Source: American Stock Photography 1988
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
The commuter-tax-deduction paradox
Commuter tax deductions reward those who put the
biggest strain on infrastructure, environment,
resources and other people. The further you go, the
more you can deduct. Those not commuting or those
walking can’t deduct anything. On the contrary, they
have to cover the tax losses from the others.
Example of deductions according to distance
30 km
90 km
Car
€ 6.400
€ 20.200
Public transport
€ 1.500
€ 2.500
€ 580
€ 580
€0
€0
Bicycle
Walk
Source: St. Galler Tagblatt, 25. Mai 2012
Urban
Rural
Building Maintenance
€ 2.200
€ 45
Costs per
€ 19.000
€ 400
person
Source: Schalcher et al. 2011, Ecoplan 2000
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
The public-transport-acceleration paradox
Before and after each public transport
ride, passengers are pedestrians.
This requires an integral view.
In the Swiss railway system it costs
about € 80 Mio to gain one minute of
journey time. It sometimes is forgotten
that at the end of the trip the
passengers stand for 2 minutes at a
traffic light….
Traffic signals are often optimized for
trams and busses but not for the
passengers wanting to reach them….
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Photo: Dirk Buwalda 1986, Kyoto, Japan
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
Thank you!
Enjoy your
walks!
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland
[email protected]
Daniel Sauter, Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland