SLOW CITY: START HERE

FOR THE RECORD AND IN BRIEF:

A Slow City is an urban development vision and quantifiable target, the first step of which is  (a) to reduce traffic accidents and their human and economic costs to zero  in the city, by (b) strategically slowing down traffic, over all the parts and the system as a whole. This gives the city a measurable target output (accident data and on-street and in-vehicle ITS feedback) for evaluation and management purposes,  and an innovative platform to link and serve other sustainable projects and programs which are consistent to the theme: reforms and improvements that are Better | Cheaper | Quicker.

But this is just a first step in a much more ambitious process. In parallel with this, a second but closely related program is  (c) to reduce stop-and-start driving through an aggressive technical program combining street architecture modifications, clear signage, smart signaling and state of the art modeling and ITS technologies.

This dual starting point sets a positive, visible base for further projects and initiatives which build on these two foundation concepts. The possibilities for expansion and variation are enormous.

The combination of slower traffic and greatly reduced start and stop driving will in turn lead to numerous benefits for all: among them, reduced GHG generation, improved fuel efficiency, reduced infrastructure and private vehicle costs, public health improvements, increased safety for pedestrians and cyclists, lower noise levels, less aggressivity on the part of drivers and others on the street, more agreeable streets, neighborliness, etc.

To meet its ambitious objectives this approach requires considerable technical virtuosity in the areas of  system design, data collection, measurement, systemic analysis, computer modeling, simulation,  testing, global program support, and community outreach and involvement . . . to ensure that all proposed measures are fully vetted and fine-tuned before being tested, implemented and fine tuned on the streets of the city..

The 2017 Slow City Reader brings you useful background from the pages of World Streets to lend a hand to planners,  researchers, policy makers, NGOs, students, media and other concerned with the challenges of sustainable cities in general, and in particular with those of calming traffic speeds in combination with other complementary measures. It also  contains a  five-part “transport researcher’s toolkit” to help those who are interested to dig deeper on these issues and the tools at our disposal to deploy them.

* Click here for Reader – https://worldstreets.wordpress.com/tag/slow-city-reader/

A researcher’s toolkit to get you started

To get started –  1, 2, 3:

1. Slow City Transition: Notes for a thinking exercise  – http://wp.me/psKUY-4Yc
2. Organizing our thoughts on Slowth (Slow Cities)  – –  http://wp.me/psKUY-4Xk
3. A Slow City Primer from the World Resources Institute —  http://wp.me/psKUY-4YH

That should to  start get you in the picture. And now to dig deeper:

Supporting media

* Slow City: Notes for a Thinking Exercise: http://wp.me/psKUY-4Yc

* Slow City on World Streets: https://worldstreets.wordpress.com/tag/slow-city-reader/

* Slow City on World Streets: https://worldstreets.wordpress.com/tag/slow-city-reader/

• Slow City on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/SlowCity2020/ 

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldstreets

•  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/668837

*  Slow City on the Planners Bookshelf  – https://goo.gl/cbtjJF

 

 

And deeper: World Streets Universal search

* (1) Click HERE  and (2) pop  [“slow city”OR “slow streets’“] into open tab (With quotations marks but no brackets.  Then (3) click upper right for Sort by Date.

This combined search engine builds on the latest Google search engine, but greatly tightens the focus targeting selected coverage of, as of this date, 802 specialized international sources.

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About the author:

Eric Britton
13, rue Pasteur. Courbevoie 92400 France

Bio: Founding editor of World Streets (1988), Eric Britton is an American political scientist, teacher, occasional consultant, and sustainability activist who has observed, learned, taught and worked on missions and advisory assignments on all continents. In the autumn of 2019, he committed his remaining life work to the challenges of aggressively countering climate change and specifically greenhouse gas emissions emanating from the mobility sector. He is not worried about running out of work. Further background and updates: @ericbritton | http://bit.ly/2Ti8LsX | #fekbritton | https://twitter.com/ericbritton | and | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbritton/ Contact: climate@newmobility.org) | +336 508 80787 (Also WhatApp) | Skype: newmobility.)

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