New ‘data dashboard’ highlights differences between London, Paris and New York
To launch a new data dashboard for the major new international project, Car Free Megacities, climate charity Possible has produced new graphics comparing the cities of London Paris and New York. With the aim of pointing out where each city is in their journey to become more “people-friendly”, they also highlight the areas where improvements can still be made.
The statistics themselves point to striking dynamics within these three unique cities. For example, London leads in the daily number of journeys taken by public transport and bicycles (9.7m and 0.7m respectively) but London is last in percentage of journeys taken by foot (at 25% compared to Paris’s 50%). Another example is that New York leads in the percentage of people living car-free (78.2% in its inner metro areas and 47.9% in its outer metro areas) and yet has the highest percentage of its space occupied by cars (5% or 35.0km2 equivalent to just over 4,900 standard size football pitches).
Paris is lagging behind in terms of air pollution with it having the highest concentrations of NO2 and fine particle (PM2.5) air pollution. However, the city is looking to become increasingly car free. In 2020 this argument was a major element of Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s re-election campaign. On 19 September 2021, the city will hold its 7th car-free day with its most-recent one held in September 2020.
All of these cities have one thing in common: their leaders have been criticised for proposing traffic reduction methods that became overtly popular once they were implemented.
The launch of the new Car Free Megacities dashboard and the release of these graphics comes in tandem with an open letter addressed to the mayors of Paris, London and New York encouraging them to address private car use in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to help secure a livable environment and the future for people and other life on Earth.
Car Free Megacities aims to create more urban space for people and nature, clear cities of air pollution, promote healthy active travel and reduce carbon emissions. The project is a collaboration between climate charity Possible, think tank, the New Weather Institute, Paris sans Voiture, Brooklyn Spoke, University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy and Glimpse with support from the KR Foundation and Brompton.
Hirra Khan Adeogun, Head of Car Free Cities at Possible, said,
“With this new dashboard people around the world can easily see where these cities are in their journey to becoming people-friendly places. Use of private vehicles is detrimental to urban environments by getting in the way of active travel and contributing to air pollution. As parts of the world begin to emerge from a range of lockdown measures, it is time to rethink how we prioritise space in our cities and implement measures that facilitate moving through our cities in healthier ways, for their people and the planet.”
Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute, said,
“We are calling on the mayors of these three world-leading cities to pioneer - a dialogue on how to drive down traffic and pollution, increase active travel and dedicate more space to people and nature rather than cars. As the data dashboard shows, there are clear differences between these cities, and they are taking different strategies in order to transform themselves into healthier places. It is now vital to foster an environment of international collaboration so we can learn from each other, replicate and scale-up what works best and quickest to achieve rapid transition. There is a once in an era opportunity to tackle these problems together and be the inspirations for cities of the future.”
Cathy Lamri of Paris Sans Voiture, environmental activist and Project Manager for Car Free Megacities in Paris, said,
“We welcome the sustainable transformations made by the city of Paris, indeed the pedestrian and cycling zones are increasing, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, but there is still a lot more to do. We encourage the city to go much further with speed and determination. Private cars and motorised two-wheelers must become the exception, green spaces must multiply and inhabitants must be able to reclaim public space to live more productively in a more breathable city.”
Doug Gordon, a livable streets activist in Brooklyn, New York who also hosts the podcast The War on Cars, said,
“As these graphics show, significant numbers of New Yorkers already live car free. For that reason it would not take much to reclaim more space from cars in a way that is compatible with the lives of a majority of its inhabitants. The COVID crisis has shown an even greater hunger for car-free streets and Mayor de Blasio should listen to his constituents’ pleas.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For media enquiries please contact Alex Killeen via press@wearepossible.org or on 07806431577.
Hirra Khan Adeogun, Head of Car Free Cities at climate charity Possible, is available for media opportunities. Please contact press@wearepossible.org for further information.
For further information and a full pack of downloadable graphics please click HERE.
Possible is a UK based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. wearepossible.org
Possible changed its name from 10:10 Climate Action on 10th October 2019.