Car free urban districts – Interactions between measures, implementation and experience

Cities and car traffic does not always fit well together. Apart from the well-knownenvironmental problems associated with traffic congestion (e.g. air pollution and noise,climate change and global warming), there are also negative local effects in the form ofincreased risk of traffic accidents, abuse of key resources (energy and time), gender issues interms of accessibility, security and power over public space and mobility patterns, financiallosses and lost space due to increasing car traffic and the need for available parking spaces(e.g. Sheller & Urry, 2000; Berger et al., 2014; Halling et al., 2016). These problems cansignificantly reduce the cities' attractiveness for residents and temporary visitors.Furthermore, an increase in car traffic has proved to be negative for place related functionssuch as meeting places, or just places to visit or stay at, and for public health because of thereduced opportunities to perform physical and social activities such as walking and cycling(Lee, & Buncher, 2008). In order to effectively manage the present traffic overload, publicadministrations and transport authorities must have a comprehensive understanding of thelocal context, including the mobility needs of travelers and residents. One of the startingpoints for this three-year research project on planning and implementation of car-free districtshas been to perform an interdisciplinary literature review, in which literature that triangulatescar-free urban planning measures, concrete neighborhood interventions and quality of lifeparameters is scrutinized. The intention has been to find out the state of art regarding theinteraction between measures, actual implementation and users’ experience of car freedistricts. The results so far suggests that there is a lack of research addressing the interactionof the three variables, suggesting the need for more empirical studies that accounts for all these different levels of environmental interactions from macro to micro (i.e. policy to finalusers of place).