+ and - of Today's Cities

We had another beautiful day in Vancouver today.  Sunny, summer-like weather.  People were out.  Big time.  The Soapbox Race along 4th Avenue was on.  The Avalon Country Fair was in full swing on Wales Street near 41st Ave. and Nanaimo St.  Santana was playing GM Place downtown.  The Vancouver Whitecaps had a game at Swangard Stadium.  The Fringe Festival was in full swing as well.  So lots to do in the great city on the first weekend of September.  To me these are the positives of living in a city.

A hot, gridlocked commuting nightmare in Vancouver today.  Sunday drivers, festivals, street closures.  Cars were out, people were coming from all over the place.  Victoria and Nanaimo was gridlocked.  4th Avenue was closed to traffic.  1st ave was packed as we neared GM place.  To me these are the negatives of living in a city.

I love driving.  I love taking to the highway.  An open stretch of road, with nice curves and new, smooth pavement, is a lot of fun.  Sunroof open, music on.  What I don't like (I'd even say what I hate!) is city driving.  This dislike has slowly changed to hate over the last few months that I have been driving a lot less.  Today we were stuck in traffic quite a few times due to the events mentioned above.  We need to figure out a way to get people out of their cars.  We really do. One of our many congestion induced stoppages today was on Terminal Avenue.  All of us sitting in our metal cages, spewing gasoline moving along at three feet every minute or so.  Above us the Skytrain (Vancouver's rapid transit service) was zipping by every five minutes.

Over the last month I have envisioned a city where neighbourhoods within a city are connected via rapid transit, bicycle lanes and footpaths.  Where people must take to their feet, to two wheels or maybe to small electric cars if they are unable to walk to the grocer, pharmacy, cafe, pub.  These small electric vehicles would also be available to carry larger loads around.  Commercial spaces would be close to the transit stops.  Cargo only transit trains would run along the transit lines to allow goods to travel from warehouse to retailer around the city.

Cities would be connected by highways and intercity trains.  Smaller towns and villages would likely not have as elaborate a system but their growth would be planned to accommodate the services mentioned above.

Less pollution, people in better shape.  And we'd still all enjoy the fantastic benefits of having so many people living so densely.  Cities really are the ways to solve many of our planet's problems.  More services and products can be delivered to more people in a much more efficient way.  But that means people need to agree to living in smaller spaces (not 2000 sq. ft or larger homes with private yards), need to agree to travel via transit (not individual vehicles) and so on.  It just requires a mental switch.  Just........