Rebuild Cities for Private Motorists Mr. Brunner
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CITIES could never escape the forces of technological change. Failure to adapt meant decline, and a great and challenging task, the renewal of our cities, confronted us. This was stated by Mr. Christopher
Brunner, vice-chairman of the British Road Federation, when he presented a paper, "Cities—Living with the Motor Vehicle," in London yesterday. 1 The impact of vehicles on urban areas had created one of the most intractable problems of the present time, he said. The improvement of cities could not be brought about by a patchwork of small reforms: the task must involve physical -ebuilding of our civilization and shedding he belief that nothing effective could be :lone.
Paradox of Growth
In England and Wales 40 per cent. of the population lived in six giant con!. urbations, and in Scotland a similar proportion of the population lived around Clydeside. The main criticism of these conurbations was that they sapped vitality from other parts of the country. ftseemed Paradoxical that the demand For industrial and office sites in urban centres should continue to grow at a time when modern communications reduced the necessity for centralization„
Urban centres attracted people becausei of the variety of employment to be found in them. Increasing car ownership and people's desire for a house and garden had put . great pressure on conurban populations to expand. The five-day week encouraged folk to live at distances from city centres. If people had to trave) to and from work six days a week and had only one day at home, they would :hink twice about living far from their work.
Attempts to encourage industry and oeople to move away from the conirbations had not succeeded. Urban Areas were continuing to grow in population and there were no signs of a .eversal of this trend. There could never be a general return to living in small communities. A great part of the popuation had acquired a taste for urban iving, and there was no alternative to naking towns and cities better places in which to live and work.
Car for Every Adult Mr. Brunner staled that no one had )een able to envisage for Britain a mode if life which did not remain predomi7 tantly urban, and town § must therefore )e adapted to satisfy the basic needs of iving. The use of cars was the main 'eature that would shape the future, and here was every indication that cventuilly there would be a car for every idult.
The challenge of the motor vehicle vas sharpest in city centres built in an earlier age. Although greatly congested by day, they continued to prosper. But there were indications that they were declining in importance. Many urban centres totally failed to serve as a fulcrum of balanced commulity life. After 6 p.m. during the week and at week-ends they were almost entirely devoid of activity.
The compression of the greater part of public travel into two peak periods five days a week had reduced the total amount of public transport. This had placed a heavy burden on the undertakings which had to provide services in off-peak hours, during which they had to carry large idle resources.
There were two possible courses of future action, said Mr. Brunner. One was to forbid the use of vehicles in the hope that this would make it unnecessary to change the present environment, but no country in the world had taken this line. The other course, and really the only practical one, was to accept the motor vehicle and modify the environment.
"It may be doubted," he said, 'whether many civic or even national authorities fully realize the dilemma in which they arc placed." There were great attractions in making it impossible, difficult, unpleasant or expensive for people to use their cars in a city. Although action on these lines had sometimes to be undertaken as a short-term palliative, it was as well to consider the long-term effects. There was the risk that a palliative might become permanent policy.
The prosperity of a city depended upon its being able to fulfil its functions sufficiently well for the surrounding population to give it their custom. The shops of one city were in competition with those of any other within driving distance. It was in a' city's interests, in fact its absolute need, to attract customers, not chase them away. If the policy were to deter customers, they would disappear, but if the city were to live it should attract customers.
The only way that this could be done was to make it easy and pleasant for them to come into the city and stay there for a while. All potential buyers should be able to get into the "spending area ' as easily as possible, leave their cars conveniently and cheaply, and depart with
the minimum of trouble, loss of time or friction with the authorities.
Public transport could and must cornPete with cars in bringing customers into and out of a town, but the distribution of population over wide areas meant that an increasing number of people would wish to make such journeys in their own cars. Moreilver,. a city should make it easy for those of its workers who lived outside its area to travel either by public or private transport, and if they used cars to dispose of them while they were at work. Car owners were not going to accept trouble and expense to maintain the prosperity of any city. They would rather switch their pattern of employment and spending to conform with the way of life they preferred.
Motorists Cannot be Harassed
Mr. Brunner said that there was far too general an assumption that it was possible to keep the motorist out of a city or " chivvy " him when he was in it. The consequence must be the diminution of a city's importance and, in the long run, possibly even its extinction. This would neither be to the advantage of the city not its public-transport system, which would find that it had fewer and not more passengers:
Operators of public transport could not be expected to show great enthusiasm for measures designed to facilitate private transport, but when the stage at which everybody owned cars was approached, it was inconceivable that any government could refuse to make the changes that were needed in the physical environment of life.
Urban sprawls might suit large countries but not Britain, where there should be a combination of higher density building and the establishment of more new towns. Mr. Brunner said that the ideas of Le Corbusier appealed to him. The architect had suggested the " vertical garden city," with pedestrian and motor traffic separated, and superilnposed dwellings rising above a park containing schools, hospitals and clubs.
Multi-storey Parks
Ground space in city centres was too valuable for car parks, and multi-storey garages were essential. It might be expedient for such garages to be subsidized by local authorities to encourage people to spend money in the cities. Although it was more profitable to build for uses other than car parking, a city might have many new buildings but increasingly fewer people because they had nowhere for their cars.
There was bound to be room for public transport. as many people would prefer tc leave their cars on the outskirts of a city and continue by bus or train. Mr. Brunner suggested two-shift daily working with movable week-ends to spread peaks in traffic.
He rejected the allegation that urban motorways did not cure congestion. They were an essential part of urban redevelopment and did not " tear the heart" out of cities, although such a hyperbole was fashionable,