The Vital Role of The Bicycle in Creating Cleaner, More Liveable Smart Cities
Cities face increasing competition for attracting and retaining residents and businesses. With advances in technology and transportation making it easier for people to live and work anywhere, cities will have to offer compelling reasons for people to choose them over others. To win, cities will need to offer a high quality of life, a strong economy, and a diverse array of cultural and recreational opportunities. They will also have to focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship, as well as addressing issues such as affordability, safety, and traffic congestion. Ultimately, the cities that can successfully create attractive, liveable environments will be the ones that succeed in attracting and retaining residents.
The vision of a smart city is one where people, businesses, and the environment thrive together in harmony. This requires a multi-faceted approach that addresses a wide range of issues, from air quality to transportation to the built environment. Improving air quality is one of the critical steps towards this goal. By reducing the number of cars on the road and in so doing reducing CO2 and PM2.5 emissions and promoting active transportation options such as bicycles and mass transit, cities can create healthier and cleaner environments for their residents. The more welcome future cities are to bicycles, the greener and healthier the city becomes. The healthier the city means higher air quality…
Our focus in this report, is not only the distance travelled but the end bicycle storage destination. During the past few decades, we have seen a continued increase in car parking spaces in the city, which in turn has led to an increase in demand for cars. As cities become more populated, so cities became more congested with single vehicles. It is our belief that the bicycle and active travel is a vital aspect of tomorrow’s smart cities reversing this trend. The bicycle will help reduce the number of cars on the road, free up parking spaces for other uses, create a better social fabric, healthier population, produce positive economic and social benefits, and so forth. It’s good news that cities are spending more on infrastructure with bike lanes, increased sidewalks, etc.
This is why we are focusing on both the distance travelled but the final destination. It’s important that we have the proper infrastructure for bicycles to park within the city buildings and transportation nodes outside mass transport access points. As noted by the European Parliament resolution of 16 February 2023 on developing an EU cycling strategy there are many other benefits for a wider adoption of the bicycle and a bicycle culture. Some of these include the creation of green jobs within the bicycling industry, promotion of cycle-friendly workplaces, increasing accessibility and social affordability.
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