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Zurich: priority to public transport, walking and cycling

The city of Zurich is known for the quality of its public transport - trams and buses - and their very high modal share (37% of all trips are made by public transport). An integrated traffic management system covering the whole city allots systematic priority to public transport at crossroads. Being faster makes them more attractive. Zurich leads also an active policy of refitting prior industrial wastelands and favours urban density. These urban planning policies result in a context favouring pedestrians.

Since 2001 the city adopted a mobility strategy entitled “Mobilität ist Kultur” (Mobility is Culture), for a more sustainable mobility, which supports in particular the principle of a city of the short distances. This pol- icy results in 18 “partial strategies” which define, among others, the objectives and measures regarding the various types of mobility, parking policy, street design and public spaces, mobility consulting, and more insti- tutional issues such as how to collaborate at the various scales (canton, region) and financing models. Two of these partial strategies specifically address pedestrian issues:

- the partial Strategy “pedestrian mobility” underlines the very important role of walking in urban mobility - “the city only lives when there are pedestrians” - it aims to promote journeys on foot and to ensure a continuous, safe and attractive pedestrian network, particularly in the districts (the downtown area’s full potential is more or less attained, with 43% of journeys carried out exclusively on foot); - the partial Strategy “disabled persons, older persons and children” emerges from a participatory

procedure which actively integrated those concerned through specific workshops, and gave the op- portunity to professionals to test a given route on a wheelchair in order to better understand the prob- lems that it entails regarding urban design. A dedicated website allows a permanent interaction be- tween inhabitants and the city administrative services.

The development of the partial Strategy “handicapped people, old people and children” integrated all the groups concerned through various forms of participation (here a workshop with children). (Source: Tiefbauamt Stadt Zürich)

A strategy to rediscover walking: during the summer months the city organizes a series of events on the topic of mobility (theme walks, urban quiz, playful installations), allowing the (re)discovery of walking and

cycling while having fun. Also walking maps of many neighbourhoods have been published (see “urban walks” further down in this chapter).

Urban design refitting: the city has refitted many streets and squares, thereby allotting more space to pedestrians. Some of these operations entailed reintroducing surface crossing to replace the less desir- able old underground crossings (Bahnhofplatz, Schaffhauserplatz). Advanced pavements (“Kaphaltestel- len”) at bus/tram stops facilitate the access for public transport users.

www.mobilitaetskultur.ch (website in German)

Geneva: The “Plan piétons”: an example which remains a reference

The “Plan piétons” is the Pedestrian Master plan of Geneva. On the website of the city of Geneva one can read:

Many journeys in the city are quicker on foot, by bicycle or using public transport, than by car. By increasing the num- ber of journeys we undertake on foot, we make a contribution to improving air quality, an essential factor in the quality of life in the city. We also reduce pollution of all kinds caused by car traffic.

Encouraging people to walk in our streets also means guaranteeing the attraction, animation, safety and friendliness of the city, whilst looking after the health of city dwellers.

Reclaiming of the public domain by pedestrians thus means that our streets and squares can play their part as places for encounters and social interaction.

The City of Geneva wishes to valorise its public areas, taking these various factors into account.

After launching, in 1995, the first phase of a Pedestrian Plan, aimed specifically at promoting walks by means of map- guides, which were extremely well received, the City now intends to implement the second generation of the Pedes- trian Plan: the master plan of pedestrian routes.

This instrument, which commits the authorities, is a pragmatic response to the numerous demands received from the City Council and the population as a whole.

It aims to remove or reduce obstacles for pedestrians, to ensure security and to improve life in the city's various dis- tricts.

This commitment in favour of pedestrians is the concrete demonstration of a stated political will: to make Geneva a city where pedestrians rediscover their rights, within a quality environmental framework.

The Master plan is based on five actions:

• encouraging walking

• valuing streets and squares within districts • facilitating pedestrian movements

• eliminating obstacles to pedestrians • traffic calming at district level.

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Each time a measure of the Pedestrian plan is imple- mented, it shows!

The Pedestrian plan is a coordination tool that gathers all the meas- ures to be set up. The plan is more than just on paper, it is a con- tinuous process comprising a large share of communication and a financing scheme. (Source: Ville de Genève)

Website: http://www.ville-ge.ch/geneve/plan-pietons/index.html (also in english) Evaluation of the walks: http://www.geo.unige.ch/oum/ (> études publiées > 2004)

Ouest lausannois: an example of urban planning on a supra-local scale

The Directing Scheme of Lausanne West (SDOL) is a planning scheme gathering eight municipalities located in the West of Lausanne. These form a very dynamic sector totalling 65,000 inhabitants and 33,000 workplaces within a territory of approximately 26 km2 (city of Lausanne not included).

Within the framework of this large-scale project, six complementary studies targeting certain topics were developed, including one devoted to human-powered mobility. At this large scale it was of course not possible to include pedestrian-friendly measures in detail, but the “Directing Scheme of human-powered mobility and public spaces” allowed:

- to develop arguments on the role of soft mobility within this scale,

- to define a network for pedestrians and cyclists exceeding municipal boundaries, - to target priority actions by specifying the objectives concerning the pedestrians - to define which collaborations are needed.

This work is used as pilot scheme for the development of the other sectors within the Lausanne-Morges agglomeration project (PALM), of which the SDOL is one of the specific sectors. The interest of this ex- ample lies in its large scale (which exceeds the local scale and requires collaborations between munici- palities) and the fact it deals with suburban spaces, whose urban development is often quite unfriendly towards pedestrians.

Ouest lausannois: eight municipalities sheltering 65,000

inhabitants and 33,000 workplaces, and a typical suburban territory unfavourable to pedestrians (car-oriented urban development, long distances, detours and isolated tissues). (Source: Schéma directeur de l’Ouest lausannois, orthophoto Swisstopo)

www.ouest-lausannois.ch> chantier 5 (in french).47

Burgdorf/Berthoud: Model City for Pedestrians and Cyclists

The small town of Burgdorf/Berthoud (15,000 inhabitants), in the canton of Bern, was selected for a pilot project “Model City for Pedestrians and Cyclists” within the framework program “Energy 2000” (see chap- ter 5, Impulse programs).

The city Master Plan revised in the middle of the 90s’ already proposed, regarding mobility, to systemati- cally improve the connections for pedestrians and cyclists, traffic calming along the main arteries and ultimately vying towards a more sustainable modal split: +1/3 of journeys on foot and +1/5 of journeys on bicycle by the year 2000. In terms of urban planning policy, the Master Plan envisaged a densification within the existing districts and an urban development based on bettered public transport lines.

The project “Model City for Pedestrians and Cyclists” allowed the development of many innovating meas- ures. Most known is the “Flanierzone” (“strolling zone”, a test version of the “encounter zone” in the city centre), which allowed the introduction into the Swiss legislation of the “encounter zone” (see chapter 5, policy on traffic-calmed zones). Certain experiments were discontinued, but the majority were kept over time and remain as of today examples of reference: home delivery by electric bicycle in partnership with the local shops, a bicycle centre beside the railway station including a repair shop and bicycle hire, “Car- Los” terminals deploying organized hitch-hiking procedures, sustainable mobility actions in partnership with local sports associations, mobility management for local companies, programs teaching mobility in schools, the Mobility Jackpot (see below) are examples of measures developed within the Burgdorf pro- ject. Other, yet more traditional, measures were also implemented, such as overall planning for improving safety on the way to school, improving pedestrian connections with peripheral districts, systematically taking pedestrians into account when designing new constructions.

The Burgdorf project lasted ten years (1996-2006). It officially ended in spring 2007.

www.burgdorf.ch > Umwelt > FuVeMo (in German, some summaries in French).

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Among many tested measures: the system of home delivery by electric bicycle, set up in partnership with commercial partners, allowed for a 21% decrease in car trips in favour of cycling (+18%) and walking (+3%). (Source & photo: Martin Wälti)