Engineering Feedback Loops - Part 2

Cities from Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic.  Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by popular bike-sharing programs.  Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city.  And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of "environmental zones" where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter.

The feedback loop?  Many European cities are creating environments openly hostile to cars.  The feedback loops may vary, the the behavior modification is clear - - to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

Consider the points in The New York Times (June 27, 2011), Across Europe Irking Drivers is Urban Policy:

• Europe has an urban planning focus on creating environments welcoming walking and free of cars.
• Traffic signals have been reprogrammed to favor people, trains, and trams instead of trucks and cars.
• Speed limits have been greatly reduced and crosswalks have been removed - - giving walkers the right to cross wherever they like.
• The goal is to make urban driving a "stop and go experience."
• Gas is often $8 per gallon in Europe and driving costs are two to three times per mile more than the United States.
• The European Union cannot meet a commitment under the Kyoto Treaty to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions unless they curb driving.  The United States never ratified the treaty.
• In many European communities, road closings must be approved by referendum.
• Reducing the number of parking spots in urban areas was a critical first test in getting people out of their cars.
• European building codes cap the number of parking spaces in new buildings to discourage car ownership.
• The wrong feedback loop - - new apartment complexes built along the light rail line in Denver devote their bottom eight floors to parking, making it "too easy" to get in the car rather that take advantage of rail transit.
• Zurich has worried about a drop in retail business with street closings - - this fear has proved unfounded because pedestrian traffic increased 30 to 40 percent.