• by Pavol Stracansky (prague)
• Friday, September 03, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Quality of life in Eastern European cities will continue to fall unless outdated systems of city life dominated by cars are abandoned, NGOs in the region say.

At a meeting in Prague last week environmental groups from countries from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia said city authorities were failing to address growing traffic problems and lagging far behind the West in approaches to what has become a serious problem in some parts of the region.

They said that the promotion of walking and cycling as a means of transport were being ignored and that city leaders were instead focusing on more and more car transit infrastructure -- an approach they say will only worsen quality of life for people in cities.

Vitek Masare of the Czech NGO AutoMat told IPS: 'Unless things change the only choice people will have is to spend most of their time going places and using services that can only be reached by car, such as massive shopping centres.

'Large parts of cities will be emptied and services on offer will die out because they cannot be reached by cars. Local authorities need to open their eyes and take a different perspective on the future of their cities.'

Cities in Eastern Europe have fared poorly in quality of life surveys carried out by various institutions. Many of them have been rated poorly on ecology and the environment.

In the 2010 Mercer Quality of Living survey of more than 200 cities worldwide the top Eastern European city was in 70th place, and in the group's separate eco-city ranking covering criteria such as air pollution and traffic congestion, no Eastern European city made it into the top 50. There were 22 from Western Europe in the list.

Populations in major cities across the region, especially capitals, have boomed in the last two decades as people have moved from rural areas for work. Combined with growing personal wealth, this has led to a massive rise in the number of cars on city streets.

In Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, there were 71,000 new car registrations in 1998. The number rose to 350,000 a decade later, according to official statistics. Residents complain the city's streets are now constantly packed with cars, and with a shortage of official parking space, pavements are jammed with parked cars, often forcing people to risk walking on roads.

The situation is the same in almost every capital across the region.

Environmental groups say that poor or absent planning controls, corruption and a lack of political will have meant that Eastern European countries have so far put little emphasis on the environment and the principle of sustainability in their plans for cities.

Michal Krivohlavek from the AutoMat group, which promotes healthy and environmentally sustainable living in cities, told IPS: 'Cities such as Paris, London and Copenhagen are outdoing themselves to become the future eco- metropolises of Europe offering the best living conditions and cleanest environment. Cities in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary though are instead still following outdated functionalist concepts where life is dominated by traffic.'

He pointed to systems in place in major cities in neighbouring countries such as the Austrian capital Vienna and the German capital Berlin where extensive cycling lanes had been introduced and schemes and campaigns put in place to promote bicycle use.

Other cities in Western Europe have also introduced measures to limit car use, such as London's congestion charge, bicycle rental schemes in Paris, while park and tree-planting programmes, expanded pedestrian zones and cycle- only residential areas have been introduced in other cities.

Proposals by some groups to improve city environments with similar measures have been welcomed by local authorities. But those same groups say that they are often not followed up with any practical cooperation or support.

They also argue that local government budgeting for non-car transport infrastructure is poor. In Prague alone, claim the AutoMat group, 80 percent of local government spending on transport infrastructure is car-related, while of the other 20 percent only one per cent goes on projects related to bicycle transport.

Pawel Wisniewski, a Polish environmental activist who met with AutoMat and other NGOs from across Eastern Europe in Prague, told Czech media: 'Western European cities have, in recent years, radically limited car traffic in their centres and put an emphasis on the quality of public spaces, walking and bicycle transport. This has resulted in a sharp improvement of air quality, reduction in noise and dust.

'Business has also developed because streets have come to life again and cities are safe. But in the former socialist bloc this isn't happening. Cars flood the streets and improving public spaces is not a political priority.'

In a bid to draw attention to the problems, NGOs are planning a campaign this month which will see streets in selected parts of Prague, Budapest, Torun in Poland, and Kosice in Slovakia, made pedestrian zones for 24 hours with events and cycling rides.

Organisers say they are expecting 50,000 people to take part and hope to show local authorities the benefits of having fewer cars on the streets.

Virag Bencze-Kovacs from the Hungarian Cycling Club which joined the NGOs in Prague last week, said: 'When roads are not full of cars driving up and down them or parked in them, they can serve as places to walk, for outdoor cafes, as areas for kids to play or for markets or places for art.'

AutoMat's Masare added: 'What we want to see is local authorities considering some alternative approaches to the ones they have taken so far.'

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement