[This is the third piece in a multi-part series examining the city through the lens of the Green Metropolis, by David Owen]
The book ends by describing a trip the author took to Beijing, where he found a walkable, dense city being rapidly eaten by the automobile. A particularly engaging set of paragraphs notes the compulsive driving habits of a population that now has access to the cheap, mass-produced automobile. The gleaming eyes of his taxi driver insist on driving three blocks, when David is happy to walk one.
The rest of the world wants the good life, just like us. This is the crux of the problem: can our world assume the additional burden of 1 or 2 billion more private automobiles and the attendant urban patterns they create?
Even if North America wakes up and embraces living smaller, living closer and driving less, the massively urbanizing populations of the Asia are not waiting. Entire cities are being built based on the ‘best practices’ of North American automobile urbanism. Growth is happening in a way we cannot imagine.
All of this seems very paralyzing; how can my individual life-decisions stop a billion cars driving in China?
David suggests that small actions are better than none.
Ask yourself: what can I do to make my neighbourhood more walkable? Do we need day-to-day shopping facilities nearby? A stoplight to safely cross a busy street? Road-calming to slow traffic? A new bike lane or more convenient bus stop? Write a letter to your city hall, asking for these things.
Advocate for denser living patterns. Don’t call that multi-storey apartment or workplace proposed for your neighbourhood an ‘eyesore’ and organize a petition to stop its construction; rather demand that it is attractively designed and includes a library, hairdresser, doctor’s office or cafe to help make your community denser, more connected, more walkable.
The gleam in the eye of the Chinese taxi driver can also be present in you.
[Look for Yes is More, part four of this series]