Conducive Urban Form and Infrastructure. Greater London has a population density of around 5,700/km2; around ten times higher than the second most densely populated region in England (ONS, 2020). This is much higher than comparable regions for the cities of Paris, New York and Berlin, but lower than others, such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo (Wingham, 2016). It is also considered a polycentric city. In assessing journeys on the underground network around Greater London, Xxxx et al (2011). They found three ‘core’ centres of activity (The City, West End and Docklands), and a further seven playcentres of activity. Eight of these centres are within Central London, with the exceptions being the Docklands and West London (not to be confused with the West End). However, this analysis limited to the underground network, which is concentrated around Central London, and other centres may emerge if this analysis were extended to include other modes (including the bus network and the London Overground). The interviewees held rather mixed views on whether London’s urban form and infrastructure as a whole is suited to a transition to low carbon mobility. For example, while LI-7 felt that “London is, amazingly for its size, incredibly well configured” for this transition, while LI-3 believed that “of major [world] cities, [London is] one of the most ill-suited to this transition that I’ve come across”. But, the interviewees also highlighted nuance between these polar views, with LI-4 & 7 both broadly of the view that difficulty stems in part from London’s size, which “presents some challenges” (LI-7), but also because London “is one of the oldest cities in the world…with pipes and tunnels everywhere, and 2,500 years of people building ‘stuff’, making reconfiguration “very hard and very expensive” (LI-1). LI-2 believed that the underground network, which at 402km is the fifth longest metro system in the world, forms the “spine of low-carbon mobility in London”. Although LI-4 agreed that the underground network and wider public transport system is “incredibly comprehensive, incredibly vast”, they also believed it is “incredibly centralised”, in that it is designed to move as many people into the centre as efficiently as possible. Despite the overarching conclusions of Xxxx et al (2011), the limitations of the study linked with this view of the design of London Underground in particular leads to the view that “London is a very uni-centric city…[with] everybody commuting into the centre”, making it more diffi...
Conducive Urban Form and Infrastructure. Unlike many other (west) German cities, the City of Freiburg has maintained its light rail (tram) line network and is constantly expanding it. This has been described as a key pillar in enabling Freiburg’s citizens to travel sustainably. Another distinguishing factor in Freiburg’s infrastructure is the City’s decision to renovate and rebuild the historic city centre after its almost complete destruction in World War II, and to pedestrianise most of the city centre (Agora Verkehrswende 2020). Interviewed stakeholders have noted the relative lack of space to build new infrastructure due to the competition for living space, space for roads, and other uses. For example, despite for the broad support for electric mobility, installing appropriate charging infrastructure is seen as a challenge, because of the lack of space. In addition, the city is a local hub, attracting many daily commuters which put additional pressure on the infrastructure and makes sustainable mobility planning a challenge. One interviewee also noted that there is a bigger problem at the federal level where the necessary infrastructure to move toward lower emissions is not being created to the extent necessary because of competing interest and the federal system. This affects Freiburg, too, because i.e. train tracks bringing commuters into the city are currently not expanded and this is beyond the City’ sphere of influence. Score: 2/3
