One of the most disappointing aspects of my recent Africa trips was the discovery that cities are being developed round the needs of cars rather than people.
I was particularly disappointed to read about Dar es Salaam, which had a good public bus service when I lived there in the nineteen seventies. I have a vivid memory of some live crabs escaping from my shopping basket in a bus on the way back from market!
As you say, it’s been known for years that designing a city around the private motor vehicle won’t work. Unfortunately the people making the decision are probably the ones owning private cars and in thrall to the idea that it’s the way ahead. Sad.
Cars are much more than just mobility systems. Most importantly they signal status, and to a certain extent they offer security when travelling - think of them like a mobile combination of your clothes and your home and you're not too far off what their true significance is. Particularly in developing countries I imagine that both come top of most people's priorities - as they did and still do in this country.
Developing countries are always told by large corporations that this is the modern way forward, and at vast unrecoverable expense, they believe it.
I was particularly disappointed to read about Dar es Salaam, which had a good public bus service when I lived there in the nineteen seventies. I have a vivid memory of some live crabs escaping from my shopping basket in a bus on the way back from market!
As you say, it’s been known for years that designing a city around the private motor vehicle won’t work. Unfortunately the people making the decision are probably the ones owning private cars and in thrall to the idea that it’s the way ahead. Sad.
Cars are much more than just mobility systems. Most importantly they signal status, and to a certain extent they offer security when travelling - think of them like a mobile combination of your clothes and your home and you're not too far off what their true significance is. Particularly in developing countries I imagine that both come top of most people's priorities - as they did and still do in this country.
Well in the near future their will be a big shortage of petrol and diesel curticy of Trump so no cars!