Will COVID-19 be the trigger to implement urban planning measures that favour bikes and pedestrians as David Brown reports.
Cities as diverse as Berlin and Bogotá are using so-called “tactical urbanism” to take road space from cars and give it to people on foot and on bicycles by creating or widening footpaths and bike lanes with brightly painted concrete blocks and planters.
Now New Zealand Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has invited their cities to apply for 90% funding to widen sidewalks and carve out temporary cycleways, measures that can be put in place in hours and days rather than the weeks and months that it can often take to design, approve and install such infrastructure.
Extra space for people will enable key workers and others to maintain two meters of physical distance when walking or cycling.
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