LESS MOBILITY, MORE PROXIMITY World CarfreeNetwork不流动，更接近世界无车网.docVIP

LESS MOBILITY, MORE PROXIMITY: A PLEA FOR CHANGE IN URBAN PLANNING PRIORITIES - SHORT VERSION - by Randall Ghent Introduction This is not a theoretical paper. It is a plea for a change in thinking. Since the rise of mass car ownership, transport has dominated our urban planning priorities. We have sacrificed the near in our attempts to access the distant. We have become mobility consumers, travelling increasingly greater distances at increasingly greater speeds. As a result, we are increasingly alienated from our immediate environment. As John Adams writes, “In hypermobile societies, old-fashioned geographical communities are replaced by aspatial communities of interest – we spend more time, physically, among strangers.” The word “home” is less and less applicable as we lose our sense of place and sense of community. While those who seek to reform this state of affairs have been almost entirely focused on “alternative transport” or “new mobility,” I see it as vital that we look at it from a different perspective. I propose that we step out of our transport mindsets for a while and look at the concept of proximity as a counterpoint to mobility. Today, on nearly every level, we’re ignoring the former and embracing the latter, with neither understanding nor regard for the consequences. In this paper I explain the concepts of mobility and proximity, the practical implications of prioritising one or the other, why a change in priorities is important, and how in practical terms we can achieve it. Definitions Mobility is “the quality or state of moving or being moved from place to place.” Mobility levels can be measured by the distance, speed and frequency of travel. The more mobile we are, the higher the speed we are travelling, the greater the distances travelled, and the less time we spend in any one place. While mobility itself does not imply a maximisation of travel, in practice, mobility policies often do have increased mobility as the stated goal, implicit goal o