by Seble Samuel, SLOCAT-VREF Young Leader in Sustainable Transport

The LEDS GP Transport Working Group is publishing a series of five papers co-authored by young people from around the world on sustainable recovery for the transport sector: Leveraging insights from COVID-19 response measures to drive more sustainable, inclusive and resilient transport systems. Seble Samuel co-authored this paper in the series which traces the origins of the opening streets for people model and how it is successfully applied around the world.

Opening streets for people

The pandemic is fundamentally reshaping streets, providing a critical moment to rethink urban mobility systems and move beyond car-dominant models to design streets for people. The paper “Opening streets for people” outlines the transformative powers of this approach: to improve health outcomes and democratize public space for the use of the majority – pedestrians, cyclists and public transit users – but also to power economic regeneration as businesses take to the streets.

Following the traditions and inspiration of open streets movements, experiences from India, Ethiopia and Mexico highlight how infrastructure for active mobility and progressive non-motorized transport policies can allow for cities that are decidedly different. These future realities, being piloted as elements of urban recovery, put people at the center of streets and transport planning to radically transform post-pandemic cities.

LEDS-GP_Opening-streets-for-people

This paper was co-authored by Seble Samuel, and Chris Dekki, Angela Enriquez and Nikola Medimorec from the LEDS Transport Working Group.

Download the paper here.