Question

I want an essay on cities are for people not for cars

Answer 1

More people in cities means more cars. By 2050, cities will add more than 2.5 billion people and global car ownership could reach 2 billion (PDF), nearly double today’s level. By focusing on what makes us drive in the first place, transport demand management (TDM) can improve mobility and quality of life in a rapidly urbanizing world.

The social, economic and environmental costs of auto-dependent cities are already high. Traffic crashes worldwide claim more than 1.2 million lives every year and are on track to be the fifth-leading cause of death by 2030. In the United States, commuters waste 4.8 billion hours in traffic each year, translating to $101 billion in lost economic productivity. And in Beijing, the costs of congestion and air pollution are an estimated 7 to 15 percent of GDP.

Urban mobility solutions traditionally have focused on the supply side, particularly on expanding roadways. By contrast, TDM focuses on strategies to reduce travel demand, especially from single-occupancy vehicles, and make mobility more efficient and sustainable by disincentivizing unnecessary driving and stimulating long-term behavior change.