Still in the city

As was widely reported in early April, traffic has reduced to levels not seen for 60 years (see for example the Guardian). And how lovely it is. For the first time, I have felt safe cycling with my children along London’s streets. They play football in the road. Joggers, wisely conscious of social distancing, are running on the road rather than the pavement, occupying expanses of tarmac normally covered with gridlocked vehicles. The air is clean, and one can have a conversation without shouting. Buses complete their routes in record time. If only we were not in lockdown, the city would be ours to explore on foot, bike or bus without all the sadly familiar impediments created by excessive vehicle use: air and noise pollution, danger, slow journey times.

Of course the pandemic is dreadful, and the lockdown a great strain for many, but our quiet city streets are an unexpected silver lining – a vision of urban utopia.  

I dread the return to normal. I hope that others might share my hope for a different future, after all of this. We need to hold on to this memory and push for it to become our new reality. I urge those who currently own vehicles and frequently use them in urban environments to think long and hard about whether you could change your habits, to reduce or omit your car use from your daily routine – to try cycling, walking or taking the bus instead. You would be better off. Your children, all children, would thank you for it. All asthma sufferers would thank you. The streets would become safer for disabled, elderly and vulnerable people. We would all be fitter. The drivers of essential vehicles – buses, emergency vehicles, delivery vans – would thank you as their journey times were reduced. The economy would benefit, because the cost of congestion is enormous. Our communities would flourish as people became visible and audible to each other, rather than enclosed in steel bubbles. The street could be a place where people spend time talking or playing, or simply sitting, rather than an environment merely to endure while going from A to B. Our ecosystem would improve.

Or we just go back to gridlock? We will learn many things from this pandemic; let this be one of them.