<z>Reflections on the Meeting Transport vs. Architect</z>

The second meeting from the urban planning cycle Versus Architect was dedicated to mobility. The discussion evening was opened by Jakub Filip Novák from the civic association Versus Architect and Rostislav Koryčánek from the Brno House of Arts. The lecture hall, nearly completely filled, darkened and five speakers began to reveal their positions on the issue of transportation in the city.

The first speaker approached the issue of increasing mobility in cities from a forest perspective. Miroslav Patrik, chairman of Children of the Earth, outlined the areas where the association actively seeks to engage. He did not delve deeply into problems but referred to numerous online resources, a list of which you can find at the end of the article. Patrik represents the green extreme in transportation. Topics like "development of cycling transport," "expansion and improvement of pedestrian zones," "reducing the number and increasing the cost of parking in cities," "calming traffic," "supporting public transport," and others are major objectives for ecological associations. Patrik's backward developmental path is an interesting alternative that could help city dwellers (e.g., tolls on roads leading to the center - the problem of smog from satellites). The question remains whether politicians will be willing to take bread and circuses from people.

Brno urban planner Jiří Fixel offered a pragmatic contemplation, at times bordering on resignation. The challenging task for contemporary urban planners, who are aware of all the city's problems and knowledgeable about theories for their remedy, but who lack leverage for their implementation, was clear. Fixel does not anticipate that the majority of society will start cycling around the city or limiting their mobility. Fixel observes trends and compares them with events in Western Europe and America. He objectively evaluates facts and applies forecasts to urban planning proposals. As a practicing urban planner, he responds to demand and offers a product that ensures his own existence. From architect Fixel's presentation, I concluded that those responsible for the image of the city must emerge from urban planners, not from doctors or railway workers. If the initial assignment is flawed, there is no good answer. The city must be managed, and development regulated.

Brno politician Josef Veselý, originally a traffic engineer, interrupted the presentation of the Fixel-Pech creative team. He used the offered space to present his study City Rapid Transit, which responds to the revision of the transfer of the Brno railway junction. Unlike his predecessors from the ODSun movement, as a former director of the Brno City Transport Company, he began to address the real consequences of relocating the station. The model of future mobility in the area known as the Southern Center revealed to Veselý that some tram lines would operate at a frequency of one train every 30 seconds. He attempted to resolve the unsustainability of this situation by maintaining the railway bed at the current station. Train sets capable of operating on regional lines and functioning as public transport within the city should ensure better distribution of passengers in the area. The presented transportation scheme resembled Tokyo more than Brno, but perhaps that wonderful moment will arrive when everyone commuting to Brno will use the railway. Both above-ground and underground railways will surely shift Brno's image from a peripheral small town to a European metropolis. "Chance for Brno" aimed to clarify railway routes within the city and offer freed-up spaces for development. Veselý's Rapid Transit resolves the situation; however, it complicates the routes and turns a relocation into a shed. Or rather, a tunnel.

The baton from architect Fixel was taken up by his colleague Zbyněk Pech. Building on Fixel's theoretical contribution, he followed with a practical demonstration of two projects the studio had worked on, both heavily influenced by transportation aspects. The study of a mono-functional residential district in Brno-Řečkovice aimed to reveal the potential of the location. Fixel and Pech proposed a new backbone communication in the area, which, however, disappeared in the later phases of the project and is currently being built a few meters from the apartment windows. The tragic part of this situation is that no one knows who made the mistake.
Another project of a mono-functional residential area in Brno-Slatin was trying to meet the mobile demands of future inhabitants. Generous communications with spacious parking lots will certainly attract the right clientele. The American dream will seem possible even in Brno.

The final presentation was to be prepared by Václav Malina, but as he admitted himself, he did not prepare. Unfortunately, this lapse contributed to the extreme length of his contribution and the repetition of what had already been said. Malina, a traffic engineer from Prague, nevertheless expressed several significant theories worth noting. The general truth that "the best transport is no transport" was supplemented with observations that transportation behaves in the city like water and that it is worthwhile to handle it that way. Limiting car traffic should not occur through regulation but through better offers - in terms of time, economy, and aesthetics. The ideal city is perfectly mixed with short connections between residents' activities, with enough space for pedestrians and cyclists. The largest communication in the city should be the city street, not major thoroughfares. We should not perceive transportation as evil, but we should accept it in our psyche as a manifestation of contemporary life - this will result in greater density of transportation and urban life, as is the case in southern European states. During the lecture, Malina presented photographs from The Park in Chodov and from his travels around the world.

The concluding discussion did not bring anything new, as it revolved around local issues, particularly the relocation of the Brno station.

The meeting showed that the problems of contemporary cities are most evident in the area of transportation. The city is a complex system where everything is interconnected. Transportation is the physical expression of these relationships and serves as an indicator highlighting the city's problems. Who sows the wind at the city's end reaps the storm in the center. So it is necessary to carefully and objectively analyze, ethically manage and design, and verify everything against predictive models. We have the tools available. Transportation is not evil. Bad transportation merely indicates that we made a mistake somewhere. The treatment should be directed at the root causes of the problems.

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Domestic and International Examples of Calming Traffic in Cities
(thesis for a discussion in Brno on February 20, 2008)

RNDr. Miroslav Patrik, Children of the Earth, Cejl 48/50, 602 00 Brno
dz.brno@ecn.cz, www.detizeme.cz

Basic Methods to Improve Transportation in Cities:

1) Development of cycling transport, including the construction of bike paths and bike lanes

• http://www.nakole.cz
• http://www.brnonakole.cz
• http://www.auto-mat.cz
• http://www.bicybo.cz/scripts/index.php
• http://www.cyklojizdy.ecn.cz
• http://kolari.olomouc.com
• http://kolari.olomouc.com/viden/vienna.html (Vienna)
• http://dopravniklub.ecn.cz/odkazy.shtml
• http://www.ruzovekolo.cz (bike rental in Prague)
• http://www.homeport.cz (bike rental in Prague)

2) Expansion and improvement of pedestrian zones

3) Utilizing parking policy tools (reducing spaces, increasing fees, alternatives)

• Austria (Vienna): http://doprava21.ecn.cz/parkovani.html

4) Support for public transport (purchase of modern comfortable means, travel times)

5) Broader introduction of higher quality fuels (fossil) as well as alternative (including biofuels: bioethanol, biogas, agro-oils)

6) Introduction of fees for the use of communications - tolls

• Czech Republic: http://www.telematix.cz/projekty/zav/vysledky.html
• London: http://www.spvd.cz/?p=svet/gb/london/london.html&m=menu_ruzne.html
• London: http://doprava21.ecn.cz/londyn.html
• Stockholm: http://www.severskelisty.cz/noviny/uda0634.htm

7) Utilizing spatial planning to eliminate car traffic and to develop public transport

• Groningen (NL): http://www.nadacepartnerstvi.cz/p-1292054321
• Drachten (NL): http://www.nadacepartnerstvi.cz/p-1292154321

8) Calming traffic in towns and cities (combination of methods - construction, financial): more for example here> :

• point, linear and area measures to calm traffic
• technical elements = speed bumps, raised areas, lane shifts, road narrowing (ears with crosswalk)
• psychological elements = signage, different road surfaces, different road colors
• Austria: http://doprava21.ecn.cz/dolnirakousko.htm

9) Ecological awareness and education to reduce mobility (Car-free Day, etc.)

• Car-Free Day in Bogotá: http://www.doprava21.ecn.cz/bogota.htm
• Car-Free Day in the Czech Republic: http://www.detizeme.cz/denbezaut.cz
• Car-Free Day in the Czech Republic: http://www.env.cz/edba
• Car-Free Day in Europe: http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org
• http://www.detizeme.cz
• http://dopravniklub.ecn.cz/
• http://www.nadrazivcentru.cz
• http://cde.ecn.cz
• http://www.eps.cz
• http://www.dopravnifederace.cz/index.php?lang=cz
• http://www.nadacepartnerstvi.cz/p-13223 (car-sharing)