• Urbanism.Bilbao, at 30 per hour

Bilbao, 1967. He chairs the Transport Commission of the Federation of Municipalities and is responsible for the Bilbao area, the first large city in the world that has prohibited (since this week) driving at more than 30 kilometers per hour

Question.-

What can go well and what can go wrong with 30 kilometers per hour?

Answer.-

Everything can go well.

We have consulted with pulmonologists, with physicists, with chemists, with people from the Carlos III University and we have measured the effects on air quality and on heart disease.

The WHO has said it: the noise of cars causes heart disease ... That, in addition to the effect of reducing the accident rate to zero.

Q.-

How many people died last year in traffic accidents in Bilbao?

R.-

Six people.

Almost all on expressways.

Q.-

And what can go wrong?

A.-

I know that it is a measure that will not be easy for everyone to understand but that it will end up being seen normally.

There are examples.

Pontevedra limited traffic in its urban area to 30 kilometers per hour.

At first, there were three critical groups: merchants, transporters and taxi drivers.

Now they are the three groups that most defend the restrictions.

Q.-

If I put myself in the shoes of a well-paid lawyer who lives in Ensanche and goes to court on foot, I love the measure.

If I imagine how the man who fixes the elevator, who lives 20 kilometers away and carries his tools all day, it is not so clear to me.

R. -

It is not a collection measure, let it be clear.

And it is not an anti-car measure.

We only ask that the cars that come comply with some rules.

Look, we have calculated times with these restrictions.

We get journeys that are 24, 30 seconds slower at 30 kilometers per hour.

24 seconds is not time, really ... The damage we cause is irrelevant compared to the benefit.

Q.-

Can you tell me what they are doing in Paris in this regard?

A.-

They are intervening on some highways to turn them into bicycle paths.

And they are in what we are all: in getting us to stop calling what are really roads streets.

Q.- So

, for the reader from Madrid or Barcelona who thinks that these things are fine for not very big cities ... Will this end up happening in your city?

A.-

Bilbao is 41.6 square kilometers.

We are in a

bocho,

the distances are short, but we also have disadvantages to eradicate the car, such as the orography.

We have slopes and that goes against the bicycle.

Madrid and Barcelona have also made important advances in urban planning, each with its own conditions and scale.

Q.-

How do you use your car?

A.- I

use so little that the other day I started it and it had no battery.

In summer we did 730 kilometers to go on vacation but when we got to the place we hardly took it out.

And in Bilbao I go by electric bike.

Q.-

Do you remember when Bilbao had a reputation for being an ugly city?

Was it fair fame?

A.-

That is like assuming that a son is ugly, but yes, it was a fair reputation.

It was a scarred city, tailor-made for heavy industry.

But he had something different.

Q.-

And don't you sometimes have nostalgia for that ugly but different city?

R.-

A lot of nostalgia.

The boats in the estuary ... I have so much nostalgia that I have two old framed photos of the city in my office.

Partly it's to remind me where we came from.

And in part, to remember that this city had something that attracted many people from all over.

THE LAST QUESTION

Q.-

A consequence of COVID is that people will see dense neighborhoods with bad eyes.

A.-

In 2050, 80% of humanity will live in cities.

If they are not sustainable, we will have a problem.

And they will only be sustainable with dense and mixed urbanism.

That people live, work and meet their needs in their neighborhoods.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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