New Zealand first country to fund pop-up bike lanes and widened sidewalks during lockdown

Cities as diverse as Berlin and Bogotá use what is called “tactical town planning” to take up road space from cars at night and give it to people on foot and by bike to keep key workers on the move – safely – during lockout. Today, New Zealand has become the first country to provide funds to make tactical town planning official government policy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tactical town planning can involve many forms of temporary improvements to the public realm, including the creation or widening of sidewalks and cycle paths with brightly painted concrete blocks and planters. New Zealand had sporadically tested tactical town planning before the pandemic, but now the national government believes the time is right to deploy the technique on an emergency funded basis.

Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has called on New Zealand cities to apply for 90% funding to widen sidewalks and build temporary cycle lanes, measures that can be put in place in hours and days rather than weeks and months it often takes to install such infrastructure.

Additional space for people will allow key workers and others to maintain a physical distance of two meters when walking or cycling.

“Walking and cycling are always great ways to move more people in cities because it’s cheap, takes up less space on the roads and requires less parking,” Genter told me by e. -mail, “in addition, it provides moderate exercise, it is calm and does not pollute the air or the climate.

Born in the United States, Genter is a Green MP and entered politics after a previous career as a transportation planner. An expert in parking policy, Genter was appointed Associate Minister of Health and Transport in the coalition government formed with New Zealand’s First Party and the Green Party after Labor failed to win an absolute majority in the election General 2017.

“To stop the spread of COVID-19, more and more people are taking to the quiet streets to walk and cycle again,” says Genter.

“When we come out of closure and people start to travel a little more, we can’t expect them to return to crowded buses and trains at the same pace, and inner city dwellers will need more space to get away from others physically.

Cities are invited to bid for money from New Zealand’s Innovating Streets for People fund; a cap on the budget of this fund has been lifted to allow funds from the New Zealand Transport Agency to flow to cities interested in redefining their transport priorities.

Tactical town planning tends to be cheap, especially compared to the billions of dollars spent on the roads without almost thinking about it, as Genter well knows.

“Having a professional transport background gives me a better understanding of why we have such high levels of car addiction in New Zealand and the huge opportunity we have to do it better,” she says.

Genter holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Auckland, where she focused on transport economics. In the mid-2000s, she worked for 18 months as an urban planner in New Zealand for the Australian consultancy firm Sinclair Knight Merz, then spent four years as a transport planning consultant at MRCagney in Auckland.

“I [have] worked on a wide range of projects, ”she tells me,“ including a new approach to parking and land use policy, project economic appraisal, transport modeling, public transport and design networks.

Genter was elected to the New Zealand Parliament for the Green Party in 2011.

The New Zealand coalition government, led by much admired Jacinda Ardern, created four levels of alert specific to COVID to deal with the spread of the new coronavirus. As of March 25, the country has been on the highest alert level – level four – with full lockdown. Plans are currently being assessed to determine when the country can be placed on level three alert, with parts of the economy being allowed to reopen, including construction.

And it is at level three that cities will be able to draw funds for tactical urban planning projects.

Genter says there is a pent-up demand to get people moving, and not just in cars.

“After speaking with city and regional councilors across the country, I can see that there is a lot of enthusiasm for [wider sidewalks and new bike lanes]“There will be a real need to experiment and find new ways for people to exchange goods and services, and to get around cheaply. ”

“For me,” she adds,[tactical urbanism is] to move from an often very theoretical approach to transport engineering, based on inappropriate models or standards, to a more agile and empirical approach. We can test things at low cost and incorporate that into the consultation, so that people and businesses can experience it, and integrate that experience and the actual data collection into the consultation to better inform decision-making.

Genter believes the pop-up bike lanes and temporarily widened sidewalks “will be so successful that communities will want to make them permanent.”

She points out that making walking and cycling easier and safer for more people could bring huge benefits to households and businesses in New Zealand:

“Spending less money on imported cars and gasoline means people will have more money to spend locally. This reduces the number of cars on the road and the need for parking.

There are obvious health benefits as well: “30 minutes a day of moderate activity takes pressure off our health system and prevents busy commuters from finding extra time in their day to exercise,” she says.

“Walking and cycling will not work for all commutes, but the easier and more attractive we make walking and cycling for people when they can, the greater the benefits for the entire transportation system, including those who use it. need to drive, are great. ”

Genter’s embrace of Tactical Planning has been praised by planning consultant Brent Toderian, former Vancouver Director of Planning.

“New Zealand is the first national government to show strategic and proactive leadership on how cities can rethink streets as a space of safe and healthy physical distancing,” he told me by E-mail.

Toderian worked with Genter when he was a transport consultant for the city of Auckland and said: “She understands the strategic power of movements like this.”

He adds, “The actual cost of these smart moves is usually very low, with very good cost savings and resulting ROI. ”

Moving quickly to national tactical town planning is “as symbolic as it is practical,” Toderian explains.

“It shows that the government understands the need for cities to think and act on better public space during the pandemic, and wants to help. If nothing else, that takes away one of the last excuses – that cities can’t afford to do. “