The everchanging city: disconnecting and plugging in

Climate change also has its influence on the urban environment. The city is hotter, often dryer -but as a result also more prone to flooding at the same time- and an important source of pollution and emissions. Sustainable Urban Drainage systems, with a focus on improving infiltration of precipitation into the soil, storing rain water in bodies of water, creating more water to offset built-up areas, separating sewage from rain water flows and disconnecting rain pipes from the sewer. Other people are disconnecting from the grid, disabling the sewer connection, going without a gas supply or relying entirely on self-produced energy. As traffic is an important factor in tackling pollution and improve quality of life in the city, cycling and public transport are promoted, polluting -diesel- vehicles are barred from entering certain areas and vehicles are replaced by less polluting types. The electric car and the electric van are slowly taking off, as the infrastructure for plugging in lags behind.

Sustainable drainage systems have been pioneered in the Netherlands as it is understood that to build in a delta you need to create more water to balance the system. In some places surface water with variable levels was created in laying out new housing estates (on the left an example from Eindhoven from the 1980s). On high ground and on sandy or gravely soils an infiltration ditch suffices to store water after heavy rainfall and let it drain away into the ground slowly afterwards. In the middle an example from Veghel in an ecological housing estate. In the sustainable housing estate of Nw Monnikenhuizen in Arnhem all housing have rain pipes disconnected from the sewer. The water flows down from the roof into these rills and then onto the pavement into a water retention area (a pond after rain a depression in a field at other times).  

The Netherlands are also famous for the cycling infrastructure. I too cycle short and medium distances within the city. To promote cycling it is important there is enough places to park a bicycle. Solutions vary from bike racks (middle) to underground bicycle parking. Good cycle paths with safe crossings are also very important; on the right the Hovenring, an elevated roundabout for cyclists on the border of Eindhoven and Veldhoven. As most people own at least one bike (I have three, including my handy fold-away) bike sharing and bike hire schemes are not as prevalent as in the surrounding countries. These bike stations can be found in Belgium, England, France and Germany. On the left an example of the Metropolrad from Essen in the Ruhr Area.

Electric cars are still quite rare, but several governments have taken stapes to phase out combustion engines and facilitate a transition to electric vehicles. These don’t just include cars, but also trains (some still run on diesel), bicycles and transport vehicles like small vans for inner-city delivery. The biggest bottleneck for a roll out of electric transportation is the lack of charging points. Many local authorities are now including special places in their car parks and parking structures indicated by a sign (middle) where two cars can be charged from a single charging column (right). In other places home owners are given private chargers near their residence.

Getting around: Frankfurt

Frankfurt is one of the major cities in Europe. The fifth-largest city in Germany with over 700,000 residents is at the heart of the Rhine-Main-Metropolis with over 5.5 million residents. It is no wonder that the roads are extremely congested in the busy inner-city areas. The metropolitan region also boasts a well-developed public transport network. This is handy as cycling is quite dangerous with few segregated cycle lanes and a rather haphazard cycle planning regime within Greater-Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Metro (U-Bahn) has nine lines and over 100 stations and halts. There is also a tram network of 9 lines extending to the city limits. S-Bahn light rail provides connections to neighbouring towns and villages and is used by commuters.

Frankfurt is well-known as the city of the European Central Bank. This Iconic Euro statue on the Willy-Brandt=Platz in front of the many banking towers is often used in the media. Between the banks that are all located around a park and the city theatre trams come and go as this is an important interchange with the U-Bahn. Signs, lights and lights warn pedestrians for the trams (right).

The metro is in part above ground, with underground trains in the city centre. The U-Bahn was started in 1968. The design is functional and sturdy, except for some recent stations that look a bit over-designed. The rains are like most such metro trains. Off-peak the journey is pleasant enough. Frankfurt still has a ticket system and no electronic ticketing or chip cards. Once you resurface it is easy to get to where you need to be on foot or change for bus or tram.

The tram halts all have the same basic design. Some halts also serve as bus stops. The trams have a design similar to the U-Bahn carriages, with the same blue and yellow combination. The trams -like the busses- are generally turquoise in colour. Here the tram is coming round on a turning circle at the edge of the city near Neu-Isenburg. This makes the trams also suitable for commuting as there are large parking facilities near these end-of-line halts. 

Crazy Paving: signalling an attention zone

The urbanised landscape is littered with signs aimed at organizing behaviours in public space. The overkill in signage can sometimes lead to a lack of attentiveness. Some experiments have shown that by also signalling on the surface of the street accidents can be avoided.

A school zone is indicated by the word "school" painted on the road surface. To make sure motorists slow down -as the signs indicated they should- colourful shapes have been incorporated into the paved surface in bright red and a violet colour. It's a simple intervention, but like other messages beneath our feet it works!

Getting around... Budapest

As one of the major cities in Europe, the Hungarian capital Budapest boasts a wide range of travel options. As in all former Warsaw Pact states busses dominate public transport. In Budapest there are both normal buses and trolleybuses (electrical busses fed by an overhead cable like a tram). Furthermore there are over 30 tramlines that connect the inner city to the suburbs and out-lying housing projects. For long-distance travel car and  train are the most used - and useful. Budapest also boasts the first continental underground railway. The rest of the metro system was built during the Soviet-era or recently in the EU-era. It is also recently that a biking initiative has come into existence, with several cycle lanes being built.

On op the most spectacular modes of transport is the funicular or Budavári Silko (shown left) up Castle Hill. Equally spectacular are some of the new metro stations on Line 4. Shapely glass domes provide light and interest. On the 1970s lines - here Line 3 - the old Soviet rolling stock (on the right) is still in daily use. Combined with the decor of the stations on this line, you can imagine yourself back in time...

The trolleybus has its own sign. These buses only run on the Pest-side of the city. Trams run throughout the city. In the middle an example of a modern tram on the Danube riverfront. In places wide cycle lanes have been built parallel to the tram tracks. No hyperbolic names (cycle super highway) here thankfully!