{"id":16454,"date":"2016-06-14T11:11:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T04:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/why-you-should-and-shouldnt-want-a-car-free-or-driver-less-city\/"},"modified":"2016-06-14T11:29:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T04:29:22","slug":"why-you-should-and-shouldnt-want-a-car-free-or-driver-less-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/why-you-should-and-shouldnt-want-a-car-free-or-driver-less-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you should (and shouldn\u2019t) want a car-free or driver-less city"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nCar-less cities are not just the stuff of sci-fi utopia
\nPedestrian area in Brussels (Photo by Miguel Discart\/Flickr)
\nBy Al Gerard de la Cruz
\nFor several years now in Jakarta \u2013 beset by what some view as the \u201cworst traffic in the world\u201d\u00a0\u2013 residents look forward to car-free Sundays along the big boulevards of Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin.
\nNow it looks like Paris is following suit. The iconic Champs-Elysees went car-less early last month, a move met with enthusiastic response from thousands.
\nOther cities are doing away with drivers altogether. Later this year, Singapore will be rolling out unmanned public mini-buses \u2013\u00a0seemingly straight out of futuristic movies \u2013\u00a0to ferry commuters around key train stops. Baidu founder Robin Li is also envisioning an entire metropolis with cars sans drivers in Wuhu, China.
\nThese concepts are making an important statement for the next industrial revolution and against climate change. Change will not be forthcoming though.
\nMore: Will the next successful smart city be in Southeast Asia?
\nDisadvantages
\nWhen a city goes car-free, the public transit will emerge as the logical alternative, aside from walking outright. Southeast Asia has not been exactly at the cutting edge of public transport, however. Jones Lang LaSalle has highlighted the lack of mass rail transit in Southeast Asian cities besides Singapore.
\nCritics point out that car-free programmes are susceptible to exploitation by commercial brands. Along with the pedestrians, Indonesian companies have taken to Jakarta\u2019s streets on car-less days to install booths and set up stages for marketing activities, reports The Jakarta Post.
\nA\u00a0driverless city takes immense infrastructure investment, anywhere from convoluted intersections to lane markings. On a road with ambiguous markings, a self-driven vehicle could stay put and set itself up for an accident. It may also do the complete opposite, barreling through an intersection where a stoplight has been damaged.
\nMore: New tech will allow people to bypass current constraints
\nAdvantages
\nNothing replaces a human touch when it comes to manning vehicles, but automotive advancements are brimming with possibilities to eliminate the idea of a driver. In 2016, we\u2019ve seen a concept car that can park by itself in a very narrow space.
\nSpeaking of which, car-free days should result in more land for public spaces and residential real estate. To that end, the Singaporean government has levied high taxes on car ownership, making purchases here a true luxury. With its small land area and fast-growing populace, the city-state needs all the real estate it can get over transport infrastructure.
\nLast but not the least, the benefits of going car-free in the greater context of an ailing biosphere could not be emphasised enough. According to Greenpeace, transport contributes approximately 13 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Two-thirds of these can be traced to road transport.
\nMore: Guess which Asian city is most appealing for infrastructure development
\nMiddle of the road
\nThere\u2019s a middle-of-the-road approach to shrinking the world\u2019s carbon footprint, however. Many people are realising that the next greenest alternative to not owning a car is getting an electric one, an idea that has been steadily growing in vogue. The International Energy Agency counted 1.26 million electric cars on the road worldwide in 2015.
\nGoogle has been offering a glimpse of their line of unmanned electric vehicles, currently under development. It all looks like a big honk for the environment so far.
\nWhat do you think? Sound off in the Comments section below.
\n
\nSource : property-report.com
\nRead more…Why you should (and shouldn\u2019t) want a car-free or driver-less city<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Car-less cities are not just the stuff of sci-fi utopia Pedestrian area in Brussels (Photo...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-4ho","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32657,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/car-insurance-satellite-boxes-make-young-drivers-safer\/","url_meta":{"origin":16454,"position":0},"title":"Car insurance: satellite boxes 'make young drivers safer'","date":"April 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\r In-car devices have cut crashes by 20% and could bring big drop in premiums, says insurerCar insurance based on satellite technology has led to a 20% fall in crashes involving young drivers, according to one of the UK's biggest general insurers.Telematics, or \"black box\" insurance, involves in-car tracking equipment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":120611,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/49-year-old-hdb-terraced-house-in-whampoa-breaks-record-with-1-268mil-selling-price\/","url_meta":{"origin":16454,"position":1},"title":"49-year-old HDB terraced house in Whampoa breaks record with $1.268mil selling price","date":"June 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\r 49-year-old HDB terraced house in Whampoa breaks record with $1.268mil selling priceThe two-storey flat at Block 39 Jalan Bahagia is a landed corner terraced unit with an area of 210 sq m \u2013 which are considered rare attributes for an HDB flat. Photo: Google Street View Adding to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/39-jalan-bahagia-crop.png?fit=820%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128579,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/used-car-sales-fall-as-drivers-hold-onto-vehicles-for-longer\/","url_meta":{"origin":16454,"position":2},"title":"Used car sales fall as drivers hold onto vehicles for longer","date":"August 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...Used car sales fall as drivers hold onto vehicles for longer","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50986,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/car-sales-surge-as-drivers-race-to-beat-new-tax-regime\/","url_meta":{"origin":16454,"position":3},"title":"Car sales surge as drivers race to beat new tax regime","date":"April 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...Car sales surge as drivers race to beat new tax regime","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89087,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/ordinary-drivers-face-being-priced-off-the-road-by-electric-car-proposals\/","url_meta":{"origin":16454,"position":4},"title":"Ordinary drivers face being priced off the road by electric car proposals\u00a0","date":"May 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...Ordinary drivers face being priced off the road by electric car proposals\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14670,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/end-discrimination-against-older-drivers-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":16454,"position":5},"title":"End discrimination against older drivers | Letters","date":"June 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Sheila Hancock\u2019s account (63 years\u2019 driving. No claims. Why did insurance go from \u00a3873 to \u00a32,246?, 26 June) reflected my experience of ageism. For many years I have hired a car to drive in Italy or Spain from Holiday Autos. They send frequent reminders that I am one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}