Canadian cities are falling behind globally when it comes to efficiently moving people, according to a new book that explores how technology and climate change continue to shape urban mobility.
Mobility is an essential public good, the authors say, and modern policies aim to move people in a safe, efficient, accessible and non-polluting way. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and worsened existing vulnerabilities in Canada’s urban mobility systems, undermining progress toward these goals, write Betsy Donald, Professor, Department of Geography and Planning, Queen’s University and Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto.
Their new book is called: Urban Mobility: How the iPhone, COVID, and Climate Changed Everything.
Population growth outpacing transit
One of the primary challenges Canadian cities face is that they have grown faster than their sustainable transportation options, say the authors. While urban populations have expanded, investment in public transportation has not kept pace.
The shift to remote and hybrid work has permanently altered how Canadians engage with their cities, suggest Donald and Brail. They cite evidence such as online shopping, declining public transit use, and less traffic in central business districts and retail stores.
“Activity levels, for instance, are down by about 20 per cent from pre-pandemic levels in many downtown spaces still,” they state.
Tech platforms and mobility
Digital platform firms like Zoom, Uber and Amazon disrupted the traditional urban economic model, which relies on transit, physical stores and foot traffic.
Research on the use of ride-hailing and public transit during the pandemic found that its usage in Toronto was clearly organized along class, neighbourhood and social lines. People identifying as one or more of the following were more likely to continue riding transit during the pandemic: low-income, immigrant, racialized, essential workers and car-less, in large part because other options were not available to them.
Canadian cities need to build innovation opportunities that promote economic development and improve mobility at the same time, suggest the authors, adding, Canada’s technology sector is woefully undersupported at present.
Alternatives to cars
The third challenge facing Canadian cities is the growing climate crisis, write Donald and Brail. Most large Canadian cities have been investing in strategies to encourage people to use alternatives to cars, such as transit, light rail, biking and walking. However, they say, shifting priorities and budgetary adjustments led to government cutbacks to transit funding and a lack of new transportation innovation. “In Ontario, for example, the government continues to push unrealistic road-building ideas at the expense of more active transit options.”
Building a better future
While all sectors need to invest, strong leadership and policy action from governments at all levels is needed to create a more climate-friendly, economically vibrant and equitable urban mobility future, say Donald and Brail.
“This means policy frameworks that reduce carbon emissions through climate action plans, leveraging political will and funding in efforts to shift away from private automobiles and toward transit, bike lanes and pedestrian pathways.”
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.