On the 12th of October the Study
Circle held its first session for the season. 12 people attended
the meeting.
Helmut gave a presentation of Mr
Billinger�s 'Auroville Mobility Concept'*:
City planning throughout most of the
last century, Mr Billinger explains, gave priority to fast
moving traffic and open spaces suitable for the sculptural
display of buildings. However, that time is now over. Such a
planning only destroys cities. Planning, nowadays, is focused on
dimensions that are close-grained and suitable for pedestrian
streets and slow moving motor traffic. High priority is given to
public transport.
In adopting these ideas to Auroville:
-
The Crown is proposed to allow for
only a mixed traffic of pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaws,
tangas (horse carts) and public transport with a speed limit of 15 km/h
-
Other categories of transport
allowed would be non-polluting taxis, delivery vans,
transport of disabled etc., but no individual vehicular
traffic
-
Out of the 15 proposed radial
roads, only 4 would be allowing for motor traffic. The
others are, like the Crown, only for pedestrians etc. Since
the Crown is not motorised, no through traffic of that kind
can cross through the city.
-
Long distance traffic is to be
directed to the outer Ring road. That is also where the
parking will be. No parking is permitted inside the city.
-
The public transport system is
proposed to connect the four nodal points on the outer Ring
road by bringing the passengers along the radials and around
the Crown.
-
A round trip on the Crown at 15
km/h would take 40 min. all in all. With a high population
there could be a high frequency of buses and that would make
the transport system sufficiently efficient.
As examples of similar principles that
are proposed for Auroville, Helmut showed slides from Venice,
Weimar and especially Zermatt, an entirely car-free town in
Switzerland.
In the discussion that followed, it
was pointed out that the 'Mobility Concept' might work all right
in its own kind with a large population when the city is there.
But what about all the stages to reach there? Auroville is a
process, not an end product. Furthermore, how can one plan for
mobility without considering the city fabric in general since it
determines the character of mobility so much. The role of the
outer Ring road was questioned. To what extent will people in
the future really be in need of individual transport? Perhaps
most movement can be taken care of by public transport, both
within Auroville and in its relation to the outside world.
*Down load
Auroville Mobility Concept
(1.9Mb, pdf)
