Two years ago a group of us in Pt Chevalier got together to think about how we could reduce traffic in our community and make our streets safer and more vibrant. We all had slightly different motivations, but everyone had the vision of a community in which the footpaths were buzzing with people walking, rollerblading and skateboarding, cycles filled the roads and the occasional car drove slowly by, engaged in the feeling of being somewhere, rather than passing through. We called our group SALT - Slower and Less Traffic. We have a website - http://www.salt.net.nz. We've tried many activities including street BBQs, a pledge in which people commit to walking and cycling, combining car trips and driving slowly, and movie nights. For me the best thing about SALT is feeling part of a community. I love saying 'hi' to people as I ride my bike up the library or walk to my daughter's ballet class which is in the church hall on our street. I feel so privileged to have the simplest of human things - warm relationships with the people around me. Tackling climate change isn’t just about getting rid of bad habits, it’s also about creating a new kind of society in which we shift our values away from ‘stuff’ and towards ‘people’. There are so many good people everywhere – why do we feel the need to drive across town so often to be with friends, when there are potential friends around almost every corner? Is it worth going to a supermarket several kms away to get just the right brand at the best price when you could hop on your bike and get something almost as good from the local store? We all have to compromise, but let’s start looking more at what is available locally. It may not seem obvious, but I suspect revitalizing community is a major way to combat climate change.
fantastic initiative nikki -
fantastic initiative nikki - i think you've summed up the bigger picture beautifully. Good luck with it!
Sounds Fantastic
Nikki, this sounds great. I'd like to be involved with something like this just across town from you in Kingsland. Does anyone know if one exists, or if we should get one started...?
jojo
Street reclaiming - more details
In response to Jojo's request for more information, you can look at our website salt.net.nz to find out more about how we got started and how we've been operating. You can also read David Engwicht's books for inspiration. He has written some really nice material - and has books in the library. I think the best way to go depends on what sort of person you are. Here are a few options:
1. If you are the kind of person that is happy to knock on your neighbours doors - DO SO. Tell them you would like to get more people on the street walking and cycling and slow down the speed of cars - ask them if they are keen to either come to a meeting at your home one night or to participate in any events you might organise. In a typical street most people will probably say they will come to an organised event(out of politeness if nothing else) and one or two might want to come to a meeting - yay!!
2. If you are too shy to knock on doors skip step 1 and proceed to step 3
3. Either you and your flatmates/dog/whatever or you and the keen neighbours think of something you can do to get people on the street. You can just pull out some chairs and have a coffee. If there are lots of you, you can take over as much of the actual street as feels safe - we had kids doing chalk drawing in the middle of the road and an adult either side stopping the traffic, explaining what we were doing and asking them to join us. We also had a BBQ going and free sausages. The cars then passed and the kids all moved to the side -this is a bit scary, you have to be really vigilent, but it means all the cars going through your street get to connect with what is happening.
4. Put some furniture on the footpath. We have a chair and a bench outside our house, they've been there a year and I just sit on the chair and have a coffee every so often. People stop or say hi, or look at me oddly - no pressure, it is just about claiming the space.
Other ideas: kids do chalk drawings over driveways to remind people that footpaths are for pedestrians and cars must always give way to people, have a symbol (we have a SALT sticker) that people can put on their letterbox to show they are part of the movement, kids parties, cake stalls, open homes (we haven't done these yet, but I'd like to give them a go!). THE MAIN THING IS TO GET ON THE STREET AND TO SEE WHO JOINS IN. NO AGRO, NO GETTING THE COUNCIL TO DO THINGS FOR YOU - JUST TAKING THE TERRITORY AND MAKING IT ALIVE WITH PEOPLE.
Building a society round
Building a society round cars is how Auckland has developed unfortunately. Have you noticed that so many footpaths are rather unsuitable for walking, particularly for the elderly? I did not notice when I was young but I do now.
Not so long ago I went for a walk round the Manukau harbour, experiencing a variety of different paths. In general, if the path is sloping seriously across your line of travel it becomes a bane on knee, hip and back. If I could not get down onto the flats, sloping beaches knocked me out quite badly, and untracked hillsides. Forest trails and metal or dirt park trails were always fine. Roads and hard hot footpaths were normally a nightmare for me as are many city footpaths. The worst is one across the foot of Mt Roskill, but I noticed one heading into New Market nearly as bad.
I think councils need to pay some attention to footpath design given an aging population and the need on several counts for people to walk.
Noel
That's a really good idea!
That's a really good idea! I'm starting to bike to school but I really don't like going on my own cause of all the cars, wish there was something like this in Christchurch.