In South Bend, Pete Buttigieg challenged a decades-old assumption that streets are for cars above all else

Copenhagen is a highly livable city, thanks to policies that focus on making streets safe and convenient to walk. The bigger the city, the worse it is to design urban spaces only with cars in mind, says planner and architect Jan Gehl. His top advice is to gather data about people and their movements, making pedestrians as visible in city planning as automobile traffic.

Rather than attempt to change traffic flow, the city of Pontevedra cut straight to the source of their congestion frustrations; they eliminated cars from their streets entirely. The city center, which now fills to the brim with walkers and bicyclists each day, has seen a massive reduction in traffic accidents and carbon emissions since closing the streets to cars.

The city of Hoboken uses “Daylighting” – city planning prioritizing infrastructure changes to increase pedestrian and traffic safety, which has prevented traffic-related fatalities since 2018. Interventions include bike lanes, curb extensions, bus lanes, high-visibility crosswalks, and raised intersections.

Oakland is making an effort to make city planning more equitable to include the needs of communities of color. "Esential Places" is the second iteration of a program that started off as "Slow Streets" and was criticized by local residents for catering to "white and moneyed interests." The initial attempt was informed by survey respondents who were overwhelmingly white and rich. Meetings with community members in distressed neighborhoods resulted in different traffic challenges and pedestrian needs. The shift in policy planning has led to safer intersections with no collisions at previously dangerous sites.

Oslo, Norway saw zero pedestrian and cyclist deaths in 2019. The success comes from infrastructure redesign, increased traffic enforcement, overall policy prioritization of road safety, and collaboration between residents, organizations, and government. In the United States, many cities are working toward “Vision Zero” – zero pedestrian and cycling deaths – and are looking to Oslo as an example.

As the District lagged on its Vision Zero goals, bike and pedestrian advocates in Washington turned traffic fatalities into a rallying cry, and got results.  

A plan to redesign Market Street in San Francisco uses a controversial approach used by cities around the world: eliminating personal cars entirely. This bicycle, pedestrian and bus-oriented layout approach reduces traffic accidents and fatalities; San Francisco plans to move forward with their plan in 2020.

In order to cut back on automotive emissions and traffic within the city center, Amsterdam has introduced road-dividing "cuts" - called "knips" in Dutch - along major roadways to make travel in the city center easier for pedestrians and public transportation users. These cuts consist of barriers set to close off short sections of a street, therefore disabling through-travel to cars. The city notes that a "knip" effectively cuts automotive traffic on a blocked-off road by 70 percent.

In an effort to promote safe streets and bicycle and pedestrian safety, Officials in Tower Hamlets, an East London neighborhood, closed down a main community road to car traffic - and it didn't go well. But local officials learned from the pilot, recognizing a need to better prepare the community for any road closures as well as plan for alternative routes for car traffic.

Milwaukee is poised to pass a complete streets policy that would advance current efforts to make the city more bike- and pedestrian-friendly. But even without this policy in place, projects to widen sidewalk and improve bike infrastructure are paying off with more business openings and plans by developers who chose the city because of those efforts. The city council is supporting complete streets but it will need cooperation from state highway officials for some of those thoroughfares.