日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Opinion
Home / Opinion / Op-Ed Contributors

Healthy cities start with public transport

By Bernhard Schwartlander | China Daily | Updated: 2017-09-23 08:33
Share
Share - WeChat

Traffic grinds to a standstill during the peak rush hour on Monday morning, Sept 22, 2014 near Liujiayao Bridge, Third Ring Road South. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's extensive highway network and the millions of cars on roads attest to the country's rapid process of urbanization and modernization driven by economic growth. Unfortunately, while cars were invented to make travel easier and to give us more freedom, they have ultimately enslaved us as we face longer journey times, traffic jams and difficulty navigating the sidewalk among the many illegally parked cars.

To help us out of this logjam, "progress" too often dictates that even more roads be built, meaning more cars on the road and more time in traffic jams, ad infinitum. The physical and social infrastructure to support modern, people-friendly, public transit systems in China has yet to be fully developed.

That's why this week the World Health Organization China has been pleased to support China's Public Transportation Promotion Week, jointly organized by the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Public Security and All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The promotional week and its many public transportation activities across the country bring our attention to important questions that must be asked-and answered-about how we are constructing our urban spaces and the costs to human health.

How can we divide up the limited amount of transit space more fairly among pedestrians, cyclists, cars and buses? What does the shared economy-including both shared rides and shared bicycles-teach us about the public's willingness to embrace new transit services, and the flexibility of our transit systems to incorporate these innovations? Have sufficient incentives been put into place that promote healthy behaviors, such as encouraging people to walk, cycle, use public transport instead of driving and parking private cars?

When people use public transport, they usually walk or cycle more between home, office, bus stops and train stations.

As a keen cyclist myself, I can attest to the immense enjoyment it gives me and to the health benefits it provides. Whenever it's possible, whether it be on business or for pleasure, I always call on my trusty bike, the bus and the subway to get me from destinations A to B and then from C to D. Indeed, I encourage all my colleagues at WHO China to do the same. And the environment-related benefits would subsequently contribute to better human health when we breathe cleaner air.

How do we achieve this?

We need transport policies that actively incentivize healthy, green, and people-centric transportation. That includes investing more in public transport networks and rationalizing the allocation of space so that the overwhelmingly positive response to shared bikes doesn't crowd out pedestrians on the pavements. It also means making it tougher to choose to drive and park-governments need to charge people much more for parking, levy congestion charges and get tough on those who park their vehicles illegally.

What is most important is to put people at the heart of city planning. Cities are growing at an unprecedented pace in China. Let's remember that a good modern city is not just a place for people to work and study, but also their habitat-a place where they can live a healthy life, physically and mentally.

As citizens of a fast-developing country, the Chinese have been lucky to be able to learn from the mistakes of others. The country's tremendous achievements in so many different fields, particularly over the past 35 years or so, give cause for this optimism. By harnessing public transport as an ally in protecting the environment and in improving urban lives, the country and its people will have yet one more thing to be proud of.

The author is the World Health Organization representative in China.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲视频观看 | 亚洲欧美日韩一区二区在线观看 | 亚洲国产精品久久人人爱 | 日韩在线免费 | 欧美一区二区三区精品国产 | 亚洲精品男人天堂 | 国产精品欧美精品 | 在线色网 | 欧美电影网 在线电影 | 亚洲经典激情春色另类 | 国产精品综合色区在线观看 | 暖暖日本在线播放 | 国产大片免费观看中文字幕 | 加勒比久久综合 | 啪啪激情婷婷久久婷婷色五月 | 奇米影视盒7777 | 精品一区二区久久久久久久网站 | 丁香婷婷电影 | 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕 | 日产国产欧美视频一区精品 | 国产97色在线 | 日韩 | 免费国产一区 | 伊人成人在线观看 | 亚洲网站在线观看 | 日本精品视频 | 日韩毛片欧美一级a网站 | 久久国产精品99久久久久久牛牛 | 亚洲精品黄色 | 婷婷综合 | 色综合色综合 | 波多野结衣视频免费观看 | 欧美激情网 | 91精品国产免费久久 | 日本老熟妇毛茸茸 | 中文字幕日韩亚洲 | 日韩精品免费 | 亚洲一在线 | 亚洲欧美日本人成在线观看 | 九九热线有精品视频99 | 日本精品久久久久中文字幕 | 日韩一级片在线观看 |