Exhaust-Free City Centers by 2030!

It’s time to harness technology for cleaner, healthier, and safer cities.

1 minute read

June 28, 2020, 7:00 AM PDT

By Michael Huston


Pick-Up Truck

Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock

This article calls for the elimination of vehicular exhaust from urban centers within the next ten years. It draws an analogy between tolerating polluted air in our city streets and smoking on an airplane, which was finally banned in the year 2000.

The writers state: "With the ever-improving performance of electric-powered vehicles - from autonomous shuttles to new forms of micromobility - and a growing realization that quality of life is not all about moving traffic, there is no reason that we can’t have city centers that are cleaner, healthier and safer than what we have today."

The article discusses other sources of pollution, including particulate matter, and explains that electrically powered vehicles still have better environmental performance even when their power source is derived from fossil fuels. Finally, the article challenges North American cities to catch up with European cities in taking on bold proposals to limit fossil fuel engines and create environments that better accommodate pedestrians, bikes and other clean modes of transportation.

Wednesday, June 24, 2020 in CNU Public Square

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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