No.45 In 2023
Title
Walkable Cities in France:
Urban Design That Makes You Want to Walk
Recipient
VINCENT-FUJII Yumi
Reason for award
This work describes in detail how walkable urban development has been implemented in many French cities with over 100,000 inhabitants throughout the approximately 10-year period spanning 2010 to 2022. France has reorganized urban space and mobility, focusing on controlling vehicular traffic in central urban areas, reallocating street space to pedestrians, and improving public transportation; this book presents these methodologies in an accessible way through case studies of walkable urban development in Paris and other French cities, along with their political, social, financial, and historical backgrounds.
Despite the many challenges facing their societies, such as climate change, the COVID-19 crisis, digital transformation, wars, the energy crisis, immigration, and an aging population, French municipalities are making cities livable for the greatest number of citizens. The book sheds light on the legal systems, human resources, organizational systems, and stakeholder consensus building that have enabled the implementation of walkable urbanism in French cities. The content is well-organized and presented from different perspectives in the following structure: (1) the concept of a 15-minute city in Paris (where the majority of residents can perform basic daily activities on foot or by bicycle); (2) the background of creating cities in which people want to walk around in each area; (3) The Mobility Orientation Law, which represents a relevant philosophy in the new era of mobility; (4) the smart city of Dijon where mobility is a service; (5) urban policy implementation systems; (6) the role of the master urbanists of the city of Nantes; (7) the building consensus among various stakeholders for the development of a pedestrian-only square in the city of Angers; and (8) the concept of a "calmer city" that recognizes a street space where all modes of transportation coexist and that is viewed as a shared living space.
This book's content is timely given the current global interest in the 15-minute city concept and walkable cities. It is presented in an easy-to-understand manner, and the text is complemented by many photos and exemplar illustrations alongside convincing statistical graphs and sources, all of which provide insightful information for researchers, administrators, and the public. Referencing interview content, the authors identify the key features of implementation such as local government, politicians, administration, project structure, financial resources, diverse human resources, and social solidarity; thus, in addition to technical theories such as improving pedestrian spaces and traffic environments, the book points to the importance of project proponents and the public sharing a vision of the type of city to be built and the purpose of promoting walkability. As such, we are given an opportunity to think multilaterally about ideas that can be adopted in Japan although our historical and social background differs from that of France.
For the above reasons, we have determined that this work is eligible for the Literature Award of the International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences.