Detoxing Cities via Transportation

How cities are detoxing transportation by Monica Araya offers a glimpse into the global response to climate change through the lens of transportation, walking the listener through some of the ways in which cities are attempting to tackle the issue.

Araya begins the talk by reminding the listener of some of the scenes consumers witnessed at the beginning of the pandemic-related lockdown, when streets were empty, cars were off the road, and waterways began to run clear for the first time in decades. This gave us a glimpse into what's possible if cities prioritized clean transportation. Araya then continues by offering examples of cities that are attempting to go emission-free through electrification -- the process of replacing polluting vehicles with electric ones, including trains, cars, ferries, busses and motorcycles.

One prominent example of this is Amsterdam, who plans to be emission-free by 2030. Amsterdam took on the model of an expanding 'emission-free zone' which starts as a small area in the city centre. Every few years the zone expands in size, until it eventually covers the entire city, banning any pollutant vehicles from its streets city-wide.