Car free cities that Australia can learn from: The Secret Agent Report

Our cities must continue to evolve in order to keep up with urbanisation and one way they can do so is a reduction in the number of cars on the roads, according to the latest report from The Secret Agent.

In some cases they have been removed completely from the roads, whilst in others car free days or congestion taxes have been imposed.

One of the best examples of a city that has successfully gone car free is the Spain's Pontevedra.

Here, 300,000 square metres of the city centre has been pedestrianised. Traffic lights have been replaced with roundabouts, the streets have been paved, and no cars move across the city centre.

The report states: "This has seen a revival of what was becoming a dead and polluted city. Carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced and deaths from traffic accidents have been eliminated."

In Oslo, they plan to make the centre of the city car free and more pedestrian friendly by 2019. Roughly 1.3 square kilometres of space will be transformed and Officials have already started planting flower boxes in place of parking spaces. 

Another city leading the way in their plans for going car free is Madrid.

According to the report, "their car free plans started off with a low emission zone where the closer you get to the centre, the more you pay for parking".

"There were also non-resident car bans in four small sections of the city.

"As of this month, these sections have been combined into one large area where only resident’s cars, zero emission delivery vehicles, public transport and taxis will be allowed to drive."

London was one of the first cities to implement a congestion charge for cars going through the centre. The 15 year old system has been well studied and overall has had success in terms of reducing traffic and congestion.

Closer to home, in Melbourne, there has been increasing discussion over the past few years about making the city car free. This would improve pollution, make it more liveable for residents and reduce the number of car related fatalities in the CBD.

There are parts of our city that have become car free already.

Swanston Street and Bourke Street Mall are prime examples of how it would change the area from car to pedestrian centric.