Distribution of urban space and bicycle in the dispute for the city
By Luis Fernando Villaça Meyer, Director of Operations, Cordial Institute¹
The idea of a city and the disputed space
What does the city we want to live in look like? And how do we want to get around in it? These are recurring questions in the voices not only of urban planners, engineers, and decision-makers who work with urban and mobility policies, but of any citizen. No matter how much demographic growth and urbanization have been very speedy in the 20th century in Brazil, giving the impression of lack of planning and chaotic development, it is necessary to recognize that some paradigms have not only been incorporated and reinforced over time, but are permanently visible in our cities especially in one of the size and relevance of São Paulo.
Such development of Brazilian cities has always sought to accommodate one specific element: the car, ancient symbol of speed, status and technology, and icon of a supposedly better future where people could access more places, in less time and with less effort. But cars need a specific resource to thrive: space. And this is what urban development has, for decades, delivered to it in a very successful and, by the way, planned way. Asphalt for cars is what our cities do not seem to lack — even if not always in the best conditions. Cars and the industries that empower them were (and to a large extent still are) so successful in competing for urban space that the citizen’s eye perceives as natural the car predominance in these spaces. Culture has incorporated and normalized this delivery like a reality data, as if the city was naturally so. We see the car space, but we do not view it.
But the reproduction of this city has limits. The traffic, pollution, the lack of urban vegetation, the narrow sidewalks, the commuting time and distance between home and work, and the lack of traffic safety seem to indicate there is something out of place. This discussion is being raised more and more in society and gradually the urban paradigm is being put in check, starting with the questioning of the private car as an ideal of “successful life”, as it used to be. The new generations do not give it as much credit and importance, valuing access and ease of commuting more than car ownership.
The saturation of the car city has strengthened the dispute for the space that used to be its captive, and several modes of transportation, mobility systems, and uses of public space are involved in this dispute. Public transportation and its dedicated infrastructures must be strengthened and expanded. At the same time, pedestrians, cyclists, and active mobility must be prioritized, paying special attention to the most vulnerable such as children, the elderly, and people with reduced mobility. Space is needed for wider and better sidewalks, infrastructure, and places to stay. The motorcycle fleet has also been growing strongly over the last decade, bringing a great challenge to road safety, with new conflicts between vehicles and the aggravation of risk factors. In addition to many other new and innovative modes of individual, collective, and shared transportation and mobility that technology has been making feasible.
Bicycle in the fight for space
Bicycle is one of the most promising modes of transportation to contribute to this change of city and mobility paradigm for a number of reasons. It is already widely known by society; it requires proportionally low public investment in infrastructure; is versatile in the routes, especially from short to medium distances, encouraging the densification of the city; it is a healthy alternative of transport, contributing to individual and collective health; it contributes to combat the global climate emergency, not generating gas emissions; the citizen can access it at low cost or by means of increasingly comprehensive sharing systems; among many benefits observed in several cities around the world.
But just like all other modes of transport, the bicycle also needs space. According to the Brazilian Traffic Code, “the traffic of bicycles should occur — when there is no bike lane, cycle track, or road shoulder, or when it is not possible to use them — on the edges of the roadway, in the same direction regulated for the road, with preference over motor vehicles.”. In other words, bicycles and cars should share the same road when there are no exclusive lanes. Thus, the cyclist puts his body in the struggle for space since the availability of cycling infrastructure in Brazil is still far from being able to accommodate the cyclist more safely.
According to data from the World Health Organization, more than 1.35 million people lose their lives in the traffic each year, across the globe, and this is the leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 5 and 29 (WHO, 2018). In Brazil, almost 400,000 people lost their lives in the traffic between 2010 and 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Unlike the traditional understanding people had, we know today that the responsibility for road safety is not only in the hands of users, whether cyclists, motorcyclists, drivers or pedestrians. It is a shared responsibility where enforcement, signaling, engineering and road design, among other factors related to public policy and State action, also play a key role.
A number of studies highlight the relationship between road infrastructure characteristics and cyclist safety². While in some contexts — such as on smaller, low-traffic, low-speed streets — sharing lanes between cars and bikes may not lead to a significant increase in crashes and fatalities, larger streets and intersections without segregated bicycling can exacerbate the risk. Not surprisingly, the greater the feeling of insecurity, the fewer cyclists we see on the streets. At the same time, the more infrastructure is available, the safer people feel to ride, and the more likely they are to use bicycles as an alternative for their daily commute.
A trilogy of studies
Therefore, the dispute for space and for a new urban paradigm is not only related to the right to the city, the right to mobility and the search for cities and streets for people, but also in the search for a healthier, safer, and more sustainable urban life. However, in order for this to be effectively carried out in practical measures and better urban policies, it is essential to understand the disputed space, analyzing with data and evidence the assumptions and narratives consolidated in common sense, allowing to understand what is seen today, but is not viewed.
After all, is there enough urban space available for all the activities performed in the cities and for all means of transportation to coexist in harmony? One has to study and question how, for what and to whom we will, socially, (re)allocate these surfaces. It was from questions like these that the Cordial Institute, between 2021 and 2022, conducted a trilogy of studies in partnership with the Digital Innovation Movement — MID, seeking to broaden and deepen the understanding about the distribution of public spaces, the shape of road infrastructure and mobility dynamics in the city of São Paulo, contributing to qualify debates on public policies, actions and interventions aimed at mobility and road safety.
The objects of the three studies are complementary and articulated. They cover all modes of transportation, analyzing urban data and traffic crashes in the city of São Paulo in recent years. Methodologically, they start from a non-exhaustive bibliographic review, focusing especially on the survey, processing and pairing of geographic data, development of indicators, cartographies and statistical analysis. The reports can be freely downloaded on the page Brazilian Mobility Panel at the Cordial Institute website and at the MID website.
The study “Distribution of space and displacements in São Paulo: an analysis of infrastructure, travels and road safety in the city” opens the series, followed by two studies on the potential for increasing public space for people: one concerning the “analysis of the excess roadbed in the city of São Paulo”, and the other with an “analysis of curbside parking in the city of São Paulo”. The three studies open possibilities for further debate, analysis and researches.
Distribution of space and displacements in São Paulo
The study sought to analyze and compare the distribution of infrastructure, travels, and road safety among the 96 city of São Paulo districts, based on UN-Habitat indicators. According to the organization, the space distribution and the street connectivity are factors that help explain the prosperity of a city. It says that denser and more connected street systems are among the characteristics of more prosperous cities, comparing several examples from around the world through their Street Connectivity Index.
Analyzing, for the first time, the city of São Paulo districts with this index the study showed that even though streets in central districts are usually wider, the indicator Land Allocated to Streets (Land Allocated to Street-LAS), which calculates the proportion of the city’s public surface occupied by the streets, has medium to high levels also in districts outside downtown, where streets are narrower. The indicator may lead to the assumption that space is available for adequate road sharing by cyclists with other vehicles or, else, to accommodate interventions such as dedicated infrastructure and redesign for road safety, but this indicator in itself does not say everything about the opportunities for intervention in these locations.
The study also showed that the indicator “Intersection Density”(SID: Street Intersection Density-Intersections per km2) is higher in peripheral districts, especially in the city’s East Zone, characteristics that can be explained by their urbanization histories and subdivision profiles, resulting in a high density of streets and intersections, but with a predominance of narrow streets that flow into major arterial roads with public transportation infrastructure, such as Radial Leste.
However, while it may seem that there is no lack of space and there is a good connectivity according to the indicators, in most districts this does not necessarily translate into a city with better conditions and more appropriate and fair distributions of space. In other words, it is not only the space itself and the number of intersections that matter, but other characteristics of the streets, such as their width, their uses, and the allocation of this space, are also relevant.
Road safety is another urban issue that will always be related to the distribution of city spaces. While most of the jobs and commuting are concentrated in the central districts, where the streets are wider, it would be reasonable to assume that more traffic accidents are also concentrated there. Even more so when we note that the distribution of crashes is not homogeneous in the city: from above 124,000 crashes occurred between 2013 and 2019, there are districts that aggregate more than 3,000 crashes while others do not exceed 40.
However, from simulations performed with data from the São Paulo Metro’s Origin and Destination Survey to estimate the amount of rides that pass through each district, the study shows that there is less concentration of crashes in the districts in the expanded downtown than outside this. While the concentration in the central districts varies from 6 to 20 crashes for every 100,000 rides, the indicator in the rest of the city ranges from 9 to 38. This relationship is especially remarkable between cars and motorcycles, but not so clear for crashes involving cyclists, no matter how the districts with the most critical results are also outside the expanded downtown.
Narrow streets and sidewalks, high density of roads and intersections, and considerable concentrations of accidents per 100,000 rides make it clear how different the challenges of urban mobility and road safety are among São Paulo’s districts. Past solutions — even those that were successful in central areas — will not solve new challenges presented in other regions. The dispute between bicycles and other modes of transportation for urban space, in the struggle for a new city paradigm, carries specificities from place to place.
There is a great challenge in much of the city with narrow streets to implement infrastructure such as bike lanes, bike paths, paracycles, and urban furniture to support cyclists without changing significantly the road design. In parts of the city with these characteristics, it is necessary to find innovative solutions and rethink the urban space in a different way. To move in this direction it is necessary to deepen the analysis of the potential to expand public space for people through indicators that consider the road width, not only spatial indexes and indicators.
Potential enlargement of public space for people
Analysis of the excess roadbed in the city of São Paulo
The second study of the trilogy sought to approach the analysis of the specific characteristics of the streets and its purpose was to estimate the potential to expand the urban public space by identifying the excess roadbed. The variables of roadbed width, sidewalk width and number of traffic lanes in each of the city’s midblock were calculated. Also considered were the key parameters of minimum width of bus lane (3.2 meters), general traffic lane (3.0 meters), bicycle infrastructure (2.0 meters) and minimum acceptable width of sidewalk (2.0 meters).
Based on these variables, the established parameters and the results of the previous study, we tried to estimate how much space would be available for other uses on the road if the lanes were appropriate for the minimum parameters defined in the legislation and in manuals, resulting in an “excess” roadbed space. The images below illustrate the reasoning:
The initial results showed that at least ⅓ of the length of the midblocks in the city have an excess roadbed. The prevalence of the midblock distribution in this situation is heterogeneous in town, and in the central region 44% of the midblocks present this characteristic, while in the northern region there are only 27% of the cases. It is important to point out that loading demands were not considered in this estimate, since we only calculated the readjustment of the traffic lane widths, keeping the number of lanes intended for vehicles unchanged.
In total area, the excess space on São Paulo’s roads adds up to at least 2.3 million square meters (227 hectares, that is, 20 times the area of the Jardim da Luz park, in the downtown area) that could be allocated to other uses. This space, in several regions, could be used to receive new cycling infrastructure, between bike lanes and cycle tracks, depending on the case, encouraging a safe cycling. In cases of generous surplus roadways, sidewalk widenings can also be used to properly accommodate cycling equipment and services such as paracycles, bicycle racks, and rest and support points.
The results show that there is space available in many parts of the city, even without reducing the number of vehicle lanes, that is, without changing the current mobility paradigm. Even so, the impacts of adjusting the use of these spaces can be very significant and transforming for a more sustainable mobility, encouraging the use of bicycle. The results also give good indications that there is even more excess space if the use of these traffic lanes is actually changed and intended for other mobility-related purposes — such as the implementation of paracycles or the creation of green areas.
Analysis of curbside parking in the city of São Paulo
Based on the results obtained in the previous study, and breaking down its analysis, the third study sought to estimate the potential for expansion of urban public space through the identification of curbside parking regarded as excess. As to the offering of space, the variable of existing curbside parking spaces by midblocks was estimated and the key parameter of parking space size of 2.5m by 6m was used, in a conservative measure according to the literature³. To estimate the demand for parking spaces, we calculated the number of car trips with curbside parking and their duration from data in the 2017 Origin and Destination survey of the São Paulo Metro.
The results indicate that there is greater availability of parking spaces in districts outside the central area, with 79 spaces per kilometer of roadway on average, reaching more than 100 in districts like Butantã (West Zone) and Vila Matilde (East Zone), and less than 60 in districts like República (Center). It is worth remembering that the central area of São Paulo has very different characteristics from the peripheral areas, with more availability of jobs and more traffic volume, but also more public transportation, including buses, trains and subways, what mitigates the demand for curbside parking.
The statistical model for comparing the estimated offering of spaces with the demand for curbside parking indicated a total of more than 84,000 surplus spaces in the city, adding up to approximately 1.3 million square meters of space (comparable to the size of Ibirapuera Park) that can be intended for other purposes. There are districts with up to 45% surplus parking spaces, as is the case of Campo Limpo and Jardim São Luís, both in the South Zone.
The study started again from a conservative approach and did not consider modal substitutions, only a more efficient distribution of public space according to the current demand for curbside spaces. At the same time, free parking of private vehicles in public space without compensation is also not being discussed. The estimation results can be even much higher according to the approach taken in the analysis.
From the perspective of cities for people — prioritizing spaces for active mobility and social meeting, fostering other forms of commuting, modal substitutions, and other locations for private vehicle parking — one can assume that the amount of surplus spaces would be much higher. This space has great social value, and could be better used and distributed. There is a great debate about replacing car parking spaces with other uses, such as parklets, local sidewalk widenings to incorporate furniture, urban vegetation, and shared bicycle stations, among others.
Another city is possible
The two studies found at least 3.6 million square meters of roadbed space that could be better used for other purposes in the city of São Paulo, equivalent to 2.5 times the size of Ibirapuera Park. The available space will be even greater if we increasingly seek to change the paradigm of urban development and distribution of public space, prioritizing people. In addition, it is necessary to know and consider that the different histories of urbanization of the city districts pose specific challenges in each of them in this paradigm shift.
The cities have developed carrying inverted priorities and vices of origin, but it is necessary and fair to redistribute the urban space. It is necessary to keep on changing convictions and supposedly established truths, better understanding the reality in order to better intervene. The City Administration of São Paulo has been gradually carrying out interventions of this nature for several years now by, for example, expanding the offering of bicycle infrastructure and bike sharing network, implementing its road safety plan based on the Safe Systems approach, reducing the maximum speeds allowed on arterial roads, among other measures. But the city still needs other actions.
It is necessary to innovate and act in a coordinated way, sharing responsibilities based on public policies well-grounded in data and evidence, knowing and taking into account the local realities and challenges. It is not possible to think about the city of the future without knowing deeply the city of the present. New infrastructure elements, innovations in road safety and urban services must take these challenges into account. For bicycle and other active modes to succeed in the dispute for urban space, it is necessary to think the city in a new way, with new references and new paradigms, so that our cities develop to be more fair, safer and sustainable.
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¹ Cordial Institute is an independent think tank that works with data science, territorial intelligence and inter-sectoral articulation to strengthen networks and base public and private decision making on data and evidence. http://institutocordial.com.br/ & @institutocordial & @painelmobilidade.
² REYNOLDS, C. C. et al. The impact of transportation infrastructure on bicycling injuries and crashes: a review of the literature. Environmental Health, v. 8, n. 1, p. 47, dez. 2009.
³As there was no municipal database about availability of vacancies, estimations were conducted according to the characteristics of each midblock such as width, road hierarchy, presence of collective transport infrastructure, etc.
