Accessibility Policy for Cities in the 2020s
Transforming cities to be more compact, connected, clean and inclusive is a crucial contribution to the triple challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, global climate emergency and new rise in poverty and inequality. Reshaping cities in this way will make them more accessible, liveable, sustainable, and resilient to future shocks.
The pandemic has created opportunities to rethink urban spaces and improve people’s ability to move around cities and thrive. Cities – as places to connect people with opportunities, resources, goods, and services – can be used to define the pathway to a successful recovery and move away from business-as-usual urban development.
This new paper by researchers at LSE Cities and the OECD and produced for the Coalition for Urban Transitions, analyses COVID-19 recovery spending across nine countries and makes recommendations to national governments to boost recovery and accelerate progress towards low-carbon, accessible and inclusive cities.
The analysis highlights the potential for rapid transformation within cities. Many promising measures have been implemented by the spending, across the countries studied, including support for rail networks, urban public transport systems, electric vehicles, walking and cycling infrastructure and low traffic neighbourhoods. But some of the measures risk entrenching fossil fuel dependency for many years and could set countries back in terms of decarbonisation and urban accessibility.
More information on the NCE Coalition for Urban Transitions