Making Space for Physical Distancing in Canada's Urban Centers: A Case Study of Vancouver's Slow Streets
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Authors
Lee, Claire
Date
2021-05
Type
Language
en
Keyword
active transportation
Alternative Title
Abstract
In March 2020, the World Health Organization (2020) declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 had an immediate impact on all facets of daily life as global efforts focused on slowing the spread of the virus. Emergency measures, such as travel bans, school and workplace closures, and limits on social gatherings, were ordered by governments around the world. Despite these orders, people still needed to access essential jobs, make essential trips, and engage in regular exercise to maintain their physical and mental health. To reduce the spread of the virus, health officials recommended physical distancing and limiting close contact with people outside of your immediate household. Specifically, the Government of Canada (2020) recommended keeping a distance of 2 metres apart when around other people.
Maintaining physical distancing presented major challenges for mobility, particularly in dense urban spaces like public transit, sidewalks, parks and plazas. To address the challenge of inadequate space for physical distancing on sidewalks, cities across Canada implemented temporary interventions to make it easier for people to practice physical distancing while engaged in active transportation (e.g., walking, bicycling). Examples of rapid responses include temporary pedestrian and bicycle lanes, pedestrian waiting areas, and traffic diversion (Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 2020). This report focuses on one of these interventions, Slow Streets, using the City of Vancouver as a case study.
Slow Streets are routes for walking, cycling and rolling that make it easier for people to exercise and access businesses. In Vancouver, Slow Streets are not closed to cars, but motor vehicle access is limited to local traffic, emergency vehicles and waste/recycling collection. The purpose of the case study is to understand the process and reasoning behind implementing the Slow Streets program as a rapid response to COVID-19. This research is especially timely and important as experts predict that physical distancing directives will be in place for the next 2-3 years (Jones, 2020), and as such, local transportation authorities will continue to face pressure to facilitate residents meeting these directives through initiatives that support active transportation.