In the old days, global warming was unheard of. So was the carbon footprint of human beings. Modes of transport were usually not dependent on fuel consumption. Horses, buggies, donkeys, horse-drawn carriages or simply walking in the city were norm. Factories didn't exist. Industrialization hadn't stepped in.
These creations of modern times were necessary, no doubt, but the way they changed living environments could have been perhaps better planned. Urban areas came into formation, but what the modern urban planners lost out on was the old concept of making cities walkable.
In the old days, everything from shops, hospitals, schools, workplace, worship places and leisure areas, all used to be within walking distance.
The town of Cambridge is a wonderful example of this concept. The way the place has been designed, everything that a resident living there needs, is within easy walkable -- or "bikable"-- reach.
For big cities like Karachi which suffer from a lack of planning, there are options like the one Mexico City uses.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
On a normal morning, this road is an environmentalist's worst nightmare. But not so at the end of each week, because, for the past few months, traffic has been banished from Reforma each Sunday between 7am and 2pm. It's a bold move, and the brainchild of the city's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, who has gone green big-time (certainly by Mexican standards). In another headline-making move, the mayor and his closest advisers now cycle to work on the first Monday of every month - no mean feat for Ebrard, a 48-year-old smoker who, by his own admission, doesn't exercise as much as he might.
http://www.newstatesman.com/travel/2008/04/mexico-city-reforma-traffic
Could Karachi have a day like this? Ban traffic in the main artery of II Chundrigar Road and have a mayor, or even a politician who could cycle to work? (Maybe with an entourage of seven VIP protection cars in tow)...? :)
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