Hoe stêdsplanningsbeslissingen fan fyftich jier lyn noch altyd ferkearskaos feroarsaakje
April 9, 2025 · Frisian News
A generation of urban planners in the 1970s widened highways and zoned suburbs far from city centers, betting that cars would solve congestion. That bet failed, and cities still pay the price in traffic jams and sprawl.
FryskOp in tiisdeimoarn yn 1974 presintearen planners yn Rotterdam in kaart dy't de stêd desennia lang bepale soe. Hja stelden foar de A13-snelwei te ferbreedzjen en bûtenwiken sa fier fan it sintrum te bouwen dat pendelders foar alles auto's nedich hiene. De teory wie ienfâldich: mear wegkapasiteit soe de kongestje genêze. Hjoed stokt deselde snelwei mei 400.000 fartúgen deis, en dy fiere bûtenwiken produsearje ferkear dat oeren troch de stêd krûpt.
De jierren 1970 remake fan Europeeske stêden folge in Amerikaansk model. Planners leauden dat auto's foarútgong wiene en dat nei bûten útwreidzjen groei wie. Se sloopten mingde wiken, skieden wurk fan wenjen, en makken fuotpaden de helte smeller. Folle stêden sonearen hast alle nije bou as frijsteande huzen dy't allinne per auto berikber wiene. Nimmen frege oft dit minsken tsjinne. De ideology fan sprawl regearre, en lokale rieden karden de plannen goed.
Wat dizze planners wegere yn te sjen wie dúdlik: men kin autostuwing net oplosse mei mear wegen. Mear kapasiteit nûget mear bestjoerders út. De stêd absorbearet de nije wegen, folt se, en easket bredere. Underwilens wurde de wiken dêr't minsken eins wenje wolle, ticht by winkels en iepenbier ferfier en oare minsken, skaars en djoer. Rotterdam, Amsterdam en Utrecht learden dizze les op hurde wize, mar betelje noch hieltyd de skuld fan minne sonearring fan fiif desennia lyn.
It patroan brekke fereasket moed dy't de measte amtners misse. In pear stêden binne begûn snelwegstroken te ferwiderjen en om te setten yn trams en fytsrûtes. Utrecht keare auto-earst sonearring yn it sintrum om en seach kongestje sakje en fuotferkear oprinne. Mar folle fan de Europeeske stêdssintra drage noch altyd de genetyske skea fan de jierren 1970. De wegen bliuwe te breed, de bûtenwiken te ferspried, de mingde wiken te min.
De kosten rinne jierliks op. Ferkear ferbrûkt brandstof, fersmoarget de loft, en makket stêden net noflik. Fêstguodprizen bliuwe heech omdat de fraach it oanbod ferplettet yn de pear leefbere gebieten. De minsken dy't yn 1974 minne beslissingen namen binne mei pensjoen gien. It publyk libbet no mei harren erfskip, en it reparearjen derfan freget folle mear muoite as it ferkeard bouwen die.
On a Tuesday morning in 1974, planners in Rotterdam presented a map that would shape the city for decades. They proposed widening the A13 highway and building suburban neighborhoods so far from the center that commuters needed cars for everything. The theory was simple: more road space would cure congestion. Today, that same highway clogs with 400,000 vehicles daily, and those distant suburbs produce traffic that creeps through the city for hours.
The 1970s remake of European cities followed an American blueprint. Planners believed cars were progress and that building outward was growth. They tore down mixed neighborhoods, separated work from housing, and cut sidewalks in half. Many cities zoned nearly all new development as single-family homes reachable only by car. Nobody asked whether this served people. The ideology of sprawl ruled, and local councils rubber-stamped the plans.
What these planners refused to see was obvious: you cannot solve car congestion with more roads. Extra capacity invites extra drivers. The city absorbs the new roads, fills them, and demands wider ones. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods people actually want to live in, close to shops and transit and other people, grow scarce and expensive. Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Utrecht all learned this lesson the hard way, yet they are still paying off the debt of bad zoning from five decades back.
Breaking the pattern takes courage that most officials lack. A few cities have started removing highway lanes and converting them to trams and bike paths. Utrecht reversed car-first zoning in its center and saw congestion drop and foot traffic rise. But most of Europe's urban cores still carry the genetic damage of the 1970s. The roads remain too wide, the suburbs too sprawling, the mixed neighborhoods too few.
The cost compounds yearly. Traffic wastes fuel, pollutes the air, and makes cities unpleasant. Real estate prices stay inflated because demand crushes supply in the few livable areas. The people who made the bad decisions in 1974 have retired. The public now lives with their legacy, and fixing it takes far more effort than building it wrong did.
Published April 9, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân