Reclaiming Our Cities & Towns: Better Living with Less Traffic

What’s Wrong with Traffic (and How to Fix It)

David Engwicht. 1993, New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143; 800/333-9093. 180 pages, paperback, $12.95; cloth, $39.95.

Reclaiming Our Cities & Towns is the sort of book one wishes everyone would read. It is relevant whether you design communities, coordinate urban planning, or simply drive a car. Formerly published in Australia under the title Towards an Eco-City: Calming the Traffic, this book is likely to influence the debate around transportation options for a long time to come.

David Engwicht got into this field by leading a citizen’s campaign against the expansion of a highway through his hometown of Brisbane, Australia. Following the successful campaign, he traveled extensively, studying what makes some cities so much more livable than others. The results of his efforts is a treatise that combines the passion of an activist with the logic of a scientist.

Engwicht’s premise is that, fundamentally, cities are about exchange. “Cities were invented to facilitate exchange of information, friendship, material goods, culture, knowledge, insight, skills, and also the exchange of emotional, psychological and spiritual support.” He then goes on to deconstruct the myth that more movement equals more exchange and to show how excessive automobile use drastically reduces the opportunities for exchange. According to Engwicht, access to services in modern, car-dependent cities is about the same now as it was before the advent of the car—for car users. All the rest—the elderly, the young, and the poor—are severely handicapped in their access.

Engwicht’s writing is at its best when he focuses on “How Traffic Destroys the City” (chapter 2), and on “Rebuilding the Eco-City Together” (chapter 5), where he offers a broad range of specific suggestions for initiating change. In between he gets more abstract, with a discussion of “Eco-Relational Thinking” (chapter 3) and an expanded understanding of human rights (chapter 4). While these intermediate chapters are full of interesting ideas, they lack the force of Engwicht’s discourse on cars, traffic, and cities.

Throughout the book, one gets ink- lings of the broader implications of what Engwicht is suggesting—that ultimately what is required is not merely a change in how roads are designed, but a radical transformation of consciousness. Engwicht does not shy away from this perspective, nor does he dwell on it. Perhaps this combination of the idealistic and the practical are what, in the end, make this book such a treasure.