The Spanish network of Cities that Walk, which will create an Iberian network in Porto on Friday together with the Institute of Cities and Towns with Mobility (ICVM), defended this Wednesday that “making cities more walkable is not a whim”.
Making cities more walkable is not a whim. Or what is in cause and the health of people”, said Lusa Ana Montalbán, technical secretary of the Spanish network of Cities that Caminham, in anticipation of the congress of the same name that takes place in the fifth and sixth fairs, at the Fundação Manuel António da Mota, in the port.
According to the official, who spoke with Lusa by phone, “a city that walks is a city where walking is pleasant, because it has a healthy environment, because when there are fewer cars and more trees, the quality of the environment is better and encourages people to walk. ”.
Asked about the various environmental benefits of a “green” city, Ana Montalbán lamented that many times, in Spain, in interventions in public space “the tree is a great complement that is put last if there is money or space left over, and not it is a main tool of urban design, and it should be”.
Afforestation “is one of the weakest and weakest points that are still missing in urban planning and in the urban design of cities,” he considered.
The liberation of public space from car use is for people, but it should also be for afforestation, for large trees”, he advocated.
On the other hand, urban parks “are fundamental, because they constitute those large green islands within cities” where it is possible to “isolate”, but it is also important “how it relates to the rest of the city”.
“In the network we always recommend that the parks be open. A lot of times we have great, great parks in cities, but they’re limited to one or two driveways,” she observed.
According to Ana Montalbán, this circumstance “prevents, for example, that it is not used as a transit area”, which “would be much more pleasant”, also allowing them to be “well connected to provide biodiversity to the city, the streets and avenues that connect with them.”
It must connect with the streets and avenues surrounding the park, and continue to connect with the outside of the city, where fields and forests can be found,” said the head of the Walking Cities Network.
The existence of green spaces also contributes to the improvement of public and individual health, since Ana Montalbán observes that the act of walking improves “physical and mental health”.
“It combats sedentary lifestyle, obesity, stimulates the cardiovascular system, strengthens bones and muscles, and therefore fights diseases, prevents respiratory diseases,” he told Lusa.
In addition, walking “combats and prevents mental illness” and “is an antidepressant”, having played an important role, for example, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From what I see in many of the cities that I visit as coordinator of the network, I can say, with great regret, that we learned very little from the period we lived in the pandemic,” lamented Ana Montalbán.
According to the official, during the pandemic “there were immense expectations that it could be a lever to change things”, but “in general, with some specific exceptions, there has not been a generalized change”.
Ana Montalbán was referring to the temporary closure of “many streets to traffic”, as well as the “desire to go out”.
These initiatives remained as isolated examples, and we did not learn as much as we should”, observed the person in charge of the Spanish network.
The structure currently has 75 associated municipalities and two councils (public entities that support the municipalities of a province in Spain).
With the formalization of the creation of the Iberian network, this Friday, together with the ICVM, Ana Montalbán has “the expectation and the objective of being able to pool many of the resources that are being formed in the two networks”.
“There are a number of things that we produce, for example campaigns, information, which will probably be one of the most important lines of work of this alliance and dissemination of our philosophy, which are common to Spain and Portugal,” he explained.
Source: Observadora
