British Council-City population
Transcript of the podcast
Presenter: Hello and welcome to ‘Visions of the Future’. This week we’re discussing the growth of cities in the twenty first century. In the studio we have the environmentalist Sue Shaw and Masako Ito an urban planner based in Tokyo. For the first time in human history more people now live in cities than in than in the countryside. Today Tokyo is the world’s largest conurbation. The combined cities of the Tokyo Bay Area now have a population of 28 million. Masako, how has Tokyo solved the problem of transport
Masako: Well, many Tokyo residents would say that the city’s transport problems have not been solved …, Tokyo is different from most cities in developing countries because it has many, many suburban railway lines. These lines bring commuters to the Yamamote line, the circular line around the city centre, and to the city’s ۱۲ subway lines
Presenter: Rail travel seems to be the answer
Masako: Yes, it is really. In addition there are expensive tolls on the city’s urban expressways, train travel is one and a half times faster than travel by car and city centre parking is very expensive
Presenter: So Tokyoites don’t use cars that much
Masako: Well you know, before you can buy a car in Tokyo you must prove that you have a place to park it, parking spaces can cost as much as apartments to rent …New roads are built in Tokyo but priority is given to new train lines
Presenter: So the train is king in Tokyo, Sue, anything to add
Sue: Tokyo is a good model for our future mega cities to aspire to, but, and this is a big but, Japan is a wealthy country and most of the rail system was present before Tokyo developed or was built as the city grew. Most of our new mega cities will be in Asia and Africa where the resources to develop a transport infrastructure similar to Tokyo’s just aren’t present
Presenter: What can these cities do
Sue: They must do all they can to stop the car from becoming the main means of transport. Cars bring pollution and the construction of new roads can destroy the fabric of a city as they divide communities and lead to the building of new types of housing – usually high apartment blocks
Presenter: So
Sue: Integrated transport systems that take into consideration local factors are the answer. Take Calcutta for example. There hand pulled rickshaws are being included in the plans for the transport system, alongside buses and trams. Bangkok and Manila have built overhead rail systems. These are cheaper and quicker to build than expensive underground subway lines
Presenter: So for the future mega cities the message is forget about cars
Sue: Most definitely
Masako: I’d agree with that too
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