Overview:

Summary: High levels of traffic contribute to heat and exhaust, adding to the urban heat island effect. Increasing bikability and walkability can suport efforts to reduce traffic and change mobility patterns.

Implementation: Restrict vehicles in certain areas or at certain times of day to reduce congestion and encourage walking and cycling.

Considerations for Use: Policies restricting vehicle access can be piloted on specific days (e.g. weekends) or during particular seasons (e.g. summer) to ease adoptance and generate community support.

• Policy Levers: The mechanism municipalities can use to actualize the intervention. These policy levers will likely be used in combination with each other.
  
  
  MandateMandates are government regulations that require stakeholders to meet standards through building codes, ordinances, zoning policies, or other regulatory tools.
• Trigger Points: Opportunities for municipalities to implement risk reduction and preparedness interventions based on the policy lever, building on the United Nations Environment Programme triggers used in the Beating the Heat handbook (2021).
  
  
  City planning processesIncludes city initiatives such as the development of climate action plan, pathway to zero-energy, master plan, transit plan, energy mapping etc.
  No-regrets actions (low cost/low effort but substantial benefit)Interventions that are relatively low-cost and low effort (in terms of requisite dependencies) but have substantial environmental and/or social benefits.
• Intervention Type:
  Planning/Policy
• Sectors:
  Transportation

Impact:

• Target Beneficiaries:
  Residents
• Phase of Impact:
  Risk reduction and mitigation
• Metrics:
  Mobility modes and traffic

Case Studies:

• Barcelona Low Emission Zone (C40 Knowledge Hub)
• Amsterdam Low Emission Area (C40 Knowledge Hub)

Implementation:

• Intervention Scale:
  City, Neighborhood
• Authority and Governance:
  City government
• Implementation Timeline:
  Short-term (1-2 Years)
• Implementation Stakeholders:
  City government
• Funding Sources:
  N/A
• Capacity to Act:
  High

Benefits:

• Cost-Benefit:
  Low
• Public Good:
  Medium
• GHG Reduction:
  Medium
• Co-benefits (Climate/Environmental):
  Reduce air and water pollution, Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Co-benefits (Social):
  Improve human health