Pedestrian zones are gaining more and more weight in the urban area in Spain. However, despite the proliferation of this type of spaces in our cities, they still represent a very low percentage of the country's streets as a whole. Nine out of ten roads do not have any restrictions on road traffic, according to the recent Callegrafias study prepared by the Walking Cities Network association, which emphasizes the fact that almost 70% of public space is reserved for cars to the detriment of pedestrians.
The report is based on the direct study of almost 600 kilometers of public roads of 953 streets in 85 cities of various types. The authors do not reveal the name of the localities analyzed, since their intention “is not to compare cities” but to lay the foundations for municipalities to analyze their own identity with a view to “establishing improvement routines or simply to set the canons of a better treatment of space.
More than two thirds of public space in Spain, specifically 68.1%, is dedicated to vehicle use. Only 31.9% are pedestrian spaces, without taking into account parks and other garden areas.
In urban centers, due to the social function that these streets represent for the city as a whole, the difference between the spaces designated for vehicles (43.3%) and pedestrians (56.7%) is reversed. These roads are the ones most used for walking, shopping or for tourist or everyday leisure. However, in non-central neighborhoods, pedestrian spaces only represent 25.6% of the total.
A very revealing piece of information from the Callegrafias report indicates the weight that vehicles still have on the streets of our cities. The vast majority of them (91.4%) lack any type of limitation on the circulation of motor vehicles. And of this remaining 8.6%, the absolute limitation is reduced to 4.5%, since loading and unloading is authorized on 4.1% of these streets. In non-central neighborhoods, the number of streets with restrictions on motorized traffic is reduced to 3%.
In urban centers the restrictions on automobiles are somewhat greater, but still on more than half of the streets (62%) cars can circulate without any limitations. In non-central areas, vehicles have free passage on 97% of the streets.
The middle street of our cities has separate spaces at different levels for vehicles and pedestrians. It measures 12 meters wide (7.5 meters dedicated to the road) and 4.5 meters dedicated to the sidewalks. These sidewalks include the space usually dedicated to streetlights, benches, trash cans, terraces, etc. Therefore, the available space is still less, the study highlights. In urban centers, almost half of the streets measure less than 8 meters (48.6%).
The study indicates that, in more than half of the streets, specifically 51.1%, “it is impossible or very difficult” to achieve an accessible pedestrian route, with at least 1.8 meters free of obstacles. To achieve a legal Accessible Pedestrian Route (IPA), it is estimated that sidewalks should measure at least 2.4 meters. The narrowest sidewalk that the report's authors found measures 30 cm, practically the same as the wide part of an A4-sized sheet of paper, and 14.1% are less than 1 m wide.
More than three-quarters of the streets have space reserved for drivers to park their vehicles. Only 18.4% of public roads lack parking. The report highlights that “not even half of city centers escape the transfer of public space to temporarily abandon a private asset like the car.” 64.2% of public roads in urban centers are considered garage streets. In non-central neighborhoods the percentage increases to 86%.
The authors of the study highlight that the number of vehicles parked on sidewalks is “quite high.” They represent 38.5% of the total, especially motorcycles and bicycles.
