traffic jams are a sign of income inequality - automotive air cleaner

The Dutch-
Navigation company TomTom NV found the highest and fastest traffic congestion index in 2018 German cities during the study-
The increase in apartment rents is also the most crowded.
This finding sends an important message to urban planners: rather than trying to fight against cars, it may be worth trying to build more housing and diversify the business infrastructure to bring people closer to work.
TomTom found that Hamburg, the ninth largest German city in terms of renting r, was the most crowded;
Berlin and Stuttgart are among the top five in terms of rent levels and traffic congestion;
Munich, which has the highest prices for apartments, is the sixth largest and most crowded city.
The company has only done the job for Germany, but this trend is obvious in the United States. S. , too.
There, there are 7 of the 10 cities with the highest rent, and 6 of the 10 cities with the highest living cost are the 10 with the most serious traffic problems.
TomTom's explanation is that in more expensive cities, people tend to move to the suburbs where they can afford the rent --
But they still work downtown.
The company wrote that "the disconnect between place of residence and workplace" played an important role in the issue of urban transport in Germany.
In other words, congestion stems, at least to some extent, from inequality.
From the perspective of a city planner or mayor, the obvious way to reduce congestion is (
And the emissions it generates)
Especially cars that use fossil fuels.
Amsterdam, for example, intends to get all gasolineand diesel-
By 2030, electric cars had disappeared from the streets, and long ago, the car had been completely out of the Dutch fleet, which had an average life span of more than nine years today.
The measure looks gradual.
But, especially in the old town of Amsterdam, where there is a lot of activity in a center, it actually punishes poor residents who have to leave their jobs and move to the periphery, who can hardly afford to buy new electric cars.
Urban congestion charges and their extreme forms
Ban old, cheap carsdeliverthe not-too-
The city center is not the subtle message of the poor.
Try not to come if you can't afford to live there.
Or often use public transport that is inconvenient, crowded and underfunded, further reducing your standard of living.
The way the same message is delivered is less painful, such as trying to provide more jobs, close to those who are forced to leave the city center.
Although the academic debate on the effectiveness of work and housing
Some recent work has shown an attempt to make the city more multi-center in order to reduce commuting time and congestion. (
So, of course, the same is true for improving public transport links to and from multiple centers).
Of course, it will not work apart from other necessary efforts.
Berlin, for example, has two centers left from the time it was cut by a wall, and an enviable public transport network --
But it is the second most crowded city in Germany.
The steady increase in rents has pushed people out of town, with many newcomers who find jobs in the capital settling in the surrounding state of Brandenburg.
About 215,600 people commute from Brandenburg to work in Berlin in 2018.
An increase of 9% per cent over 2013.
Traditionally, Berlin has been trying to counter this trend by controlling rents.
According to the city regulations, the price of the new lease agreement is linked to the average price in the region, prohibiting substantial increases every year, and the action against the attempts of large landowners to bring prices closer to market levels is very powerful.
However, economists have long known that rent controls are far less efficient in driving down house prices than new buildings.
Moreover, city managers avoid issuing more building permits by instinctively wanting to ban cars.
Their numbers are declining in Berlin.
A city can reduce congestion through three parallel efforts to make the air cleaner: allow as much housing construction as possible in the absence of tight infrastructure, try to diversify employment and build public
The costs of these efforts are relatively high, and sometimes the construction and devolution parts may not be welcome.
But, compared to artificially limiting the mobility of the poor, the pursuit of them at the same time may be a fairer way to address congestion and air quality issues.
Contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky of lbershidsky @ bloomberg.
NetTo contacted the editor in charge of the story: Stacey Shick from sshick @ bloomberg.