Category: Uncategorized

a very helpful tool for urban design:

Better to have a broad vision and a straight implementation plan, rather than implementing a little here and there:

The opposite of beautiful cities:

https://de.euronews.com/2026/01/24/verkehr-deutschland-4-tage-stadt-stau

Welcome to our Beautiful Cities blog. We are starting this journey because we believe that the current trajectory of urban development has lost its way. Our streets, which should be the veins of culture and community, have largely become storage units for private vehicles and data-harvesting grounds for global tech giants.

Beautiful Cities is more than a research initiative; it is a movement to restore urban sovereignty and aesthetic integrity to the places we call home.

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Our Philosophical Core: Space is a Public Good

We believe that public space belongs to the public – not to car owners, and not to proprietary algorithms. To turn this vision into reality, we focus on three transformative pillars:

• Dynamic Public Space Management: We must move from static parking to flexible, human-centric zones. Use of our shared streets for personal profit or storage must be monetized to benefit the community.
• Distance-Based Road User Charging (RUC): A fair, transparent “pay-as-you-drive” model is the only way to ensure our infrastructure remains funded and sustainable as we move away from fossil fuels.
• The Modular “Skateboard” Platform: We don’t need private robotaxi monopolies. We need municipality-controlled, modular EV platforms that can adapt to a city’s needs—from micro-shuttles to mobile clinics.

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A Different Kind of Digital Space

In a world of “engagement-at-all-costs,” we are building this blog to be different. Our vision is a profit-free and algorithm-free information hub.

“We want to create a space where expertise and inspiration flow freely, unburdened by the digital noise of mainstream social media.”

This is a place for urban planners, researchers, designers, and citizens who believe that a city should be judged by its beauty and livability, not its throughput.

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Join the Community

We are in our early days, and we are looking for fellow pioneers. Whether you are:

1. A researcher looking for a strategic partner to pilot new ideas.
2. A writer or expert who wants to share insights without fighting an algorithm.
3. A designer who wants to help us visualize what a “Beautiful City” actually looks like.

We invite you to reach out. Let’s stop building cities for cars and start building them for people – with sovereignty, independence, and style.

Welcome to Beautiful Cities.

Fabien Sauthier

Berlin is using one of its scarcest resources in a surprising way.

Around 3,300 hectares of land are dedicated to parking private cars.
That’s ~𝟭𝟬× more space than 𝗮𝗹𝗹 public playgrounds combined, even though 𝟰𝟯% of households 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 own a car.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴:
📊 New data from the Mobilität in Deutschland (MiD) study shows:
• Nearly 50% of cars in Germany don’t move on an average day
• In 2008, this was only one third
• Effectively, ~25% of traffic space is used for private storage, not mobility

𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲:
• Walking is at its highest level since 2008
• Cycling accounts for 11% of all kilometres travelled
• Active mobility is clearly on the rise

Yet our cities are still designed around the stationary car.

This isn’t about being 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘤𝘢𝘳. It’s about being pro-people, pro-climate, and pro-livable cities.

Just reclaiming 10% of parking space could double the size of playgrounds, create new green corridors and free up space for housing and safer streets.

What would you prioritise if your city reclaimed even a fraction of its parking space?Größere Bilddarstellung aktivieren,

Season’s Greetings from ETSCAs 2025 draws to a close, we find ourselves reflecting on a year of stark contrasts for European road safety. It has been a year where the political headwinds have been strong, presenting us with significant policy challenges. Yet, it has also been a year where the dedication of our member organisations and the leadership of pioneering countries have given us renewed grounds for hope. Facing the headwinds 2025 has been a difficult year for EU road safety policy. The latest data show that progress on reducing road deaths has stalled, with a collective decrease of just 2% in 2024. We remain significantly off track to meet the EU target of halving road deaths and serious injuries by 2030. More concerning have been recent political decisions that actively threaten safety standards. Just this month, we saw a double blow at the EU Transport Council, where Member States announced an intention to water down proposals to modernise periodic technical inspections (PTI) and simultaneously opened the door to the cross-border travel of longer and heavier vehicles.  We have also had to fight hard against the possibility that a new category of small electric cars could be exempted from safety requirements. Yesterday, the Commission announced the intention to freeze new requirements for this category for ten years. While existing standards are maintained, it is an act of negligence to rule out future safety upgrades that could save lives. Furthermore, the spectre of a new trade framework potentially allowing lower-standard US vehicles onto our roads remains a critical concern we continue to monitor. Beacons of progress Despite these setbacks, there is plenty of light to be found. The road safety community is resilient, and excellent work is being done across the continent. In June, we were delighted to present the 2025 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Award to Norway. With just 16 road deaths per million inhabitants, Norway remains the safest country for road users in Europe. Their success is no accident; it is the result of a relentless “Vision Zero” commitment, effective youth-focused reforms, and local innovations like the “Heart Zones” around schools. Norway proves that sustained, evidence-based government action saves lives.Read about Norway’s 2025 PIN Award winWe also saw the successful conclusion of the second phase of the EU-funded Road Safety Exchange project this October. This initiative has become one of the most dynamic platforms for cooperation in Europe, connecting experts from 19 countries to solve real-world problems. From Lithuania implementing 2+1 roads based on Swedish expertise, to Greece developing digital systems for speeding fines, this project demonstrates that when we share knowledge, we accelerate progress.Read more about the EU Road Safety Exchange resultsFurthermore, while the EU average lags, individual countries like Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia have shown it is possible to buck the trend, achieving significant reductions in road deaths of over 25% since 2019. Looking ahead This month, alongside our partners, we urgently called on the European Commission to establish a dedicated EU Road Safety Agency. Aviation, maritime, and rail all have dedicated EU agencies – road transport, the mode where the vast majority of deaths occur, does not. This structural gap must be closed to ensure consistent enforcement and oversight, especially as we move toward an era of automated vehicles.Read our joint letter calling for an EU Road Safety AgencyFinally, this year we directed the PIN programme’s attention toward two critical, yet often underreported, aspects of road safety. We began by addressing the challenge of serious injuries, underscoring the need for better measurement and prevention. Most recently, we have shone a much-needed spotlight on the hidden scale of work-related road deaths. By exposing the widespread lack of consistent data in these areas, we have laid the groundwork for better policies to protect all road users – especially those who drive for a living.PIN Flash 48: Reducing serious injuries on European roadsPIN Flash 49: Tapping the potential for reducing work-related road deathsThank you for your tireless support, your campaigning, and your expertise. The challenges of 2025 have proven that our voice is needed more than ever. We wish you a restful break and look forward to standing with you again in 2026 to make Europe’s roads safer for everyone. Season’s Greetings, The ETSC Team Antonio, Dudley, Eimantas, Ellen, Francesca, Frank, Graziella, Jenny, Maria, Paolo, Riccardo and Theodora