I ask for child-friendly cities. I want walkable cities, not cities where you can only drive around.

Israel-Palestine wall: Each high-speed road in an urban area means a wall restricting children

Have you been watching the pointless debate in Ankara? Radikal has been giving good coverage of it. The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality is going to construct a new road that will link the Eskişehir Highway to the Yüzüncü Yıl district adjacent to the campus of Middle East Technical University (METU). The new road is to pass by METU’s territory, eating up a bit more of the METU forests. “It should be done,” some argue; “it should not,” others chant. The first group says the second group is against development. And on and on. Watching this debate, I recalled a quote by Enrique Penasola, the former mayor of Colombia’s capital, Bogota. Let me cite it for you so that you can understand why the issue is not about green space and the environment per se, but about children. It is not about the green areas, but about healthy new generations.

Turkey needs to transform its mindset about municipal projects. The understanding on both sides about municipal projects involves new roads that will eliminate traffic congestion. What I want is a new approach to municipal projects that talks about happy, urban children. Turkey has gone through a mental revolution over the last decade, but it is happening rather slowly, as the prime minister also stressed the other day. So, let me explain it all once again.

First, Penalosa. He said, “We know a lot about the ideal environment for a happy whale or a happy mountain gorilla. We're far less clear about what constitutes an ideal environment for happy children.” Why? Because we don’t think about it. I look at mayors who have spent two decades in office, and I am quite sure they have not taken five minutes to think, “How can this city be more child-friendly?” At least for Ankara. Its home-made Wonderland far from the city center won’t do that. If children are able to go to and play at an uptown park only when their parents have the time and the mood to take them there with their private car, that city is not child friendly. Again from Penalosa: “If a 12-year-old is not able to wander around a city by foot or public bus and if his or her parents have to take him or her instead, that city is a bad one.” Ankara is a child-unfriendly, bad city.

I work at TOBB University, located downtown in Söğütözü district, adjacent to Söğütözü Boulevard. The Boulevard reaches from the Eskişehir Highroad to the Atatürk Arboretum. It resembles the new road to be opened through the METU campus. The number of settlements on Söğütözü Boulevard is increasing each day and will grow further when the new prime ministry residence is completed. Automobiles whizz by on the Boulevard and we witness accidents quite often. Just as Penalosa recently said, “Building high-speed roads between houses is the same as building a Berlin Wall there. Children cannot cross that road, as they will be hit by cars.” Always happens here. Building high-speed roads between houses is building walls between them, just as Israel does in Palestine. Ankara’s municipality also loves and always does this. Probably because it does not know any other way.

Are there no crosswalks and stoplights on Söğütözü Boulevard? Sure, there are some controlled by pedestrians. You know, you press the button and the light goes red. But that’s where the accidents happen. Why? Giving pedestrians control of the red light gives drivers control of the road, so that the norm becomes continuing to drive at high speed. It means the red light will tell you to stop any time a pedestrian appears. This is bad. This is a bad municipal approach. It is no coincidence that accidents take place at or near pedestrian-controlled stoplights. It is the belatedness of municipalities.

I ask for child-friendly cities. I want walkable cities, not cities where you can only drive around. Maybe I will check how many kilometers of public transportation have been built in Ankara and Istanbul in the last twenty years and tell you. I think we should give credit to roads built for public transportation.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 06.09.2013