This paper discusses the evolution of different attitudes to walking as a transport mode in Germany. In the 1960s and 1970s, pedestrian traffic generally played no part in official transportation plans, and some transport experts and engineers did not even recognise walking and cycling as proper modes. In the mid-1970s, the problem of traffic safety began to force people to accept walking as a subject of public interest. The Bonn transportation plan of 1979 is a good example from that period. During the 1980s, as a result of more integrative views from civil engineers, town planners, geographers, and social scientists, it began to be recognised that walking is mobility and helps to solve problems. In 1989, the city of Köln (Cologne) started to introduce the combination of walking and public transport as a basic transport system for its inhabitants. An attempt is made there to keep shops and social services within walking distance. The comprehensive transport concepts of the 1990s, now being evolved in Germany, have to think about the context of individual mobility on one side and the demands of local ecology and local economy on the other side. It is necessary to consider (1) what is required in future and how people want to live; (2) what measures will be necessary to meet these standards.
Samenvatting