The Ghent circulation plan

General information

A silting city center, Ghent wanted to do something about it. 'We worked out an entire circulation plan here in a relatively short time, which was in the period from 2015 to 2017,' says Wim. 'The first question is: what do we want to achieve as a city? You are looking for insights and measurable data. We carried out traffic counts, a real eye-opener within the Mobility Company. We noticed how many people drove right through the city center, while through traffic actually has to cross the city ring. Our utopian view was: what if we remove all those cars? What space do we create then? That is the basic idea behind the circulation plan.'

new wind

At that time, Ghent just had a new alderman for mobility, Filip Watteeuw (Green). “He wanted to make his mark and move quickly. In fact, the circulation plan served as a lever to emphasize more quality of life and road safety. A number of well-aimed interventions were simply supposed to make through traffic impossible. We expanded the car-free area, and to get to the city you had to take the most logical approach.'

Unbundling approach roads

The city council quickly agreed on that basic concept, but then the real work begins. 'That's right,' Wim nods, 'then you go and see what those logical approaches are. How do we define the zones? What is our main starting point? And what measures are we adding to it?'

One of the principles that remained intact was the plan to unbundle the approach roads for cyclists, public transport and cars as much as possible. 'Then the number of possible conflicts will be reduced, and traffic will also run more smoothly. The bicycle becomes more attractive. Public transport crosses fewer bicycle masses and cars, making it safer and more punctual,' explains Wim.

angry reactions

So first you look for a logical structure, and then you refine it. 'And that's more than shooting arrows. Which traffic signs do you place? What does a traffic filter look like? Do you only place signs, or also posts? In various places, so-called ANPR cameras turned out to be the best option.'

Simulations with traffic models followed at a later stage. 'And at certain locations you suddenly see problems emerging,' says Wim. 'During that practical elaboration phase, we entered into extensive discussions with citizens. There were a lot of reactions, including angry feedback: “Have you thought about seniors who have difficulty walking?”. The walking distances are indeed increasing, so what can you do about it? What about suppliers who deliver everywhere in the city center? Do you allow exceptions or not? You look for solutions that are as consistent as possible with your principles. You make a trade-off between acceptable drawbacks and compromises.'

Citizen participation

How about involving the citizen in the entire process from the start? 'In any case, we are approaching far-reaching plans completely differently now,' says Wim. 'At the time, we first published the circulation plan and then organized information evenings and panel discussions. The core of the project was already established. We used the feedback from citizens to develop additional solutions and make the plan even better. Some people felt trapped. A polarization soon developed between supporters and opponents, sometimes resulting in caricatural arguments: “this is car bullying” or “the city is becoming dead”. It is very difficult to refute those arguments. As a city, we have put a lot of energy into explaining the plan and reversing that negative perception. We are now preparing neighborhood mobility plans outside the center, and we are approaching it differently: we go to a neighborhood and ask what the bottlenecks and ideas are. We then work on a plan in dialogue. So a completely different method, we learned from the circulation plan (laughs).'

We are now a few years later, how is things going in Ghent now? 'Meanwhile, 55% of the residents of Ghent are in favour, 35% against and 10% is somewhere in between. With those proportions, we consider the plan to be accepted', says Wim. 'Sometimes we still run campaigns to make it clear that Ghent is still easily accessible. It doesn't help to paint a caricatured image of "the unreachable city", when everything is perfectly accessible. Unfortunately, because of that wrong perception, there are still people who no longer come to Ghent.'

Air quality

Feel free to call the Ghent circulation plan a system leap. In order to know exactly the effects afterwards, the city opted fully to evaluate traffic flows and air quality. Wim: 'We see an 18% decrease in nitrogen emissions. That is not only the merit of the circulation plan, because your fleet is also evolving.'

'And yet: when we compare our results with Flemish figures, we notice that the difference is greater in Ghent than elsewhere. You also see a distinction between measuring points on the city ring or approach roads on the one hand and measuring points in residential streets on the other. There the difference is even greater.'

At the time, Ghent only worked with official measurements to measure air quality. For the more recent neighborhood mobility plans, the city is taking a different tack: right from the start, it launched a call to citizens to hang a measuring device on your facade or to carry out traffic counts. 'We have a double goal in mind: we want to involve citizens more closely in policy and also compile a richer database. The number of participants is not spectacular, but there is some interest.'

Human suffering

'The number of accidents fell sharply,' says Wim enthusiastically, 'although this is the result of various measures. Two years earlier we had already made the city center a zone 30, a year later we rolled out the new parking plan, and the circulation plan was added on top of that. This combination of interventions ensured that a year after the start of the circulation plan, the number of traffic accidents has decreased by 35 to 40 percent within the Ghent city ring. That's a spectacular difference. We are very proud of that, as a city you ensure that a lot of human suffering disappears.'

Another remarkable change: there are a lot more cyclists of all ages, and that increase came even faster than hoped. 'However, there is also a flip side to the medal,' says Wim. 'You simply make choices and as a result, some traffic axes still have to process a lot of traffic. Not everyone is a winner in this story to the same degree. The situation only worsens for everyone if you, as a local government, do nothing. We have indeed intervened quite radically in our city. In most places this brings a considerable improvement, but not everywhere. And we have to be honest about that.'

More pleasant life

In the meantime, Ghent has introduced a low-emission zone, at least in the city centre. Ghent is opting for “oxygen neighbourhoods” in the outskirts of the city: we are not banning older cars, but we are focusing on measures to make people less dependent on their cars. We do this, among other things, by encouraging the use of shared bicycles and car sharing. At the same time, we want to improve air quality in this way.

'The city center feels more pleasant to live in today,' says Wim. 'The smaller shopping streets are gaining in importance. Larger companies such as garages are moving to the outskirts of the city, while more hotels, restaurants and boutiques are being built in the center. In other words, the economic field is evolving along with it.'

Watch and learn: tips and experiences from the City of Ghent

1. Bottom up: 'Involve citizens in your project from the start. They are the experts by experience, which often leads to valuable insights. Moreover, this helps to increase understanding of your new approach.'
2. Sharpen your principles : 'Vision is extremely important. It forms the framework within which you work out your project and provides a basis for adjustments.'
3. And just measure: ' You can only know whether your project is going well if you can compare the results. Therefore measure the initial situation thoroughly.'