Jan Gehl, whose company is advising Oman’s Muscat Municipality, gave a talk last night on creating people friendly cities.
He gave examples of New York’s Broadway being pedestrianized, and how Melbourne in Australia moved away from being a ‘DoughNut’ city (one with an empty hole at its core) into a vibrant people oriented city.
The new Chairman of Muscat Municipality seems to be keen on creating a city where vehicles are given less priority and pedestrians and cyclists more (as I live in one of the more walkable areas of Muscat and have cycled round it for over two decades that emphasis will be great)
Oman
This is truly a first for the region..! Let’s hope it materializes. Perhaps the municipality should consider including a similar public bicycle lending/ renting scheme they have in Paris, Barcelona, Copenhagen and now even in Guangzhou in China…
Have a look at http://www.tourofoman.om to see some bike initiatives. It used to be that cycles were a childs thing – but over the last 5-10 years many more adult Omanis are cycling (small numbers still) so this will be a great boost
What great news. We really need Muscat to be one of the people friendly cities in the region if not the world. However, public toilets are the most things I will like to be improved in term of cleanliness and available in most of the area.
agree with you Saif – public toilets throughout the country as well as Muscat would be great – Muscat Municipality have, I’ve noticed, put many more trash cans on the side walks – about 1 every 50meters in Sidab (which is a walking area – when compared to other areas) – should help solved litter; so perhaps toilets are on the way