Car-free zone at Dhaka City centre

From car-friendly North American cities and other vehicle-friendly megalopolis around the world, it is apparent that vehicle-friendly cities offer nothing but traffic congestion, pollution, high level of energy consumption, an unsustainable life style and most importantly a poor quality of life. Realising the negative impacts of vehicle-friendly cities, many cities in North America and other countries around the world are redesigning their urban zones to allow a more public transit-friendly and pedestrian-friendly environment as found in most cities in Europe.
Aiming at tackling traffic congestion rather than building more road network and highways, Europe's most congested city, Brussels is planning to turn the central part of the city into a car-free zone. This would transform a four-lane congested boulevard into a public place with cafés. The new pedestrian zone will be connected with an existing pedestrian zone in the narrow streets in the nearby area, turning Brussels' central business district (CBD) into a spacious quality public space. The plan is likely to transform Brussels into a likeable European city. Several cities around the world have already done what Brussels is planning to do to solve the traffic congestion.
The growing middle class and the increased purchasing power of the middle class in most of the developing countries including Bangladesh have increased the number of private vehicles in these countries in the recent years. However, the developing countries lack the road infrastructure to accommodate the growing number of personal vehicles in the city. To accommodate the growing number of private vehicles, should developing countries design car-friendly cities such as those in North America?
According to a report by EMBARQ, a world renowned institution which aims to catalyse and help implement sustainable transport solutions to improve quality of life in cities, "Developing countries, which still face a large infrastructure gap, have the opportunity to leap-frog car-dependent transport and adopt multimodal strategies that reduce pollution, energy consumption, traffic fatalities and congestion, while fostering economic development and improving well-being." This means that rather than developing a car-friendly city and then redesigning the city to make it more public transit and pedestrian-friendly, developing countries should learn from the poor transport planning strategy of North America and design a public transit and pedestrian friendly city like most cities in Europe.
To mitigate traffic congestion, rather than following the traditional North American example of just focusing on increasing the existing road network in the city, the authority may consider the European example of providing car-free zone or a pedestrian-friendly zone at the city centre or, at least, prohibit private vehicles from entering the CBD area. The city authority may provide a safe and secure location for car park near the CBD so that people accessing the CBD with personal vehicles can safely park their vehicles and then walk to their desired location in the CBD. The authority may convert some of the traffic lanes in the CBD into pedestrian zones and bicycle lanes. This will reduce traffic congestion at the city centre, which is generally one of the most congested areas in the city. This will also reduce pollution and enhance the quality of open public space in the area. In addition, it will convert the place into a more pedestrian and public transit-friendly environment which will make it more people-friendly, appealing and liveable.
The writer is a transportation             engineer working in Thailand.             ridwanq@gmail.com