Hospitable and human-oriented intelligent access
The authors: Ing. Paul van Koningsbruggen (Technolution en redacteur van NM Magazine), Ir. Job Birnie (Goudappel) and Pieter Prins (Haskoning).
Foto: Essencia Communicatie
Our cities are busy – too busy sometimes. Many municipalities are therefore looking for ways to regulate the motorized traffic seeking entry to the city. This can be done using rising bollards and number plate cameras. But how do we ensure these access restriction measures remain hospitable and human-oriented?
Cars and the city – a complicated relationship. Cars and trucks are certainly convenient and they also contribute to the dynamism and industry in the city. But there is a flip side: the traffic jams, the pollution, the noise, the danger, and of course the loss of space. Increasingly, municipal governments are putting in place access restriction measures: they are still allowing motorized traffic into the city, but only in small doses and not everywhere.
Diehard fans of the car often decry any measure that they regard as restrictive as ‘anti-car’. But this is a little unreasonable, because what is the alternative? Anti-resident measures? Anti-bike measures? Access to the public space in cities is a right, it is often said. But local governments are right to question whether access must necessarily be by motorized vehicle. Or, to put it more specifically, by vehicles that emit disproportionate amounts of harmful gases, are noisy, or simply too heavy for a historic inner city.
Regulation is not new
It is difficult, therefore, to object in principle against regulating motorized traffic, provided that this is done in a balanced way. And in fact, we already regulate traffic – and have done for decades. Familiar forms are one-way traffic in narrow streets, bans on through traffic to avoid the nuisance that rat-running causes, or paid parking or parking permits because residents would like to be able to park in their own neighborhoods. And how long haven’t we been using rising bollards to guard access to shopping streets and squares?
A relatively new form of access regulation is that using number plate cameras: automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). Cameras make it possible to filter traffic. This can be done also with rising bollards: they remain in place for ordinary traffic but are lowered to give access to emergency vehicles, delivery vans, and any other exempt groups. But rising bollards have disadvantages: they are visible in the streetscape and they take a while to sink into the ground.
ANPR cameras don’t have those issues: they are inconspicuously mounted on streetlights and the traffic simply drives past unimpeded. Thanks to its connection with the license plate register, the camera system in the meantime checks the passing vehicles for type, manufacturing year, weight, emission category, and exemption permit.
This makes access regulation so smart that we can rightly speak of intelligent access. Full use is being made of the new possibility in zero-emission zones in the Netherlands. And there is no doubt that the concept will begin to appear in many other places for many other applications.
Retaining a human focus
This seems like a good moment, therefore, to take a critical look at access restriction measures. Whenever technology launches a successful concept, the human factor is often overlooked.
So how is this playing out with intelligent access? One important human factor is privacy: to what extent is privacy safe if there is a whole battery of cameras checking for number plates 24/7? Fortunately, access restriction measures, too, are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation. But instead of ensuring afterwards that the system is compliant, it would be better if a measure did not require personal data at all – or at least only in the last instance.
And then there is the challenge not to make absolutes of safety and livability – cities do need to be accessible and hospitable too. This can only be done by taking the whole picture into account, and looking at the pros and cons from as many perspectives as possible. By doing this together with the target groups (the perspectives), the cons can be mitigated and the target groups encouraged to do their bit spontaneously.
Take residents, for example. Intelligent access to the neighborhood can be beneficial: it creates space and quiet in the neighborhood, more parking for residents, more space to spend outside, for children to play etc. However, it is more difficult to receive visitors. Have solutions been put in place for this? What you do not want either is that the newly freed-up space is immediately lost due to rising car ownership in the neighborhood. This is one field where residents need to take their own responsibility.
Visitors and entrepreneurs also stand to benefit from a pleasant and beautiful environment. Visitors want comfort and entrepreneurs want clients. But can this be achieved only by allowing free access and ample parking in the heart of the city? Aren’t visitors there to enjoy the beauty and authenticity of the city? If parking places are provided at the edge of the city and there is onward transportation, they can contribute by using alternative means to visit the beauties of the city center. And entrepreneurs can contribute by consistently pointing out these alternatives to their customers.
What technology can contribute
Developing intelligent access per target group, and ultimately across the line, makes it possible to keep a human focus and prevent the method or the technology from taking over. A concept that is focused primarily on restrictions can, in this way, be turned into a system that facilitates. A system in which technology is not just there to ban, control, and enforce, but also to mitigate the cons and give optimal support to all target groups when visiting the city.
What might this look like in practice? Imagine a system that doesn’t just ban motorists from an area, but guides them throughout their chained trip. ‘So that is your destination? To get there, you should drive to this hub, park your car there, and then walk X minutes or take onward transportation. Press the button to book your parking place and onward transportation ticket. Click “Go” to start route navigation.’ It sounds complicated, but many event organizers do exactly this: you buy not only an entrance ticket, but also anything else you need if you can’t – or can’t fully – make it to the event location by car.
Similarly, we could ensure that this system doesn’t complicate things for transport planners, but facilitates planning for them – for example by giving them the digital up-to-date information they need to include selective access in their individual journey plans for freight and delivery vehicles. Such trips are likely to include multiple delivery addresses in multiple cities. And if a trip proves difficult because it is impossible to avoid access restrictions along the intended route, then they should be able to request an exemption immediately and digitally on an online permit portal. And if a permit cannot be given, then an alternative should be offered, for example by making use of provisions for urban distribution.
The solutions discussed here of course require more data and more systems. But a lot is already in place. And the simple fact is: if we really want to organize access intelligently, retain the support of the population, and remain attractive as a city, then we have no other option.
Reading guide
We have curated a number of articles here that deal with this issue in greater depth. We will be looking closely at intelligent access as it exists and also at what it can become.
Let’s begin with a number of interesting cases. How do Utrecht, Steenwijk, and The Hague use intelligent access? What choices have they made? And what are their future plans?
In her contribution, Juliette van Neerijnen argues that the interests of service providers, residents, and entrepreneurs should be given greater attention. We focus then on governance of the chain of intelligent access, and discuss a number of suggestions on how to improve the way we play the game of giving access and making intelligent access more intelligent. Finally, we look at legislation (including European legislation) on intelligent access. The framework is there, but it turns out that this needs more fleshing out and harmonizing.
Have we covered all the ins and outs of intelligent access in this contribution? Surely not. But who knows this can help municipal governments on the way to making their access measures smart or smarter. And who knows it can inspire government bodies, market players, and knowledge institutions to play the game of the city and its residents, entrepreneurs, and visitors in such a way that alluring win-wins emerge.
