User:Seyhan668/Cycling and Walkability

Cycling and Walkability
The city of Adana mostly sits on a flat land and the warm weather makes it convenient for all year cycling and walking. The square shape of the city, city center's location right at the center of the square and the river running straight north-south in the middle of the city create further advantage for cycling to be used for transportation. Compact urban form due to dominance of high-rise buildings that are closely built especially in Seyhan and Çukurova districts make cycling from any end of the city to the city center to be less than 40 minutes. Despite all the advantages, car-oriented urban planning since 1950's caused cycling to take minor part in commuting to work or school. Bicycle for commuting currently is only used by people at low-income neighborhood since it is the least expensive way to get to the city center or to other destinations within the city. Car-oriented urban planning became even more extreme since 1980's, pedestrians seeing part of the sidewalks of city's popular streets being converted into car-parking spots. The city currently has no car-free squares or streets other than few narrow ones, though there are plans to convert both ends of Taşköprü to squares and widen the sidewalks in the old town. There are no bike lanes at the streets but there are two bike paths, one along the Fuzuli street, the other along M.Kemalpaşa boulevard, latter not used by cyclists at all. Bicycle use for transportation is low all over Turkey, but when compared to cities like İzmir, Konya and Eskişehir, Adana is less bicycle and pedestrian friendly.