Several cities planned to locate shopping malls, residential areas, and amusement facilities in different districts. Although this is rather convenient and effective in reducing traffic congestion in certain areas, this initiative has some drawbacks.
Placing several facilities in one place can cause a certain area to be heavily congested. For this reason, this initiative is effective in minimizing the possibility of traffic jams because everything is situated in different zones. A certain area may be congested at several particular times of the day. For instance, if schools and office buildings are to be placed in the same area, most likely the traffic will worsen in the morning. Furthermore, the city will become more structured by planning each zone for different purposes. That way, each area of the city will have a different function and receive the same treatment as the city center. As an example, Japan has successfully constructed several districts in its capital city, Tokyo. Whereas the central area of the city serves as a centre of government buildings and the other serves as a shopping area with numerous commercial malls.
However, by implementing this initiative, the location of several facilities inside the city is not centralized, but distributed into other areas. For this reason, this will certainly be a hurdle for people who live in the suburbs, which forces them to take multiple transportation types to reach the destination. As an example, they have to take a train to the city center, before switching to a city bus to get around the city. In addition, there might be some people who prefer to drive private vehicles as it offers comfort and flexibility. Therefore, this will come as another expense and will probably cause a financial burden. It is evident that public transportation only costs a penny, while fuel costs a handful of money.
In conclusion, although dividing a city into several districts may be an effective solution towards traffic congestion and promotes equality, it also comes with several negative impacts. However, the government can help to tackle the disadvantages by constructing an integrated public transportation that is accessible for everyone and able ease the financial burden.