By Jamison Watt
Thousands of us living in Kurdistan’s urban centers spend hours sitting at traffic lights and in traffic jams each week. While many are aware of the environmental damage and the hazards of urban pollution each time we start the car ignition, there is another victim: yourself.
Comparing Erbil’s rush hour scene to other major cities like London, Berlin, or Paris, something is noticeably absent from the urban cityscape— pedestrians and bicyclists.
“I grew up in Sweden and biked to school every day,” says Bawer Faris, a Kurdish businessman who spent 28 years in Sweden and Germany before returning to the Kurdistan Region. “Walking or biking was a normal part of life. Using your body gives you energy and time for mental clarity. This is needed more here in Kurdistan and I wish my children could commute to school like I did as a kid.”
The Scottish Longitudinal Study of July 2024 studied over 82,000 commuters throughout 17 years. The study concluded that individuals who commuted to work by cycling or walking had a lower risk of death, hospitalization, heart disease, cancer, and mental health problems. In sum, these active commuters were healthier in all indicators of health compared to car commuters.
“When I am in Kurdistan, my step count on my pacer app is very few,” says Bawer. “In Europe, I can manage to get 10,000 steps a day without even taking extra time to exercise. It’s just built into the lifestyle to walk everywhere and there is infrastructure for it. However, here in Kurdistan, the lack of bike lanes or sidewalks discourages this.”
“Walking as a low-impact physical activity has been consistently affirmed by research as one of the greatest medical interventions we have towards a whole variety of diseases related to our heart, brain, immune system, aging, and much more,” says Dr. Brett Hoffecker, Lecturer of Family Medicine at University of Kurdistan-Hewler. “Regular routines which include walking can improve health outcomes in all populations and promote healthy aging. Instead of prescribing more pills for the Kurdish people, we should be writing scripts for daily walks and exercise.”
The World Health Organization recommends 150 minutes of physical activity per week to maintain optimal health. Active commuting is a way to build healthy rhythms into daily life without the need for gym memberships or even extra time spent exercising amidst a busy urban life.
“I work a heavy schedule so don’t have time to exercise or play sports,” says Mustafa Hasan, a twenty-four-year-old service industry worker in Erbil. “Walking to work gives me a daily consistent amount of exercise, even if it’s limited. But I do feel it can be dangerous at times because of the lack of pedestrian crossings on major roads like the 100-meter highway in Erbil.”
While European cities have the advantage of road grids designed in a pre-automobile era (which inevitably leads to more sidewalks, smaller lanes, and conditions that are friendlier to pedestrians), many cities are investing in becoming more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly. Paris, for example, put down a new 65km of cycle lanes in the years since COVID lockdowns and Milan has reallocated 35 km of streets for only walkers and bicyclists. Kurdistan’s cities could pursue similar goals by prioritizing sidewalk development, pedestrian crossings, and even pedestrian or bike-only lanes in areas of heavy congestion.
“Biking used to be very common in Erbil in the 70s and 80s,” Bawer continues. “But urbanization and traffic congestion have led to such busy streets that people are biking less. As a flat city, you can imagine the potential to lower traffic, increase health, and improve the environment if we invested in bike lanes and became a more bike-friendly city.”
The Kurdistan Region is at work to provide one alternative to road commuting with plans for the future development of a Light Rail Transit system. While a Light Rail is not necessarily active in itself, most rail commuters still enjoy a significant amount of pedestrian activity when coming to or from a train. According to a press release from the KRG Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Light Rail Transit would operate over 25 km and its creation would improve the mobility of citizens by decreasing costs, diminishing private automobile traffic, and increasing the social welfare of the population.
While car commuting has been the ideal and norm across Kurdistan, perceptions are indeed shifting slowly, encouraging more to leave their car keys at home.
“Since the Erbil Marathon started its activities in 2009, a big revolution has happened in Kurdish society and culture when it comes to running and walking,” says Abdulsattar Younus, General Director for the Erbil Marathon. “Running and walking in public places used to be something very strange and unfamiliar, but gradually the culture of running and walking has become more familiar.”
This American writer living in the Region’s capital often chooses to walk or bike on commutes simply because of the time saved and the benefits of exercise. I’ve received a variety of comments from colleagues when I place a bicycle helmet on the table before a meeting. While bicycling or walking as a means of transportation may represent Erbil’s pre-urbanized past, I hope you’ll agree that the health benefits, the environmental advantages, and the traffic-easing elements may mean that bicycling and walking should also be written into Erbil’s future.