This article is informed by the experiences of 14 participants across India, the United States, Mexico, and Spain—including workers and grassroots organizers—whose insights are reflected throughout.

Every day, millions of workers keep our cities moving. From bike couriers weaving through traffic to delivery drivers navigating congested streets, these workers don’t just move goods — they manage risk, adapt constantly, and solve problems in real time. Their experience is not theoretical. It is practical, immediate, and essential. And yet, their knowledge is rarely at the center of how cities are designed.

INFRASTRUCTURE THAT DOESN’T WORK FOR WORKERS DOESN’T WORK AT ALL

Across cities, the same issues appear again and again: unsafe intersections, poorly designed bike lanes, and constant competition for limited street space. In this environment, workers describe having to constantly choose between danger and delay, between efficiency and safety, making every route a negotiation with risk.

But they are also clear about the solutions. They point to separating bike and car traffic, creating designated loading zones that reflect how deliveries actually happen, enforcing basic traffic rules that are often already on the books, and building infrastructure that includes—not displaces—pedestrians who are also part of the same fragile system of movement. These are not abstract ideas or distant policy debates. They are low-cost, practical fixes already identified by the people who use the streets the most, every single day.

THE HIDDEN COST OF “GREEN” TRANSITIONS

The shift to cleaner transport is necessary—but right now, workers are paying the price for it in ways that are often invisible in public debate.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are frequently presented as a straightforward solution to urban pollution. And while we know electrification is an essential strategy in transforming transport, it must be paired with  accessible charging infrastructure, time-efficient systems, and financial support, to prevent EVs from introducing  a different set of pressures on workers: lost income during charging time, higher personal electricity costs, missed orders that directly affect daily earnings, and longer working hours just to compensate for inefficiencies in the system.

At the same time, this transition is unfolding in a context where many workers still lack the most basic protections: no health insurance, no guaranteed income stability, and no formal recognition of their work as part of the urban economy.

In this sense, a sustainable transition cannot be understood only through emissions or technology. It cannot be separated from the conditions of the people expected to carry it out.

WORKERS ARE ALREADY BUILDING THE FUTURE

Despite these challenges, workers are not waiting for systems to be fixed from above. They are already organizing, collaborating, and building alternatives that respond to real conditions on the ground.

These include cooperatives using open-source tools to coordinate work more fairly and efficiently, alliances between unions, communities, and policymakers who are trying to bridge the gap between regulation and reality, and shared efforts to reduce emissions while also improving livelihoods and working conditions at the same time.

What emerges from these experiences is not just a set of isolated initiatives, but a clearer picture of what real system change looks like: not top-down decisions disconnected from daily life, but collective solutions grounded in lived experience and practical knowledge.

If we want cleaner, safer, and more sustainable cities, we need to start by listening to the people who know them best. Workers are not just part of the system. They are experts in how it works—and how it can be fixed.

LISTEN TO WORKERS

This International Workers’ Day, we recognize worker expertise not as symbolic appreciation, but as essential knowledge for how cities function and how they can be improved.

To build safer, cleaner, and more sustainable streets, we need policies that truly center their voices—not as consultation after the fact, but as part of the design from the beginning.

Join the global movement for #Streets4People.