Yesterday's post that talks about Plan Velo and Paris' ambition (to become a 100% cycle-friendly city within 4 years) it was a huge success. And a side effect: several friends pointed out to me that a "car-free city" already exists in Europe: and for a long time, too! Did you know? I don't, and I make amends. I'll tell you about Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, which has been practically closed to traffic for over a decade. Is it time to export their model?
It is an increasingly unstable world from an environmental point of view, I always write to you. The feeling is that car owners all over the world need to start thinking very seriously about just how necessary it is to drive. The same question, of course, also for the civic authorities of the whole planet.
But let's go back to Paris for a moment: On September 19, Parisians took to the streets (on foot) to celebrate the seventh iteration of “Paris respire sans voiture” (Paris “breathes without cars” in French). It is an initiative that transforms two symbolic areas of the city (Place de l'Etoile and Avenue des Champs-Elysées) into car-free zones between 11:00 and 18:00. The French capital is considering large traffic-calmed zones from 2022, making car-free Sundays permanent. Traffic would be limited exclusively to residents, taxi drivers and traders. The rest of the population would travel by bicycle, scooter, public transport or on foot.
The Europe that wants to move without cars
This drive to make cities cleaner and more liveable in the long run is about to be embraced by countless cities. There are some in Europe that have already begun to adopt similar schemes. In UK even small towns (I think Norwich) have pedestrian enclaves in the center. The Spanish city of Pontevedra, in Galicia, began pedestrianizing its historic center as early as 1999. In 2011, it became the first city in the world to publish a map (called Metrominuto), which shows tourists and residents how long it takes them to walk between points of interest, encouraging them to do it without a car. A pattern “copied” from Poznan, Tolosa e Zaragoza.
The car-free city par excellence: Ljubljana
Is the best example of how direct, positive change can move from theory to practice a small town in Central Europe? The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, which was 14 years ago published "Vision 2025", an incredibly complete set of proposals for a greener, cleaner and more sustainable city. An extraordinary ability to predict the future, which I hope will be emulated by other cities in the world.
At the heart of Ljubljana's proposal to create an environmentally responsible metropolis is the transformation of the city center into a totally car-free zone. Pedestrianization obviously strengthened by improvements to both cycle networks and public transport. Noise pollution and gas emissions have decreased in the area in question and in 2016 the European Commission has crowned Ljubljana the green capital of the continent.
The Slovenians did not immediately take it well, it must be said. “There were protests,” he says Sasha Polyak Istenich, an academic who has studied the impact of pedestrianization on the city. “Residents living downtown thought the developments would make it impossible to access their homes. The authorities did not back down in the face of this resistance. Gradually, residents began to adapt, and adopted new car-free routines. They exchanged their four-wheelers for bikes, or took public transport."
The toughest challenge? Transforming the city's main artery into a... "living room".
One of the main challenges facing the Vision 2025 team was to rethink the Slovenian Cesta, the main road through the center of Ljubljana's tourist district. The difficulty was "exacerbated" by the fact that since 1993 the road has been protected as a cultural and national heritage. It was as if "the mayor was proposing to transform the busiest street in the city into a sort of living room", says Istenič.
A car-free stay, "decorated" with electric vehicles. How did they solve it? In addition to the classic sustainability policies (incentives for the use of bicycles and public transport), Ljubljana has introduced "Kavalir", a small fleet of free electric vehicles that are slow enough to pass easily. Ljubljana's small size (300.000 inhabitants) requires only a handful of vehicles to be operational at any time. There are still some detractors: for them the city center without cars is cleaner, tidier, but less "authentic" and increasingly gentrified. Yet a decade has passed and no citizen of Ljubljana can really imagine that cars could return to the city center.
The secret? Communicate honestly to citizens
To create a car-free city, an unequivocal dialogue is needed. Istenič is firmly convinced that to follow Ljubljana as a model for car-free (or almost car-free) cities of the future, one thing in particular needs to be kept in mind. “It's vital that you explain to residents exactly what the plans are and why they are being proposed,” he says.
People are hesitant about change at first, but it becomes easier to accept a situation if you are aware of the positives.
For me, Ljubljana represents the triumph of a positive idea of the future. The status of Green Capital of Europe has been demonstrated for 5 years already: a scheme of this type has created a total transformation. A welcoming environment for both tourists and residents. Without a car everyone has a little more space to socialize or do physical activity. In summary? The standard of living has improved.
Getting to this point took some courage and common sense, but in the end the right decisions were made.
