In late 2016, Madrid's Mayor Manuela Carmena reiterated her plan to kick personal cars out of the city center.
On Spanish radio network Cadena Ser, she confirmed that Madrid's main avenue, the Gran Vía, will only allow access to bikes, buses, and taxis before she leaves office in May 2019. It's part of a larger effort to ban all diesel cars in Madrid by 2025.
But the Spanish city is not the only one getting ready to take the car-free plunge. Urban planners and policy makers around the world have started to brainstorm ways that cities can create more space for pedestrians and lower CO2 emissions from diesel.
Here are 12 cities leading the car-free movement.
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Oslo will implement its car ban by 2019.
Oslo will implement …show more content…
New York City is decreasing car traffic in small doses.
The pedestrian and bike lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC. Flickr User Theasijtsma
Though New York City isn't planning a car ban anytime soon, it is increasing the number of pedestrian areas, along with bike share, subway, and bus options.
Strips of land in popular areas like Times Square, Herald Square, and Madison Square Park are permanently pedestrian-only. On three Saturdays in August 2016, hundreds of thousands of people will take advantage of Summer Streets, an annual event that prohibits cars from driving on a major thoroughfare connecting Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, and opens roads for pedestrians.
"This is what everyday life could look like as if people mattered," says Paul Steely White. "The worst thing as an urban dweller is to be stuck with the auto as your only option."
Transportation Alternatives also hopes to work with the city to create more pedestrian plazas. White says urban planners are no longer trying to optimize New York City and other places for drivers, and are instead thinking about cities differently.
"Cities are coming to the realization that they need to swing the pendulum the other way," he
On Spanish radio network Cadena Ser, she confirmed that Madrid's main avenue, the Gran Vía, will only allow access to bikes, buses, and taxis before she leaves office in May 2019. It's part of a larger effort to ban all diesel cars in Madrid by 2025.
But the Spanish city is not the only one getting ready to take the car-free plunge. Urban planners and policy makers around the world have started to brainstorm ways that cities can create more space for pedestrians and lower CO2 emissions from diesel.
Here are 12 cities leading the car-free movement.
View As: One Page Slides
Oslo will implement its car ban by 2019.
Oslo will implement …show more content…
New York City is decreasing car traffic in small doses.
The pedestrian and bike lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC. Flickr User Theasijtsma
Though New York City isn't planning a car ban anytime soon, it is increasing the number of pedestrian areas, along with bike share, subway, and bus options.
Strips of land in popular areas like Times Square, Herald Square, and Madison Square Park are permanently pedestrian-only. On three Saturdays in August 2016, hundreds of thousands of people will take advantage of Summer Streets, an annual event that prohibits cars from driving on a major thoroughfare connecting Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, and opens roads for pedestrians.
"This is what everyday life could look like as if people mattered," says Paul Steely White. "The worst thing as an urban dweller is to be stuck with the auto as your only option."
Transportation Alternatives also hopes to work with the city to create more pedestrian plazas. White says urban planners are no longer trying to optimize New York City and other places for drivers, and are instead thinking about cities differently.
"Cities are coming to the realization that they need to swing the pendulum the other way," he