In Depth: In a study presented on September 9, the Paris Urban Planning Workshop analyzed how residents in seven major cities have been getting around over the past 20 years. The profound transformation of public space has given rise to new practices: residents walk, cycle and take public transport more.
By Emeline Cazi
In Paris, the 2016 closure of the riverside expressways, which transformed the Pompidou-era urban highway into a pedestrian promenade along the Seine, was a landmark moment. Everything sped up after the Covid-19 pandemic, when cars were banned in 2020 from Rue de Rivoli, the nearly three-kilometer artery stretching from Place de la Concorde almost all the way to Bastille.
Photos of groups of cyclists racing past the Louvre circulated around the world. They perfectly illustrated the policies pursued by the municipal majority (Socialists-Greens-Communists) since the early 2000s, which Anne Hidalgo, Paris's Socialist mayor from 2014 to 2026, only accelerated. She reduced the presence of cars to create a quieter, less polluted, more pleasant city in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, while facing relentless criticism, countless controversies and legal battles aimed at stopping this movement.
What was rarely pointed out was that this movement was underway in other major cities as well. They faced the same resistance, but their leaders – on both the left and the right – shared an equal determination to move away from car-centric urban planning, the approach that shaped cities throughout the 20th century.
While Paris was inaugurating rues aux écoles ("school streets"), cities like Barcelona and New York were also reclaiming their streets thanks to superblocks and open streets. Everywhere, local authorities sought to restrict access for polluting vehicles and create new metro and tram routes.
You have 87.78% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
