Image credit: Fotolia.com Elizabeth Rosenthal from the NY Times writes about how European cities such as Zurich are creating environments openly hostile to cars.
"Cities including Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by popular bike-sharing programs. Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city. And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of “environmental zones” where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter".
This certainly contrasts what we've been seeing in North America. While some North American cities have started to add more pedestrian friendly environments (New York City, Vancouver and San Francisco, for example), we still have a ways to go to make our cities more focused on providing livable spaces for people and not simple cars.
"Europe’s cities generally have stronger incentives to act. Built for the most part before the advent of cars, their narrow roads are poor at handling heavy traffic. Public transportation is generally better in Europe than in the United States, and gas often costs over $8 a gallon, contributing to driving costs that are two to three times greater per mile than in the United States, Dr. Lee Schipper said.
"Around Löwenplatz, one of Zurich’s busiest squares, cars are now banned on many blocks. Where permitted, their speed is limited to a snail’s pace so that crosswalks and crossing signs can be removed entirely, giving people on foot the right to cross anywhere they like at any time".
Read more here.
