Imagine children playing football on the streets of the city. Imagine tourists taking pictures carelessly in the middle of the road. Restaurants that set their tables right on the street. And around - no cars, no motorcycles, no buses. This is roughly how I remember Venice, the only city without cars that I have seen. We were there with friends during our summer vacation at the university. We then hitchhiked around Italy. Venice is, of course, unique in that it is built on small islands.

But still it was very pleasant - to be in a city where you can wander without dodging cars.

Over the past 100 years, motor vehicles have become the dominant force in the urban landscape. Streets are specially widened so that you can drive through them more freely and faster, so that there is more space for parking. Private cars have revolutionized the way we move, but at the same time they have brought with them many problems - from air pollution to road accidents. And today a small but growing number of cities are trying to get rid of cars. Oslo and Madrid have made headlines over the past few years about their government's plans to ban traffic in the center of these capitals. The plans, however, have not yet been fully realized.

How to save a gasping city?

However, these intentions represent a broader trend: to make traffic in large cities as difficult as possible. Here is London with its payment for entry to the central districts of the city, and Mexico City with the initiative "pico y placa" (when your right to drive on certain city routes depends on whether your car number ends with an even or odd number), and several small cities that have decided completely ban car traffic (for example, Pontevedra in Spain).

“Our main goal is to bring the streets back to the people,” says Hanna Markussen, Oslo's deputy mayor for urban development. - It is important to understand how we want to use our streets, and what they are for. We believe that the streets are where you meet people, where you eat in outdoor restaurants, where children play, where artists show their work. "

To achieve this, in Oslo, part of the streets in the city center was completely closed to cars, almost all parking spaces were removed, replacing them with bike paths, benches and miniature parks.

The Norwegian capital Oslo has made a concerted effort to remove cars from its main streets. / Getty Images

There is also an environmental aspect. Oslo was built in a geological basin, which is why the city (especially in winter) suffers from severe air pollution. According to local authorities, pollution levels have decreased significantly over the past ten years. Oslo residents are less likely to use a car to travel around the city (from 35% of trips in 2009 to 27% in 2018), and the number of people using bicycles, public transport or simply walking for this has increased. H. Crawford is perhaps the world's most famous advocate of car-free cities, and has authored two books on the subject.

“In addition to the long-standing problems associated with environmental pollution and millions of deaths in car accidents, the most unpleasant consequences of the impact of cars on society must be recognized as the incredible damage they cause to social space,” he emphasizes.

The bottom line is that cars significantly reduce social interaction. “The most popular places for residents in cities are places without cars,” says Crawford. These are parks, squares or streets given over to pedestrians. According to him, in such American cities as Houston and Dallas, up to 70% of urban land is given for parking. “The current housing crisis is due to a lack of land. Get rid of the cars and the problem will be solved immediately. "

No cars at all?

A city with no cars? Sounds attractive. But is this possible? And does everyone want it? How about emergency services? And what will people who find it difficult to walk on foot do? And what will happen to the sprawling suburbs of megacities, with the so-called dormitory areas? Are we trying to impose on all citizens an idea that is popular mainly only among the younger generation who want to live and work in the city center?

"The fastest way to kill a city center is to keep people from going there," says Hugh Bladen of the British Drivers' Association.

The dying trade and business on the central streets of many British cities will not be helped in any way by restrictions on car traffic, he emphasizes, and city centers will quickly turn into a haven of drug addicts and drunks. He agrees that many cities are too crowded with cars, but in his opinion, this is due to poor planning. You just need more parking in the right places.

The city center will die if people are not allowed to come there, but if the right alternative in the form of public transport is provided, then everything will be fine. / Getty Images

Ransford Achimpong, an urban planning researcher at the University of Manchester, says banning cars will help clean the air and improve people's health, but if you take a car, provide an alternative. Even in Europe, where public transport works pretty well, for many, life is completely impossible without a car. There is such a concept of "last mile", "pedestrian shoulder" from the bus stop to the house. This is the final part of our daily itinerary, and if public transport does not make this part to a minimum, we will still be driving. And although Oslo Deputy Mayor Markussen does justice to the argument about an invasion of human rights when he is denied the opportunity to travel by car. she stresses: “In many cases, not restricting traffic means restricting the freedoms of others. Cars prevent children from playing on the streets and older people from crossing the road. ”

“Oslo also has a problem with air pollution. We can say that cars violate the rights of residents with asthma, forcing them to stay at home and not go anywhere when the level of pollution is particularly high, ”she says.

What does it take to free the city from cars?

In the master plan of the Big City (suburb of Chengdu, China), any place can be reached on foot. There are no dead ends, there are many intersections, so it's nice to walk or ride a bike here. There is also a "vertical connection": the skyscrapers are connected by air bridges. The large city, designed for the life of 100 thousand people, covers an area of \u200b\u200bonly one square kilometer. The maximum amount of time that must be spent when moving from one point to another is 10 minutes. What are the giants of the city sick What should not be the society of the future - nine tips Will we move underground?

Unfortunately, this suburb is still in the plans. Its development was ordered by the Chengdu authorities back in 2012 by the American architectural firm SmithGill, but it was never built. Nevertheless, it is clear that this urban area is quite ready to do without cars.

“We wanted the kids to be able to walk to school there, and the adults didn't have to travel long distances to work,” says firm spokesman Chris Drew.

This suburb would be connected with the rest of the city by two railway lines, so that there would be no need for a car.

Masdar City in Abu Dhabi initially did not provide for the use of cars. / Getty Images

There are a couple more examples of new cities that were about to become more or less car-free. Earlier, Drew worked on the Masdar City (United Arab Emirates) project, which at first was planned to completely get rid of cars, but now cars are sometimes found on its streets. SmithGill also helped develop the master plan for the 2020 Dubai World Fair, which is expected to be fully pedestrianized and populated after World Expo, and will be assisted by multiple interconnected hubs, each with a tram or light rail stop. surrounded by shops, offices and residential developments. Residents will need no more than five minutes to walk to a public transport stop.

In theory, it will take a little over half an hour to cross this new city.

These are all plans, but how to remake the already existing cities in which most people live today? Hannah Markussen explains the Oslo authorities' approach this way: “We started with pilot projects so that people could see for themselves how everything would be, we introduced changes very gradually.”

“For example, one of the most beautiful squares in Oslo, near the city council, used to be completely packed with cars,” she says. - A year ago we banned parking there, closed the entrance there, and at first it seemed strange to people. But now they already think it was strange that we allowed cars to drive there. "

A future without cars?

“Looking to the future with optimism, this trend will only strengthen,” says Achimpong. - Take a look at the statistics - apparently, we have passed the peak of the popularity of owning a car and are driving less now. There is also a big difference in habits between millennials and baby boomers, between different generations. "

He believes that young people are increasingly abandoning car ownership. All of this indicates that the dominance of cars in our cities will gradually fade away naturally.

Not all cities can be as car-free as Venice, but if you prioritize the interests of pedestrians and cyclists, then something will work out. / Getty Images On the other hand, he points out, there is a growing demand for new transportation services like Uber or Lyft, or self-driving taxis. “But these are also cars,” he emphasizes.

Achimpong notes that car ownership is booming in most developing countries, and their governments are taking this into account when developing infrastructure with car ownership in mind. It is by car that most trips are made in municipal areas far from the center of the metropolis - take, for example, the M25 in London or Beijing, where there are as many as seven ring roads.

Ditching cars would be relatively easy for old European cities that have existed without them for centuries.

But it will be much more difficult for megalopolises, which have grown up simultaneously with highways and large parking lots. It is difficult to say how far this trend will take us. Anyway, I do not forget that the only way to get out of the car-free Venice was to stand on the side of the road, vote and wait for a car to stop ...

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When can we see city \u200b\u200bwithout cars? In the distant future? How many cities in the world do you know where cars are not used?
When we talk about a city without cars, we can only think of Venice. However, this is not the only city in the world in which you can not move by car. There are places where cars have been literally “banned,” such as in Mackinac in the US state of Michigan. The use of motor vehicles has been banned here since 1898: you can only travel on foot, by bicycle or by horse-drawn carriage.

Venice, Grand Canal

Venice, a city known all over the world - no car experience. The city is an open-air museum, you can only visit it on foot or by bike. For long journeys between the islands, boats are used.

Huron Street, Mackinac Main Street, Michigan, USA

Makino is a haven for clean air lovers, with emergency vehicles such as ambulances and winter snow-clearing vehicles. An exception is the electric vehicle. In the form of public transport - horse carriages, along with bicycles. The Grande area is only 10 square kilometers, with a population of just under 500 people. The purpose of the 1898 Ordinance, which prohibits cars, is to avoid noise and environmental pollution. The law is still in force.

Suede, Valle d'Aosta

Suede, in Val d'Aosta, is the only city in Italy that cannot be reached by car. This small town has just over 100 inhabitants and is located at an altitude of 1836 meters. Access to the settlement is only on foot or by cable car. In addition, forest walks, mountain biking and paragliding. All the entertainment that is possible in this corner of the world is aimed at forgetting about cars.

Hamburg, Germany

The dream of living in a car-free city is a reality, and Hamburg strives for it. Thanks to the Green Planet program, the need to use a car in the city will be eliminated within 20 years. The German city is already full of green spaces: sports facilities, gardens, parks and squares. The administration decided to start a program to build cycle paths.

Vauban, on the outskirts of Freiburg, Germany

The city of Vauban government decided in 2006 to ban the use of cars. Citizens can only use the tram that leads to the center of Freiburg. The city is not big - everything is within walking distance.

Helsinki, Finland

In Finland, too, time is running out for a car: by 2024, the use of cars will be reduced to a minimum. Thanks to the App program presented last July. Using a smartphone, city dwellers will choose the fastest route and method of travel.

Monte Isola, Iseo

Monte Isola, an island village in the middle of Lake Iseo. The island can be reached by ferry. The only means of transportation are scooters, which are allowed for residents.

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Cars have taken over the world. There is heavy traffic and high levels of harmful emissions everywhere on the streets. Some cities, such as London, Rome and Seoul, are trying to solve this problem. In these cities, there are areas (mainly the historical center) where vehicles are prohibited from entering. And in Venice, for example, there is no room for cars at all. The magnificent canals can be enjoyed by speedboat, boat or traditional local gondola. If you dream of getting to cities without cars on vacation, we offer you a list of 9 places where there are no cars at all.

1. Ghent, Belgium

This is the second largest car-free area in Belgium. In 1996, it was decided not to let cars into the city center. This helped to solve the problem of eternal traffic congestion and polluted air. You can get around here on foot, by bike or by public transport.

4. Hydra Island, Greece

There are no vehicles in this beautiful place. Garbage trucks are the only exception. To get a better view of the beauty of the island, you need to walk or take a water taxi.

5. Fez el-Bali, Morocco

The Old Medina is one of the largest pedestrian zones in the world. Its medieval streets are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Although all roads adjacent to the medina are inaccessible to cars, the old town is full of life.

6. Venice, Italy

It is probably the most popular city in the world. It includes 118 islands. The city is built in a lagoon with a depth of 15 meters. Venice can be explored on foot, by boat or by medieval gondola. Tourists will visit four hundred and sixteen bridges and one hundred seventy-seven canals. And there is something to admire!

7., Netherlands

This small village in the Netherlands with about 2,600 inhabitants is known as the Venice of the North. The village can be admired by boat or on foot. It has one hundred and seventy small wooden bridges. There is a straw farm here that has been in operation since 1700 and is now decorated with beautiful flowers.

9. Sark Island, France

The only engine the locals hear is the tractor. The island can be explored on foot or on horseback. Even the ambulance here is a trailer that is attached to a tractor. If you want peace and quiet away from smog - this island is for you!

Based on materials: curioctopus.it

Oslo authorities recently announced they would close the car center by 2019. The Norwegian capital joins a long list of cities that are struggling with the power of cars. The desire to get rid of car addiction is easy to understand: every year, 7 million people die worldwide due to environmental pollution from transport. More are killed in road accidents. Let's see how they approach this problem in different parts of the world.

Oslo

By 2019, the area inside the central ring road will become a no-go area. The administration also promised to build 60 km of bike paths, remove some parking lots and introduce a tax fee for those who drive during peak hours (in addition to the already existing tax on traffic jams). Norwegian pension funds will no longer invest in oil, gas and coal mining companies. Thanks to these measures, by 2025 the city will be able to completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels.

Helsinki
The city administration is developing the concept of “mobility to order”. The public transport system is going to be brought to perfection by connecting a mobile application to it, which will not only plot routes in real time, but also allow paying for transportation services. It is expected that “mobility to order” will be so effective that by 2025 owning a private car in Helsinki will simply become meaningless.

Paris


When smog hit the French capital this spring, Mayor Anne Hidalgo cut the number of diesel-powered cars in half and limited their speed to 20 km / h. In just a day, the level of air pollution returned to normal limits, and traffic jams decreased by 40%. France is the leader among European countries in the number of diesel cars (diesel is cheaper than gasoline), but Hidalgo intends to completely ban them by 2020. In parallel, the development of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure is underway. It is planned, for example, to double the total length of bike paths and bring it to 1400 km. And to give Parisians a taste for change, in September they organized a car-free day in the city, when the streets of the city, including the Champs Elysees, were temporarily given over to the undivided power of pedestrians and cyclists.

Hamburg


The second largest city in Germany intends to close part of the streets for cars and at the same time develops a "green network" - bike paths linking parks and recreational areas and covering 40% of its territory. The city's authorities hope they will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

Madrid


At the beginning of the year, the city administration allocated an area of \u200b\u200b3.5 square kilometers in the center, where entry of cars (except for resident ones) is prohibited. This zone will gradually expand and by 2020 should cover the entire center. As an alternative, the citizens will be offered new pedestrian zones and an updated bus network. Madrid also became the first European city to launch a full-fledged e-bike rental system. And, following the example of Paris, on days when the level of emissions exceeds the norms, there will be forced restrictions on the number of diesel cars on the roads. Public transport on such days will work free of charge. Dublin, London and Brussels are also thinking about a ban on diesel cars.

Milan
They came up with a system that encourages abandonment of the car: leave the car at home - get a free metro ticket.

Copenhagen


The city expects to be climate neutral by 2025. The cycling network plays an important role in this. In the suburbs of the Danish capital, there are 26 so-called bicycle highways, where the bicycle has priority over the car. However, cars are far from complete disappearance. On the contrary, their popularity is growing, and Lord Mayor Frank Jensen recently said that in his understanding a fair transport system looks like this: a third of Copenhagen must ride a bicycle, a third by public transport and another third by car. And the task of the city administration is to provide a “seamless connection” between different types of transport. Not everyone likes it: some residents are protesting against the appearance of new parking spaces in the city.

Bogota


People started talking about giving up cars here much earlier than in Europe - in 1974, when an event called Ciclovia was held in the city for the first time, which turned it into a paradise for cyclists. Since then, once a week, 120 kilometers of roads in the Colombian capital have been closed to cars and given to pedestrians and cyclists. During the first mayorship of Enrique Panyalosa, more than 300 km of bike paths were built in Bogota. The mayor said that "the person on the $ 30 bike is as important as the driver of the $ 30,000 car." Peñalosa was recently re-elected mayor.

Portland
The average American spends 42 hours a year in traffic jams (twice as many in Los Angeles), but Portland is about to change that. The local government expects that by 2030 a quarter of all travel will be on bicycles. The Tilikum bicycle and pedestrian bridge, which opened this year, has become a symbol of the coming changes.

Hadarabad
Every Thursday the highway to the local equivalent of Silicon Valley is closed to cars. For the first time a car-free day was held this summer, and local authorities are already thinking about holding the action not one, but three days a week. However, local IT specialists show consciousness without any prohibitions - many of them prefer the carpooling system to their personal car.

Davis


A small city in California is famous for its love of bicycles - they account for 20% of all trips, while in the country as a whole - only 2%. This has been the case since the middle of the twentieth century, largely due to the presence of a university in the city. But it is not only students who ride a bike, fortunately, there is some kind of cycling infrastructure on most of the city's streets, and recently they began to build protected bike junctions on the Danish model.

Chengdu
Not far from this Chinese city, a new suburb is being built, designed for 80 thousand inhabitants. The designers initially conceived it as a city without cars. They will be replaced by a well-thought-out public transport system.

Masdar
Another city of the future, being built from scratch, but this time - not far from Abu Dhabi. It is expected that the city will become climate-neutral, and its 100 thousand inhabitants will move on foot, by bicycle or by electric vehicles. The passage to this oasis will be closed to other cars.

We all know this unbearable standing in traffic jams. The main reason for their occurrence is the growing number of cars at an inexorable pace. A logical conclusion comes to mind - the moment will come when there will be nowhere to stretch the streets and the construction of new interchanges will not be able to solve the problem. What to do?

To begin with, the car will undoubtedly grant freedom to its owner. First of all, it is freedom of movement. With its help, you can get to any place, at any time, regardless of the weather or public transport hours. In addition, you can load things into the car that will be needed during the day, you will not have to drive home before the next task or carry huge bags on yourself.

However, people often get too hung up on cars and become blind to other modes of transportation. This one-sidedness has a detrimental effect on the urban environment, in particular on the ecology, road capacity, health and mood of people. Recently, city planners and ordinary citizens have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to reduce the dependence of the city and each individual on the car. For many years, many civil society organizations have been working to educate people about the concept of car-free cities.

The phrase “a city without cars” should not be taken literally. Perhaps, in a few decades, cities will appear in the world where there will be no private cars, and people will only use public transport, etc. But for now we are talking about the reduction of the use of the car by the authorities within the city or about the exclusion of its use in some areas. These goals are achieved through a set of measures that are used in many cities around the world, making them people-centered, not car-centered. Europe has advanced farthest in this matter - narrow medieval streets contributed to this. Let's look at the examples of several cities and see how you can move towards harmony in the transport sector.

Oslo

The most ambitious goals for the Norwegian capital is Oslo. The city authorities are determined to clear the city center of cars by 2019, and this is an area of \u200b\u200bapproximately 2 km by 2 km. In accordance with this plan, a network of bike paths is actively developing, it is planned to build a fast bike path from the outskirts to the center, since more than 90 thousand people come there every day to work.

Madrid

The Madrid authorities have no less serious intentions. They also restrict traffic on the central streets of the city, allowing only their residents to use vehicles; for the rest, fines of 100 euros have been introduced, and they will grow over time. Also, in the Spanish capital, there is a ban on entry into the city center of cars with even and odd numbers on different days, depending on the level of air pollution.

Paris

Parisians are actively converting roadways into public spaces and pedestrian areas. Thus, 3 km of the carriageway of the Seine embankment were converted into a public space. This measure, of course, caused discontent on the part of motorists, but more than half of the city's citizens approved this innovation. Subsequently, it is planned to ban diesel engines and allocate some streets only for the movement of electric vehicles.

Hamburg

Hamburg took a softer path - instead of prohibitions and restrictions - the development of a network of parks around the city, connected by pedestrian zones, bike paths, and water routes along the Elbe River. The authorities speculate that such a measure will encourage people to leave their cars at home more often. Their plan aims to eliminate 40 percent of the city's emissions in 20 years.

General principles

Coupled with these measures, European cities have long followed the guiding principles of car-free cities. Of course, no big city can force its residents to abandon cars without developing public transport. The emphasis in this matter should be on scaling the metro and light rail network.

With the help of an extensive network of underground and surface lines, all parts of the city can be effectively connected. For example, in Madrid there are 289 metro stations, in Paris - 303, in Hamburg there is a metro and a city train with 159 stations, and in Oslo, half a million, the metro has 105 stations. Do not forget about the improvement of bus and trolleybus routes, which are an integral part of many cities.

For the convenience of using all modes of transport, tariff systems are being introduced that allow you to purchase tickets depending on the time and distance of travel. So in Berlin there are 7 ticket options. A powerful incentive to use public transport can be informative, high-tech stops, where you can find out the exact time of transport arrival or even charge your phone. In addition, the development of smartphones has led to the emergence of new services that are integrated into public transport systems and allow a person to receive information about routes at any time. In short, it is important for a person to know that he will be able to get to the place he needs on time and with comfort.

A separate thread of this story is the issue of parking. Researchers estimate that the average motorist spends 100 days of his life looking for a parking space. Surely you also got into situations when you had to circle the streets in search. This problem has its own solutions, the most common of which is the introduction of paid parking. There is debate about this method and many consider it to be another way of taking money from citizens, but it is obvious that this measure is effective and inevitable. It is also important to fill the city with underground and multi-level parking lots, and intercepting parking lots near metro stations will make it possible to conveniently combine modes of movement.

Observing these rules, any city is able not only to prevent traffic collapses and reduce the gas pollution of its territories, but also to create an atmosphere in which people will have more opportunities for creativity and the establishment of social ties. One cannot but agree that traffic jams hardly set people up in a positive mood. To achieve this global goal, the responsibility of each person is important, even in such a seemingly insignificant issue as the choice of the path to work.

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