The Liberation of Paris from Cars is Working
https://slate.com/business/2021/09/paris-cars-bicycles-walking-david-belliard-anne-hidalgo.htmlWhen you're accustomed to privilege equality feels like oppression:"The redistribution of public space is a policy of social redistribution. Fifty percent of public space is occupied by private cars, which are used mostly by the richest, and mostly by men, because it’s mostly men who drive, and so in total, the richest men are using half the public space. So if we give the space to walking, biking, and public transit, you give back public space to the categories of people who today are deprived.""In the U.S., for projects that prioritize pedestrians, a lot of the opposition comes from small business. Have you tried to convince them that this is in their interest?It’s counterintuitive. A lot of them believe they’re going to lose business because there will be less traffic. All the figures show the opposite. Every time we do experiments, we see that first, a big majority of their clients don’t use a car to come to their place, and then, people who use bikes and on foot consume more than people in cars. So really, what we’re trying to do is not convince, but argue by proving it, showing that it works.""Are you suggesting there’s something in these anti-car politics that could be attractive even to someone who supports the gilets jaunes, the yellow-vest protesters who took over French cities two years ago?The gilets jaunes is what? People saying, “We’ve had enough of gas prices going up.” Frankly they’re right. When I was in Vesoul, I was obliged to have a car, the car was not an object of emancipation but of servitude. I could do nothing without my car. So evidently, we are asking them to pay ever more for something they are required to use."
Paul Campbell ● 1862d8 Comments