Paris: creating spaces for people rather than cars
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the recent mayoral election in Paris
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the recent mayoral election in Paris which resulted in the victory of the Parti Socialiste candidate, Emmanuel Grégoire. This signalled a continuation of the radical policies brought in by his predecessor, Anne Hidalgo, which have transformed the city over the past decade.
Go to Paris today and you find a very different city than when she first was elected in 2014. The shift can be expressed in one simple phrase – creating spaces for people rather than cars. Cycling plays a big role in this, too, but essentially it is the removal of cars from many spaces in the city which characterises this revolution. It has several facets. The creation of cycle lanes is the most obvious. I remember cycling through the city in 2010 and it was a matter of jostling with fast moving taxis, lorries, buses and streams of cars.
It is now a completely different experience. There are cycle routes alongside all the main boulevards and at traffic lights and junctions, there are safe ways to navigate through. But it is not only about cycling. Roads outside hundreds of schools are now banned for cars, ensuring children are safe and encouraging their parents not to use cars to take them there. Thousands of car parking spaces have been removed from city centre locations which not only discourages car use in a city that has excellent public transport but also means the space can be repurposed, often with greenery.
These changes have, of course, attracted controversy. As elsewhere, there will always be naysayers who argue that removing cars would be bad for business and a group of diehard motorists who think that being able to drive your car everywhere is a basic human right. But Hidalgo held firm against them, being reelected for a second six year term in 2020. Crucially, this long term together with extensive powers allows a Parisian mayor to see through changes resulting from their decisions and this meant that her policies of encouraging walking and cycling while cutting back on car use were already bearing fruit.
Now, after 12 years, no Parisian can be in any doubt that the changes have been quite remarkable. From being a polluted and congested city, it is now a healthier and far more sustainable environment. But would these policies survive her departure and the election of a new mayor to continue the transformation. The answer is a resounding yes. Grégoire won half the votes in a three horse race at the second round, seeing off both the right wing and hard left candidates. Indeed, the hard left candidate lost many votes between the two rounds, suggesting that her supporters realised that the alternative was unpalatable and were prepared to support Grégoire. Interestingly, he won despite being a member of a political party which is all but moribund across France, having lost out to the hard left La France Insoumise (France unbowed), and the hard right. Hidalgo herself stood as the presidential candidate in the last election and received a derisory 1.75 per cent of the vote.
This is therefore a vital victory for the kind of approach to urban living that should become universal. The 100 year favouring of cars has to be reversed and Paris has shown not only that it is possible, but is also popular. New York has begun the process of reversing that trend through the introduction of the congestion charge which has already made a vital difference to pollution by reducing the number of cars coming into the city, and the election of its radical mayor suggests more change will be on the way.
Many other cities across the world are following suit but many, especially in the US and some Asian countries, are not, and they will become increasingly unliveable. Hopefully, their populations will see what has happened in Paris and learn from it.
