The 15 million people expected to visit Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics will visit a very different city than it was a decade ago.
That’s because a campaign to make Paris greener, mainly by reducing its dependence on cars, has turned it into a shining example of what many environmental activists, urban planners and public transport advocates say should be the future of cities across the world. world.
Paris has closed more than 100 streets for motor vehicles, parking fees tripled for SUVs, has removed about 50,000 parking spaces and built more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of bike lanes since Mayor Anne Hidalgo took office in 2014.
These changes contributed to a 40% reduction in air pollutionaccording to city officials.
“How do we achieve this?” Hidalgo said in a statement in March. “By assuming an important and radical rupture: the end of dependence on automobiles.”
Paris and other European cities have been at the forefront of efforts to reduce car use for years, although their success did not come without challenges. The US, on the other hand, has been slower to adopt similar reforms.
“For 100 years in the U.S., we’ve built streets, neighborhoods, and cities around cars, and as a result, most people live in car-dependent neighborhoods, and it’s very difficult to undo that,” said Nicholas Klein, professor of city and region. . planning at Cornell University.
Paris’ new cityscape will be on display at a challenging time for Hidalgo, who has faced falling approval ratings and a failed presidential bid. Yet, a 2023 poll showed that the majority of Parisians approve of his environmental reforms.
Louise Claustre, a resident of the 12th arrondissement and avid cyclist, told NBC News that she is “100 percent” in favor of Hidalgo’s anti-car policies.
“I will always be in favor of policies that reduce cars and increase walking and cycling,” she said, adding that, as a Parisian and mother of a young child, she thinks the city “will be safer and less polluted if there are less people”. cars.”
These changes were inspired in part by Carlos Moreno, professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and former advisor to Hidalgo. Moreno pioneered the concept of the “15-minute city,” where all basic needs are a short walk or bike ride away.
“There was opposition from climate skeptics, the automotive lobby and drivers in particular,” Moreno said. “But this is no longer the time for cars and we need to fight them for a low-carbon future.”
This fight reached the USA, but without much success. Although some cities have adopted bike lanes and strengthened public transport infrastructure, cars showed few signs of releasing their control in US shipping.
Meanwhile, the push for 15-minute cities has become political fodder for the far right, notably giving rise to fringe conspiracy theories who claim to be part of a shadowy conspiracy to surveil people and restrict their freedoms.
The movement to undo automobile dependence comes as experts gain a greater understanding of how air pollution contributes to adverse health outcomes. A recent report from the American Lung Association found that nearly 40% of people in the U.S. live in areas with unhealthy levels of pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency has sought to make gasoline-powered cars cleaner with new emissions standards.
In addition to pollution, automobiles continue to contribute significantly to global warming. The US Energy Information Administration has estimated that by 2023, gasoline and diesel consumption in transportation was responsible for 31% of total U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
Klein said the need for transportation reforms has increased given the climate crisis.
“The main contributor to climate change is emissions from transport, so everything we can get out of a petrol-powered car and travel by metro, foot or bike is an incredibly important way to help mitigate the effects of climate change. “, he said. .
He noted that what Paris is doing isn’t necessarily new, as other cities like Amsterdam have sought stricter automobile regulations for decades, but he considers Paris an inspiration for how cities can and should respond to climate change.
“I don’t know about cities in the United States, but there are a lot of things on this menu that Paris has done that I think other cities will adopt because a lot of these measures have been really successful,” he said.
Moreno, who has not owned a car for 30 years, said he hopes Paris will continue to renounce them, but sees the city’s upcoming elections as a critical crossroads.
“We need to win in 2026,” he said. “With the current political situation in Europe, the far right is growing and no one is safe.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
