Paris Mayor: ‘Forget Crossing Through The City By Car’

[M II A II R II K]

Paris Mayor: ‘Forget Crossing Through The City By Car’


Oct 11, 2020

By Carlton Reid

Read More: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlton...ty-by-car/amp/

In the first major interview since her re-election as Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo told Le Parisien that her manifesto promise to crack down on motoring in the French capital would be kept. “We must forget the crossing of Paris from east to west by car,” she told the daily newspaper. ‘The city needs to evolve,” she added. Comfortably re-elected in June for a second term, she said she intends to create permanent curb-protected cycleways and expand the number of lockdown cycleways, known in French as “coronapistes.” At an urban planning conference later this month she also plans to reveal plans on restricting petrol-powered motoring on the usually car-clogged highways on the upper quays of the Seine.

- Paris created 45 kilometers of coronapistes during lockdown, and now a further 10 kilometres of wand-separated cycleways will be added. “I have just given the green light to the creation of seven new [temporary] cycleways of this type,” she said, with works soon to begin on Rue Marx-Dormoy, Boulevard de l’Hôpital, Rue Linois, Avenue d’Ivry, Rue Claude-Bernard, and Rue de la Grange-aux-Belles. At the same time a permanent curb-protected cycleway will be constructed on Rue Lafayette, adding to the partial closure to private motor vehicles of Rue de Rivoli, a major thoroughfare through the heart of the city’s museum district. --- “We are working on doubling the length of lane reserved for buses, taxis and all authorized vehicles, particularly electric ones, beside the [Louvre museum and Place de la Concorde],” she said. “We will also be doubling the length of the cycleway [on Rue de Rivoli].” The three-kilometer-long Rue de Rivoli houses iconic shops such as the belle époque Angelina patisserie, the five-star Le Meurice hotel, and the world-renowned Louvre museum.

- Not everybody is happy with Hidalgo’s plans. In the run-up to the mayoral election, Pierre Chasseray, leader of 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, a group with a claimed 320,000 members and which lobbies against speed cameras and other “anti-motoring” initiatives, said: “[The Mayor] is wrong to take advantage of the health crisis to accentuate its anti-car policy.” On the contrary, the “epidemic requires giving space to the car,” he added, more in hope than expectation because space for motorists in Paris has been much reduced over recent years. --- As part of her reelection campaign, Hidalgo said she wanted to carry out an “ecological transformation of the city,” aiming to clean the city’s air and improve the “daily life of Parisians” by instigating a “city of fifteen minutes.” --- Based on the “segmented city” ideas suggested by Carlos Moreno, a “smart city” professor at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, creating the 15-minute city will include making many more key thoroughfares in Paris inaccessible to motor vehicles; turning currently traffic-choked intersections into pedestrian plazas, and creating “children streets” next to schools.

.....

[canucklehead2]

Good! Cars need to take a permanent back seat (pun intended) to walking, biking and electric transit... I fully support EVERY city bringing in punitive financial measures to keep cars out of city centres especially...!

[edale]

How does this affect ambulances and emergency vehicles?

I never felt Paris was particularly auto friendly to begin with, nor have I ever felt navigating the city on foot or transit was difficult or unpleasant. I'm in favor of reducing the impact and presence of cars in cities, but there should be a balance.

Just about any American or Canadian city could benefit from narrower streets, wider sidewalks, more bike/scooter lanes, etc. But that's because most of our cities are built with the car in mind, and we devote a ridiculous amount of space and energy to accommodating them. In Paris, Amsterdam, London, etc. that's not at all the case. Cars got superimposed into these cities, and they tend to be much more pedestrian oriented. So I guess I'm wondering if there is really a need for Paris to do this, or is the mayor trying to win urbanist cool points at the expense of efficiency and modernity in her city?

[mrnyc]

ah mais oui. i would like to geev her le air kisses for that.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by edale

I never felt Paris was particularly auto friendly to begin with, nor have I ever felt navigating the city on foot or transit was difficult or unpleasant.

I agree with the latter part of your statement, but when I was in Paris, I actually thought it somehow was more auto-friendly than other European cities. I assume it's because of Haussmann's 19th century urban planning and wider boulevards and streets? A lot of one-ways in Paris and narrower streets of course, but if anything, it kind of reminded me of San Francisco---even the parking situation, in that a lot of on-street parking is taken, but if you're willing to pay, you can park it in a public parking structure.

You see this in Paris, which to me is very car-friendly:









It's not like a lot of Italian cities or Spanish cities where you see cars parked where they jumped the curb and parked halfway on the sidewalk... I assume those people have to get their wheel alignment done often.

[manchester united]

I think that Paris needs a 24/7 metro service.

[uaarkson]

Good for them. Cars kill cities. Now change the zoning codes to allow for incremental increases in use intensity city-wide and you’re golden.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by canucklehead2

Good! Cars need to take a permanent back seat (pun intended) to walking, biking and electric transit... I fully support EVERY city bringing in punitive financial measures to keep cars out of city centres especially...!

Which will drive those who can't ride a bike everywhere out of city centers. I'm sure that's OK with you because you aren't capable of looking at the issue from any point of view other than your own.

As it happens, if the issue here is "crossing through a city by car" it shouldn't be necessary. Cities should have bypasses so that people needing to get from one side of them to the other by car can drive around, not through. Most American cities these days do have such routes. I'm not sure about Paris.

[Crawford]

Paris has a peripheral highway circling the city. Thru-traffic generally shouldn't need to use city streets.

[mousquet]

Hidalgo seems very eager to serve her voters in Central Paris, which is probably deserving of respect; I mean I wouldn't blame on her for that.

But the metro area is way larger than Central Paris alone, which her voters tend to forget, and her plans are causing some problems to the many people living in the suburbs all around, as well as some nasty sarcasms from them.
The suburbs are simply not served by the mass transit network like Central Paris is, far from there. Then people who need their cars to get to the central districts might feel like they're scorned and screwed.

I guess it's too soon for her ambitious plan. She should wait for the new lines of the subway to be complete before pushing her anti-car policy any further, or a lot of people might face some serious problems to move around. Driving in Central Paris has already been absolutely hellish on rush hours. Try the streets along the river by 7pm. You might be stuck in traffic jam for almost 2 hours.

It'd be interesting to hear what the president of our region thinks about that. I bet her view about the transit policy would be more balanced.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by mousquet

But the metro area is way larger than Central Paris alone, which her voters tend to forget, and her plans are causing some problems to the many people living in the suburbs all around, as well as some nasty sarcasms from them.

Hidalgo is the mayor of Paris. It doesn't matter what the voters outside Paris think. Why would a mayor put the interests of non-residents above those of voting residents?

[mousquet]

^ The administrative boundaries of the city are outdated. They should encompass a much larger portion of the urban area to be relevant.

The Paris you think of is only a city of 2.2 millions, that's not very large. It wouldn't be anything much in the world without the additional 10 millions living in suburban towns.
Hundreds of thousands (probably over a million) of them commute every day to work in Central Paris, sustaining its economy, so they are entitled to their say.

The problem is the hundreds of suburban mayors over the urban area want to keep their offices, while this type of administration is obsolete. Maybe only a regional referendum could solve that problem. That's the best option on my mind right now.

Minato talked about this issue many times. I think he is better informed than I am on that topic.

[M II A II R II K]

The 15-Minute City—No Cars Required—Is Urban Planning’s New Utopia

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...-area-near-you

.....

- Taken together, the new trees and cycleways, community facilities and social housing, homes and workplaces all reflect a potentially transformative vision for urban planners: the 15-minute city. “The 15-minute city represents the possibility of a decentralized city,” says Carlos Moreno, a scientific director and professor specializing in complex systems and innovation at University of Paris 1. “At its heart is the concept of mixing urban social functions to create a vibrant vicinity” replicated, like fractals, across an entire urban expanse. — Named Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s special envoy for smart cities, Moreno has become a kind of deputy philosopher at City Hall as it endeavors to turn the French capital into what he calls a “city of proximities.” His 15-minute concept was developed primarily to reduce urban carbon emissions, reimagining our towns not as divided into discrete zones for living, working, and entertainment, but as mosaics of neighborhoods in which almost all residents’ needs can be met within 15 minutes of their homes on foot, by bike, or on public transit.

- As workplaces, stores, and homes are brought into closer proximity, street space previously dedicated to cars is freed up, eliminating pollution and making way for gardens, bike lanes, and sports and leisure facilities. All of this allows residents to bring their daily activities out of their homes (which in Paris tend to be small) and into welcoming, safe streets and squares. — Similar ideas have been around for a long time, including in Paris itself. Walkable neighborhoods and villages were the norm long before automobiles and zoning codes spread out and divided up cities in the 20th century. Yet the 15-minute city represents a major departure from the recent past, and in a growing number of other cities it’s become a powerful brand for planners and politicians desperate to sell residents on a carbon-lite existence. — Leaders in Barcelona, Detroit, London, Melbourne, Milan, and Portland, Ore., are all working toward similar visions. They’ve been further emboldened by the pandemic, with global mayors touting the model in a July report from the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group as central to their recovery road maps.

- Paris is far from alone in attempting this sort of transformation. London’s new “Mini-Hollands” import Dutch planning ideas that seek to reduce or block car access to neighborhood shopping hubs. Barcelona has been turning 400-by-400-meter chunks of road in areas dominated by apartment towers into mostly car-free “superblocks.” Madrid has declared plans to copy that approach, in keeping with its goal to be a “city of 15 minutes” as it recovers from the pandemic. Milan has said the same, with hopes to turn Covid-19 bike lanes and sidewalks permanent as its economy restabilizes. But turning the 15-minute city into a truly global movement will require a big battle over a core urban tension: the primacy of the car. — It’s one thing to turn a Paris or a Barcelona, cities that were almost completely shaped before the automobile was invented, into a neighborhood-centric utopia. Transforming them is rather like giving a supermodel a makeover. The challenge is far greater in the kinds of younger, sprawling cities found in North America or Australia, where cars remain the dominant form of transit.

- U.S. cities holding similarly optimistic blueprints are also struggling to strike a balance between vision and reality. In 2016, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan laid out a plan to turn high-density corridors outside the central business district in his sprawling, 140-square-mile city into 20-minute neighborhoods. Its leading edge thus far is a $17 million pedestrian upgrade in the Livernois-McNichols area, 9 miles northeast of downtown. The project concluded in early 2020 with an emphasis on narrower streets, wider sidewalks for cafe seating, and new lighting. Residents and business owners have been largely pleased with the improvements; a walk to the supermarket is now a much more pleasant ambition. But that basic urban function is out of reach for the vast majority of the city. — So far, most of Detroit’s achievements under the 20-minute rubric have been modest, including moves toward a comprehensive transportation plan and ongoing investments in lighting and resurfacing.

.....

Place de la Nation, one of seven transformed squares. -- Photographer: Dmitry Kostyukov for Bloomberg Businessweek

[bilbao58]

"C'était un Rendez-vous" 1976

I think this guy was my Super Shuttle driver one early morning years ago.

Video Link

[Yuri]

Even though Paris is denser, inner London is much more pedestrian friendly, and the lack of heavy traffic is one of the main reasons. Drivers also goes slower and respect pedestrians.

I guess that's a good move, the city will probably become more pleasant. Like a much bigger inner Rome.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Place de la Nation, one of seven transformed squares. -- Photographer: Dmitry Kostyukov for Bloomberg Businessweek

That particular square is a successful instance of multimodal / combined transit. It is roomy and it's layout makes some sort of large traffic roundabout of it, allowing anything including cars to comfortably go through.

But not everything is that properly done. Most noticeably, the Bastille square is a mess, a planning failure by the current city administration. They need to work on it harder.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

"C'était un Rendez-vous" 1976

What is this? I never saw anything like that. I'm not even sure anything like this would've been possible for the serious Spring shutdown we went through this year.

They must've shot the video at dawn in May or June. Right? I wasn't born back then and surrounding cars look very 60s/70s, but I'm pretty sure the city was already often congested anyway.

[llamaorama]

It seems like this plan would also quietly enforce a kind of segregation whereby residents of the mostly affluent city center get to exclude the riff raff from public places and avoid mixing with them.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

It seems like this plan would also quietly enforce a kind of segregation whereby residents of the mostly affluent city center get to exclude the riff raff from public places and avoid mixing with them.

Nah, not really. There may admittedly be mistakes here and there in planning, but I don't believe in any conspiracy of that kind.

Of course, both some rich and poor are assholes and won't do any effort to mingle, but overall, I suspect social diversity is far more advanced here than anywhere in any country of the Americas.

I think generally speaking, the Central Paris administration believes they are on a mission to set an example to the rest of the urban area. But I certainly wouldn't charge them with any intended segregation of any kind.

[PFloyd]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

"C'était un Rendez-vous" 1976

I think this guy was my Super Shuttle driver one early morning years ago.

Video Link

Gosh! I remember seeing this video years ago. I think a friend, a fellow sports car enthusiast , sent it to me.

I just check the vehicle used: 6.9 litre Mercedes, dubbed over the sound of a Ferrari 275GTB to give the impression of much higher speeds. Early 70's Paris; stunning as usual.