Plans to ban private cars in parts of a downtown area have become so common among big European cities that it’s getting hard to keep track of them all.
Since the start of 2014 alone at least six metros have announced ambitions to convert parts of their central districts into pedestrian havens with less automobile congestion and air pollution.
This article reports on the progress of this revitalizing trend in six European cities: Oslo, Milan, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, and Brussels.
For instance, Milan, Italy is already home to an effective congestion pricing scheme in the city’s core. Milan made waves in July of 2015 when its deputy mayor announced an ultimate goal of the “total pedestrianization of the historical center.”
There’s reportedly no timeline for the plan. But the general idea is for Piazza della Scala to join two other downtown pedestrian zones and gradually stretch outward to other parts of the city.
These changes—plus other car-free moves in Navigli and Piazza Missori—presaged a people-first future for Italy’s second city.