Skip to main content

Paris to ‘get rid of 70,000 parking spaces’

Squeeze on cars continues in '15-minute city' under Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo
By Adam Hill October 21, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Parisiens! Enjoy all these while you still can (© Uatp1 | Dreamstime.com)

Paris is to remove around half of its 140,000 car parking spaces under a scheme by Socialist party mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the city more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly.

The figure of 70,000 was announced by David Belliard, deputy mayor with responsibility for transport, mobility and transforming public space.

Residents of the French capital will be consulted on how they want to see the new space used.

Belliard tweeted that it was a priority to "protect the most vulnerable in public space, and in particular pedestrians".

Hidalgo was re-elected for a second term earlier this year, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the plan is to repurpose the parking places for other uses by the time of the next election.

Supported by Greens such as Belliard, Hidalgo made transport and pollution central to her campaign through the “15-minute city” concept.

This envisages a city where inhabitants can meet all needs – food, work, recreation, culture and so on – within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from home.

Already, Paris has seen more road space given over to bicycles and pedestrians.

During the election, Hidalgo said: “It’s out of the question to think that arriving in the heart of the city by car is any sort of solution.”

In her election night victory speech she told supporters: “You have chosen a Paris that can breathe.”

 

 

Related Content

  • Vivacity demos AI junction control
    March 18, 2021
    How will AI-controlled junctions help smooth the journeys of drivers – and cyclists - in urban areas? Alan Dron looks at an expanding scheme in Manchester, UK, which aims to find out
  • No return to ‘business as usual’, say world’s city mayors
    May 15, 2020
    Clean, green and sustainable need to be urban watchwords from now, says C40
  • Trains and no planes or automobiles
    August 3, 2021
    Moves are afoot in France and Germany for legislation to prioritise rail over air travel. Iomob’s Boyd Cohen suggests that Mobility as a Service can help to support this shift
  • Mobilising data for the future of urban transport
    August 8, 2018
    It's not just gathering the data that's important, says Johan Herrlin - it's making sure that transport organisations share it with one another that will determine travellers' satisfaction. Data is transforming the way we move around cities, from family car journeys to the daily train commute. Gone are the days when travelling from A to B meant remembering your AA map and having to ask for directions at regular intervals. If you were trying to navigate London as a tourist a mere decade ago, it required