The Spanish city of Pontevedra banned cars from most of the city in 1999, leading to impressive environmental and health-related results! "Not only have we not had a single road-related death in over a decade, but air pollution has been reduced by 67% and our overall quality of life in the city has dramatically improved," Pontevedra's mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores said. Some 15,000 people have moved to the city since it became car-free. "We decided to redesign the city for people instead of cars and we've been reaping the rewards ever since. The city should not be seen as a road, but as a space for coexistence," he said. As cities look to meet ambitious climate goals, many are considering or already implementing measures to kick out cars as a way both to cut down on emissions and to protect residents from pollution. Still, in a majority of cities, cars are deeply ingrained in city life — and in many cases, huge parts of the city were specifically designed with the car in mind. Undoing that type of urban planning is a challenge but Fernández Lores insists that it doesn't have to be an election-losing proposition. "Adopting these kinds of measures initially requires political courage," said Fernández Lores, who was re-elected for the sixth time in 2019. "But fear of losing elections shouldn't condition the actions that responsible politicians take, and it looks like designing the city for people can actually be quite good at the electoral level." The changes he introduced transformed Pontevedra. The city's 30,000-square-meter historic core was pedestrianized and all on-street parking spaces were eliminated. Through traffic was redirected to avoid the center altogether and commuters into the city were directed to parking lots located in its periphery. While cars could still access the center to make drop-offs or pickups, they were subject to a 30-kilometer-per-hour speed limit and caps on the amount of time they could remain stationary. Read more: https://www.politico.eu/article/pontevedra-city-pioneer-europe-car-free-future/ Watch this video by the World Economic Forum: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brommelstroet_pontevedra-ugcPost-7007708577519828992-pSux/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop