Pedestrian spaces, micromobility and public transportation: an urban revolution is underway around the world
More and more cities such as Paris, Bogota, Milan or San Francisco, to name but a few, are taking advantage of the traffic restrictions and the changes generated by the pandemic to redesign their urban centers with the same goal: prioritizing pedestrians over cars by supplying more public transport and creating spaces for micromobility.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, re-elected in part thanks to her model of “the 15-minute city”, is carrying out what is possibly the biggest transformation of the city in its history, sharply reducing the number of vehicles through a carrot and stick policy: pedestrianization of more and more areas, which makes the alternative of moving around by car a living hell, and providing public transport and micromobility options. At the same time, the French government is offering people up to €4,000 to replace combustion cars with an electric bicycle. Around the world an EV revolution is underway led by two and three-wheeled vehicles and there is a growing range of electric bicycles, scooters and motorcycles available, including electric rickshaws (the global fleet numbers more than 275 million).
Paris now has more than 180 kilometers of bike lanes, 180,000 bicycle parking spaces, while downtown streets are…
