True Left

In These Cities, Car-Free Streets Are Here To Stay

Cars? In this economy? Here’s how four cities took back miles of pavement from cars, making a popular pandemic solution into a permanent fixture.

What happens when you close down a city street to cars? More people do non-driving things, like walking, biking, strolling, skating and frolicking in the space normally reserved for motor vehicles. Car-free advocates would say that as greenhouse gas emissions and traffic violence go down, happiness and connection go up — it’s hard to connect with your neighbors while ensconced in two tons of steel.

Imagine the block parties the folk could have if there were no cars on the streets and no one had to commute all that far to do their necessary work!?

Continuing with the article:

Despite the benefits, closing streets to cars can make some people, er — a bit upset. Opponents argue that businesses will suffer (despite evidence to the contrary), congestion will increase (not so, says CityLab) and disabled and elderly people will have less access to public space (there’s a column for that). Like any change that pushes back against car culture, car-free streets face significant challenges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cities around the world closed down streets to cars and opened them up for people. Over two years later, some of these experiments were so popular that they are here to stay. Here are four car-free streets that are still going strong or just getting started...

[...] John F. Kennedy Drive in San Francisco

The people of San Francisco have spoken: Keep JFK Drive car-free. Historically, JFK Drive (now known as JFK Promenade) has been closed to cars on Sundays since 1967. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of the city and put a premium on outdoor space for socially-distanced play, it made sense to keep the street car-free seven days a week.

As anyone who has biked, skated or rolled during an open streets event can attest — once you go car-free it’s extremely hard to go back. Making JFK Drive car-free not only increased walking and biking, it turned the street into a space for art, music, celebration and connection.

Entire article: https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/in-these-cities-car-free-streets-are-here-to-stay?utm_source=pocket-newtab
 
Sounds really folkish to me! Is folkish nationalism and community hindered by the invention of the Turanian chariot? I would say it is, and has been since the dawn of civilization!

The "some people who get a bit upset" without cars: https://trueleft.createaforum.com/mythical-world/no-dugin-turanians-did-not-invent-the-wheel!-1632/