Matosinhos becomes the first UN Resilience Hub in Portugal
The city joins the Province of Potenza (Italy) as the newest role models for the Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative
Mayor Georg Willi expressed his desire to commit to the ambitious goal, making it a reality in the next five years
On Thursday, the Austrian city of Innsbruck presented the results of a feasibility study into redesigning the city centre as a car-free space. According to the study, the project is possible after large scale redevelopment. Mayor Georg Willi expressed his desire to realise the ambitious goal in the next five years, as he will try to get support for the redevelopment in the city council in autumn.
One of the key areas the study focused on is designing a pedestrian-friendly city centre without any parked cars. Instead of parking spaces along the streets, the project proposes wider sidewalks and bike lanes, opening up the city centre to a bigger pedestrian crowd.
The increased pedestrian capacity should have a positive impact on businesses in the highlighted area. Usually, walkable areas bring in a lot more customers that have the time to browse, instead of jumping in and out of a car.
The exclusion from parking would also affect the residents of the city centre, as they would be forced to park outside of the designated green zone (no-parking zone). At the same time, the city does not want to shift the weight of parked vehicles to the centre-adjacent neighbourhoods, as this would not fix the problem, but create massive pileups outside the centre.
Instead, the proposition calls for creating underground parking in nearby areas or in the green zone itself. Thus, the main idea of the car-free city centre is to remove cars from the street in whatever way possible.
The move would also benefit air quality as cars are still the biggest CO2 emitter in Austria. Mayor Georg Willi underlined the urgency of pushing for green reforms saying that cities should be the driver of innovation. He pointed out Paris and Freiburg as models for car-free infrastructure and said that the time is now for Innsbruck.
Currently, there are 10,000 parking spaces in the designated green zone. That roughly corresponds to around ten football fields filled with cars and removing those parking spaces from the centre could create massive problems for the city.
This is why Mayor Willi called for a moderate and gradual approach to the redevelopment so that this precise problem can be avoided. He paid particular attention to the fact that despite the desire for a car-free centre, adequate infrastructure has to be in place to handle the shifting demand.
The facility called, Alovera Beach, will be located 40 kms from Madrid
The move is part of the city’s strategy to act against the local affordable-housing crisis by focusing on the development of student accommodation
Peace and quiet in Baroque surroundings
Tallinn and Linz will be among the European cities eager to show their innovative side
According to the Eurostat report, women are significantly more educated than men in the EU
The Irish Environment Protection Agency released an updated map of affected regions in the country
It involves strategically placed pictograms on the pedestrian crossings
Never too early to fall in love with soft mobility
100 trees will take the place of 100 parking spaces in this Belgian town
The facility called, Alovera Beach, will be located 40 kms from Madrid
According to the Eurostat report, women are significantly more educated than men in the EU
It involves strategically placed pictograms on the pedestrian crossings
These will be spread across 11 EU countries and will serve to support the EU Missions
The European Commission has accepted to develop the idea
An interview about AYR, one of the 2021 New European Bauhaus Prize winners
An interview with Nigel Jollands and Sue Goeransson from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
An interview with the President of the City of Athens Reception & Solidarity Centre
A talk with the Mayor of Malmö on the occasion of the city’s UN Resilience Hub status