EU Green Capital Valencia will host 2024 edition of European Urban Resilience Forum
Crucial aspects of resilience, sustainable development and recovery will be under the thematic spotlight
More than a third of the two-wheelers will be taken off the streets of the Mediterranean city
The Mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, announced yesterday that City Hall will immediately remove 1,500 of the shared e-scooters available in order to bring about more orderliness in public spaces and in traffic.
"Why? Because it's almost nonsense, it's poorly regulated. I asked the operators to do drastic things, I saw that a few times, they dragged their feet. Every time they drag their feet, I'm applying a sanction. And so today we're going to remove 1,500 scooters. And if this continues, we'll continue to remove them,” he threatened in an interview for France Bleu Provence.
The measure was announced despite the recognition that public transport options in the southern French city are still insufficient to cover the needs of the city to transition to more sustainable means of mobility.
What this means is that more than a third of the micromobility devices will disappear from the streets of Marseille. Before the mayor’s announcement, there were 4,000 scooters, divided among three operators – Bird, Lime and Voi.
The French capital, Paris, made headlines earlier this year by outlawing the contentious two-wheelers after a referendum in April. And it seems that the country’s second biggest city is already following closely that example given the drastic reduction of the scooters.
In fact, Mr Payan quipped that if his city had as many metro lines as Paris, then he would also ban the scooters outright.
The City Council will also require operators to spread out their scooters more evenly in the territory of the city rather than crowd them in the centre. In addition, they will have to produce annual reports on compliance with the street traffic code.
Concerning uncontrolled parking, the municipality announced that it would implement “a penalty of 25 euros for operators for each violation noted, in order to counter poorly parked scooters in public spaces”.
The city was concerned about street noise and disturbances to residents
This, however, is likely to change soon
Crucial aspects of resilience, sustainable development and recovery will be under the thematic spotlight
This is city twinning for the 21st century
You can find it in the capital Sofia, where it was installed upon the initiative of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
People in both cities got to sit together both in person and virtually
The city was concerned about street noise and disturbances to residents
And the current administration plans to make Jardin del Turia Europe’s largest city green space by extending it to the sea
The aim is to have the public be able to admire the architectural design without distractions
The installation has been thought out with the concept of letting people “talk” to their dearly departed
It’s an urban space that has undergone several large-scale transformations throughout its existence
A US geologist claims to have solved the centuries-old mystery
Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment.
Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements.
Apply by 10 November and do your part for the transformation of European public spaces
Catch up with some recommendations for the 2024 European Capital of Culture programme from the mayor of Tartu
An interview with the ICLEI regional director for Europe аfter the close of COP28
An interview with a member of the No Hate Speech Network team