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The “City of Lights” in France is reducing its carbon footprint with plans to block cars from more city streets. This is a big win for pedestrians and will enhance the quality of life for Parisians.
It is also a big win for environmentalists who see Paris’s mayor Anne Hidalgo’s nonbinding proposal that passed in late March 2025, as a way to support climate policies, reported The Washington Post. The proposal to close hundreds of streets to road traffic passed with nearly 66 percent of the vote. The asphalt will be replaced with trees and plants.
“With this vote, Parisians have the choice of whether or not to accelerate Paris’s adaptation to climate change, the fight against pollution and the improvement of the living environment within 300 meters of their homes,” Hidalgo said in an Instagram post.
Not the First Time
Over the past few years, Hidalgo has championed closing streets to car traffic as a way to reduce air pollution and to help the city fight the effects of climate change. The city built 240 new miles of bicycle lanes and removed thousands of outdoor parking spaces that resulted in an impressive decrease in car traffic since it was enacted in 2020.
The new referendum was the third environment vote in three years. In 2023, voters approved a ban on e-scooters and last year, voters approved triple parking fees for large SUVs. Now, adding 500 streets to be pedestrianized will bring the total to 800 or about a tenth of the city’s streets.
While these policies have brought Hidalgo great acclaim, there are also people who do not have access to public transportation who are against the street closures, according to Bloomberg. Tradespeople in the Montmartre neighborhood have expressed concerns that parking lot removals will make life more complicated for local residents. Other organizations like the drivers’ association 40 Millions d’automobilistes, are also against the removal of parking spaces.
Other European Cities That are Going Car-Free
France is not the only country that is seeking to remove cars and add public space for pedestrians and cyclists. This anti-car sentiment is gaining ground across the continent, reported the BBC.
Oslo, Norway’s capital city, made its central zone car-free in 2017. While many feared that banning cars would keep customers away, the opposite is true. Business went up in the newly pedestrianized areas.
Madrid Spain banned fossil fuel-powered cars from entering the city center in 2019. Only vehicles with zero emissions, public transportation, and delivery vehicles are allowed in.
Other cities have car-free days or car-free city centers but Paris, which is behind other cities in green spaces, is trying to turn the City of Lights into the city of greenery. This will have a positive impact on quality of life for its dwellers and will help the planet too.
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