Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
If you drive a car into the city center of Oslo next month, you shouldn't plan on staying long: There won't be any parking spots.
The Norwegian capital is in the process of eliminating the remaining 700 street parking spots in its city center by the end of 2018 as part of its plan to turn the area into a car-free zone.
"We're doing this to give the streets back to the people," Hanna Elise Marcussen, Oslo's vice mayor for urban development, said during a recent phone interview. "And of course, it's environmentally friendly." (The Scandinavian country, recently recognized as one of the world's most ecologically progressive nations, has plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and halt the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2025.)
And it's not just Oslo that is turning away drivers. Popular tourist destinations across the globe are removing cars from heavily trafficked areas to reduce congestion, cut down on pollution, and make streets more welcoming to bikers and pedestrians.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by legont on Wednesday December 26 2018, @05:46PM (1 child)
While I am all for no cars cities, I can't help noticing consequences.
For example, people will get disability papers to drive electric wheelchairs galore. One just have to visit any large event to see it.
Bicycles would have to be heavily regulated. Currently Singapore criminalizes bicycle hacking and all bikes are sealed by the government.
Basically, people would have to give up more personal freedom and privacy to implement such restrictions because the technology to break it is easily available.
Perhaps, a better approach is to have less city regulations which would make leaving in them unbearable for most and naturally push people countryside. Yes, it is more expensive. but arguably more enjoyable. Let's go back to city ghettos mixed with ultra rich dwellings?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday December 26 2018, @09:10PM
Nah, it does a pretty good job of keeping the idiots away from me. Anyone living in a big city voluntarily has made some really incomprehensible life choices.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.