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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, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @06:19PM (6 children)
Let me guess: You're american, right ?
It's not like you'd ever have travelled out of your state anyway, let alone your country.
And a Merry Christmas to you too.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @07:17PM (2 children)
Americans. Go figure. The city in the next county is a shithole. The neighboring state(s) is a shithole. The neighboring country is a shithole. And, all other continents are shitholes. That's why they all want to go to Mars, I think.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday December 26 2018, @09:24PM (1 child)
Almost correct. We want you to go to Mars.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @01:23AM
Modded Funny from a Scandinavian country :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @09:33PM (1 child)
The only thing your shithole country is good for is the 'padding points' other teams get in the ice-hockey standings, pick a league...any league that matters. There is nothing your country makes or exports that matters to the rest of the world. Oh and before you ask, I'm not American.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @05:51PM
I don't see how the UK is relevant to this topic.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @10:13PM
At least you recognize that states exist, and can conceive of comparing them to your little European countries. That's more than most of you can see.
Fun fact, the average American state (excluding Alaska) is about 30% bigger by land area than the average European state (excluding Russia).
Don't like averages? Feel like big states (Texas) and small countries (Vatican City) are skewing things?
We can compare the median states, with Croatia at 56,594 km2 and Florida at 138,887 km2 (median by land area) or Iowa at 145,746 km2 (median by total area). Lookit that, over twice as big.
Source [wikipedia.org]
Source [wikipedia.org]
As for the Americans who've never travelled out of their own state, I believe that's mostly Californians. Consider that the state is over 1000km long (would stretch from Luxembourg to Budapest, for example), with a whole range of climates and terrain. There's plenty to see and do in state, and nothing different gained by traveling inland to neighboring states. I suppose going north to Oregon and Washington has its appeal for those who like visiting colder, damper climates to feel better about the weather at home? But for a lot of people, there's a lifetime worth of opportunities and vacations without leaving the state.
As much as I loathe California and the way coastal/urban California portrays itself in media as representative of all California, and California as representative of all America, it really has it all, or close enough to it, in one big state. It's no wonder that it's easily the most populous state.
The second most populous state, Texas, is even bigger than California, if somewhat lacking in variety, and together they account for roughly one sixth of the US population, and I'm sure a huge proportion of those who never travel to another state.
Here in the midwest, on the other hand, I only know about half the neighbors living within a quarter-mile radius well enough to know if they've ever been to another state. But of that half, every single one has been to other states at least on vacation or other short trips, and roughly half have lived in another state, or have close relatives living in another state. And it's not uncommon to live in one state and work in another; I've never done it personally, but my dad did at two different jobs, and my previous job was within 50km of the state line, and about 10% of the guys lived in the next state over.