Paris is one of the biggest cities in the world and for a long time, has been a pioneer in urban planning and favoring public transportation over private cars. Efforts to popularise walking around the city and using public transport and bicycles has shown great results, but the city wishes to take things to the new level. Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has presented the “15-minute Paris” plan, which goal is to change Parisians’ day-to-day and add leisure into their lives by shortening their daily commute to work and school.
Hidalgo’s latest project, La Ville Du Quart d’Heure (the quarter-hour city), aims to decarbonize the city and make it healthier. If everything goes as planned, the residents won’t take longer than 15 minutes to get from home to work or to drop children to school, etc.
By embracing the plan, the city commits to making the necessary physical changes needed by taking back public space (car lanes) and replacing them with dedicated pedestrian and cycling paths.
Numerous cities around the world face a similar problem—morning and afternoon crowds as people rush to get to work/school and back home. This leads to another problem as many people get discouraged to continue living in the city due to pollution, noise, and crowd. Not to mention that the lack of daily activity and spending time in cars and offices leads to health risks and obesity.
Mayor Hidalgo’s proposition takes all this into consideration and plans for a city where people could walk more and use the efficient public transport to reduce crowds, especially around rush hour.
