The challenge
The historic centre was clogged with cars, and residents and shops were leaving.
The case
In 1999 the newly elected mayor of Pontevedra, Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores, began turning the historic centre of this Galician city of 80,000 people over to pedestrians. Through traffic and surface parking were removed, deliveries were limited to set hours, and outer areas got roundabouts and 30 km/h limits. According to city figures, motor traffic has fallen 97% in the historic centre, 77% in nearby areas and 53% across the city since 1999. The city reports no traffic deaths since 2011, and its carbon dioxide emissions are significantly lower. Pontevedra won a UN-Habitat award in 2014.
Why it worked
Removing parking and through routes, not just closing a few streets, changed how people moved across the whole city. The results come mainly from city data and have not been independently audited.
Sources
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