Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 699 posts

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#41

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

TomMarius wrote: post #14
montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

On top of other issues, most of Europe also enjoys a 4-season year - meaning that a bike or scooter is safely and comfortably usable around half of a year, definitely not more.

Cities in the Nordic countries have bike paths that are kept clear of snow and are used for commuting year-round. People know that there is a way to dress to be comfortable cycling even when winter comes.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#42

Post by hannasanarion »

MrEfficiency wrote: post #25
betterunix2 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took major redevelopment for many US cities to become car-centric, so I am not seeing why we could not do another redevelopment to create pedestrian-friendly cities.

>so I am not seeing why we could not do another redevelopment to create pedestrian-friendly cities. We have 2 local cities that made themselves bike friendly. Property values are going up in that area. However, the people living there were already 10%ers. Its cool to see lots of bike lanes and walkers, but they also managed to price the people that cant afford cars out.

The cycle of gentrification will change that. In 10, 20 years, a new neighborhood will be the hip place to be, all the rich propel will move there, and prices will drop. It'd be nice if the development could happen in the low-income areas from the beginning, but it's hot hopeless.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#43

Post by michaelbuckbee »

rnatkins wrote: post #4

>How can it be that private property – the car – occupies the public space? Regardless of what you think of this policy, this is the level of reasoning of a 14 year old.

I feel like we should be charitable on the actual wording of the statement as the speaker is being quoted in their non native language.

I read this as more that we can't just default to subsidising private cars in a public space. Roads, parking and other infrastructure that de facto subsidize and encourage private car usage but which often are considered "free".

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#44

Post by mantas »

skh wrote: post #29
montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

I lived for a while in Berlin. Coming back to the U.S. the first thing I noticed were too many billboards and ugly parking lots. Each store has its own parking lot. Largely underused. No nice paths to traverse the bleak endless parking lot landscape. It’s ugly and wasteful. It’s hostile to pedestrians and discourages people from going outside to just wander. Even in relatively walkable communities like the one I live…

And then Berlin is rather car-friendly by Euro standards..

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#45

Post by eliseumds »

TomMarius wrote: post #14
montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

On top of other issues, most of Europe also enjoys a 4-season year - meaning that a bike or scooter is safely and comfortably usable around half of a year, definitely not more.

I used to bike every month of the year in Berlin.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#46

Post by boobsbr »

jcelerier wrote: post #10
boobsbr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 minutes on foot? It's more of a village than a city.

> 25 minutes on foot? It's more of a village than a city. you can walk from side to side of Paris in a tad more than one hour with a good rhythm, and two hours if you take it normally.

Considering Paris is roughly 10 km across North-South, that's about 12 min/km at an average human walking speed.

So, this city is about 2 km across, which is very small, a village, considering smaller cities are more sparsely populated than an European metropolis.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#48

Post by ssharp »

compcoffee wrote: post #15
cf141q5325 wrote: post #5

>“The city is the perfect size for pedestrianisation,” says local architect Rogelio Carballo Soler. “You can cross the entire city in 25 minutes. This seems to be the key point why it works.

And let's not forget temperate climate, without snow/freezing cold or excessive heat.

Skyway?

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#49

Post by CaptainZapp »

dmos62 wrote: post #20
montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

Seconded, Ghent in belgium is also pretty cool car-wise. It has so-called pedestrian-centric planning. For example, the city centre may not be entered with a car, only by foot, bicycle or public transport. It's great. I enjoyed Musk's Boring Company's presentation, where they talk about some problems with transportation today and present some solutions, with emphasis on transportation within city borders [0]. [0] htt…

In addition Ghent must have the most awesome bars and pubs per m2 in Europe with an absolute abundant collection of premium Belgium beers.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#50

Post by ofrzeta »

village-idiot wrote: post #40

If it weren’t for the massive culture shock and difficulty, I’d live in Munich. I love the quiet city center.

There's actually only one street with no cars (Kaufinger Str.) and lots of traffic around on the Altstadtring and such. It's far from a city without cars, to the contrary. Also you'd need to be able to afford the rent.
Post reply on HN