11 October 2010

Pedestrian Zone ~ Wagenbuur on Utrecht, NL!

Thanks to David Hembrow for spotting Mark Wagenbuur's Utrecht Pedestrian Zone video about my favorite Dutch city!
"The Utrecht pedestrian zone is a large area of car free streets in the historic city center. First in 1965 and from November 1968 on a larger scale, the narrow streets were closed to car traffic on the busiest shopping days. This experiment made the streets car free on Wednesdays and Saturdays which were -- and still are -- important market days. There was a lot of opposition from shop owners but the city went through with the plans for a permanent car ban. From 1971 the streets were permanently car free and they were redesigned. Side walks were removed and the streets were transformed to streets for pedestrians only. All opposition has since vanished. The area has been car free for 40 years now. The area is livable and a commercial success."

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