Report: Hamburg working to eliminate cars within city limits by 2034 [w/poll]

[Haltech]

Filed under: Europe, Government/Legal



Hard as it may be to fathom, there are places in the world where cars simply don't make sense. Many of these places are the centers of major cities. And while most major American cities are fairly easy to get through via car, that's because they've benefited from more modern city planning techniques, utilizing things like the grid system.

In Europe, where cities were laid out centuries before the New World was discovered, cars are a far more difficult proposition. Streets are narrow and curvy, making them too difficult to manage in a modern car. In Hamburg, Germany, this factoid is leading the city to ban cars within its city center. Instead, Germany's second largest city is launching a plan called the Green Network.

The Indpendent reports that the Green Network is a plan to remove all cars from the city by 2034, and to then cover 40 percent of the city's 292-square-mile area in an intertwining network that will connect parks and gardens. According to city spokeswoman Angelika Fritsch, it will allow citizens to "explore the city exclusively by bike or on foot," within the next two decades.

While the move to ban cars is ostensibly to improve the quality of life for the city's 1.8 million residents (larger than Philadelphia, but smaller than Houston), who are crammed into an area roughly the size of Lexington, KY, there's also an environmental goal. Banning cars and encouraging residents to use more sustainable means of transport will help the city offset and absorb some of its CO2 emissions. Hamburg has been ravaged by severe weather, and it's status as a major North Sea port means it's equally susceptible to rising sea levels.

What do you think? Would you accept a ban on cars in your city? Even if it were over a geographically small area? Let us know what you think about the Green Network by taking part in our informal poll below.

View Poll

Hamburg working to eliminate cars within city limits by 2034 [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Jan 2014 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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