New edition of “Paris Breathe” Day, without cars or motorbikes, this Sunday September 17 in the capital, outside the ring road, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Room for bicycles, rollerblades, scooters and skateboards, but also, of course, for pedestrians. What future for big cities?
Not a car, not a motorcycle is on the road in Paris today, except of course emergency vehicles. This is the 9th edition of the “Paris Respire” event. Sociologist Jean Viard asks franceinfo about this social question. A day without cars or motorbikes, organized each year on a Sunday, is still less restrictive. Paris has, it must be said, a very extensive network of public transport between the bus, the tram and the metro.
franceinfo: Would this type of initiative be transposable elsewhere?
Jean Viard: So it’s complicated. There are two million inhabitants in Paris, 700,000 of whom work in the city. They don’t work on Sundays. On ordinary days, there are a million commuters returning to the city; A million is huge. And then, there are 38 million tourists who come to the capital every year, and then there are tens of millions of provincials, so Paris is a huge transit machine. Sunday is cooler. There, I think this is a positive signal. We are in the process of detoxifying ourselves from this idea that basically the streets are made so that there are cars everywhere.
So, it is an immense cultural, scientific and public health battle. There are also many people who will say: “We will go to Paris next week”. Afterwards, in other cities, we are more modest, in Marseille, for example, we pedestrianize La corniche, along the sea, this immense magnificent cornice, we have a sublime view.
Well, maybe we can’t pedestrianize the whole city. There are other towns that are smaller, we can do it. Montpellier, for example, is doing a huge job because they are making transport, little by little, free. So here too, we are moving towards this other idea that in the city, traffic is free and transport is free.
Because all these operations, we must always say to ourselves: a society is made up of different generations. See, the Paris metro is a marvel. Finally, when you are 85 years old, the Paris metro, there is no elevator, even before the age of 85, if you are disabled. So this city is a city which also has its limits, in terms of capacities, mobility, population differences. These are all questions that must also be kept in mind.
You say we are detoxifying, but how far can we detox? Here, these are one-off operations, but can we imagine that there could be new habits, and that we completely do without these individual transports?
I Allow me to take a personal example. I was elected in Marseille for six years, around fifteen years ago, as a municipal councilor to pedestrianize the city center, the Old Port, because it had been my obsession since I was a teenager. And so there were eight lines of cars between the bars and the boats, and the boats took the docks.
I wanted to do that, I did it, but I left a line of cars, because I really wanted to be able to bring your old mother to the restaurant, because not everyone has the same age, and I am very sensitive to the disabled, the elderly, mothers with strollers, etc., so, from eight lines, we went to one.
Maybe one day there won’t be any more, but for me, it was a reflection on precisely, a territory must be shared between everyone. The Port works very well and as a result, there are lots of people, there are pedestrians, we have made a magnificent shade house. But this is to tell you, you have to make compromises. A society is about tolerance and compromise. At the moment, we are waging a battle against the car in the city. But let’s keep this spirit of compromise, let’s keep this spirit of tolerance, we are not all young and dynamic.
Could it also be a great showcase when we host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Paris 2024 Games next year?
But of course: the Olympic Games are a booster for the transformation of the city. When a city accepts it, that’s also why. It is also for its glory, its fame, the power of the elected, etc., but it is also because it leads to innovation. Look at what is being done in Seine-Saint-Denis, there are very important constructions which will remain, what is being done on the Seine, going towards swimmable water, we will see… But anyway, basically, we did an absolutely tremendous job. And it’s the same in the city: calming the city.
There is also the noise of the city, which must never be forgotten, which is extremely important. Because there is indeed the issue of noise which is central in the city, the car is also noise, it is also pollution. So come back to a more peaceful city. And I think the Olympic Games will help us do that. Of course there is a display side to the Olympics, Paris is fighting, Paris is leading the fight against air pollution and Paris is inviting you to the Olympics, and it’s good political communication.