Parisians vote to turn another 500 streets into pedestrian zones

(Patria) - Parisians voted on Sunday in a referendum to turn another 500 city streets into pedestrian zones, giving new momentum to the French capital's city hall efforts to limit car use and improve air quality, Reuters reported.

About 65.96 percent of Parisians voted in favour of the measure, while 34.04 percent were against, official results showed. Only 4.06 percent of voters turned out for the consultation organised by the municipality.

This was the third such referendum in Paris in as many years, following a 2023 vote approving a ban on e-scooters, and last year's decision to triple parking fees for large SUVs.

The referendum will eliminate another 10,000 parking spaces in Paris, adding to the 10,000 removed in 2020. The city's two million residents will be consulted on which streets will become pedestrianised.

Data from the Paris city hall shows that car traffic in the city has more than halved since the Socialists took power in the capital at the turn of the century.

An additional 500 streets to be pedestrianised will bring the total number of these so-called "green lungs" to nearly 700, just over one-tenth of the streets in the French capital.

Despite recent changes, Paris lags behind other European capitals in terms of green infrastructure, which includes private gardens, parks, tree-lined streets, water bodies and wetlands, having only 26 percent of its urban area covered by such features compared to the European metropolitan average of 41 percent, according to the European Environment Agency.