Car-Free Streets
Montreal’s Car-Free Street Network Gets Bigger All the Time
Every year, Montreal transforms more of its streets into public spaces where people can rub shoulders with their neighbors without worrying about car traffic. Block by block, experiment by experiment, the city's pedestrian streets are growing.
January 23, 2017
Will Barcelona’s “Superblocks” Proposal Work Well for Transit?
Barcelona is making waves with plans to test a concept it's calling "superblocks." The idea is to create nine-block squares of "citizen spaces" -- about 400 meters on each side -- where cars would be limited. Unlike the widely derided superblocks of the urban renewal era, Barcelona's would be explicitly designed to preserve the street grid for walking and biking -- only motor vehicle through traffic would be discouraged.
May 20, 2016
Paris Mayor Pledges Bold Steps to Reduce Traffic in City Center
After a decade of repurposing street space from cars to people, buses, and bikes, Paris isn't done yet. The world's most-visited city is now preparing to remove even more traffic from the streets in the name of walkability and clean air.
December 8, 2014
Madrid Moves Toward a Car-Free Center City
Beginning in January, Madrid will enact new policies to keep cars out of almost 500 acres in the core of the city, part of a long-term plan to entirely pedestrianize the center city.
September 29, 2014
Buenos Aires: Building a People-Friendly City
Buenos Aires is fast becoming one of the most admired cities in the world when it comes to reinventing streets and transportation.
July 30, 2014
“Closing” Lombard Street: The Language of Taking Cars For Granted
A peculiar thing tends to happen when we talk about streets and transportation: We don't talk about cars. Seriously -- listen to conversations, read news headlines, and you'll start to notice that even when cars are the main subject, people will, consciously or unconsciously, fail to explicitly mention them.
May 28, 2014
The Rise of Open Streets
Streetfilms has been documenting the open streets movement for over seven years, beginning with our landmark film in 2007 on Bogota's Ciclovia, currently the most viewed Streetfilm of all time.
January 8, 2014
How Children Demanding Play Streets Changed Amsterdam
The above video, excerpted from a Dutch television documentary series, shows how children helped catalyze the fight for safe streets in Amsterdam more than a generation ago.
December 13, 2013
The Crossroads of the World Goes Car-Free
I've lived in New York City for just about twenty years now but yesterday was my first trip to Times Square.
May 26, 2009