Comment 113202

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted July 30, 2015 at 16:39:00 in reply to Comment 113201

And, from the recent Guardian article on how Groningen designed the template for a cycle/pedestrian priority city when they radically changed their downtown overnight in 1977:

“Many people who lived in the old neighbourhoods were enthusiastic about our ideas. They saw we were changing things on a great scale. But there was also fierce opposition, especially from businessmen and shopkeepers who were convinced it would mean the end of their business if cars could no longer cross the centre. We tried to explain that we wanted to create a pleasant urban environment that eventually would attract more people to the centre and to their shops. But they were convinced they would go bankrupt if customers would not be able reach their shop by car,” says Van den Berg. “In the end, it turned out they were wrong.”

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/j...

The Netherlands has not always been the cycle friendly country they are now: they made a deliberate choice to change less than 40 years ago.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2015-07-30 16:40:15

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