THE French capital gave birth to the flâneur, that casual wanderer of the modern town whose “immense joy” is to stroll the streets “amid the ebb and flow of movement”, in the words of Baudelaire. Paris remains a delight on foot, with its narrow cobbled alleys and pedestrian bridges across the Seine. But most of the ebb and flow these days comes from traffic roaring along the main boulevards. Now, in an effort to awaken its inhabitants’ inner flâneurs, Paris is to hold its first car-free day, on September 27th.
Inspired by similar events elsewhere, notably in Brussels, a group of eco-citizens came up with the idea last year. They petitioned Anne Hidalgo, the capital’s Socialist mayor, who in turn had to lobby the (nationally controlled) Paris police. The upshot is not the complete car ban that the group originally sought. The car-free zone will cover only the capital’s central neighbourhoods. It will take place on a Sunday. And taxis, buses and residents’ cars will still be allowed on the streets, albeit at crawling pace.
Yet the event may well capture the imagination of Parisians, who the mayor hopes will picnic on the cobblestones and reclaim the streets. The unfamiliar sounds of a car-free day will doubtless underscore how much noise and grime a modern city tolerates. Paris does not suffer from Beijing-style levels of smog. But there are constant worries about toxic fine-particle pollution, particularly from France’s large number of diesel engines. Background levels of fine particles were 50% above target limits in 2014, and up to three times those thresholds by roadsides, according to Paris’s air-quality watchdog. In March, when pollution levels briefly exceeded those in Beijing, the city banned diesel vehicles and half of all cars on alternate days.
The car-free day is not the first step Paris has taken to discourage noxious emissions. The French capital implemented Vélib, the city’s bike-sharing service, long before London copied it; there is now a similar scheme for electric cars. One road along the Seine has been been partially closed, leaving it free for walkers, cyclists and joggers. There is no toll to enter the city, but the Paris region this month introduced a reduced-rate pass on public transport to encourage suburb-dwellers to take the train. Some angry Parisian car-owners accuse Ms Hidalgo of an obsessive anti-car mania, prompted by the Socialists’ need for Green party votes at the town hall.
Paris is particularly keen to show off its eco-credentials right now. In December, it will host the world climate-change conference. The French are working hard to try to secure a binding global deal on curbing carbon emissions. They have 80 diplomats working on the negotiations and the event, and two ministers lobbying for a deal. It may be time for Paris to take more aggressive measures than a single car-free day. The last thing France wants is to have 40,000 people turn up to try to save the planet and find the city of lights obscured by smog.