Utrecht Pedestrian Zone (Netherlands)

The Utrecht pedestrian zone is a large area of car free streets in the historic city center. First in 1965 and from November 1968 on a larger scale, the narrow streets were closed to car traffic on the busiest shopping days. This experiment made the streets car free on Wednesdays and Saturdays which were -and still are- important market days. There was a lot of opposition from shop owners but the city went through with the plans for a permanent car ban. From 1971 the streets were permanently car free and they were redesigned. Side walks were removed and the streets were transformed to streets for pedestrians only. All opposition has since vanished. The area has been car free for 40 years now. The area is livable and a commercial success. It is one of the most attractive inner city shopping areas of the country. Best reached by public transport and bicycle. Deliveries to shops take place in the early hours of the day.

When private car ownership increased dramatically from the 1950s in the Netherlands, it was soon clear that the historic city centers could not handle that much traffic. Streets could not be widened without demolishing many historic buildings. It took about 20 years before the public and the cities knew that it could not go on like this. From the early 1970s many cities in the Netherlands created car free zones in the city centers. From that same time the use of the bicycle was on the increase again too.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Utrecht
• pedestrian
• zone
• area
• livable
• cities
• car
• free
• ban
• streets
• bicycle
• public
• transport
• Netherlands
• Holland
• shopping
• historic
• city
• center

[CaptainChaos]

@wimpie25 Wat is er in vredesnaam "gezellig" aan autoverkeer? Lekker, die auto's langs je teras met hun lawaai en hun uitlaatgassen die ze in je gezicht blazen...

[earlemartin]

Very nicely done.

[wimpie25]

Van alle die "gezellige" met rode bakstenen betegelde straatjes in sommige Nederlandse steden krij ik het soms toch ook op mijn heupen. Een beetje autoverkeer voor de gezelligheid is toch ook welkom vind ik. En ik zie ook verschillene historische panden die er hebben moeten aan geloven...

Verder kan je veel situaties vanuit de jaren 60 en 70 die jij liet zien, nog vergelijken met de situatie in de meeste Belgische steden nu.

[kokerrok01]

Het is wel duidelijk dat het er lang niet altijd op vooruitgegaan is in vergelijking met vroeger....