If you translate the phrase...it comes to be 'traffic calming'.
The way I'd describe this in Germany.....probably it started around twenty years ago as an experiment....to make streets people-friendly or bike-friendly.
So you went through several variations, like lessening speed of cars (down to 20 kph, and in some cases....down to 7 kph). Some streets became car-forbidden.
The consequence? If you walk around Frankfurt where they pushed this to the max.....the shopping district is now less 'dense'....meaning fewer people....fewer customers....lesser profit.
Pedestrians happier? I might suggest that. Bicyclists have probably doubled and tripled over the past decade.
There are probably forty German cities who've gone this way. For me, the local city of Mainz has started the trend.
Hurting the shopping districts? There's no doubt that it changed habits, and probably will trigger a number of shops to move beyond the interior of the cities.
No comments:
Post a Comment