Pristina Progress Without Cars: What's life like in the city that doesn't allow cars a day of the year?

The article was published on September 22, 2018, before Rama's arrival in local power in Pristina. We're re-publishing it because the mayor's promises were to make it a city where cars would be as priority as they are now.

Today is car-free day in Pristina, a town that has major problems with the narrowness of public spaces, the busy landing of sidewalks and air pollution, and noise from cars. This is an article in The Guardian, which comes translated from Periscope to briefly show what life is like in a small Spanish city without cars.

At Pontevedra, the usual car scratch has been replaced by bird tweets and by human words

People don't scream at Pontevedra or shout less. With the most essential part of the banned traffic, there are no sound engines, and no sound horns, writes The Guardian, translates Periscope.

What you hear on the street is the sound of birds, the sound of tea spoons, and the voices of people. “Listen,” says the mayor, opening his office window. From the streets below comes the sound of human voices. Before I became chairman, 14,000 cars passed this street every day. More cars went by than there are people living here. ”

Miguel Anxo Fernandez Lores has been mayor of the Galician city for 20 years. His philosophy is simple: having a car does not give you the right to usurp a public space.

The Benefs of such a thing are untold. On the same road that 30 people died from traffic accidents between 96 and 2006, only three died from the same cause in the next decade. The carbon dioxide emissions are 70 percent lower.

Raquel Garcia, a citizen, says: “I lived in Madrid and in many other countries, but here is paradise. Even when it rains, you can walk wherever you want. And the same complainers are the ones who survived the crisis. This is a great place to have children.” /Periscopi