Oslo, Norway, will ban cars from its city center by 2019, becoming the first European capital to adopt a
permanent prohibition on cars in its downtown area. The newly elected city council announced that the city would also build at least 60 kilometers (37 miles) of new bike lanes by 2019 and provide a “massive boost” of investment in public transportation. Business owners in central Oslo fear that the car ban will reduce revenues, but leaders of the new council said the ban could even increase visitors to downtown and that the city would take steps to reduce negative impacts, including allowing vehicles to transport goods to stores and conducting trial runs of the ban to work out problems. Oslo, with 600,000 inhabitants and almost 350,000 cars, would be the first major European city with a permanent central car ban.
Oslo, Norway, to Ban Cars in Its City Center By 2019
More From E360
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining
-
OPINION
Despite Official Vote, the Evidence of the Anthropocene Is Clear
-
INTERVIEW
At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya
-
Oceans
Octopuses Are Highly Intelligent. Should They Be Farmed for Food?
-
Climate
Nations Are Undercounting Emissions, Putting UN Goals at Risk