“Streets for children, streets for all”
A collective project to share and design public space in La Rochelle
Community energyThis webinar is organised in the framework of the CitiZen project and the Living Streets project -Make the city of tomorrow visible today !
La Rochelle (75,000 inhabitants) is a touristic city on the French Atlantic coast that aims to become a slow town, meaning that 80% of the streets will be limited to a speed of 30 km/h in the coming years. The Living Streets offer the opportunity to experiment, to test life without cars and imagine a different use of public space. With this initiative, La Rochelle is using bicycles as a central tool, as it is not only seen as a transport mean, but is also used as a voluntary behaviour change factor.
The project Living streets has two targets in La Rochelle:
- Increase home to school travels by foot and by bike : The Children’s Street
- Develop the attractiveness of commercial areas in the city centre : evolving from a “no cars-no business” approach to a “customers are coming by bike-it’s nice and brings more quality of life and customers to our shops” approach
Birgitta Morin, Sustainable Mobility and cycling manager from the city of La Rochelle (France)
