The Quiet Power of Car-Free Neighborhoods
Restricting or banning vehicles in congested city centers pays off with cleaner air and safer streets. We need to talk more about the other big benefit — less noise.
Laying on the horn doesn’t help anyone.
Photographer: Debrocke/ClassicStock/Archive Photos via Getty Images
One morning on a recent work trip to the German city of Leipzig, I found myself with time to kill, so I left my hotel with no plan beyond meandering through the city center, which dates to medieval times. I turned left or right whenever an intriguing storefront, building or park caught my eye.
There turned out to be plenty to see, including the St. Thomas Church, where Johann Sebastian Bach lies buried, as well as a monument commemorating Leipzig’s role in the peaceful collapse of East Germany in 1989. In one square, a construction crew was setting up for a wine festival; nearby, a bagpipe-playing busker in a kilt drew a crowd of bemused onlookers.