Parisians vote to green 500 streets in ambitious climate initiative

Parisians have approved an ambitious plan to block 500 streets to road traffic and replace miles of asphalt with plants and trees, signaling a willingness to support climate policies even if they might have a disruptive impact on daily life.

The nonbinding proposal by Mayor Anne Hidalgo passed with nearly 66 percent of the vote, according to returns published Monday, after residents age 16 or over headed to the polls Sunday.

While the proposal’s supporters say the program will make the city more livable and help combat climate change, critics say the changes will make the city more difficult to navigate and further fuel the divide between Parisians and those who live in the suburbs.

“With this vote, Parisians have the choice of whether or not to accelerate Paris’s adaptation to climate change, the fight against pollution and the improvement of the living environment within 300 meters of their homes,” Hidalgo said in an Instagram post.

It could also be a last chance for Hidalgo, who has been mayor of Paris since 2014 and said she will not seek re-election next year, to advance major plans for the city. That’s particularly true of her vision for a “15-minute city,” in which residents can reach essential resources by foot, bicycle or public transport within a quarter of an hour. These plans have grown in popularity worldwide - and especially in Europe - as more cities struggle with rising temperatures and air pollution tied to climate change.

Voters green-lit, in principle, the addition of five to eight new green and pedestrianised streets in each neighbourhood within Paris’s 20 districts.

It’s the third vote on the city’s transportation policies organized by Hidalgo, after Parisians voted in 2023 to ban e-scooters for hire and last year to impose a new fee on SUVs and other particularly polluting vehicles.

The city plans to identify which streets should be eligible and carry out public consultations and feasibility studies, in work that could last up to three years.

This has led critics to argue that the city is asking residents to vote on a plan that could majorly affect their neighborhoods without providing specifics as to what, exactly, they are voting for.

“Paris is holding a vote ‘for or against the greening of 500 streets.’ Okay, but how can we decide without any background information?” asked Guillaume Rozier, who advises French President Emmanuel Macron on digital issues, in a post on X. Rozier added that the city had not provided enough information on the projected costs, impact on mobility and type of vegetation to be installed.

Critics also argue that the vote encourages a focus on symbolic numbers over meaningful progress toward green goals: For example, they say freshly planted trees do not provide the same environmental benefits as older trees, whose foliage has fully developed, and say there should be more of a focus on protecting established trees.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post on Sunday.

During her tenure, Hidalgo has radically altered the flow of traffic within Paris in an effort to reduce air pollution and fortify the city against climate change, including by building more than 340 miles of new bicycle lanes and removing tens of thousands of outdoor parking spots - resulting in a more than 40 percent decrease in car traffic since 2011, according to city data.

Hidalgo’s moves have earned her acclaim overseas, but they have been more controversial at home, with critics accusing her of deepening disparities between Parisians living inside the city within easy access of public transportation and those living in suburbs or further out who must drive in and out of the city for work.

Her political support has receded in the city and nationally: When she ran for president in 2022, she got only 1.75 percent of the vote - the lowest score in the history of the Socialist Party - and only a little over 2 percent of the votes in Paris.

Hidalgo’s supporters want to avoid making Sunday’s vote about her legacy and instead have framed it as a vote for the future of the city. In an interview with local media Friday, Anouch Toranian, Hidalgo’s deputy for community life, said it was a chance for Parisians to express support for “calmer streets, with fewer cars on pedestrianised streets, and therefore more calm, less noise nuisance and less pollution.”