Every year Brussels residents and day-trippers celebrate Car-Free Sunday, with its lively agenda of events and activities, plus a commercial boom for local retailers. Children, pedestrians and cyclists safely reclaim the streets and the entire capital becomes a city-wide street party. While over 3,000 towns and cities participate in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK every year, Brussels Capital Region’s city-wide car-free day is the largest annual car-free celebration in Europe!
Opening the streets to pedestrians and cyclists requires time, funding, dedicated management and political support. To help other municipalities organise or expand their own car-free day, Stefan Vandenhende, (Brussels Capital Region, Cabinet of the Minister of Mobility, Road Safety and Public Works), shares invaluable insights into the workings, challenges and successes of this extremely popular Brussels tradition.
How to expand your car-free day
Even though Brussels’ Car-Free Sunday looks and feels like an extended street party, there are some rules – and exceptions – to ensure a smooth flow on the day: Public transport continues to circulate (and is free for all), while emergency services, people with disabilities and taxis are among the exceptions allowed to use cars; individuals can also request exceptions (e.g. people who need to move house), and any non-authorised use of motorised vehicles is prohibited. Enforcing this, and enabling the transformation of public space across the 162 km² region, means not only organising road closures and managing exception requests, but also clearly communicating these rules and transformations to the public.
“You start by defining an area, a bigger but coherent area can sometimes be easier. Communicate well in advance on the date, rules and exceptions. And then, most of all, make sure you facilitate both bottom-up as well as top-down events of all sizes and shapes, a car-free day should be about having fun,” shares Vandenhende.
Of course, regular car users need to plan alternative means of moving around, cafe owners need to be ready for big business, and pedestrians, cyclists and roller-bladers need to plan their social events and ensure they make the most of the shared public space.
Reaping the rewards
A car-free day of this magnitude also requires financial investment and political backing. The Brussels Capital Region spends a significant amount on promoting and managing the event. However, its continued popularity, impact reducing air and noise pollution, and ability to show an alternative daily reality, make the investment worth it, as Vandenhende points out:
“For many of us in Brussels, it’s our favourite day of the year. It’s a day without worries, to meet your friends and neighbours in the street, to suddenly see kids cycle and play everywhere. A whole new city appears and it’s the most lively and pleasant chaos you cannot experience any other day of the year.”
Despite challenges originally raised by car lobbyists and those concerned about potential negative economic consequences arising from the Car-Free Sunday, Vandenhende and the organising team highlight that local businesses thrive on the day. In addition, drastically improved rates of air quality are achieved. The relaxed atmosphere and joy experienced by those present, and the ever-increasing number of participants from all around the country, clearly show that Car-Free Sunday is here to stay. In the latest opinion survey, carried out in 2018, more than 90% of inhabitants showed support for Car-Free Sunday. In a citizens' panel carried out by Brussels Mobility in 2018, the top three requests for improved mobility in Brussels included more and better-quality cycle paths, a larger cycling network connecting the suburbs with the city, and a Car-Free Sunday once per month!
Starting small is better than not at all
While a city-wide car-free day is the ultimate goal, it is clear that not all cities can afford to organise one on a similar scale. Vandenhende emphasises that Brussels also started small; car-free neighbourhoods were tested already in the year 2000 and quickly developed into the city-wide Car-Free Sunday people know and love today. While a coherent, larger area can also bring many economies of scale and may be easier to communicate, it is better to start small rather than not at all.
Check out the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 10 essential steps to organising any car-free day, especially one that extends across an entire town or city.