Hello Mount Pleasant Neighbours!
As everyone returns from summer vacations and gets back to work and school, our focus shifts to green transportation and how we can go about traveling throughout our city without having to use our cars. This leads us to the next stop on our monthly Green Initiatives Committee virtual trip itinerary: Ljubljana, Slovenia, which is one of the only cities in the world with a completely car-free downtown!
It all started in 2012, when Ljubljana adopted their new Sustainable Mobility Plan, which was designed to limit personal motor vehicle traffic and prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport. The development of this plan was driven by the fact that the city had been experiencing significant increases in personal motor vehicle traffic over the past decade and had begun to worry about their safety and the City’s long-term sustainability. The Plan, aimed at creating a safer, cleaner, and more sustainable city, had a key central action of turning the city centre into a pedestrian prioritized zone.
In order to accomplish this, Ljubljana implemented a number of different measures to limit motorised transport and promote sustainable mobility throughout the city. Improvements to both cycling networks and public transportation, including establishing park-and-ride facilities, increasing the size of their bus fleet and building an all-electric train, in addition to developing 220 km of dedicated cycle routes. All of these enabled the switch from a vehicle heavy focused central core to a car-free one.
These changes were not without controversy – many of the city’s residents initially pushed back against these changes, citing that they were fearful of change and the uncertainty it brought. Strong communication and thorough engagement throughout the process served to effectively highlight all of the benefits of this newly adopted plan and, over time, the residents got on board. In the 10+ years since, Ljubljana has achieved some fairly impressive results, with a 620% increase in pedestrian-friendly and green transportation surfaces, enabling a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in their City Centre. Ljubljana has also seen a significant increase in their well-being and liveability scores, as well as a boost to their local economy.
So, what lessons can Calgary take from this? The first is that making changes in different individual areas in a city, such as at a community level, can have a meaningful impact on the way people travel and live throughout the city. Secondly, it shows the importance of not acting in isolation, but rather in a collaborative and holistic way. This can inspire us to work within Mount Pleasant and cooperate with our neighbouring communities to continue to build a safer and more sustainable place to live, work and play.
If you want to get involved and be a part of making Mount Pleasant a greener community, we would love to have you join the committee. Please email [email protected] for more information. if you’d like to get added to our email list, or if you have any questions. You can find us on the Mount Pleasant Community Association page as well.
Have a great month,
The MPCA Green Initiatives Committee
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