Priority for bikes and pedestrians in the city center: When the city goes green. The case of Ljubljana
Elena lives in the suburbs of a European capital. To get to the city center, she puts her car in a large underground parking lot located on the outskirts of the city and continues her journey on foot. And for good reason: the city center is a huge pedestrian area of more than 120,000m2! Elena walks around all day without seeing any cars. If she wishes, she can take one of the electric shuttles that takes her wherever she wants for free. At the end of the day, Elena takes place in one of the many emblematic terraces of the city and enjoys the calm of the capital.
No, it's not a dream. This is the city of Ljubljana, in Slovenia! Of course, the city has not always been closed to cars. Before 2007, the city center did not differ much from other European capitals: traffic jams, pollution, noise. Everything was there. However, the City has decided to completely transform its infrastructure and its functioning.
Ljubljana : City center
In partnership with the City of Ljubljana, Qucit looks back on this incredible pedestrianization project in the Slovenian capital.
Project deployment
In 2007, a year after his election, the mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Jankovic, introduced the Vision 2025, a project aiming to transform the city center into a pedestrian area in order to preserve and enhance its historical monuments.
The pedestrianization of the city center began with the reconstruction works in the historic heart of the city. To carry out this project, the city authorities gradually closed entire streets of the capital for several months. This progressive approach was necessary, not only for the works but also to facilitate the approval of the population to the project.
Indeed, in 2007, a large part of Ljubljanians were not in favor of the project. Many fears around the drop in turnover of businesses in the city center, an increase in travel time or even the circulation of residents, weakened the project. With intention to minimize citizens’ concerns, the city organized a number of public events, such as discussions, roundtables, workshops, presentations and open-air events.
On those occasions, city representatives and experts presented plans to interested public and stakeholders and thereby engaged them in planning the transformation of the city center. To reassure the inhabitants, Zoran Jankovic went so far as to meet individually with those who resisted the project. This policy of dialogue has allowed greater participation of residents in projects that concern them directly. By giving value to their word, the City was able to finish the project and overcome the opposition encountered.
A new mobility offer in the city center
“When you choose to close the city center to traffic, you have to do some other things : you have to offer people some different types of transportation, especially in the city center. You have to take into account people who are living in this area, the elderly, people with disabilities…”
To enhance the pedestrianization project, Ljubljana has set up a new transport offer.
Ljubljana - before and after city center pedestrianization. Photographer/Copyright: City of Ljubljana
Kavalir
In 2009, a free service of 7 electric shuttles, named Kavalir, was set up to allow those who wish to move more easily in the pedestrian area. Kavalir offers a mobility solution for the elderly people or those with reduced mobility. Their capacity is limited to 5 places, the routes are personalized and depend exclusively on the needs of the passengers.
Micro-mobility
To encourage walking and cycling, the City has renovated and built 13 bridges that allow users to reduce their travel time between the shores. The sidewalks have also been lowered and cycle paths have been laid out.
Bridge over Ljubljanica
In addition to these new infrastructures, in 2011 Ljubljana welcomed a new bike-sharing system, managed by JCDecaux, which makes more than 900,000 trips a year.
Cars
As far as cars are concerned, the inhabitants have at their disposal parking spaces in the streets on the outskirts of the city center as well as underground car parks. The City has also invested in six “Park+Ride” car parks. This service allows residents to leave their car in a car park and use public transport to reach the city center. In addition, in 2016 the City supported the launch of a private car-sharing system, very popular among young people, which should be complemented by other private initiative systems.
The results of Ljubljana city center pedestrianization
In 2022, the pedestrianization of the Slovenian capital celebrates its 15th anniversary. Now the ecological area covers approximately 12 hectares, which is closed to motorized traffic, with the exception of certain streets open between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. for the delivery. Ljubljana remains the only European capital whose city center is completely car-free.
Petkovskovo before and after pedestrianization. Photographer/Copyright: City of Ljubljana
Residents’ satisfaction
The satisfaction of the inhabitants is the first positive point to mention. In 2007 only 40% of the population was in favor of pedestrianization. Ten years later, 97% of citizens were against the reopening of the center to motor traffic. It is important to mention that their quality of life has improved significantly. In addition to the huge pedestrian zone, residents can enjoy the green spaces that cover ¾ of the city's surface.
Indeed, Ljubljana has 542 m2 of green space per Ljubljanian, much more than the 31m2 available to residents of major French cities. For the City, this is a huge success that must be continued. Thus, the municipality recycles 75% of its waste and encourages residents to become more eco-responsible.
Change in mobility habits
The change in the transportation habits is significant. In 2003, 60% of journeys in town were made by car. Ten years later, this figure has dropped to 41%.
Indeed, in 2013, 35% of journeys in Ljubljana were made on foot, 13% by bike and 11% by public transport. Thanks to these impressive figures, Ljubljana is the only European city to have twice received the prestigious European Mobility Week Award given by the European Commission in 2003 and 2013.
Slovenska : before and after transformation. Photographer/Copyright: City of Ljubljana
Economy
The economic benefits are also very positive. The pedestrianization of the city center has attracted more people to shops, cafes and restaurants, which have become more visible and more accessible to passers-by. By securing public space, pedestrians have reclaimed the city.
“Now everyone is delighted with the pedestrianization, because the businesses are doing much better than before. It’s like night and day.”
Environment
Finally, environmental studies carried out in 2015 showed that the concentrations of black carbon emissions in certain places in the pedestrian area had dropped by 70%. At the same time, the noise level has also dropped by 6db. This improvement in the quality of life has also awakened the ecological awareness of the inhabitants becoming increasingly aware of the importance of environmental protection.
Does this remarkable project have any flaws ?
“The only negative side in the pedestrianization of the city center is the confrontation going on between cyclists and pedestrians. There’s a lot of pedestrians, a lot of cyclists in the city center and sometimes, there are some interactions especially with elderly people. But nothing major.”
Pedestrianization of the city center: future projects
The city of Ljubljana still has many projects to realize. The authorities want to reduce the number of car journeys to 33% by 2027 (compared to 41% in 2013). To do so, they plan to build new bike paths to connect the suburbs with the city center and further develop the bike-sharing system.
In order to promote clean mobility the municipality plans to install new charging stations for electric vehicles. The existing fleet of tourist boats will be upgraded by new electric boats dedicated to the daily transport of passengers. The City also wants to invest in hydrogen vehicles that should one day replace the current gas-powered fleet.
Tourist boats in Ljubljana
Lessons learned from the project
Thanks to this environmental policy, Ljubljana received the European Green Capital Award in 2016. This prize crowned a decade of work done by the municipality and the inhabitants of the Balkan Switzerland. More than ten years later, the Vision 2025 project is a real success story that inspires other cities all over Europe. Since then, many analyzes have been carried out to understand the secret of this success. They all show that the success of the project is based on three pillars:
A clever urban policy
Consultation with residents
The progressive closing of the streets.
“In 2008 Ljubljana joined the “Civitas Elan project”, engaging citizens in the field of sustainable mobility. During the four years of the duration of the project, people really started to cooperate. Before that, the city didn’t directly ask the citizens about what they wanted for their city. By integrating them early in the project, they accept it really well.”
Since then, the city of Ljubljana has even set up a portal called “Call for citizens'' which, only in 2021, collected 23,000 “sustainable” suggestions from citizens. It’s what we call successful public communication!
Water activities on Ljubljanica river
Cycling in Ljubljana: a success story
In this small country situated between the sea and the mountains, everything revolves around cycling and Ljubljana is no exception to the rule! With its around 300 km of cycle paths, it is the fourteenth most bike-friendly city in the world based on the Copenhagenize Index ranking!
This year Ljubljana is organizing the Velo-city, one of the key events in the world of cycling. The Qucit team is looking forward to the idea of walking the streets of this bicycle paradise and talking to numerous players in the sector. It will also be an opportunity to present our Qucit Bike software, which helps operators of bike-sharing systems to optimize the management of their fleet. The software consists of two modules:
A dashboard, intended for the manager, allowing to visualize in real time the state of the system and to analyze all the operations carried out.
A mobile application, used by team field, allowing them to optimally carry out rebalancing and daily tasks.
To find out more about our app, visit our Qucit Bike page or meet us in Ljubljana at Velo-City conference from June 14 to 17!
