The city of Pontevedra has pushed out most of the cars from its centre (Image: GETTY-STOCK)
Most cities across Europe are plagued by road and car-related issues, which at times are ndeadly.
Among them, however, there isn’t the Spanish city of Pontevedra, which over the past two decades has been responsible for only a handful of the recorded deaths caused by car accidents in the whole of the country.
The radical changes to town planning that made possible this welcomed difference with the rest of the continent began in 1999, when leaders in the Galician city started planning it around people rather than vehicles.
For the past two decades, the local government has slashed the number of cars allowed to circulate in Pontevedra, which counts more than 82,000 residents, to the bare minimum necessary.
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And the efforts appear to be greatly appreciated by both locals and tourists, who hail the quality of air and life that resulted from the car-free revolution.
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The cars that need to cross the city centre are very few, the mayor of Pontevedra says (Image: GETTY-STOCK)
Begoña Oliveira, who works at real estate agency Selecta Inmobiliaria in the heart of the Pontevedra city centre, clearly depicted how the positives heavily outweigh the negative aspects of living in a car-free city.
She told Express.co.uk: “As far as housing is concerned, people really value buying in the car-free city. Noise and pollution – of dust, gases from cars and so on – have been eliminated.
“People value that you can get out of the house and walk serenely without cars, especially families with children and people who are already retired.
“The only inconvenience is accessing the garages with cars, since there are always people on the street, but it is a lesser evil.”
The benefit of living in a city that pushed out cars in favour of people is attracting people from outside the community, the real estate agent added.
She said: “Many people from outside the community and the country are moving to Pontevedra and choosing to buy properties here precisely because of its pedestrian centre and for having easy access to stores as if it were a large open-air shopping centre.”
Pontevedra is a city in the Galicia region (Image: GETTY-STOCK)
A former resident, who lived in Pontevedra for 18 months, told the Express he never heard of anybody complaining about the lack of cars in the old town, likely because the city is small enough it is possible to walk everywhere.
Indeed, another resident confirmed all locals may need can be found within walking distance.
Elena Herroro, who moved from Madrid to Pontevedra in search of an easy life, previously told EuroNews: “Everything here is pretty close. I have the health centre almost behind my house, the hospital is also close by, I have several supermarkets right under my apartment. So nothing essential is far away.”
Pontevedra, located in north-west Spain on the edge of the estuary at the mouth of the Lerez River, boasts a rich heritage and it’s a key stopover on the Portuguese Way path of the Way of St James’s pilgrimage.
Given its prime location, in the late 1990s locals in Pontevedra had to come with an average of 80,000 cars driving through the city centre every day.
Some 80,000 people live in Pontevedra (Image: GETTY-STOCK)
The transformation of Pontevedra has been led by mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores, who in 1999 won his post by promising to reclaim the streets.
He has since worked to make his pledge a reality and has seen the Pontevedra model acknowledged around the world and awarded over the decades – with quality of life, safety and accessibility among the categories the city has been recognised for.
Mayor Fernández Lores, however, stressed his city isn’t entirely without cars. Rather, the model keeps the vehicles circulating in the city at the bare minimum.
He told Express.co.uk: “A city with no cars at all would face serious issues – but this isn’t the case of Pontevedra, which has cars but keep them at the lowest-possible number.”
He continued: “The cars necessary for the proper functioning of the city are few, very few. In certain areas of the city they do not reach 10 per cent of those that circulated before the measure and in no area of the city do they reach 50 per cent of those that circulated before.”
The trasformation of Pontevedra began in 1999 (Image: GETTY-STOCK)
Among the cars deemed unnecessary were those who would cross Pontevedra simply to “cut through” to reach other destinations, the mayor said, as well as those who were simply getting closer to the city to look for parking spaces.
In the few areas of the city centre where cars are allowed, including for drop-offs or pickups, the speed limit is between 30km/h to 10km/h.
Drivers, Mr Fernández Lores said, have “to behave” and respect the mantras of Pontevedra – “the city is for the people” and pedestrians “come first”.
The work done by the local government to free Pontevedra from cars hasn’t been simply a ban on polluting vehicles, as the mayor and his team have overhauled the planning of the historic old town, eliminating all on-street parking spaces and making it a mostly pedestrian-only area.
Commuters travelling daily into the city are now directed to parking lots located in the periphery of Pontevedra.
As also noted by Ms Oliveira, among the major perks of living in a city largely free of cars outlined by the mayor is a drop in noise, visual and air pollution.
Naming other benefits he has noticed over the years, he said: “A huge reduction in road accidents, having counted zero deaths and very few injuries for many years.
“Children walk to schools, many of them alone. The feeling of security is very high. The city has a centripetal effect, increasing the number of people living in the city and decreasing suburbanisation.”
Despite the “great deal of activity in public spaces” and “large influx of people” in Pontevedra, the city functions “well below the limits of saturation”, which the mayor said makes it easier to “cope with exceptional circumstances such as accidents, torrential rains, sporting events that cut off streets or festivals and other events”.
The mayor acknowledged people with little mobility or disability would face issues in a city where cars were banned.
However, he explained, Pontevedra is built around the needs of all citizens, including those with disabilities and wheelchair users, and provides for them.
He said: “While redesigning public spaces, a must has been accessibility for all people regardless of their physical condition, and has been implemented in most of the city.”