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How to (Quickly) Build a Cycling City - Paris

Provided by: Not Just Bikes |Published on: April 27, 2021

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Synopsis

This video from Not Just Bikes shows how a campaign promise to eliminate 70,000 parking spaces in Paris prompted the mayor to transform the city's bicycle infrastructure.
Students will learn that Paris purposefully changed its infrastructure very rapidly, which has had a positive effect on the city's traffic and air pollution problems.

Subjects: Geography, Engineering

Authors: Not Just Bikes

Region: Europe

Languages: English

Positives

The video contains labeled chapters or segments that make it easy to jump to a specific part of the video.
The video does a good job of presenting a balanced view of how Paris' fast transformation into a cycling city has been successful and how the city still has room for improvement.

Prerequisites

This video begins with an advertisement.
The video mentions some of Paris's more famous roads and streets, but students who aren't familiar with the city might need some background information to understand the size and scale of Paris.
The video does not directly address the environmental effects of reducing motor vehicles in Paris.

Differentiation & Implementation

Social studies and civics classes can research how Mayor Anne Hidalgo's campaign promises led to her election and the implementation of traffic reforms within the city.
Science classes can use this SubjectToClimate lesson plan to help students understand the environmental impact of different modes of transportation.
Design classes can watch this other Not Just Bikes video about urban planning in Amsterdam and use it to compare and contrast the ways that Paris and Amsterdam are building better cycling infrastructure.
Other resources on this topic include this lesson on green transportation and this Vox video on congestion pricing in high-traffic zones.

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