Paris has been ranked the most child-friendly city in Europe for urban mobility, including safe cycling, overtaking cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen, long viewed as leaders in bike-friendly transport.
The study, published on Wednesday by the NGO Clean Cities, compared 36 European cities.
Paris came out on top with a score of 79 percent. Amsterdam was second with 63 percent, Oslo placed ninth with 48 percent and Copenhagen ranked 11th with 45 percent.
The ranking was based on three criteria: the percentage of school streets that are pedestrianised, the share of roads where the speed limit is 30km/h or less, and the proportion of protected cycle lanes.
Paris ranked third for pedestrianised school streets, at 25 percent – just behind London and Milan.
But it topped the other two categories, with 89 percent of its roads limited to 30km/h and 48 percent of its cycle lanes protected – the highest rate, alongside Helsinki.
'Rapid change is possible'
“This shows that significant change is possible in a relatively short time,” said the authors of the report.
They praised “the efforts of Mayor Anne Hidalgo to drive the city’s transition over the last decade”. Hidalgo’s policies to reduce car traffic in Paris since 2014 have been controversial, drawing criticism from the right.
Lyon placed fifth with 52.9 percent. It scored well on speed limits – 84 percent of roads are capped at 30 km/h – but only 15 percent of schools are on pedestrianised streets and just 14 percent of cycle lanes are protected.
Marseille came in 31st out of 36 cities. Only 1 percent of its streets have a 30 km/h limit, 2 percent of schools are on pedestrianised roads, and 8 percent of its bike lanes are protected. Its total score was just 16 percent.
Paris pushes vision of '100-percent bikeable' city
Broader implications
Clean Cities says cities that are more accessible for children tend to be more inclusive overall.
Jodie Soret, who works on health and social equality with the United Nations' children's fund Unicef, told French newspaper Libération there is “a virtuous circle between implementing children's rights and achieving sustainable development goals”.
Clean Cities also points to the impact of air pollution, which it says causes 1,200 deaths a year among children and teenagers in Europe.
Air pollution in Paris region 'cut in half' over the past 20 years
Children’s independence has dropped sharply over the past decades.
In 1971, 86 percent of children in the UK and 91 percent in Germany walked home from school alone. By 2010, that had fallen to 25 percent and 76 percent respectively.
“Children are less free to move around the city and less active than before, particularly girls,” said Barbara Stoll, one of the directors of Clean Cities.
“But our ranking shows that parents, teachers and municipal administrations can make considerable and rapid progress.”
