Roads in the center of Stockholm, as well as in the older sections of town and on certain bridges, will go car-free on September 19. This isn't such a huge change, as the city has a lot of green efforts in place. Swedes are already driving less and walking or taking public transportation more, plus Stockholm is one of the cleanest cities in Europe. Its buses run 24-hours a day, almost entirely on renewable energy. The country has controls on pollution as well and was the European Green Capitol in 2010. "By closing the streets to cars for one day we can give an idea of how our beautiful city looks with less car traffic. We hope that the citizens of Stockholm will be inspired to choose alternative modes of transport instead of the car," the Head of Stockholm's traffic division, Daniel Helldén, told The Local.
Stockholm went to the extreme of banishing all traffic for European Mobility Week, a project to encourage more sustainable cities in Europe. The capitols of Lisbon, Portugal and Budapest, Hungary as well as 200 other European cities will also ban cars from certain areas for the day.
