CityLab Weekly

What Happened When Paris Ousted Cars

Also today: New love for London’s “ugliest” building, and the AI boom comes to NYC real estate.

Cyclists on the Boulevard Sebastopol in Paris in March 2026. The bike counter on this Boulevard counted over 3 million bikes within the last year.Photographer: Cyril Marcilhacy / item/Bloomberg

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By Linda Poon

March 20, 2026 at 5:24 PM UTC

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With Paris’ mayoral election on Sunday, outgoing Mayor Anne Hidalgo is leaving behind a very different city than the one she stepped into as leader in 2014. Paris has since become greener, quieter and cleaner after a spate of policies aimed at making the city more walkable and bikeable — and less welcoming to polluting vehicles.