Berlin – The fact that motorists no longer have a lobby in the district office of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg should have gotten around by now. In the self-proclaimed model district of the mobility turnaround, motorized private transport is said to lose a great deal of space. Bad luck for everyone who depends on their car – or at least think they are.
Fewer parking spaces, fewer lanes, in some cases even bans on driving through: this will make car owners frown. Asphalt is to be broken up, pavement unsealed so that there is more space for greenery and the city does not heat up so much in summer. Particularly critical observers could also see this as the destruction of infrastructure.
There were already traffic jams and a shortage of parking spaces before the Greens
For all those who think that mobility does not have to change despite global warming and climate stress, this is of course strong stuff. Understandably so: Anyone who has to look for a parking space longer after work will see this type of politics as a complication for their very personal living conditions.
But let’s be honest: Parking spaces were already rare and traffic jams were endemic before green auto-skeptics took over. Perhaps it is time to accept that densely built-up central districts cannot meet all the wishes of motorists and that non-motorists should also feel comfortable.
In view of the great importance that car traffic still has with allegedly 50,000 parking spaces in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg alone, the district projects look like pinpricks. The situation for cyclists and pedestrians is improving here and there, but by and large they still have a hard time. Politicians and planners in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg try harder than in other parts of Berlin. But there is still a long way to go to tame mobility everywhere.