As part of her campaign to be re-elected as Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo pledged to carve out more space on the streets of her adopted city for pedestrians and cyclists. She said she would do this, in large part, by removing car parking spaces.

On January 29, Hidalgo revealed at an election hustings (the first round of voting took place in March) that the space required to make Paris more people friendly would come at the expense of motoring. She told electors she would remove the great majority of the on-street car parking spaces in Paris. And despite car parking being the supposed “third rail” of urban politics—touch it at your peril—she comfortably won a second term.

Hidalgo said in the run-up to the election that she planned to remove 60,000 of the 140,000 surface parking spaces in Paris.

According to French newspaper Le Parisien an additional 10,000 spaces will be now removed by the end of her four year term in office, making 70,000 to be removed in total.

(When also including commercial underground and multi-storey car parks there are 621,600 parking spaces in Paris.)

FRANCE-POLITICS-ENVIRONMENT-CYCLING Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP) AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Recommended For You

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Hidalgo wants to carry out what she calls an “ecological transformation of the city,” aiming to clean the city’s air and improve the “daily life of Parisians.”

Based on the “segmented city” ideas suggested by Carlos Moreno, a “smart city” professor at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, the “city of fifteen minutes” includes making key thoroughfares in Paris inaccessible to motor vehicles; turning currently traffic-choked intersections into pedestrian plazas; creating “children streets” next to schools; and removing amenities for motorists.

Green spaces, vegetable plots, and playgrounds and more will take the place of car parking.

FRANCE-TRANSPORT-SOCIAL-STRIKE Cyclists ride along the Seine river in Paris. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP) (Photo by ... [+] AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Some of what Hidalgo calls the “new organization of streets” will be permanent; other elements—such as the child-friendly school streets—would operate during the start and end of school days.

The Ville Du Quart D’Heure concept is based on Moreno’s idea of “chrono-urbanism,” or having amenities, jobs, and shopping close to home. This means “changing our relationship with time, essentially time relating to mobility,” says Moreno.

FRANCE-POLITICS-PRIMARY-VOTE-EELV Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV) green party member David Belliard speaks after winning the primary ... [+] AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Rather than building out-of-town shopping malls, the 15-minute city would feature “hyper proximity,” with accessibility to “essential living needs” always close at hand, and certainly within short walking or cycling distances, so less need for owning or driving cars.

Removing car parking spaces will, it is hoped, encourage take-up of other healthier, less polluting and space-efficient forms of transport, including cycling.

The removal plan was confirmed on October 20 by David Belliard, the deputy mayor of transport for Paris. He said that motorists account for 13% of all trips in Paris, yet are lavished with 50% of the city.

Parisians will be invited to have a say what they will do with the former parking spaces, many of them on the roads in front of their homes.

Use of the remaining parking spaces will be “reserved for professionals who need their cars to get around,” said Belliard, a Green politician.

“Only three in ten Parisians still own a car today,” added Belliard, “and use it mainly on weekends. The idea is to allow motorists to park their cars underground; underground spaces are five times more numerous than those above ground.”

Rachida Dati, Mayor of Paris’ 7th arrondissement, said removing the parking places would lead to “paralysis.” Philippe Goujon, mayor of the 15th arrondissement added: “Paris is the center of a metropolis of 10 million and the economic heart of this region: we cannot make it a city where we will only ride e-scooters or bicycles.”

Hidalgo has been Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office.