In Paris we want to hear birds singing
Why a Car Free Day in Paris
Reduced pollution, a larger perimeter, street happenings.
Permanent transformations of the city
More and more pedestrian and cycle areas
The festive happenings we've organised since 2015
Bird parade
Car-Free Day 2020
In a couple of days and amid reinforced covid sanitary measures, we plan to improvise a "cooing" Bird Parade all dressed up in feathered capes, with our friends and partners:Street Art Rebellion, La Rue Est A Nous, TEP Ménilmontant, Vélorution Paris IdF, Cafézoïde, Respire, Le Pré en Transition, La Voie est Libre, Solar Sound System, the cyclo-logistics cooperative Olvo, Delphine Kohler.
Quartier Libre , transformation of a popular district
Car-Free Day 2019
On September 22nd, many events transformed the streets of the 10th arrondissement into the Street of Siestas, Street of Sports, Street of Music, etc. to materialize our dream of the city of tomorrow with inhabitants and actors performing in the streets. Everything was exceptional! Discover the scene of this day.
Unusual walk with Rob Hopkins from Pré St Gervais to Paris X
Car-Free Day 2019
On a bike, rollerblades or on a giant lighthouse, we crossed Paris with our friends from the Pré St Gervais and discovered the historical monuments from an angle that's usually obstructed because of cars. In spite of heavy rain, a delicious zero-waste soup made for a comforting welcome upon arrival in Quartier libre.
Create a leggy garden
with Claude Ponti
Car-Free Day
We co-initiated this "where everyone wins"' contest with Claude Ponti and publisher L'École des Loisirs. Many children created imaginative garden costumes to walk around during the day without a car, and they won books.
To see the results of the competition click here
Children's Streets
Car-Free Days 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019
We support the streets wher our children can actively develop and that display joyful signage to help share the space with the bikes.
Motorless parades
Car-Free Days 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019
Every year, we organize with our friends from Vélorution and MDB a giant ride on bicycle, scooters, wheelbarrows or in ORNI's (Unidentified Rolling Objects).100% oil-free but brimful of fantasy and fun! Among the stars: cardboard bike-cars, a giant lighthouse, musicians on wheels and a blue dragon.
The Place de la Concorde is ours!
Car-Free Day 2018
On September 16, we invited young and old to take part in a festive, sporty and zero waste picnic held on the Place de la Concorde, with poppies abounding and cars nowhere to be found. Throughout Heritage Days, this was a rare opportunity to enjoy a magnificent square usually overrun by a 14-lane urban highway.
Claude Ponti's chicks invade Paris
Car-Free Day 2017
The children were invited to find an unusual place in the streets to stick chicks (repositionable stickers), and photograph them. Within 4 hours, they sent more than 3000 pictures. This contest was organized with Claude Ponti, publishing house L'école des Loisirs, media libraries, bookshops and several borough town halls.
Village of mobile initiatives with Les Grands Voisins
Car-Free Day 2016
On September 25th, Les Grands Voisins sported the colors of soft mobility. Teaming with the Cartons Pleins bicycle movers, they hosted round-table discussions, bicycle-hiking workshops, a race of anything and everything, a cyclo-restaurant, a musical parade and a big ball...
DIY 0 waste workshops to prepare events in the street
Since 2015
We prepared parades and animations during open workshops using recycled material: construction of cardboard bikes and cars, decoration of bikes and scooters with nothing much. Tutorial to build a "car bike".
Campaigns
We participate in campaigns with international partners.
Make way for the next generation!
Imagine Paris, London, and New York without cars
Coalition La Rue Est A Nous (The Street Is Ours)
Citizens committed to ensuring that transport is not at the expense of the climate, our health, or our safety.
It is possible, other cities have done it, and we will succeed in Paris during the next mandate if we mobilize collectively.
Led by Alternatiba Paris in collaboration with Friends of the Earth Paris, Extinction Rebellion, France Nature Environnement Paris, Greenpeace, les inCOPruptibles, Mieux se Déplacer en Bicyclette, Paris sans Voiture, Respire, Rue de l’avenir, Transport et environnement and la Voie est Libre,
The website La Rue Est A Nous
A European campaign for zero emission transport in cities by 2030
The Clean Cities Campaign is a new European movement of environmental, health and other civil society organisations, which aims to encourage cities move towards zero emission transport by 2030. The campaign promotes active, shared and electric mobility for a more liveable and sustainable urban future, which also requires the elimination of polluting vehicles in cities within a decade.
We are participating in this campaign as part of the Clean Streets Coalition.
The Cleancities campaign website
Our other actions
We are mobilizing against air pollution and to make the streets child-friendly.
Here are some actions in which we are participating with partners and friends.
The Street is Ours Campaign
2020
We join the campaign led by Alternatiba Paris with Friends of the Earth Paris, Extinction Rebellion, France Nature Environnement Paris, Greenpeace, les inCOPruptibles, Mieux se Déplacement en Bicyclette, Paris sans Voiture, Respire, Rue de l'avenir, Vélorution, and la Voie est Libre, which aims to halve the place of cars and motorized two-wheelers in Paris. To find out more about the campaign
Let's play in the Children's Streets
201520172017- 2018- 20192019
We run funny tours.
When the street is free of cars, it's an occasion to test slalom skiing on bottles.
Stroller Funeral March
November 1, 2018
"Breathing shouldn't kill!" Yet, the WHO report published October 29th reveals that children are the first victims of air pollution: 600,000 children die from it every year, thousands develop serious disorders in Paris. To denounce this, we marched to the morgue with the collective Respir’Action.
Masked statues because breathing kills
March 31, 2018
We masked more than a hundred statues in Paris, to urge politicians to take much-needed action against pollution.
Air de Paris - Special vintages
Peak pollution December 2016
Alas, excessive consumption of Paris air is a health hazard. During a serious pollution peak, we distributed bottles of “Air de Paris Appellation of Polluted Origin”. You can select your choice vintage of diesel, motorcyclists, wood heating…
It's not numbers, it's our lives.
2
You're most exposed to pollutio while in a car. The level can be twice as high as for a pedestrian on the sidewalk. With the collective Respir’Action.
8
On December 13, 2013, the Parisian air was as polluted as a 215 sq. ft room occupied by 8 smokers.
25
At the age of 40, the sedentary lifestyle has led to a 25% loss of cardiovascular capacity in the youngest age group.
27
To travel 1,8 miles in heavy traffic, it takes a motorist 27 minutes and a cyclist 12 minutes.
33
33% of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change in Île-de-France are emitted by road traffic..
40
During the Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 22% reduction in traffic reduced children's asthma-related hospitalizations by more than 40%.
50
13% of trips are made by car or motorcycle in Paris, but 50% of public space is reserved for these motorized modes of transportation.
80
In Paris, 80% of vehicles carry only one person. Only 10% come from the outer suburbs.
2500
About 2,500 people a year lose their lives prematurely because of the air they breathe in Paris, 60 times more than the number of deaths in road accidents.
Who are we?
We are a bunch of Parisians who proposed to the city to launch a car-free day all over Paris.
We have been speaking about it independently since 2014.
We come from all walks of life and include people from the Paris region, ages 7 to 89, bringing together a variety of professions, active volunteers in different organizations and dreamers. We have a range of personalities who have supported the project from day one: scientists, artists and many others.
We are organized as an independent association of the municipality, voluntary and apartisan. We actively engage in dialogue with the city so that the inhabitants are considered real actors of the project. We bring ideas and accompany the process in a critical, vigilant and constructive way, so that the event can pave the way to lasting transformations.
The following collectives and associations are committed to supporting us in creating a car-free day that reflects the spirit of citizenship spirit we believe in. Agir pour l'environnement, Les Alchimistes, Alternatiba Paris, Amis de la Terre Paris, Avaaz, Cafézoïde, Cyclofficine, Dédale, Disco soupe, Festival des Utopies Concrètes, Fullmobs, REFEDD, Respir'action, Réseau Action Climat RAC, Réseau AMAP, Terre de liens idf, Transition France, Vélorution, Vergers Urbains, La Voie est Libre, We are ready now. What brings us together: the values of this ambitious citizen project.
We want the Paris experience to inspire other cities, just as we have been inspired by other initiatives around the world, such as the Ecofestival on the La Voie est Libre motorway in Montreuil or the Car Free Day in Brussels.
Contact us
Want to get involved with us? An idea to share?