Copenhagen sets date for car-free day

City officials announced in October that Copenhagen would follow similar events in Paris and Stockholm and ban cars for one day. 

 

On Friday, the official date for the city’s car-free date was set for September 18th. 

 

“By banning cars for a day we will give Copenhageners and tourists the opportunity to experience how the city can be used when we don’t have to make space for polluting vehicles,” the city’s deputy mayor for the environment, Morten Kabell, told Metroxpress. 

 

Kabell said the city would arrange a number of events to draw people into the heart of Copenhagen and promised that September 18th would be a “very special” day in the Danish capital. 

 

Despite its “unrivalled” status as the world's best city for cyclists, air pollution in Copenhagen has exceeded the EU’s allowed levels for years. 

 

Kabell said in October that by going car-free for one day, city officials could “gather concrete figures on what air pollution would be in a large city like Copenhagen if the cars weren’t there.”