What if... cities became car-free?

Here’s the fun bit. Did you know that traffic in London today moves slower than a horse-drawn carriage – and the average cyclist? That car drivers in Bogotá, Colombia, spent 271 hours in traffic jams during 2018, in Dublin 246 hours and in London 227 hours, according to global traffic data cruncher INREX.

Here’s the not-so-fun bit. Air pollution is now the world’s fourth biggest killer, contributing to more than seven million deaths every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 91 per cent of us breathe air that is unsafe and it’s the cause of 36 per cent of deaths from lung cancer, 34 per cent from stroke and 27 per cent from heart disease. Exposure to small particulates which bypass the body’s defences, penetrating deep into the respiratory system, is often to blame.