In Pontevedra, Spain, people don't shout. Since cars are banned (禁止) in the city, there are no horns (喇叭) or noises from car engines. People don't have to try hard to make themselves heard. What you hear in the street, instead, is the singing of birds.
"Listen," says Miguel Lores, the mayor, opening the windows of his office. From the street below rises the sound of human voices. "More than 14, 000 cars used to pass along this street every day. There were more cars passing through the city in a day than people living here. "
Lores became mayor in 1999. He spent months walking around the city. "The historical city is dead," he said one day. "It is full of cars. It is heavily polluted. There are a lot of traffic accidents. The elderly and children aren't able to use the streets because of cars. People who had a chance to leave have done so."
At first, Lores thought of improving traffic conditions. However, he couldn't come up with a good plan. After lots of discussions, the government finally decided to get rid of cars.
The change has brought Pontevedra many benefits. Traffic accidents are now rare; CO2 emissions (排放物) are down 70 percent. Many people are moving to the city, making it lively again.
Most local citizens like the change. Ramiro Armesto, a mother of two young children, said, "In the past, the first thing to see in the morning was traffic jams. Now, the city is cleaner, quieter and safer.", Raquel Garcia, another parent, said she had stayed in many cities around the world. However, she had never lived in a city as "easy to live in" as Pontevedra. "Even if it's raining, I walk everywhere. The feeling is wonderful, M she added. "For me, Pontevedra is paradise (天堂)."
