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Starting in 2019, Oslo Will Restrict the Use of Vehicles in its City Center (nytimes.com)
If you drive a car into the city center of Oslo next month, you shouldn't plan on staying long: There won't be any parking spots. The Norwegian capital is in the process of eliminating the remaining 700 street parking spots in its city center by the end of 2018 as part of its plan to turn the area into a car-free zone. From a report: "We're doing this to give the streets back to the people," Hanna Elise Marcussen, Oslo's vice mayor for urban development, said during a recent phone interview. "And of course, it's environmentally friendly." (The Scandinavian country, recently recognized as one of the world's most ecologically progressive nations, has plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and halt the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2025.)
[...] In Oslo, the plan to remove cars from the city began in 2015 when a coalition of progressive political parties called for a city center free from vehicles. Similar plans have been met with resistance in places like Dublin, where local officials have proposed expanding that city's pedestrian zone, and Barcelona. Even in ecologically minded Oslo, it wasn't easy. "There's been quite a bit of public date, and there's been quite a lot of controversy, and it's been quite difficult to do this in a way that businesses and citizens can accept," Ms. Marcussen said.
[...] In Oslo, the plan to remove cars from the city began in 2015 when a coalition of progressive political parties called for a city center free from vehicles. Similar plans have been met with resistance in places like Dublin, where local officials have proposed expanding that city's pedestrian zone, and Barcelona. Even in ecologically minded Oslo, it wasn't easy. "There's been quite a bit of public date, and there's been quite a lot of controversy, and it's been quite difficult to do this in a way that businesses and citizens can accept," Ms. Marcussen said.
As a Norwegian: do you mind explaining why our country is a mess? Most people here seem quite satisfied, please explain why we shouldn't be.
How will goods be brought into the city without the use of vehicles?
Try reading. The trucks will have an easier time making deliveries with fewer cars choking the roads.
Anyone who has driven in central Oslo will know this is an experience not to be missed. Nobody will ever miss it.
Since the billion-dollar Bjørvika tunnel opened in 2010, there is not much reason to even drive through Oslo.
The oil/pension fund is investing more abroad than it does in Norway's own population.
That is the whole point of the fund. Norway has a small population and a small economy. An influx of that much capital would quickly result in the Dutch Disease of high inflation and economic strangulation of other industries.
This is what happened to Australia during the commodity boom of the 00s, before they set up the Australian Future Fund to prevent a recurrence.
Norway is doing the right thing by investing their windwall worldwide, and only repatriating the wealth at a rate that their economy can effectively absorb.
Most European cities have a street or a whole district which is already like this. Severely limited to cars, but delivery trucks can visit when needed (generally very early in the morning). These are usually the most popular and touristy streets in the cities, with lots of restaurants and shopping and bars on the ground floor, and apartments in the 3-6 stories above the shops. Not many delivery trucks are needed for a store, and if they drive carefully at 5mph down the street they are not much of a danger when they do arrive.
Err sorry but no. All the major cities in the Netherlands have parking in the inner city district. One of your "newest" cities was built from the ground up with car transportation in mind.
Don't get me wrong The Netherlands has other great initiatives to dissuade people from driving a car. The fact that it driving to my city centre takes me 19 minutes, catching a metro takes 23minutes, and cycling takes 22minutes, and the parking in the city centre would quickly bankrupt me is a good start. But driving right into the middle of most cities is still very much an option.