Skip to content

Friday Video: Get Thee to Ghent

Clarence Eckerson revisits the Belgian city — and finds that everything is working exactly as planned.
Friday Video: Get Thee to Ghent
Treat, he of Ghent. Photo: Clarence Eckerson Jr.

People always ask our Streetfilms colleague Clarence Eckerson, “Sure, you always do films about pie-in-the-sky ideas like banishing cars from the center of cities, but do these plans ever really work?”

The answer? Ghent.

In 2017, the Belgian city banned cars from its inner core, but also created a circulation plan that prevented drivers from using small residential streets to go from one neighborhood to another, instead requiring them to head for the outer ring road before coming back into town. (Eckerson did a movie about that six years ago.)

The result is a city that is slightly more inconvenient for drivers, but immeasurably better for everyone else.

So join Eckerson as he revisits Ghent — and finds that everything is working exactly as planned:

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog New York City

The Dark Web: The City Can’t Control Online Sales Of Illegal E-Scooters And E-Motos

June 23, 2026

Power Outage: MTA Delays Bus Electrification Amid Manufacturer Challenges

June 23, 2026

Tuesday’s Headlines: Does Zohran Mamdani Know Billy Idol Edition

June 23, 2026

PEDESTRIANIZE NOW! Financial District Businesses Want Space for People Not Cars

June 22, 2026

Driverless Cars Could Save Tens of Thousands of Lives. But We Must Treat Them Like Aviation — Not Like Cars

June 22, 2026
See all posts