How Sweden is taking back parking spaces to improve urban living

An experiment with the one-minute city' gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists

It was a couple of parking spaces a few days ago. But now the area outside Malin Henriksson Talcoth's gourmet sausage shop in Gothenburg has a bench, a picnic table and racks for cycles and e-scooters. It also has people talking, eating and enjoying themselves, despite subzero temperatures.

The workmen had arrived the previous week and built the wooden unit with benches facing, importantly, towards the pavement. When the sun was out on Friday and Saturday, it was absolutely full of people, just having a takeaway coffee and a sausage," Talcoth said.