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Aarhus in 2012 with pedestrianised street, bikes and historic tram. Picture by Erland Egefors
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Denmark's second largest city is celebrating 40 years of pedestrianisation this weekend, 10-11 November 2012.
But before taking that one step forward in 1972, the city of Aarhus took one step back in 1971, by scrapping its tram system.
This weekend one of the trams returned to Aarhus for display in the first pedestrianised street.
Tram number 18 sat in Ryesgade, where from 1904, the trams once ran, en route to the old part of the city from the Central rail station.
The trams had to be very narrow to be able to travel through the city's narrow streets, especially Guldsmedgade.
If the city council had decided to buy new rolling stock, it would have been necessary to have it tailor made, probably at high cost.
Copenhagen began making many of its streets pedestrian-only in 1962.
Pedestrianisation is good for the environment, and has proved to be good for Copenhagen's finances too because city-centre spending increases when pedestrian areas grow. People linger and are more likely to buy.
This has been proved throughout Europe, but in Britain the road lobby fiction that business suffers is still routinely propagated by politicians and planners.
One of the worst examples of traffic tyranny is outside the Houses of Parliament in London where our MPs still complacently "sit", surrounded by the noise and pollution of cars and lorries outside on Parliament Square.
1904 film of Aarhus tram
Information from Erland Egefors.