
Reclaiming the streets: the architects clawing back Europe’s car-centric spaces
Linked to https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/sep/09/european-prize-urban-public-space-climate-crisis-architects
About Round About Baths in Logroño:
“We have given up so much public space to cars, and if you live in a city with kids you live in constant fear that they will be hit by a passing vehicle”, Banchini said. “It restricts our movement so much that we almost can’t see it anymore.”
“The rules around car traffic are hard to modify, and any requests usually go all the way up to municipal authorities”, he added. “And politicians are really scared to touch anything with cars, because they fear it will cost them in votes.”

About Antwerp’s Zuidpark:
Still, the cars haven’t vanished altogether: a new car park, no longer free, is now positioned across four storeys underneath Zuidpark […]
“You could be critical because it’s still a car park with 2,000 spaces that is very close to the city,” said Van Gassen. “If you’re thinking sustainably, maybe it should have been built more outside of the city. But then, maybe if there was no parking we wouldn’t have been able to build a park at all.”
2026 finalists for European Prize for Urban Public Space can be found here