Kigali Car-Free Day

Kigali began holding car-free days in 2016 and made them fortnightly from 2017, on the first and third Sunday of each month from 7am to 10am. Major arteries close to vehicles and the city turns them over to walking, running, cycling and mass aerobics, with health workers offering free screening for blood pressure, diabetes and body mass index at points along the route. Turnout runs into the tens of thousands. The city has since made two zones permanently car-free, including a stretch of the central business district, which moves the idea from an event to a piece of street design. Rwanda's lesson for other African cities has been that the health framing, not the climate framing, is what filled the road.