50 years ago there was much debate about the plans to make some of the streets in the centre of Copenhagen into a pedestrian area. The shopkeepers feared that the customers would flee when they couldn't park right outside the shops, the residents feared that they wouldn't be able to get to work and the car owners complained that their freedom of movement would be limited. Now the area is one of the biggest pedestrian shopping and leisure areas in Europe with millions of visitors each year. Even though the shops has changed from local shops to main street chains no one can claim it wasn't a huge success to close off the streets to traffic. This fact is largely forgotten in today's debate about similar plans elsewhere in the city. This weekend the birthday was celebrated with free coffee and cake, as shown on the pic, concerts, special offers in the shops, parades and many other activities.
