France has struggled to kick its smoking habit. A new public health decree published Saturday aims to change that. In the coming days, smoking will be banned in all French parks and sports venues, at beaches and bus stops, in a perimeter around all schools, and anywhere children could gather in public.
That’s what I was thinking too. Parks should be as inclusive as possible in my opinion. This “gentrifies” them and maybe that was the intention but I think it’s a step too far.
I am sorry but as a pet peeve of mine I have to point out that gentrifying is maybe not a good choice of word here (which is why you probably placed it in quotes). Not everything which makes places more friendly to the general public is gentrification it refers to a process of pioneering the tractivity of an area subsequently followed by an increase in costs which drives out the original pioneers (if they do not keep pace economically) as a person studying urban planning and related stuff I think that the word gentrifying is used inflationary in recent times and is loosing a bit of its meaning 😅.
I do agree that parks should be inclusive and that means that cigarette smokes is an issue that has to be talked about. But I still think that blanket bans are not the way. maybe smokers areas like bbq areas. maybe time based phasing. maybe awareness campaigns? maybe a cultural shift that it is okay to tell smokers that one is bothered and of smokers to be more thoughtful of their second hand smoke? I feel like this people being bothered by other people is present in so many ways and in some people wouldnt even think about blanket bans and fines or it differs heavily between countries. TikTok on speaker in public places, bt-speakers with music, public alcohol consumption, reving your car, motorcyclist noise, body odor, live streaming etc pp a lot of stuff either is a huge problem or not depending on if people are considerate