Today, 22 September, Ohrid is a city without cars. The municipality declared the day as part of European Mobility Week, marked from 21 to 27 September, with this year's theme being "Intergenerational fairness".

The local authority, together with the Ohrid police department, is organising a cycling parade through the city's roads. From 11am to 1pm, the parade sets off from the Makedonija promenade in front of the Palas hotel, continues along the promenade and ASNOM street to the junction with Partizanska, then along Partizanska to the junction with Kuzman Josifovski, and finishes back on the Makedonija promenade.

The municipality is calling on residents to take part in numbers and, for at least one day a year, to come to work without a car: "On Tuesday, leave the car at home and enjoy riding a bike, a scooter or walking, knowing you are making the right move for preserving clean air and a clean environment."

One day, and the other 364

The theme was chosen carefully. "Intergenerational fairness" means the decisions made about a city today are paid for by the people who do not drive yet - the children walking to school beside a road designed for cars.

And that is precisely where a one-day action shows its limit. A cycling parade through the centre of Ohrid from 11am to 1pm makes a lovely picture. The question that remains after 1pm is how many kilometres of protected cycle lanes the city has, how many safe pedestrian crossings, and how much of the promenade is permanently free of parked vehicles.

If the answer is satisfactory, then today's parade is a celebration of something that already exists. If it is not, then it is a reminder that once a year it is possible to be a pedestrian in this city without watching a wing mirror.

Ohrid has an advantage few cities have: a centre on a scale where everything is within walking distance, a lakeside promenade and an old bazaar that was never conceived for a car. The infrastructure for a car-free city is largely already built - and was built centuries ago. All that is left is to decide who it is being kept for.