So is Paris Marx his real name?

“It is, sort of,” Marx tells Carbon News. “I'm gonna slightly not answer this one. Because I love leaving it as kind of an open question. 

“I think it's actually kind of fun. Because one thing that I've noticed is that if you go on Google, and you type in my name in, the first kind of autocomplete suggestion is ‘Paris Marx real name.’ So people are wondering and are curious. And I think it's fun to kind of leave that question out there.”

One thing that he will confirm is that he’s an anti-capitalist and that he thinks Paris’s example of liberating the streets from motor vehicles and freeing them up for pedestrians and cyclists is worth emulating.

Tour of Aotearoa

Marx, a Canadian author, blogger and former PhD student at the University of Auckland, will be kicking off a national tour tomorrow at 1pm with a conversation with journalist Simon Wilson at his former university.

He says it's common for people in sprawling Auckland and those in Australia and North America to say that it’s one thing for a relatively dense city like Paris to encourage people out of their cars and on to active modes of transport and quite another for cities in the new world.

“That is true to a certain degree. But that doesn't mean that we can't make improvements to the systems and the cities that we have.

“It might be a bit more difficult in some respects because of the legacies of decisions that have been made over the past number of decades. And it might also mean that some of the solutions that we look at to to address these problems might look a bit different.”

But, he says, the solutions are similar. Much improved public transport, more cycleways, 15 minute cities, denser living and far less car dependency.

Carbon News will publish its interview with Paris Marx next week and you can catch him in person in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Paris Marx tour dates:

• University of Auckland Biology Building, 5 Symond St, (106 room 100), Friday 17 March, 1pm,
• Dark Room, 336 Asaph St, Christchurch, Wednesday 22 March, 7:00 pm.
• University Bookshop, 378 Great King St, Dunedin, Tuesday 23 March, 5:30 pm.
• Bedlam & Squalor, level 1, 18 Garrett St, Wellington, Tuesday 28 March, 6:30 pm.

• Time Out Bookshop, Auckland, 432 Mount Eden Road, Thursday 20 March, 6pm