Car-free living is unbelievably easy here in Germany; the country has one of the most extensive train networks in the world. Every major city has a subway or tram line to get you in and out of the city quickly. And bike paths are laid through cities and farm fields, paving the way for a cycling commute that often beats traffic during rush hours.
Building a car-free community, however, hasn’t been the easiest thing. Theoretically, it seems simple: instead of paving roads between apartment buildings and town homes, the housing community maintains a green courtyard between homes, where the kids can play and residents can garden or picnic, as they like. Cars, if residents want them, need to be parked in a garage on the outskirts of the neighborhood. In some cities, like Berlin, however, disagreements with the municipality have made it nearly impossible to get projects started.
In my hometown of Cologne, the first car-free community is being constructed on old industrial land and the results are really interesting. The homes are selling quickly, and the residents who’ve already moved in are praising their oasis in the city. The Christian Science Monitor also recently posted an article about a suburb of Freiburg, Germany that was built on the principles of a car-free lifestyle (among other eco-friendly amenities, like renewable power):
There are numerous incentives for Vauban’s 4,700 residents to live car-free: Carpoolers get free yearly tramway passes, while parking spots - available only in a garage at the neighborhood’s edge - go for €17,500 (US$23,000). Forty percent of residents have bought spaces, many just for the benefit of their visiting guests.
As a result, the car-ownership rate in Vauban is only 150 per 1,000 inhabitants, compared with 430 per 1,000 inhabitants in Freiburg proper. In contrast, the US average is 640 household vehicles per 1,000 residents.
And though there are only one-quarter of the cars in this town as in the average American one, people still get their shopping done, pick up the kids from soccer, and take vacations on an annual basis. Imagine: having it all. Without the car. Your life could look a little like this:
Now doesn’t that look like more fun than rush hour?
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My wife and I just made our lives car-free in Philly. We couldn’t be happier! We get more exercise, spend more time together and have made our lives more efficient. It would be great to see car-free developments sprouting up in the US to lesson the ugly ratio you mentioned.
July 4th, 2007 at 5:58 amI have been car-free for 4 years now. It wasn’t really a conscious decision, I was living overseas and a family member wrapped my green machine around a telephone pole. But, when I returned home, I didn’t feel so pushed to buy a new one. At first I was living on the coast in CT, not the easiest place to exist without a car, but not impossible. Then I moved to NYC and now I live in DC. The last two have been easy.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:10 amMost of my friends in DC are car-free as well. We all function as normal humans - still consume, still get out of town once in awhile to breath fresh country air, still able to get around anywhere we need to go.
There are a few people we know with cars and in DC, as in some other metropolitan centers in the U.S., there are zipcars or flexicars. These are by-the-hour car rentals. Both of these limited car access possibilities are very convenient for the big-laundry-day pick up or fetch-someone-from-the-airport run.
Being carless means more walking, biking, and patronizing local businesses, reduces your stress level…as well as lowering your personal carbon output by a significant amount. I wish more people would catch on!
For tons of great resources to get you hooked into the carfree movement check out http://carfreeusa.blogspot.com
July 26th, 2007 at 1:56 pm