| Car-Free Communities are Possible: Freiburg |
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| Written by Kate Trainor | |
| Wednesday, 02 January 2008 | |
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A community in Freiburg, Germany has turned an eco-fantasy into a living, working model of sustainability from which we can all take a lesson. The Vauban, a 94-acre, car-free community on a former military base, was built to counter urban sprawl and offer families the same quality of life they'd get in the suburbs. (We'd argue that the quality of life at the Vauban sounds superior to that in a sleepy 'burb. It's big city living, but with abundant greenery and bikes-only traffic. Does it get much better?) Beyond its ample greenery, gardens, and car-free greatness, there are yet more perks that come with living in the Vauban.
According to the Christian Science Monitor:
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… Many cities throughout Europe, like Paris, Copenhagen, and Hasselt, Belgium, are also reducing their reliance on cars and bringing bikes back to the blacktop. We hope the day comes (and soon) when communities in the States catch on, and suburban moms pick up their kids from school on a Schwinn instead of in a station wagon.
Photo via flickr by mpwyn.
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Cars are the most inconvenient convenience we have. We're required to have them, but increasingly, we dislike them. At Carectomy, we're trying to figure out how to extract cars from people.
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