The World Carfree Network kicked off their recent Towards Carfree Cities conference in Portland, Oregon with Depaving Day. Depave.org teamed up with conference participants to replace a 3,000 square-foot chunk of asphalt with a community garden and gathering space. Some of the land will be used to grow food and enable area residents to eat locally – further reducing the demand for oil and production of greenhouse gases. The torn-up asphalt will be recycled and reused.
Depave.org sees their mission as a reclaiming of the Commons. “The biggest common space that we have is covered in asphalt,” says Chris Carlsson, author of Nowtopia. “It’s all of the streets in the city.”
The permanent site will have information on hand to educate the public about the environmental damage caused by asphalt, including increased runoff and pollution, destroyed natural habitat, and its contribution to global warming.
Check out the awesome video coverage from Streetfilms here:
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