Photo by Martin Specht for the New York TimesThe suburb of Vauban in Germany is a great example of what life could be like in the not so distant future. Vauban is almost completely car free. Doesn't that sound like paridise? How did they do that? You've heard of "Build it and they will come". How about "don't build roads, don't allow car parking spaces and make it expensive to store your car on the edge of town". Those are some of the reasons that Vauban is showing the way for the rest of us "still stuck in the 20th Century" folks.
Please notice that this New York Times article is currently it's number one, most read article online. There must be a lot of interest in this way of life. Perhaps, people hunger for car-less/less-car community. I know I do. I keep envisioning myself without need of a car(and dream of my city having a lot less cars in it!). I'm not there yet, but I keep finding more reasons not to use the car, today.
7 comments:
Very interesting, I didn't know about Vauban, but I know about some (nearly) car-free towns in Switzerland, e.g. Zermatt.
In Vienna we have one car-free housing estate. You can see it in that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eox2__W9gg
I tried to get a flat there, but it's simply impossible because so many people want to live there. But they plan a second one ;-).
I just did a post about the same thing! "Great minds think alike," I guess. Ha ha.
anna~ Car-free is care free!
Bronzie~ For me, I think it's just dumb luck. ;)
Great to see positive news about Germany in the English press.
You'd think politicians would see the numbers of people wanting to live in car-free estates and realise they were on to a (lucrative) vote winner...
bikes will rule the world soon, we all know it <3
great links, oh and thanks for the love chai lover!!
xo.meligrosa
I'd live there. That's pretty awesome!
Anna, I heard the new "Bike City" they are planning to build outside Vienna will be pretty big -- with its own school system, business district, etc. -- should be interesting!
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