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View Full Version : German town goes car-free


Trek420
08-29-2009, 08:36 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html
smilingcat
08-29-2009, 09:52 PM
Oooo :cool: I would love to move there. No cars... Think of the amount of money you could save. I could justify buying a very nice bike.
shootingstar
08-29-2009, 10:15 PM
No cars... Think of the amount of money you could save. I could justify buying a very nice bike.

Over a long period of time, one does save alot of money. :) Would be an interesting place to visit. Freiberg, close by would be a cool historic place to visit also.

My partner was bike touring by himself in Europe this past spring where he did visit Houten, Netherlands. Near Utrecht. Town is not totally car-free, but deliberately designed to be bike and pedestrian friendly.

http://www.houten.nl/over-gemeente-houten/projecten/houten-demarreert/internationaal/
papaver
08-30-2009, 01:47 AM
Pienza in Italy is carfree too.

Most of our cities (exept Brussels) are partly carfree (in historical and commercial centers).
Tri Girl
08-30-2009, 07:14 AM
Very cool! You'd never see that in the US where we just LOVE our cars too much to ever give them up (and the way our cities are designed it's nearly impossible anyway). :rolleyes:
I keep thinking I would like to move to Europe one day...

edit:
The article says:
Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”
They have these in the US? I gotta look into that.
emily_in_nc
08-30-2009, 03:26 PM
I saw this story on Good Morning America on Sat. am before our bike ride. Vauban is totally cool! That inspired me to search the web and found this:

Car-Free in US (http://new.carfreecity.us/Home/tabid/70/Default.aspx)

In the right column, they have a link to Quarry Village, a proposed car-free town in California. Hope they will get enough support to get it built. I'd love to live in a place like that one day.
Trek420
08-30-2009, 05:23 PM
Not car-free but good discussion here of what areas are more bike friendly:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=28386