The Car Free City Manifesto

1. The first pillar of this manifesto, car free cities, requires committing to significantly moving away from private motorised vehicles, and dedicating less space to them.

2. To ensure a smooth transition, workable, extensive and affordable alternatives have to be powered up before a broad power down of car infrastructure occurs.

3. The immediate mass roll out of small steps towards car free cities will be crucial; city wide very low emission zones, prioritising road safety, shifts to zero-emission vehicles and car-lite urban design that prioritise walking, cycling and the many forms of zero emission rapid transit such as trolley buses, trams, light rail, subways and street cars.

4. Brave decisions to reallocate infrastructure dedicated to private vehicles including highways, car parks and retail malls are urgently required on a mass scale.

5. Lock in to future options around driverless cars need to be avoided as they do not shift cities away from car culture.

6. Radical rezoning will need to be undertaken through a reorientation of the planning system as well as primary legislation, and a new approach to weaving together work, food, leisure and home environments in ways that directly eliminates the need for cars.

7. Subsidies and research grants locked up in supporting fossil fuel based private vehicles need to be rapidly withdrawn and redirected at unlocking car free urban mobility options.

8. Coalitions of citizens and innovators need to take the lead and push the agenda to show what is possible to reduce car dependency through changes in daily mobility practices.

9. Municipalities will still play a central role especially in terms of starting city owned transit systems that can avoid lock in to high value, socially uneven corporate led options.

10. There needs to be a focus on the wider issue of urban mobility, connectivity and sharing between multiple mobility options rather than backing single likely future winners.

11. Creating socially just patterns of urban mobility is essential, especially in terms of locking down historic patterns of transport injustices and creating very broad participation in the design of mobility systems.

12. Shifts in advertising and marketing are required to create new values and social stimuli that downplay car culture and celebrate sustainable mobility.

13. Given the increasingly deadly consequences of lock-in to urban car use, citizen organising of, for example, car free events, billboard subvertising or impromptu road closures will be crucial in highlighting priorities for change.