The Car Free City
Urban life is locked in to fossil fuel based transport. This is the car-based city. Almost all the modern ills of the contemporary city can be told through the automobile. Cars inflict multiple and complicated problems (pollution, road deaths, alienated streets, individualism, unequal access, debt, corporate control, consumerism) and a radical break is needed. Great faith is placed on new technologies such as semi-automated, driverless and hydrogen vehicles that could cut pollution and road deaths and create an efficient, rational transport utopia. But cities filled with driverless cars will not stop the descent into alienated street life, debt, status anxiety and corporate controlled consumerism. Unlocking real change requires a radical break from the whole culture of the car.
The Car-free city points to a wealth of examples that are unlocking a very different approach to urban mobility. As we lock-down fossil fuel based transport, we need to unlock the car-free city on a mass scale: cycle lanes, pedestrian routes, mass accessible rapid transport, renewed street life, car-lite urban design. Moreover, the very need for such intense mobility needs to be unpacked and precious urban space simply needs reallocating away from motorised vehicles. Unlocking the car-free city goes hand in hand with a shift in planning and zoning, eroding the need for mass, wasteful commuting from neighbourhood to central work zones. Central areas need to be dispersed, work more broadly distributed and food, leisure and retail needs rescaling and decoupling from car use. Starting with the car is a great way towards the multiple steps to unlocking real change for sustainable cities.
