SUMMARY: Might we put our heads together and develop a high profile,
international cooperative platform for discerning an annual International
CarFree City Honor Role???
* * *
I don't normally chime in here (CarFree eGroups discussion list at
[log in to unmask]), though I do follow your exchanges with some interest.
But here is an excellent reason, to my way of thinking, for me to pitch in
here. Let me take this in several steps:
1. Mr. Potts of Oklahoma City wrote to CarFree eGroups on this date as
follows: "I hope to relocate in the next year or two. When I do so, I will
be looking to live some place where I can consider ditching my car. Does
anyone rank places according to their pedestrian and transit friendliness?
If so, where are some of the best cities, towns, and neighborhoods?"
2. That's a great question Mr. Potts, and to the best of my knowledge no
such regularly updated 'honor roll' exists. But am I right in this? Can
anyone out there give Mr. Potts more accurate information?
3. Of course we know about many of the groups, programs, publications,
associations, Web sites, and others doing more or less similar things under
broader categories such as ' sustainable cities'', 'livable cities' and the
like. And while none of these do exactly the job that Mr. Potts is asking
for, it is useful to know a bit about them since they are among the raw
materials that we can use to fashion a powerful and useful cooperative
action now. Among the first that come immediately come to mind. . .
* Kid Friendly Cities annual Friendly Cities awards at -
http://www.zpg.org/kidfriendlycities/independentranking.html
* Money Magazine annually reports on "Best Places" to live in US - see
http://www.money.com/money/depts/real_estate/bestplaces/
* International "Making Cities Livable" conference (see
http://www.livablecities.org/)
* UNDP Best Practices (See this years competition at
http://www.bestpractices.org, as well as
http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org)
* UN Centre for Human Settlements Global Urban Indicators Project
* The Cities21 pilot project of the ICLEI, see
http://www.iclei.org/cities21/index.htm
* The UN Environment Programme Grid Arendal's CEROI (Cities State of the
Environment Reports on the Internet).
* And while you're at it, maybe have a look at 21st Turtle Media -
http://www.ecoplan.org/21t
4. In addition to these more general sustainability groups and programs,
there are a fair number of others working on these issues of sustainable
transportation, efficiency and social justice - which if you add them all up
come to the need for our cities being able to offer high quality, affordable
transportation to people who for one reason or another do not own or have
access to private cars. Among these are half a dozen programs of The
Commons (http://www.ecoplan.org) -- but there are of course many more,
including not least all the groups to whom this note is addressed.
5. So what about this for an idea? Suppose we put our heads together and
develop a high profile, international cooperative platform for discerning an
annual International CarFree City Honor Role??? Since this is exactly the
sort of thing that we do in The Commons, we would be willing top take the
lead in getting this going, but the idea would be not that this would be
'our' project or initiative, but rather that it be something that we would
all (or at least a fair number of us) itch in to define, refine and make
happen. Let me continue with this idea, if only briefly and in attempt to
see if we might have a group idea here.
6. Then, once we have the basic concept sketched out so that it is ready for
inspection and provides an adequate basis for eventual cooperation and
exchange, we could then set out to share this with the thousand or so other
groups around the world that have mandates and intersts which make them
natural allies for such a cooperative endeavor. Strength in numbers!
7. CRITERIA. It will be good to have a fairly comprehensive (but not too
much so) checklist that will allow the 'judges' to make objective
assessments. Certainly accident statistics and air quality somehow have to
be factored in, as well as provision for cycling and pedestrians (as
transportation); ease of access by those with disabilities of various sorts;
quality, frequency and price of public transport; etc for less conventional
alternative arrangements (carsharing, cab sharing, ride sharing, pool and
shuttle services); etc. Some sort of awareness of
computer/telecommunications availabilities as a "distance assuager" might
also be in order. And of course, and as we all know, good planning and
location are at the heart of any sustainable transport concept, and so that
would have to somehow be favored in - though it's likely that we would see
this above all through the various access and performance indicators that
would come out of the survey.
6. FIRST ROUND CANDIDATES: Perhaps as good way as any of getting a running
start on this will be to look at one or two handfuls of clear candidate
cities, such as Zurich, Curitiba, Toronto, Portland, Gronigen, Graz, Venice
(yes Joel, Venice) and, why not?, exactly what they are trying to get done
in Bogotá. (And I am sure that those of you participating in these lists
will have other good 'city/template candidates' for this drill.) We can
then explore these real world situations to develop some guides for the more
general characteristics that should enter into such a topology/scale. (And I
am sure that those of you participating in these lists will have other good
'city/template candidates' for this drill.) In fact, the best approach
would be to see if we can get one r two people in each of these candidates
cities (since that is what they are) give a hand in preparing a short
synopsis which illustrates why their city is 'car free friendly'.
7 The 2000 Car Free City Honor Roll Awards can be made via high profile
public announcements - perhaps at time of @World Car Free Day (September 21
2000) when we anticipate that we will already have the attention of the
world press and media (as we did in Bogotá in February). We can and should
also cooperative on this as well with not only all those who are
participating in the European Car Free Day the next day, but also those
cities and places that are organizing car-free day projects on other dates
(including, one might hope, the planned Day in Chengdu in October).
8. BADGE OF SHAME AWARDS: It may also be an idea to have a look at what
makes a given town or city a particularly rotten place to live in, if you
happen to be without a car. And why. Without wishing to be unkind, but
perhaps a scan of a couple of places like Phoenix, Memphis, Perth (sorry
Peter, I know that hurts), and the like might which may look good to
outsiders but where the locals know the situation is pretty rotten (one of
which just might be London, but there will be others). This last suggests
that in parallel with the annual CFC Honor Roll we also consider coming up
with a Badge of Shame Award for 5 or 10 of the world's leading "Car Hostage"
cities: places in which if you don't have a car you might as well be dead.
We should be able top find a few of those, and of course if we do this right
this is exactly the sort of thing that the media laps up.
9. Let me close with an observation. If you are looking for a single
activity or indicator that correlates strongly with any given place's 'car
free friendliness' (we really must find better terms throughout), it's my
guess that it would be the availability of carsharing as a non-own-car
option. Why? Well, because carsharing really can only work well where
there is already 'almost' a car free environment, or at least many of the
preconditions of this, meaning good public transport, good clustering of
activities and nodes so that non-motorized transport is a real option for
many trips, etc. That was, in fact, why at one point we were referring to
carsharing as the 'missing link in the sustainable transportation system'.
Might we have a group activity here? Ideas, suggestions, feedback?
Eric Britton
The Commons ___ technology, economy, society ___
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
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