Imagine a day without cars

Today’s date, September 22nd has been declared the World Car Free Day. And even though we might not see the streets deserted of cars it is still a good occasion to contemplate our habitual use of the car and its consequences for our environment and health. This day is a chance to think our communities in very different and new ways and to get inspired on how to improve the means of public transport and organisation of urban living.

Yes, it might be a paradox, that a website dedicated to everything cars gives room to an event that calls for no cars at all. But in the end we believe, that cars should be fun and they do so much more, if once in a while we pick up the bike, catch the metro or just simply and very old-fashioned...go for a walk.

History

The idea for Car Free Days emerged with the oil crisis 1973. However, only from the 1990s on were events organized on a systematic basis. A breakthrough moment was the the International Accessible Cities Conference of 1994 in Toledo, Spain, where a call for a structured approach was issued. Within just two years, the first Car Free Days were organised in Reykjavik (Iceland), Bath (GB) and La Rochelle (France) and an informal consortium was set up to coordinate the events globally.

1997 Britain launched its first campaign, followed by France in 1998 and in 1999 as a pilot project of the European Union, an international Car Free Day was organised in the whole of Europe. It was part of the EU’s In Town Without My Car campaign, which is today known as the European Mobility Week and coincides with September 22nd. In 2000 the Car Free Day was also organised globally through the World Carfree Network.

Success

While the Car Free Days have received a high degree of media coverage and might have contributed to awareness-building, their organisation still poses many challenges. Especially the requirement of reorganising an entire city’s transportation network poses a major obstacle.

However, there are some outstanding examples of success: In Bogotá, the annual Car Free Day was institutionalised through a public referendum in 2000. And in 2007 Jakarta closed down its main avenue for cars and allowed pedestrians to walk along the normally traffic congested road. Today, this day has become an institution in the cities calendar, happening every last Sunday of the month.

And last but not least, we have to recognise the significance of the Car Free Movement as a driving force behind the car industry’s efforts to develop greener cars, which have a reduced impact in terms of air and noise pollution. The progress that is made with regards to green technologies is not at least owed to a growing awareness and demand for more sustainable means of transportation.