Talk:List of carfree places
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[edit] What is the definition of a car-free place?
Much of the debate on this page has centered around what is or is not a car free place. Could someone plase look up how the car-free movement defines a car-free and add it to this and the main page? Then, we should let the wikipedians who know best decide which places conform to the definition, and debate it right here!
Some possible questions such a definition should answer: How car-free is car-free? (Are buses allowed? Is there peripheral parking?) How must they be populated/used by humans? (Certainly the north pole is free of cars, but I don't think it would be considered a car-free place because it's also civilization-free!) How big must they be? (My is house is car-free, except the garage!) Must they be public? Do large indoor shopping malls count? How about farms, where tractors and other equipment drive around? You get the picture. Az7997 20:44, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Please delete as well as add
Not all the entries currently meet the criteria listed at the top of the page. Please delete entries which are too common to be listed, and add new ones. --Erauch 05:02, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Additional guidelines
Help is available on editing a page.
If you have a web link for the place, add it like this: |[http://www.hahnenklee.de/deutsch/willkommen.htm Hahnenklee-Bockswiese] || Entire town || 2,500 || Town in the Harz mountain area
If the place stands out, its name should have a beige background: add |bgcolor="#dddd88" at the beginning of the line:
|bgcolor="#dddd88"|[[Freiburg]] im Breisgau || Large carfree center || City 200,000; Carfree areas perhaps 10,000? || Medieval university town; a very small amount of car traffic is permitted on some streets; trams provide access
In the few cases where the place is almost completely carfree (green background), add |bgcolor="#88dd88":
|bgcolor="#88dd88"|[[Zermatt]] || Entire town || Probably 20,000 or so || Carfree Alpine resort with prototype "Utility Area" at the entrance; slow electric taxis and freight vehicles used, although these are sometimes driven at higher speeds --Erauch 17:15, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Freiburg
I think Freiburg's role as a car-free town is a little bit exaggerated. I live in Freiburg, even in the mentioned Vauban area.
Even in the Vauban area there are cars. Lots of cars, actually. Inside Vauban, there is only one section (called "Genova" [1]) which is actually car-free. This section consists of 73 apartments. That's it.
The rest of the houses is directly reachable by cars. Of course there is reduced traffic, but this is nothing special for German residential areas.
Best regards, --zeno 23:10, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Hyphenated?
Should we spell it as car-free? Some people, like me, misread carfree as “Carefree”.
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- Absolutely! I have made this change in the page, such that it now conforms to the Wikipedia:Avoid neologisms recommendation. "Carfree" is certainly a neologism, whereas car-free is simply hyphinated words describing the movement. Az7997 19:22, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Manhattan under US section?
First, I deleted Peachtree Center in Atlanta, simply because it doesn't meet the criteria in any way, shape or form (nobody lives there, car intrusion still exists, etc). Additionally, its entry seemed biased, as though a tourism ad.
My main question is this: shouldn't Manhattan, or at least NYC at large, be listed? I always hear that 2 million residents live in the urban area without cars. Even though car intrusion exists in New York, the city certainly fosters a car-free lifestyle for many people. It seems the U.S. standard is only that it is an exceptional example of car-independent life, since we do not have truly car-free cities. Surely New York is exceptional in the United States for its centralized-design and subway system. I don't know; I don't use wikipedia that much. What do you think?
71.56.70.127 15:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
Nope. Car-free doesn't mean convenient to live without a car and inconvenient to live with one. It means no cars.
Then why are any of these entries in any way car-free? Other than a few exceptional European ones, or developer schemes (which usually still have cars)?
[Posted on 2006.12.9] -- I think this is an interesting point that illuminates the fact that most of these places (in the US section, at least) have little if nothing to do with the car free movement, which is a movement dedicated to reducing dependence on cars. They are, for the most part, tiny shopping malls that are almost exclusively accessed by automobile. Whereas Manhattan, a large island inhabited by 1.6 million people and built in a way that enables 80% of them to live without even owning a car, is not included.
[edit] Missing streets in Rio de Janeiro
IIRC, the Sahara area of Rio de Janeiro has several narrow pedestrian streets with small stores. And there are a few other carfree streets in the old centro. Does anyone know the street names to add Rio to the list? 71.146.35.69 15:55, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
ABOUT THE LIST
It is very hard to compile an accurate list of car-free/ car restricted areas, and even harder to find out the area size, number of buildings, people living in that area etc. To my knowledge Cities who have car-free areas do not give statistics in their own tourist information internet site. Being originally born in France and going there often, I noticed that the list of car-free areas in France is very limited (delivery vehicles, cars of people living in a car-free area are allowed limited access usually before/after business hours). in fact there isn't a town, big or small in France--or in the rest of Europe-- that doesn't have a pedestrian area, often a sizeable one. for example: Toulouse, Clermont Ferrand, Beziers, Montpellier, Carcassonne, Marseille, Lille, Rennes, Rouen, Perigueux, Biarritz, Bayonne, Nice, and so on. in Germany Berlin and Frankfurt aren't listed yet they have several streets and squares. The Hague in the Netherlands should also be included. There are also car-free areas in every Eastern European countries, in Japan etc. In London there is also the Soho / Covent Garden area etc. etc. I think it would be fair to say that, compared to North America, there is an astonishing number of towns around the world that have from a couple of streets to sizeable districts that are car-free or where only local cars are allowed, with restrictions. It would be easier to compile a list of towns that don't have car-free/ car restricted areas!.
- Thus the "unusual for their country or region" requirement. It might be useful to have a car-restricted classification, for areas that allow emergency vehicles, utility vehicles, busses, taxis, or vehicles only at certain times of day (or night). But it would be hard to draw the line. jax 07:24, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Asia? The Antipodes?
It seems hard to believe that there are no car-free places in all of Australasia. Yeesh. I know Melbourne had a few - Swanston St and the Bourke St Mall - although I haven't lived there for 4 years, and things change. Maw 22:37, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Discovery Bay in Hong Kong
Inserted by Rauterkus 18:06, 2 May 2006 (UTC) Touch up is welcomed.
"Kids can play in most streets"?
[edit] Isla Vista is not car-free, add Madison
I lived in Santa Barbara, CA for 7 years and I can report that Isla Vista (the college town area next to UCSB) does not have a single car-free street. In fact the overwhelming impression you get walking down the street is that the driveways are literally bursting with cars, every inch of curb space is taken and most streets have no sidewalks. However given the laidback nature of Isla Vista it is perfectly acceptable to walk at a leisurely pace in the middle of the street.
Madison, WI has a nice street called State St which is car-free for six blocks - only buses and bicyclists allowed.
[edit] Some photos?
Some photographs perhaps please?
