Cars are not eco-friendly. We all know that.
Hybrid cars ease our conscience and electric cars are becoming more common on the market, even hydrogen cars are starting to make an appearance, but no matter how clean the car, it still takes an enormous amount of energy to make it and the manufacturing process is carbon intensive.
The only real solution is to wean ourselves off cars completely, or almost completely. Before panic sets in, consider that there are some cities that have flourished without any cars at all, and have done so for years.
Consider also that many large cities are creating car-free zones where you will have no choice but to hoof it.
Mother Nature Network lists seven car-free cities, the most famous of which is Venice, Italy.
Venice has around 70,000 permanent residents, not to mention the hundreds of thousands tourists who flock to the city every year, and none of them use cars.
In fact, the primary attraction of the city, for tourists at least, is the opportunity to use gondolas instead of mundane motorcars. Venice has the honour of being Europe’s largest car-free urban area, but there are other cities that wouldn’t mind claiming the crown.
Vauban is a car-free neighbourhood in the city of Freiburg, Germany. Freiburg is one of the most eco-friendly cities in Europe (if not the most eco-friendly), so it should come as no surprise that it contains one of the largest car-free neighbourhoods on the continent.
Vauban is home to over 5000 people, and while residents are allowed to own cars, they are not allowed to have them in the neighbourhood. Instead they have to park them in a multi-storey car park built specifically for this purpose. As testament to the prevalence of the car-free attitude, the car park is said to be practically empty.
Groningen is the capital city of the Groningen Province in the Netherlands and is known as the “capital of cycling”. It contains the largest car-free centre in Europe. Only a quarter of the 16 500 residents own a car, the rest all travel by bicycle.
Pure car-free cities
Vauban and Groningen are examples of car-free areas within cities; Mother Nature Network looked specifically at pure car-free cities. In addition to Venice these include:
• The Medina of Fes-al-Bali, Morocco contains more than 156,000 people and is one of the largest contiguous car-free urban areas in the world. The reason for this probably has less to do with environmental concerns and more to do with practicality. The city’s streets are simply not wide enough to accommodate cars. In fact they’re often not wide enough for bicycles.
• Sark Island, United Kingdom allows only horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles and tractors, with come concessions to the older residents who may drive approved battery-powered buggies.
• Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States banned motorised vehicles in 1898 and it has never been repealed. Residents travel by horse-drawn carriage and bicycle, although the island is so small that most people walk.
• Hydra, Saronic Islands, Greece is a tourist haven owing to its clean air and rugged coastline. One of the reasons the air is so clean is because the only motorised vehicles around are rubbish trucks, everyone else uses horses, donkeys and water taxis. Although, once again, people usually opt to walk.
• Lamu Island, Kenya is a World Heritage Site thanks to it being “the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa.” Part of its preservation can be attributed to the fact that no vehicles are allowed. Donkeys are the most common mode of transport.
• La Cumbrecita, Argentina is known for its emphasis on eco-tourism. As a result it has banned all vehicles and earned itself the moniker “pedestrian town”. To reach the town one has to park in a lot some distance away and walk.
All of which proves that living without cars is possible. All we need is a change of attitude.
(image by Joachim Köhler (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons)
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
