"They did it with Photoshop."
This is not a real street in Summit, NJ.
See just below for more on this technique.

Announcements

Video

The technique is simple. Only three photographs are required, one straight down the left-hand curb, another straight down the right-hand curb, and one straight down the centerline of the street. The first two photographs are chopped off at the curb and welded into a single image that appears to show a narrow pedestrian street. The comparison with reality (the third photograph) is always stark.

A personal favorite is "For the Love of Venice" (in full 1080p if you have the hardware):  
 

There are a number of other, shorter videos in the past couple of months. You can watch them all at:

Vimeo (up to 720p)
or
YouTube (up to 1080p during low-traffic periods)

If you watch a video, please Like it by mousing over and clicking the Heart icon in the top-right of the video frame (Vimeo) or clicking the Thumbs Up icon below the video (YouTube). Posting to Twitter and Facebook will also help if you can. We need to get the message out to a broader audience. We have passed the 10,000-views mark but still need a much larger audience.

Most of the films are released under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution license, so you're free to do anything you like with those as long as you acknowledge the source. I would have simply put them in the public domain, but I used other Creative Commons-licensed material that requires the same terms and conditions.

I will probably shoot more footage this summer in southern Europe.

Piscataquis Village

Final Round of Changes to Carfree Times

Photo Archive Updated

I have reprocessed all of the better images that I shot with the Nikon D70 in 2005 and 2006. This is a large archive, and considerably improved images are now available in the Digital Photographs section of the Design Library at Carfree.com. If you have linked to any of these images, they will automatically update in all locations where you have used them, and they are the same width as formerly. (The height might differ by a couple of pixels due to geometric corrections applied by DxO.) So far, only the horizontal images have been updated.

The Books

World Carfree Network

World Carfree News

3rd International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity

Mount Katahdin, Maine
©2011 Lisa Adkins

Feature Article

Piscataquis Village

By Tracy Gayton

Piscataquis River, Maine
©2011 Lisa Adkins

The Piscataquis Village Project has not yet identified a specific site. They plan on acquiring a parcel of land of approximately 500 acres in size, 125 acres of which will be developed incrementally as a mixed-use residential village at a density of from 35 to 50 dwelling units per acre. The remaining 375 acres, other than space for motor vehicle parking at the Village perimeter, will be reserved for recreation and small scale agriculture.

Guilford, Maine
©2011 Lisa Adkins

The project organizers do not intend to construct buildings or to micromanage specific building design. They believe that the most successful places are places where individuals and groups are free to do as they like as long as they don't infringe upon the freedom of their neighbors. Though they also recognize that in any settlement where people are brought together in close proximity, practically speaking, some agreed-upon covenants will need to be established.

The organizers believe that the function of the project is to:

• Acquire a site
• Map out plazas, streets, and building lots
• Compose a land use/building design code which would guide the development of the site into a compact, carfree, traditional village
• Achieve approval for the project from the appropriate regulatory agencies
• Install basic infrastructure for the first phase of the development
• Offer building lots

• Small Plazas
• Really Narrow Streets
• Attached Buildings
• Arcaded Sidewalks
• Interior Courtyards
• Carfree Living

Peaks-Kenney/Sebec Lake, Maine
©2011 Lisa Adkins

The original founders of the project, many of whom have roots in Piscataquis County that go back for generations, are intent on creating for themselves a world-class, quality community in the place where they live. If approved as proposed, it is thought that this would be the largest approved carfree development in the USA and also perhaps the only one of any kind where implementation of the proposed design code would guide development to approximate the traditional village/city pattern of Europe or early North America. This development is also viewed as a vehicle for retaining and attracting new residents to the county, with positive benefits extending to existing towns and institutions, while the pinprick-sized footprint of the proposed Village ensures that the prized rural character of the County remains virtually untouched.

The Piscataquis Village Project is utilizing a "kick-starter" model to raise investment capital for the proposal. Non-legally binding investment pledges in the minimum amount of $10,000 are committed, contingent upon the project receiving the total $2,000,000 thought needed to break ground. Investors receive an unimproved building lot within the development, a plot of land in the green/agricultural zone, car parking space at the perimeter, four bonus building lots which may be conveyed to first-time homeowners, and an investment share in the project commensurate with the amount invested.

Wharff Road, Guilford, Maine
©2011 Lisa Adkins

An alternative investment option is offered to self-forming groups of twenty or more for a $5,000 pledge per household. This is offered to encourage collaborations with groups comprised of friends, families, and organizations such as cohousing groups, art colonies, eco-villages, or community housing and development organizations.

Early residents are expected to be people living in the county and working in nearby towns, retirees, and those with home-based businesses. Though it is the most sparsely populated county east of the Mississippi River, Piscataquis is only a four-hour drive from Boston or Quebec City and offers a refuge for those wishing to own a pied-à-terre in a rural area rich in natural resources.

A slide presentation of the proposal was created in August 2011, and so far the group has received investment pledges from 25 households for a total of $300,000.

Slide Presentation

Facebook page

Feature Article

Singapore: So Close and Yet . . .

By Debra Efroymson

One of several entrances for cars to Fort Canning Park, Singapore
©2012 Debra Efroymson

It might seem obvious that if you want to make your city liveable, you have to implement measures to drastically reduce the cars. If you really wish for your city to be liveable, then there is no choice but eventually to squeeze them out of the city altogether. Nor should getting rid of cars be considered a sacrifice; without the cars, the conditions for walking, cycling, pedicabs, and public transport (preferably trams) would be such good quality that really nobody should even miss the cars. But when I talk to different people about liveable cities, while some see the same holistic vision as I do, others are brutally stubborn about such points as the perceived need to accommodate/ encourage cars, or to provide abundant parking. Yet such actions would limit the effectiveness of all the good things they do seem to understand. And that inability to give up certain traditional planning ideas plays out in cities around the world.

A street segment that gets it right: Little India, Singapore
©2012 Debra Efroymson

Take Singapore, famous in transport planning circles for its successful efforts to control car use. The government had little choice: as with Hong Kong, there is limited space and a lot of money, so without car controls, the entire city-state would be one constant traffic jam. Although the controls may have been weakened somewhat in recent years, it is still extremely expensive to own a car in Singapore (to be fair, life in general is extremely expensive; apparently most apartments are subsidized by the government), and the city has also implemented congestion charges in the central area. As a result, Singapore has kept cars to the numbers where the traffic consistently flows (questionable though it is whether that is a pro- or anti-car measure).

Government officials also seem to realize that if you don't want people to drive, you need to give them good alternatives. The public transport system is of high quality: it is quite easy to figure out, trains and buses seem to come at frequent intervals, and at least at one bus interchange, there are separate marked lanes for different buses, so that everyone queues up in a neat and orderly fashion (again rather revolutionary for Asia) to board the bus when it arrives. I had a moment of panic at hearing I needed to make two transfers from my hotel to the airport; in other cities, such as Boston or Bangkok, that would involve staircases and long unpleasant corridors. But in fact all I had to do was cross half a platform, and everything was well-marked (in all four official languages).

Pedestrian shortcut between Fort Canning Park and Orchard Road, Singapore
©2012 Debra Efroymson

All the streets seem to have sidewalks, and the intersections have pedestrian crossing signals (this might not seem so surprising, but is still rare in other parts of Asia). So, it is quite possible to walk in the city, and this is in stark contrast to what one sees in Dhaka and too many other Asian cities, where pedestrians are reduced to darting between motorized vehicles.

But even Singapore could do far better. Take cycling, which could be an extremely convenient and useful mode in a city that is basically flat, not terribly large, and very expensive. I did see several cyclists, including groups of young men with expensive bikes. But in terms of official recognition of cycling, it only took the form of signs telling people not to cycle. At Clarke Quay, for instance, a popular tourist destination, where many people are out walking, there were several signs prohibiting cycling (with a fine of $1,000!!). Yet in the beautiful Fort Canning Park just across a busy street from the quay, cars are allowed to enter a significant portion of the park and car parking takes up a good deal of space that otherwise could be set aside for human activity.

Steps and foliage in Fort Canning Park, Singapore
©2012 Debra Efroymson

And while one has moments in Singapore of wondering if one is truly in Asia, the general attitude of the drivers towards those not in a car reminded me precisely where I was; overall the drivers showed no respect or consideration to pedestrians or cyclists.

As for walking, it involves far more patience than the tropical weather gives rise to. For one thing, you have to push for a walk signal, so if you approach an intersection shortly after the traffic in your direction has started, you get a little red man, despite having more than ample time to cross. Then, some of the intersections have the red man appear long, long before the signal for cars changes. Discovering this, I learned to go despite the red man. . . but when I tried it at other intersections, I had to run to keep from being hit. So the timing of the pedestrian signal varies widely at different intersections. Apparently this is what happens when you put traffic engineers in charge of pedestrian crossings: no consideration as to how long pedestrians must wait or how reasonably timed the crossings are.

An exercise/workout/fitness area in Fort Canning Park, Singapore
©2012 Debra Efroymson

Of course this should be taken in perspective. Having traveled there from Dhaka, the city in many ways seemed a paradise. Although Singapore is a strange and rather artificial place, it also shows just how well things can work in Asia. . . so it's even more disappointing when they get something so important so wrong.

Feature Article

The City of Bangalore and Its Approach to the 21st Century

By Manju George

Commercial Street, Bangalore, India
©2012 ESAF

The city of Bangalore has a long history of leading technological innovation in India. (In 2005, the government accepted a proposal to rename the city to Bengaluru, but the change is not yet officially implemented.) Bangalore enjoys a benign climate and is flat except for a central ridge.

Under the British influence, the city bloomed with modern facilities such as railways, telegraph, schools, health care, water, post, and police departments. These world-class facilities lured people to the city, initially from within Karnataka state and later from around the world.

Migration was rapid between 1941-51 and again between 1971-81. The manufacturing sector grew following the establishment of private companies. Due to migration, the real estate market boomed, leading to the conversion of large plots and colonial bungalows to multi-story apartments in the 1980s and 90s. However, rapid development of the city outstripped its water supply, and in dry years some areas suffer water shortages.

Commercial Street in the morning
©2012 ESAF

Texas Instruments was the first large foreign corporation to establish a base in Bangalore. Many other technology companies followed, and by the year 2000 Bangalore had been dubbed the "Silicon Valley of India."

The first car began polluting the city in 1903, and the thirst for personal luxury slowly defeated public transport. Though the government has struggled to operate decent public transport across the city, the lack of thought to last-mile connectivity led to a flood of private vehicles once high-paying jobs arrived in the city. Today the city is one of the most polluted cities in India. Heavy to severe air pollution in high-traffic areas already existed by 2005 and has worsened under the burden of the increasing number of vehicles since then.

The Pedestrian Environment and Indian Roads

Pedestrians walking in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

We Indians are accustomed to walking in the road, though whether this is due to habit or necessity is debatable. In any case, motorcycles and mopeds often use the footpaths, thereby endangering pedestrians, especially elders and children. The footpaths are often uneven, broken, and occupied by garbage and construction material. In the neighbourhood of elite housing colonies, this space has been utilized for beautifying the area fronting the houses, again forcing the pedestrian into the road at the risk of his life.

Trash in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

In commercial areas, footpaths are again of limited use, often because of encroachment by vendors and shopkeepers to display their signs and wares. Although street vendors promote affordable wares and community vibrancy, and are thus infinitely preferable to vehicle encroachment, in the absence of proper controls for their placement they can also impinge on pedestrian space and block footpaths. Finally, the demand for ever more parking leads to the encroachment on playgrounds, parks, and even river beds: for instance, the largest bus station in central Bangalore, Kempegowda Bus Terminus, occupies the Dharmanbudhi lake bed. All told, the sad reality is that the pedestrian is almost universally ignored by urban planners.

Commercial Street by day
©2012 ESAF

This is not to say that pedestrians are always badly treated throughout the country. For example, walking plazas in M. G. Road in Pune were very successful, and reports show that both shoppers and merchants are using the pedestrian-friendly street. However, following the November 26 terror attacks on Mumbai, safety has become an increased concern, and Pune closed down the walking plazas. Though efforts have been made to restore them, this has not yet been achieved.

Further, carfree days in India have created some awareness of the benefits of pedestrian spaces. However, unless the government takes the lead role in initiating and implementing pedestrian improvements, the program will attain neither the sustainability nor the success that it has elsewhere in the world.

Evening in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

An Introduction to Commercial Street

Intense motorized traffic in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

Many of the old buildings that were on Commercial Street have been pulled down to make way for large modern buildings. Once the place was a mixed-use neighborhood, comprising residential as well as commercial space, but as the city expanded and gave more importance to commerce, people moved away, and the residential space was converted to purely commercial space. Just a handful of families still live on the street above their business.

As business has increased, Sunday closures ceased and the place is now open for business every day of the year. This once-quiet street is now a busy area where people fight for parking spaces as well as pedestrian rights.

Parked cars and traffic in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

Could Commercial Street be Pedestrianised: Research Results

Survey of the Merchants

• 74% were opposed to Commercial Street being pedestrian-only
• 78% of merchants believe that their business would be negatively impacted if carfree
• 76% believe that the number of customers would be reduced if cars were no longer allowed to park or drive along the street
• 73% could not think of any positive reasons for going carfree
• 80% consider the street as safe for their customers to move around (although the customers have a different opinion)
• 51% believe that Commercial Street is charming as it is and there is no need for improvements

Competition for street space in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

Survey of Mall Patrons

• 61% too crowded
• 53% insufficient parking
• 46% unsafe
• 34% lack of child-friendly infrastructure
• 41% unfavorable weather conditions
• 35% poor facilities for elders and children
• 2% other

• 51% want the street to be accessible for all
• 65% want safety from vehicles
• 37% seek enhanced socialisation opportunities
• 58% call for a less polluted environment

When asked why they shopped at a mall, only 19% indicated that parking was the main reason. Although this was the largest single response by percentage, this is by no means the majority of mall shoppers. Other reasons included:

• 17% high-end products/exclusivity
• 15% best place to hang out
• 14% many different facilities under one roof
• 14% a variety of hygienic eateries
• 14% good and clean basic amenities

Dense pedestrian traffic in Commercial Street
©2012 ESAF

When asked about the shopping experience on Commercial Street, lack of parking was raised as an issue by only 17% of respondents, so this may not be as big an issue as the merchants believe. The customers clearly want a safe, comfortable street. The fact that shopping malls provide a carfree environment is something that people typically appreciate without realizing the reason.

Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF), HealthBridge (HB), and Pedestrian-Friendly Streets

In Bangalore, the area selected for the trial version of how to make a public space exciting and lively was Commercial Street. An important criterion was a street that is not a thoroughfare.

As seen in the above survey results, the merchants and their association are very concerned about losing business. They think that those who come by car give them more business than those on foot. Many merchants believe their business can be improved by inviting the most vehicle-dependent shoppers.

Many merchants have traveled abroad and experienced pedestrian streets in other parts of the world. However, they feel that the attitude of Indians precludes such a program from succeeding locally. In many families, having two cars has become usual. People prefer personal vehicles to public transport. The fact that far more pedestrians than car passengers use the street seems lost on the merchants, if not the shoppers themselves.

Past Efforts in Commercial Street

Commercial Street bustles after dark
©2012 ESAF

ESAF and HealthBridge have taken up this scenario despite the many difficulties. After all, there is a long history of cities that ultimately became pedestrian-friendly only after years of failed attempts. In the long run, people typically understand the benefits of going car-free and decide to try it. Once they get a taste of it, people long for it, with the once-opposed merchants often defending the policy the loudest, and so the program eventually succeeds. There is no reason why India should be an exception to this global rule.

Future Plans of ESAF and HB for a Pedestrian-Friendly Commercial Street

• Sharing our report with the merchants as well as shoppers. This will be in the form of the full report, educational hand bills, and posters; in addition, information about the study will be published in the newspapers.
• Encouraging people to use public transport for reaching the street and then showing them appreciation by giving them T-shirts and buttons with pedestrian-friendly slogans.
• Requesting the merchants to think about making the street carfree on a weekday, as weekends give them more business. Among the weekdays, Tuesday is assumed to give less business and thus can be selected for celebrating the carfree street so as to have the least possible (perceived!) negative impact on their business.
• Trying to start with a partial close by allowing the cars to come in a little ways to drop and pick up visitors.
• Car-Free Day celebration will have vendors, entertainers (musicians, magicians, and artists), games, etc., to show what better use can be made of the space currently devoted to parking.
• Following any such trial efforts, measure the pollution level of the street and educate the people on the benefits.
• Keeping track by the merchants of the business they do on these days and comparing with other days’ trade. Also conduct a small-scale survey/interviews with people on how they feel about the changes they have seen with the pedestrian-friendly vs. "normal" days.

• Increasing the number of people using public spaces
• Decreasing noise pollution
• Increasing economic activities
• Creating awareness and involving more organizations in these issues

Conclusion

These changes have led to inactive people utterly reliant on motor vehicles. Creativity is destroyed because more time is spent watching television and playing video games. Young people become less tolerant and more irritable, with poor problem-solving and communication skills. The coping mechanisms of the current generation seem poor compared to the time when there were rich interactions in the streets. But none of these problems are inevitable or irreversible; we are determined that our efforts will lead to a return of lively streets and liveable cities, beginning in Bangalore and Nagpur, and extending far, far beyond.

News Bits

The articles I consider most important come first. The links below will open in a new browser window:

"Piscataquis Village on Google Docs"

Tracy Gayton's most detailed presentation of the Piscataquis Village plan. (on Google Docs)

"The Great Transition"

International communities in 35 countries make up the adaptable Transition movement, which knows that the world's cheap oil supply will soon run out, changing our lives. Climate change will drastically alter the world. People working together can better prepare for whatever happens. (Sustainable City News, formerly The New Colonist)

"Game Over for the Climate"

"Global warming isn't a prediction. It is happening." James Hansen reads us the riot act. (NY Times)

"Density Atlas"

The Density Atlas is a planning, design, and development resource for comparing urban densities around the world. The Atlas features a unique metrics and scale system for a comprehensive understanding of urban density. (DensityAtlas.org) [See also a similar resource about the Floor Area Ratio at Carfree.com.]

"How Cities Can Learn to Ride Bikes"

Jay Walljasper looks at applying Dutch lessons on cycling to San Francisco. (BeyondChron)

"Traditional City/Heroic Materialism Series Archive"

This drab-looking site actually contains a wealth of information. Most articles are heavily illustsrated. Worth some of your time. (NewWorldEconomics.com)

"This is it, so sorry no-one was ready: Climate chaos = sudden actions"

Reality overtakes climate-change skeptics. (Culture Change)

"Crude-Oil Extraction Resurgent in the United States?: No [PDF!]"

Many news stories imply that there is a resurgence in crude-oil extraction in the United States. Nothing of the sort is going on. (L. David Roper)

"IKEA is Assembling its Own London Neighborhood "

Inter IKEA Holding Services recently announced plans to build an entire neighborhood in Stratford, East London. It is to have significant carfree zones. (Yahoo/CNBC)

"The solar envelope: how to heat and cool cities without fossil fuels"

Architects all over the world have demonstrated the usefulness of buildings which are heated and cooled by design rather than by fossil fuel energy. (Low-tech Magazine)

"The age of speed: how to reduce global fuel consumption by 75 percent"

If we cut the average speed of all vehicles by half, fuel consumption would decrease by a whopping 75%. (Low-tech Magazine)

"New Data Visualization Tool Encourages Sustainable Buildings in Sydney"

Cutting carbon emissions in Australia. (This Big City)

"The Crisis in American Walking"

How we got off the pedestrian path. (Slate)

"The Invention of Jaywalking"

How the pedestrian was marginalized in virtually every city following the introduction of large-scale motoring. (The Atlantic Cities)

"The Street Hacker, Officially Embraced"

Creative citizens are tinkering with public space. (The Atlantic Cities)

"Share Common Ground"

More boomers are opting for smaller neighborhoods with a bigger sense of community. (AARP.org)

About Carfree Times Next Issue The next issue of Carfree Times is scheduled for September 2012. Subscribe to Carfree Times Carfree Times is published quarterly at Carfree.com. To receive e-mail notices of new issues, please visit the subscription page or send e-mail with the word "Subscribe" in the subject line. We do not share our mailing list. Write for Carfree Times Interested in writing for Carfree Times? We welcome articles on a wide variety of subjects and offer an opportunity to publish letters to the editor and guest editorials. Drop us an e-mail.

Contact Information

Editor	J.H. Crawford
E-mail	Send e-mail
URL	http://www.carfree.com/

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