Imagine a place where no one owns a car and everyone walks, rides their bikes or takes public transportation to work, to the store, to school or anywhere else they need to go. No, this isn’t some Star Trek-like fantasy world, it’s Vauban, Germany, a planned community where cars are largely banned in favor of other modes of transportation.
A New York Times article this week detailed the particulars of this forward-thinking community; where a tram runs through the center of town, shops and houses are mixed together so no one has to travel far to do the shopping and people embrace biking and walking as primary means of travel.
As a resident of a pretty urban area (Somerville, right outside of Boston), I often walk to the store, ride my bike around the neighborhood and take the T (the subway), when heading into downtown. But a sign on Interstate-93 stating “Horses, Bicycles, Pedestrians Banned” prevents me from taking alternative transportation to work.
Reading about Vauban and seeing other people biking and walking to work inspires envy in me, especially since gasoline prices are on the rise again. Imagine knocking out both your morning commute and exercise routine for the day at once?
After the article appeared in the Times, a debate began raging on their Web site comments section about whether this type of lifestyle was possible in the U.S.
(There are already some car-free or nearly car-free communities in the U.S., including Catalina Island in California, Bald Head Island in North Carolina and Mackinac Island in Michigan, but most of them are vacation locations with few permanent residents.)
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Many urban-dwellers of cities like New York, Boston and Chicago said that the Vauban lifestyle is pretty much how they live already. But most other commenters said that while this seemed like a fine idea, they didn’t see how it would work in a country where suburbs spring up like weeds and some people live in exurban environments (or The Sticks as we like to call it in my home state of New Hampshire).
While I think a community like Vauban is an excellent idea, I agree that it seems difficult to imagine most Americans giving up their cars in favor of bikes and trams.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, fully 77% of American workers drive to their jobs alone, while only 0.4% ride a bike, 2.5% walk and 4.7% take public transportation. Everyone else uses some other mode of transportation, including car-pooling, or they don’t commute at all because they work from home.
Portland, Oregon, often hailed as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the U.S., has the highest number of two-wheeled commuters. About 3.5% of Portland’s workers pedal to work, which is about eight times the national average.
Boston had the highest percentage among large cities of commuters who walk to work, with about 13% of workers pounding the pavement to get to their jobs each day.
Those Americans who are always walking or biking to work are already realizing the many benefits of a community like Vauban. One is huge personal financial savings: no car means no car insurance, no car payments, no gasoline purchases, no car repairs, the list goes on.
There are also the health benefits. Instead of driving to the gym (something I do several times a week–the irony does not escape me), you would get exercise by walking or biking to work, to do errands, to go pretty much anywhere. An alternative commute: A way to fatten your wallet while trimming your waistline.
Perhaps one of the most intangible benefits of walking and biking is also one of the most important and that is the connection to the community you gain by being “on the ground.” When you walk and bike, you’re more apt to talk to your neighbors and get to know the people and places around you in a much more intimate way.
This type of community does have some problems that weren’t really addressed in the Times article. What happens to the elderly, disabled or injured/sick who can’t ride a bike or walk as easily? What happens when you live in a place that regularly hits sub-zero or 100-plus temperatures? What happens when you live really far away from everything?
It seems unlikely that the U.S. will see such a drastic shift in society, one that allows us to be car-free. But Vauban does serve as a good example of how neighborhoods can be planned to better accommodate biking, walking and mass transit. If nothing else, the idea of a car-free community gives us something to contemplate as we enter an age when oil will grow less plentiful and more expensive and greenhouse gas emissions will need to be reduced.
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15 responses so far ↓
1 Sudden call // May 16, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I believe that trying to go to the old fashioned public transformation system is a waste of money.Americans do not want it and will not use it unless the government forces us to.It takes to much time and goes no where near any destinations where people want to shop.
We have a wanna be public bus and it just runns up and down with no one riding it .We could send a cab out to those folks that ride it for 1/1000 th of the cost.It is just a waste of taxes.
2 Gershon // May 16, 2009 at 5:29 pm
No car? Not here. Not for me.
1) I am old and slowly recovering from a bad one.
2) All stores are 8 km distant. They do not deliver.
3) Entertainment (music rehearsals) is 40 km.
4) Work would be (I am retired.) 35 km distant.
5) Medical requirements are frequent and 40 km.
*I could move to shorten distances to 5 km, which would seriously shorten my life expectancy.
3 Dennis Dorsey // May 16, 2009 at 6:18 pm
For the younger people that place is almost heaven, but and this is a large but when you age or have health problems it is not as much fun to walk to where you need to be.
4 Byron Snyder // May 16, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I’m 75 and I think this is a very good idea. It is tough in big cities because of the safety issue. Too many nuts driving cars. All of the stated benefits are legit. Let’s face it, Americans are lazy. Americans are vain. Most Americans will choose the easiest way, given a choice. I do see many of my neighbors out walking early in the morning though. Maybe there is hope. I believe it is going to take an economic crisis of some sort to make us do it though.
5 Bill Wilson // May 16, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Great potential for humanity to rediscover simplicity and considering the death toll of our highway system and polution, a big step back to.
I would consider moving anywhere like this if family will agree.
6 Goatrancher // May 16, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I live in west Texas 50 miles from everything, that includes gas, post office, church. It is hard to imagine not driving.
7 David // May 17, 2009 at 3:57 am
The problem is getting from our current culture to the new one. It has to be done by degrees.
Firstly, private car ownership should be gradually made more difficult; costs, driving tests etc.
Secondly, there would have to be a more flexible, accommodating public transport system (including taxis). This should take care of all requirements.
Eventually, private car ownership will be banned (a diificult proposition for Americans). At that stage, a superb transportation system will be in place.
The benefits will be
a) cleaner air
b) more positive social intercourse
c) less deaths by accident
d) less crime
e) healthier lifestyle.
How does that sound?
8 Mel // May 17, 2009 at 5:46 am
The US invented cars and the suburb and zoning laws followed which would prevent a car less community. Zoning will change only when oil runs out.
9 everard // May 17, 2009 at 8:39 am
Your dream place where most people walk or ride their bicycle to work ,shop ,church ,etc. exist on a large scale,just visit The Netherlands and you will see how that works.
Thee key is land use planning , infrastructure friendly to pedestrians and cyclists .As well as a good and reliable and affordable public transportation system and an overcrowded road system that takes the fun out of car use.
Go and have a biking vacation,you will love it .
Sub-urban sprawl is not allowed in general.
10 Harry Burt // May 17, 2009 at 2:27 pm
As an expat Brit living in the US the thing I miss most is being able to walk around the corner to the local butcher, baker and candle stick maker, so any progress toward that goal has my support.
We at Cybertran (a US company located in Oakland CA) are pushing hard to provide the affordable transportation that will make the dream easier to realize in tomorrows oil scarce world. The key to livable communities is a viable alternative to the automobile which is what we are developing. Costing 1/3rd of existing transit, with 100% of its operating and maintenance costs recoverable from the farebox at todays gas prices, and capable of networking into regional and interregional networks, we hope to change the world for the better
11 Mary Glenn // May 17, 2009 at 6:48 pm
This would be a great idea if we were not so scattered. In our area even the buses do not go where we often need to go, so a car is almost a necessity to get around. Wish our city fathers were more alert to what we really need.
12 dick matheson // May 17, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Cheap energy flattened and shrank our world. Mandating a green utopia (Vaubanizing) may provide a fine model, but it won’t ramp up until energy gets very expensive. If gasoline were $20./ gallon and it cost $2000.pp for a round trip flight to visit your parents at Christmas, the world would begin to adapt organically, rather than by fiat or from idealism. We WILL be cursed by our descendants for squandering the bison, the rainforest, and the oil.
13 Mel Rollins // May 18, 2009 at 11:01 am
A nutty environmental fantasy. Even Catalina uses golf carts for local trnsportation. It is also a small, tight community with very limited amenities. America didn,t become great by living like ants in a nest. Bicycles are great fot kids and athletic types but a hazard for the older people and automobile drivers. They don’t stayin their lanes thinking the white line is to be driven on instead of the outer limit of their lane. There is plenty of oil to be had if we really want to get it. We don’t need to become swlaves to the social designers.
14 ron // May 18, 2009 at 6:36 pm
It’s 1960’s in NYC, and my uncle, a lawyer, rides the subway to work. His Plymouth is parked in a garage in the basement of his building, and is used solely to “cruise” on Sunday mornings when there is no traffic. All shopping, dining, etc is done within walking distance of his apartment. I especially remember the milk vending machine in the basement of the apartment. This is 50-year old news.
15 Readers React to a Car-Free World // May 22, 2009 at 1:57 pm
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