New German community models car-free living

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1220/p01s03-woeu.html

FREIBURG, GERMANY – It's pickup time at the Vauban kindergarten here at the edge of the Black Forest, but there's not a single minivan waiting for the kids. Instead, a convoy of helmet-donning moms - bicycle trailers in tow - pedal up to the entrance.

Welcome to Germany's best-known environmentally friendly neighborhood and a successful experiment in green urban living. The Vauban development - 2,000 new homes on a former military base 10 minutes by bike from the heart of Freiburg - has put into practice many ideas that were once dismissed as eco-fantasy but which are now moving to the center of public policy.

With gas prices well above $6 per gallon across much of the continent, Vauban is striking a chord in Western Europe as communities encourage people to be less car-dependent. Just this week, Paris unveiled a new electric tram in a bid to reduce urban pollution and traffic congestion.

"Vauban is clearly an offer for families with kids to live without cars," says Jan Scheurer, an Australian researcher who has studied the Vauban model extensively. "It was meant to counter urban sprawl - an offer for families not to move out to the suburbs and give them the same, if better quality of life. And it is very successful."

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it's actually quite liberating.

For one thing, you immediately have a minimum of $3000 extra per year in disposable income.

I hate having to drive here--it's definitely affecting my quality of life--and once my elders are gone, I plan to move downtown, where I can take public transit everywhere.

It's about adjusting lifestyles in a way that bring a Better standard of living which has Nothing to do with how much stuff you have or how fast you can go. And it's about strengthening communities.

Somewhere along the way we lost sight of what 'development' really means. It became just about growth and it seems Americans may be the most stubborn in relearning this.

u.s. doing anything that's even close to this. with suburban sprawl it makes it difficult to be without a car. towns used to be more convenient with your neighborhood stores and businesses. now they make everyone drive further and centralize everything around a mall. makes for nice congestion.

But to be honest I like the country life. I couldn't stand all the noise their were in town! Plus I have a big yard to do what ever I want. Aaah, life is so much less stressful out in the country, no neigbors to worry about when riding the dirtbike eiteher, and no heavy traffic to deal with either.:-) Besides, who would bother to have a mass transit system out in the country 20+ miles away from town anyways?? I enjoy driving!

Davis, CA is super bike-friendly and has transit options for getting into the bay area, to sacramento, to woodland (people head up there or to Sacto to shop because Davis has no big box shopping and discourages national chains) or to the airport via bus and to farther away places by the rather nice train station right in town.

In the less suburby parts of the bay area and in Portland, OR it's pretty easy to be car-free too. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure the majority of my friends in PDX don't have cars.