tandempower

What kinds of car-free developments would you expect or imagine possible in the future? Autonomous taxis? More/better intercity bus service? Entirely car-free neighborhoods/areas/communities? More delivery services and/or local distribution kiosks to reduce the need to drive? Do you envision a time-frame for this development or are there factors (cultural, economic, political) that make it difficult to predict when, if ever, it will occur? Do you foresee developments that make car-free living more difficult or less popular? Generally, how do you see the future of car-free living evolving as an option to embrace or reject in various societies?

Walter S

Magic carpets. For everybody as a government entitlement. But you'll pay a premium for following certain prime routes during rush hour.

350htrr

Autonomous taxis, busses and trains will start to happen in 2025, and E-Bikes will also take off around then meaning more E-Bikes than regular bicycles. Car-free will gain major ground when gas reaches $5+ a gallon... IMO

Machka 

Sorry ... already hit that here in Australia. No change to driving habits.

350htrr

Yea, here too last year or so ago but not now, I'm talking US gallons at US dollars and permanent, with the average person believing in the US that it's just going to go up, never down... JMO

jon c. 

I think we'll change the fuel type before that happens.

Thus far gas prices have only influenced the type of vehicles people drive. Prices have some impact on total miles driven, but I think that reflects decreased travel more than daily usage.

Machka 

So am I.

Type "us dollars per us gallon in australian dollars per litre" into Google.

You'll get a little box that says, "1 U.S. dollar per US gallon = 0.352053376 Australian dollars per litre"

5*0.352053376 = $1.76 per litre

We were there for a while, but thankfully it dropped to about $1.30/litre. Unfortunately it seems to be going up again.

B. Carfree

Driving is somewhat inelastic in terms of gas prices. I think the price has to move well over $5/gal and, perhaps more importantly, the price has to stay on an upward trajectory for several years. People seem to respond more to the direction that the price is going and their expectation that that direction will be maintained than to the actual price. $5 can be perceived as cheap or expensive depending on what the price was last month.

jack pot 

PURRPOSE PLANNED mini manufacturing communities >>> living spaces ... working spaces ... recreation spaces all in close proximity to a hub enterprise(s) ... a bright young focused group of inhabitants living a day to day life in a safe clean & mutually productive environment ... think "1984" with "G" rating >>>

cooker

Multiple cities around the world are implementing various car restrictions and/or improved pedestrian and bicycle access: 9 Cities Around the World That Are Going Car-Free - Goodnet
This of course includes Toronto and our adjacent city Mississauga. These improvements (which is what they are!) proceed both incrementally, with budget decisions and pilot projects like trial bike lanes or street closings that occur every year, and through longer-term major infrastructure investment.

mconlonx

Majority car-free at least two generations out.

52telecaster

In my town they have been making inner city routes 2 lane with parking and or bike lanes. This slows down cars and makes it easier to ride. If they keep doing this it won't be carfree but it makes it way more fun to bike commute.

350htrr

WOW, Every time I see city streets filled with people and bicycles and no cars, like in those 9 cities that are going "car-free", I feel there is hope for mankind...

EDIT; The people on here who say LCF people are whistling in the dark and daydreaming need to see those 9 cities and feel the vibrant life happening there without the use of private cars... Doesn't look like 19th century to me.

I-Like-To-Bike

Speaking of whistling in the dark and daydreaming, which of these 9 cities have you actually been to and felt the "vibrant life happening" as a result of the proposed plan or the limited car-restricted zone?

350htrr

Unfortunately I haven't been to any of them

But have watched documentaries like "waterfront cities of the world" and they have showed some of them and what life is like there, looked good to me.
So my opinion isn't from daydreaming, they even used words like vibrant, social, and mentioned how easy it was to go places without a car...

EDIT; And, how's about you ILTB, ? Have you been to places like these "daydream" cities and have 1st hand experience on how that type of city doesn't work, and not somewhere anyone would want to live or strive to make where they live?

I-Like-To-Bike

Sure, since I lived in Germany for 10 years and saw lots of limited car access (Fußgängerzone in Germany) in specific shopping areas of numerous German, French, and NL cities. Scouted out the "car-free" Vauban neighborhood of Freiburg, Germany when my daughter was looking for housing while attending the University there. Rode my bike on many car-free days (Autofreitags) along scenic river roads in Germany -very pleasant ways to enjoy the day cycling or the shopping experience.

None of these limited "car free" zones/restricted areas (by time or percentage of the city actually dedicated to being "car free") amount to much in making a city "car free", or in and of themselves make much difference for the inhabitants' overall well being, especially if they ever care to travel anywhere outside of the "car free" zone.

Good metropolitan area public transit networks and convenient frequent service, (with or without any car free shopping or residential zones) are far more significant for people seeking a city where it is possible to have a vibrant car free life.

CliffordK

Amish?

cooker

I've been to Paris and Hamburg off that list. My sister lives in Hamburg, which is the Venice of the North, with lots of canals, and some of them have former towpaths converted to MUPs as we saw in a video a resident posted here a couple of years ago. We've seen and discussed their future green plan before, but they already have some downtown areas and even some inner suburbs (eg. Blankenese) that are car-free and vibrant. Copenhagen is on the list and it seems to be thriving - my niece lives there.

As previously discussed the Cheng Du car-free satellite city project seems to be on hold, but I think it is because China built something 50 cities and the last or 2 or 3 have been slow to populate,so they are probably waiting til demand picks up again.

I haven't lived there so I don't know for sure, but superficially, when you wander through an area like Montmartre in Paris, or my wife's ancestral town of Bad Hersfeld which also has a car-free zone, you see a pretty vibrant street life that seems to include both locals and tourists. It also seems safer and less stressful to walk though those areas than walking on more crowded narrow sidewalks beside car traffic, and crossing busy streets.

I-Like-To-Bike

Note: Existence of a limited "car free zone" or good MUP network in a city does not make a city car free by anyone but a few daydreamers.

Car free (for a few hours) highway in Chicago hardly makes a city "car free" anymore than closing a few streets for a day or limited amount of time in Paris or anywhere else. Makes for a nice/vibrant one day happening though.

I-Like-To-Bike

Are you predicting that many people in the future will join an Amish sect to partake in their vibrant car free lifestyle?

350htrr

That pic is NOTHING like the pics of/in car-free cities and if that is how you thing it would be in N American cities, I can see why you are not for getting rid of the car... No wonder you are poo pooing practically everything "car free". It goes without saying infrastructure needs/must be changed, just eliminating cars like in that picture I would agree with you, it is/would be a fail, but that is NOT how it's done in the real world.

cooker

Looks like Anne Hidalgo is planning for a lot more than a few hours.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-centre-france

CliffordK

Amsterdam also has quite a few canals, and I could imagine the central core going car-free someday.

I-Like-To-Bike

"Plans" and "future developments" desired by a politician, planner and/or developer sometime develop as planned, sometimes not as originally planned, and sometimes are just unsupported, unfunded and/or unpopular (with the taxpayers or decision makers) pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams that go nowhere.

I-Like-To-Bike

Drawings and sketches of suggested car-free city plans are not pictures of real car free cities, believe it or not.