Car-free movement

The car-free movement is a broad, informal, emergent network of individuals and organizations including social activists, urban planners and others brought together by a shared belief that large and/or high-speed motorized vehicles (cars, trucks, tractor units, motorcycles, ...) are too dominant in most modern cities. The goal of the movement is to create places where motorized vehicle use is greatly reduced or eliminated, to convert road and parking space to other public uses and to rebuild compact urban environments where most destinations are within easy reach by walking, cycling or public transport.

Before the twentieth century, cities and towns were normally compact, containing narrow streets busy with human activity. In the early twentieth century, many of these settlements were adapted to accommodate the car with wider roads, more space allocated for car parking, and lower population densities where most space between urban buildings was reserved for automotive use. Lower population densities led to urban sprawl with longer distances between places, and traffic congestion which made the alternatives to the car unattractive or impractical, and created the conditions for more traffic and sprawl; the car system was "increasingly able to 'drive' out competitors, such as feet, bikes, buses and trains". This process led to changes in urban form and living patterns where it was virtually impossible for people to live without a car.

Some governments have responded to this emerging situation with policies and regulations aimed at reversing this trend by increasing urban densities, encouraging mixed use development, reducing space allocated to the private cars, and lending greater support to cycling, walking, and public transport. Globally cities are planning to increase their public transport and non-motorized transport modal shares and shift away from private transport oriented development. Cities like Hong Kong developed a highly integrated public transportation system which effectively reduced the use of private transport. In contrast with private automotive travel, car sharing, where people can easily rent a car for a few hours rather than own one, is emerging as an increasingly important element for urban transportation.

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Wikipedia