Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Carfree by J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford. Carfree Cities, International Books, 2000. Carfree Design Manual, International Books, 2009. Articles. "The Lyon Protocol Revisited," Carbusters #37 (Spring 2009) "Reclaiming cities for citizens," OpenDemocracy.net 5 September 2002. "An Interview with J.H. Crawford," Clamor Magazine September/October 2001. "Sustainable Urban Mobility: The Place of the Carfree in Long-Term ," scheduled for publication by IHS (Rotterdam) as part of course work on sustainable development, late 2001. "The Relative Ease of Marketing Carfree Cities," presented at the "Marketing Sustainability - From Pioneers to Early Adopters and Market Breakthrough" session, of the Bremen Initiative conference, 26 June 2000. "Carfree Cities: A Blueprint for Sustainability," in World Architecture Review [], 2000:01 (no. 70). "Cities for People: The Design of -Free Cities," paper presented at the Towards Car-Free Cities conference, Lyon, 1997. "Why We Need Completely Car-Free Cities," contribution to the Towards Car-Free Cities conference reader, Free the Street 1997. "Cities for People" presented at the Residential 2000 conference held in Shanghai in 1996 and believed to have been published in the proceedings. Internet. Links will open in a new browser window. An Idealized Design for Carfree Cities and Its Application in the Real World. Paper presented at the 34th International Making Cities Livable Conference, Alpbach and Salzburg, Austria, 15-19 September 2002. "Reclaiming Cities for Citizens" in the City and Country thread of OpenDemocracy.com, 9 May 2002 (sorry, no direct URL). "An Interview with J.H. Crawford," (a Web Exclusive article, not printed in the magazine) Clamor Magazine, No. 10 (September/October 2001), by Pete Menchetti. "Children and ," published on FatherMag.com, 2001. "The Lyon Protocol," product of a work group facilitated by J.H. Crawford at the "Towards Car-Free Cities" conference, Lyon, 1997. "Why We Need Car-Free Cities," in the on-line Zero Emissions Strategy Conference, published 17 October 1997. Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford. Suppose for a moment that we found technical solutions to the resource, pollution, and problems. Would continuing motorization then be the best strategy to improve the quality of life in the world's cities? What are the social effects of wholesale motorization? Road traffic has turned our public spaces into dangerous, noisy places where people are not inclined to linger, which discourages the casual social contacts that help bind societies together. Until the advent of cars, streets always served as shared social spaces. Children playing in the streets are exposed to socialization by the broader society, but the danger from cars has all but ended this function of streets in the US and Europe. These days, one scarcely dares to mention beauty as a civic attribute, but I shall take the risk. Streets in auto-centric cities are almost invariably ugly, which further spoils their function as social spaces. Let us compare both beauty and social function in the two extreme urban forms: auto- centric Los Angeles and carfree . Public Spaces-Slide 1. Many streets in Los Angeles are given over to strip malls, which are well suited to the convenience of drivers. The resulting noisy, ugly spaces do nothing to encourage social contacts. In Venice, stores are concentrated around squares, and customer traffic adds life to these squares. In Los Angeles, overwhelms other design criteria. Garage doors and asphalt dominate the scene. Parents dare not let children play in the street. In Venice, outdoor spaces are convivial and there is, of course, no parking. Children play in the streets and adults linger to chat. In Los Angeles, churches, like all organizations, must provide vast parking lots that offer no secondary amenity. In Venice, the entrance to a church can also serve an informal social function. In Los Angeles, shopping is done far from home at large stores dominated by huge parking lots. In Venice, shopping is done on foot. Reducing the Role of the Automobile. Many urban planners already agree on the need to reduce the impact of cars on city life and therefore to reduce their role in urban transport. The unanswered question is, "What is the ideal amount of this reduction?" Many would agree that 100% would be ideal, yet few are prepared to believe that this is either possible to achieve or acceptable to citizens. Improving Life for Three Billion People. How can we improve the lives of billions of city dwellers while minimizing the consumption of land, energy, raw materials, and money? Eliminating cars from cities can do more than almost any other conceivable approach to reduce the demands on these resources while at the same time reducing and improving public spaces. Existing cities that are not yet highly motorized can become carfree without occupying more land, whereas adopting the auto-centric model requires rebuilding these cities as vast connected by broad highways. In the USA, many large inner-city brownfield sites are ideal candidates for redevelopment as carfree districts. Heavy is already in place, so redevelopment can begin immediately and at relatively low cost. Greatly improved is essential to a carfree city, but the means are well known and the cost comparatively low. Rail systems in dense, compact cities provide excellent service and consume far less energy than cars and trucks in sprawling auto-centric cities. Freight can be containerized and delivered by dedicated rail vehicles that permit fully-automated handling. Local deliveries can be made with low-impact vehicles, including freight . Let us consider a design that makes carfree cities both feasible and attractive. The Reference Design for Carfree Cities: An Equitable and Effective Plan for Better Cities-Slide 5. This slide shows a reference design for a carfree city of 1,000,000 people. The design goal was to provide high quality of life and optimized transport using rail systems. The site is 250 square kilometers, but only about 20% is developed; the remaining land is open space. The three metro lines provide rapid service to all parts of the city in no more than 40 minutes door-to-door and never require more than one transfer. Three utility areas for freight-handling, industry, and parking can be seen at the end of each of the six lobes. At the next level of detail, we see one of the 80 districts, each providing housing for 12,000 residents and workplaces for 8,000. Districts are 760 meters in diameter and occupy 45 hectares. Transport halts and basic services are located at district centers, within a 5-minute walk of every doorstep. Containerized freight is delivered directly to businesses located along the central freight line. We zoom next to a view of a single block. Streets are about 6 meters wide, and large interior courtyards are formed, as shown in the photograph. Buildings average four stories tall. The density of construction is high but not excessive, and large green spaces are created within the urban fabric. If carfree cities are both feasible and highly sustainable, what then of the question of selling them to the public? The "Freedom of the Automobile" We come to the crux of the implementation problem: how do we persuade billions of people to forego urban car usage when cars are seen as a ticket to freedom and the ultimate status symbol? I believe that only by adopting large carfree areas in the rich nations can we reasonably expect people in the developing world to see the wisdom of this approach. Given that Westerners are well aware of the high costs of unrestrained urban automobile usage and that recent surveys show about one-third of Americans wanting car-moderated living environments with nearby shopping, I think it will be comparatively easy to develop large carfree districts in many Western cities. Private developers should be able to profit from filling this evident demand. The largest completed carfree residential project is the 600-unit development in Amsterdam, which was greatly over- subscribed. We must expose the myth that cars offer freedom and undermine their value as status symbols. The "lure of the open road" has not existed for city dwellers for many years now, despite the continuing use of this image to sell cars. Many city residents are ready for an approach to urban transport that will actually improve their lives. Summary. The automobile is neither a suitable nor a sustainable mode of urban transport. The failure of motorization to improve life in those cities that have now been testing it for fifty years is clear evidence that this approach should be abandoned. Carfree cities can greatly improve urban sustainability while also improving the quality of life. Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford. I have proposed an idealized case for car- and truck-free cities, what I call a "reference design." It is based entirely on rail systems for heavy transport, with local transport and light freight delivery provided by and . I will describe in some detail the elements of and rationale for this reference design, and then consider its application to both new and existing urban sites. Variations from the reference design will be required in the real world, but the design can still be guided by the reference design. The resulting compact cities would be highly sustainable, offer a quality of life second only to Venice, and can compete with auto-centric cities in the global economy. INTRODUCTION. THE CITY AND THE CAR. MODERN CARFREE CITIES. Venice can guide us in other respects as well. I believe that the medieval city, with its narrow, irregular streets, is the best urban model ever developed. However, the carfree approach can be applied to almost any type of city, with the caveat that density must be high enough to support good public transport. EFFECTS OF TRAFFIC. TRANSPORT AND URBAN PLANNING. Efficient use of renewable energy sources Efficient use of land Rapid transport of both passengers and freight Economical service. While rail systems are the most energy- and land-efficient of all transport choices, they are of limited usefulness in small cities because the capital costs are high. In larger cities, however, the high capital costs are offset by large operating economies. At the same time, modern passenger rail systems provide a level of comfort that is never reached by buses, no matter how advanced. If street-running trams are adopted in existing cities, which is a reasonable compromise in many circumstances, it is imperative that conflicts with other traffic be eliminated, which can only be achieved by removing cars and trucks from the streets on which they run. MAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORT WORK. Cars can only be replaced by public transport if the quality of service is high. There is no intrinsic barrier to high-quality public transport in any reasonably dense . The means are well known, if seldom applied. Where high-quality service is provided, people use it willingly. For example, in Zurich, 90% of commuters to downtown use the excellent public transport service. THE IDEALIZED DESIGN FOR CARFREE CITIES. Let us now consider an idealized design for a carfree city of million people, built without any of the usual constraints of geography or existing development. Such a design could actually be constructed on a number of sites. This "reference design" can serve as a guide when converting larger cities to the carfree model; small cities may require different means. DESIGN GOALS. Priority for Economical construction High sustainability High quality of life Vital Statistics Population 1,000,000 Site 16 kilometers on a side Less than 20% of the site developed 81 inhabited districts 18 "utility areas," with parking garages, freight infrastructure, and heavy industry Buildings average four stories high Both the transport halt and green space lie within a 5-minute walk of every doorstep Longest door-to-door journey takes 35 minutes. GENERAL PLAN. Slide: General plan of the entire city. Provides optimum public transport with no more than one transfer Leaves open space close to all parts of the city Slide: Lobe drawing Portions of 12 districts are shown and 3 utility areas Farms, forests, and parks surround the districts Utility areas are shown at the outer edge of the lobe. Many variations are possible while still following the basic concept, as long as reasonably high density is achieved. DISTRICTS. The reference district is largely based on the medieval city form, except that the streets are somewhat wider because I think that very narrow streets are a difficult sell today, even though I prefer them myself. A highly regular street plan is of course possible, but I think that irregular plans are easier to navigate because they provide a ready supply of reference points for the , and I believe that they are much more interesting. Slide: District drawing. 12,000 residents and 8,000 workplaces per district F.A.R. of about 1.5 Radial design minimizes walking times to the center District radius is 380 meters, or a five-minute walk Mixed-use districts, with housing, shops, offices, and light manufacturing No automobiles, motorbikes, or trucks inside the district A natural district focus at the central transport halt Markets, shops, services, and a large square near the transport halt Public transport running on or under the wide central boulevard Green space surrounding the district. BLOCKS. Short blocks provide a choice of routes to most destinations Narrow streets of varying width, with frequent slight turns, create an interesting streetscape. Interior courtyard of 40 x 60 meters. BUILDINGS. Building heights are limited to four stories (possibly five or six in very large cities) A wide variety of building types and sizes is desirable Ground- floor commercial space is provided in many buildings. FREIGHT. CARFREE CITIES IN THE REAL WORLD. Hours of access Speed (limited to 20 km/hr) and rigorously enforced. High entry fees, to encourage load consolidation. Clearly, in smaller projects, those businesses that have heavy freight requirements or make extensive use of motor vehicles should be encouraged to relocate to the outskirts of the city. The conversion of existing urban areas will free up a great deal of street space. We should not neglect to reap the benefits that accrue. All of the signs, pavement striping, speed bumps, traffic lights, large illuminated signs, and other ugly trappings of urban automobility should be removed at the outset. Once the cars are gone, a great deal of street space becomes available for a variety of uses, including sidewalk caf�s, benches, flower pots, and fountains. In cities with broad streets, it will be possible to use some of the street space for new buildings. Curbs can be eliminated to facilitate the use of handcarts and to provide unimpeded access for those with mobility limitations. Once the need for brilliant street lighting is gone, we can replace ugly sodium-vapor lights with much softer, full-spectrum illumination. Carfree districts should be mixed-use areas because they usually assure a high quality of life and minimize the distance that must be traveled to obtain daily necessities. Carfree areas will not be without their problems, but they can be expected to yield a dramatic improvement in the quality of life while also delivering a large environmental and sustainability benefit. It is time that we availed ourselves of the opportunity. CARFREE CITY CENTERS IN EUROPE. An example is Zermatt, a carfree alpine resort with a population of about 20,000. Private cars are not allowed into the city. Visitors park a few kilometers away and take the train the rest of the way into town. Residents may park in underground garages at the north edge of town. Zermatt is small enough to cross on foot in 10 or 15 minutes. Small, slow, battery-powered taxis carry passengers and deliver freight, which arrives either by train or in a utility area near the garages. A few specialized vehicles, such as concrete delivery trucks, are allowed to use the streets. Zermatt appears to be popular with residents and visitors alike, and offers an active street life, attractive neighborhoods, and clean air. It is a very prosperous town, no doubt largely as a result of the very high quality of life that it offers. The success of existing European carfree areas is now almost beyond question, and there is no reason not to expand upon this success. Improved public transport is, of course, essential to practically any carfree conversion. SOME ILLUSTRATIVE PROPOSALS. Lyon This was the first proposal generated. It is based on the four existing metro lines plus the addition of a number of new tram lines. Nearly all of the existing core urban areas would be retained in urban uses, but much of the outlying area would be condensed and a considerable amount of land freed up for use as parks and productive open space. Manhattan is already substantially carfree, at least according to the numbers-only about one-third of daily commuters to Manhattan are in private automobiles; the remainder use New York's relatively good public transport network. However, the city is dogged by intense traffic and all its accompanying problems. The proposal assumes the completion of the Second Avenue subway and the replacement of crosstown bus service by trams, as is indeed already seriously proposed for 42nd Street. Minor cross streets would see the installation of freight trams to deliver containers from terminals on the rivers. Barges would deliver containers from existing harbors in New Jersey to the Manhattan terminals. Los Angeles is the icon of the auto-centric city, so I thought it would be instructive to show a conversion of one of its more central areas. Subsequent field inspection revealed densities somewhat higher than I had assumed, and, in reality, somewhat more of the area would have to remain in urban uses, with a resultant reduction in the amount of park land that would eventually be created, but this does not greatly affect the proposal. Los Angeles's small metro system would be extended, as has already been proposed, and new tram lines would link to metro stations. Utility areas would be installed at freeway interchanges, which would include garages where visitors arriving at the carfree area would park. Rush hour travel should be appreciably quicker than today and competitive with the car even in quiet periods, assuming that there is enough demand to run reasonably frequent service. Brownfield Redevelopment in the USA. Other candidates for carfree redevelopment are large brownfield sites in US cities. Few cities are without these sites, and most are already served by heavy infrastructure and often also reasonable public transport service. Given that the cost of redeveloping these sites as fairly dense, mixed-use carfree areas should be lower than new construction or other kinds of redevelopment, this offers a means to solve the increasingly pressing need for affordable housing in the USA. Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford. Didn't find what you are looking for? Email me and I'll find it for you. Progressive Links. Of Interest. Climate Shift - The effects of climate shift on the future of planet earth and its inhabitants. Hazardscapes - Toxic and Nuclear Risks in your backyard. REVIEW - Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford, foreword by James Howard Kunstler. Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford, foreword by James Howard Kunstler. There are so many good reasons to rethink our automobile culture and create alternatives. Automobiles are a large source of pollution, spewing tons of toxics and CO2 -- a major contributor to global warming -- into the air we breathe. Automobiles present a serious hazard to pedestrians and cyclists. Automobiles contribute to sprawl. Automobiles are inefficient. The list goes on and on. I am sure that you can think of more to add. This, of course, is all very depressing news. How can we break the habit? Is it doable? J.H. Crawford leads the way towards creating livable CarFree cities. Enjoy the reviews on this page, visit the CarFree Website for more information, and then return here to order copies of CarFree Cities for yourself and your friends directly from us. -- Michael R. Meuser. Carfree Cities offers a practical solution to the many urban problems caused by cars and trucks. The carfree city saves energy, preserves the environment, and improves the quality of our lives. Imagine life in a city free from the noise, stench, and danger of cars, trucks, and buses. Imagine that all basic needs, from groceries to child care, lie within a five-minute walk of every doorstep. Imagine that no commute takes more than 35 minutes from door to door, and that service is provided by a fast, cheap, safe, comfortable public transport system. This is the future that J.H. Crawford envisions in Carfree Cities. Crawford argues unapologetically that the car is a technology that has run wild, and that the time has come to reclaim city streets for human activities. He proposes a city planned to maximize the quality of life for individuals and communities, and gives practical suggestions for implementing this basic design in both new and existing cities. Crawford believes that sustainable development can only be achieved by ending car use within cities. In the face of passive acceptance of declining quality of life, Carfree Cities is a beacon of hope and sanity that offers a practical solution to the danger, pollution, and breakdown of social systems caused by autocentric development. By rejecting the assumption that continued car use in cities is inevitable, Crawford takes us a step closer to the tantalizing possibility of a return to the pattern of lively, attractive streets that we had enjoyed for thousands of years, until the advent of automobiles. What Others Say. Nikos A. Salingaros. "Carfree Cities is a pathbreaking work that outlines how human beings can live in an urban environment entirely free from cars. As someone working to uncover mathematical forces that shape urban form, I appreciate Crawford's efforts and applaud his conclusions. I personally believe that the city of the future will have to combine many different means of transportation, including the hated/loved car, but it is not clear to most planners how to achieve this. Crawford's book provides a well thought-out plan for pedestrian life, which, in the hands of an enlightened urbanist, can be used to drastically improve the quality of existing cities. "Therefore, while I don't necessarily accept Crawford's total exclusion of cars, I find his solutions vitally important to the future of cities. Furthermore, I don't think that anyone would have taken him seriously unless he did what he has done: to show that a totally carfree solution is possible. Not only is it possible, but Crawford has shown that it is both feasible and practical. Congratulations to him for this outstanding work." -- Nikos A. Salingaros is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His areas of work include mathematics applied to architecture and urbanism. James Howard Kunstler. "The fruits of the last century's romance with the automobile can now be seen in hundreds of mutilated cities around the world. There should be no question anymore that the future will compel us to reduce the presence of cars in our daily lives. J.H. Crawford's fine book launches a major cultural project for the 21st century--to recreate an everyday environment that is worth caring about and worth living in." -- James Howard Kunstler is the author of Home from Nowhere and other books. "Carfree Cities offers up a vision of a that provides an exceptional quality of life for its citizens. No science-fiction odyssey, this carefully illustrated book sketches out a number of ways to move toward car-free cities, using proven technologies. A must read for not only for the academics and students, but for anyone who cares about people and cities." -- Eric Britton is the founder of EcoPlan International and The Commons (Paris). Didn't find what you are looking for? We've been online since 1996 and have created 1000's of pages. Search below and you may find just what you are looking for. Michael R. Meuser Data Research & GIS Specialist. MapCruzin.com is an independent firm specializing in GIS project development and data research. We created the first U.S. based interactive toxic chemical facility maps on the internet in 1996 and we have been online ever since. Learn more about us and our services. Have a project in mind? If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs contact Mike . Follow on Facebook News & Updates. Find: Maps, Shapefiles, GIS Software & More. MapCruzin Blog for updates, questions and answers Blog Updates. ISBN 13: 9789057270376. In this volume filled with historical and contemporary references to guiding historic precedents and ideological errors of 20th-century planning, the author sets up the carfree city as the cornerstone of sustainable development. This book outlines a structure carefully designed to maximize the quality of life for people and communities worldwide. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. J. H. Crawford has worked as a consultant, designer, photographer, editor, and writer. “ Carfree Cities offers up a vision of a sustainable city that provides an exceptional quality of life for its citizens. . . . A must read not only for academics and students, but for anyone who cares about people and cities.” —Eric Britton, Ecoplan International and The Commons, Paris.