World Carfree News #98 - November/December 2012 - English Version
QUOTATION OF THE MONTH
""There is a discernible change in attitude from the motorists' lobby as well, with the president of the Automobile Association (the other AA) reminding cyclists "to be more vigilant particularly when pulling out of entrances and turning at junctions" before calling for motorists to rethink "the 'two-tribe' mentality on the roads and co-exist in harmony." These may only be words but they are surely a sign of the times when they come from the president of the largest car club in the country."
Adam Mathews, aka the aimless wanderer, takes a look at our
changing times. While visiting his native England, he finds
attitudes towards cyclists on the mend. Read the blog.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WCN MEMBERS VISITED DEGROWTH CONFERENCE
Several members of WCN took the opportunity of a degrowth
conference in the heart of Venice, Italy to meet and take a
look at carfree themes and explore future synergies with
degrowth and worldwide activists.
Read more
BULLETIN TO GO LOCAL!
Among the decisions reached in Venice was one concerning the
bulletin: to merge this newsletter with Carbusters in such a
way that short news items will be combined with a few longer
articles. The bulletin will still be sent via email and
available online at Carbusters.org. In addition, it will be
offered to organizations and groups to include in tandem with
their own information and printed for local distribution.
While the final format of this is still taking shape,
interest in local distribution as well as requests by
potential members to join the editorial collective are
welcome. Please contact us at bulletin@worldcarfree.net.
CONFERENCE ON EU TRANSPORT WHITE PAPER
To help achieve the objectives of the EU White Paper on
Transport, a one day conference is being organized in Brussels
on December 7, where representatives of institutions and civil
society may attend and suggest strategies for the way forward.
Read more
NEW BOOK RELEASED
A new book has been published titled "Transforming Urban
Transport - The Ethics, Politics and Practices of Sustainable
Mobility" by Nicholas Low. This book brings together scholars
from especially Australia, Japan and China, and looks at the
needs of transport planning practitioners and all those
looking to find solutions.
Read more
CREDITS
The shot of Venice was taken by Monika Prokopczuk. The
cartoon was brought to you by Andy Singer. The PARKing Day
photo comes courtesy of Keihly Moore. Special thanks and
bye-bye to jagmad, who has provided tremendous technical
support to the bulletin this past year.
NEWS
Hurricane Sandy unleashed its fury on the eastern part of the
USA. New York was hit especially hard. WCN member group Time's
Up! organized "Disaster Relief" bike rides, which included
delivering food and blankets and other items to those in need,
while at the same time promoting pedal power.
Read more
A new census in Australia has demonstrated the snail-like
growth of sustainable transport trips (walking, cycling,
public transport) in the capital. The combined modal share of
these in Canberra grew from 15.24% to 15.36% (of journeys to
work) between 2006 and 2011. This is well below the 20% target
in Canberra's Sustainable Transport Plan. Living Streets
Canberra is petitioning the government to do something about
this.
Read more
Plans have been completed for the construction of an
environmentally friendly suburb in Chengdu, China. This is
intended to be a car-lite community of 1.3 square kilometers,
with all destinations reachable by foot in 15 minutes.
Read more
Meanwhile, plans for a gigantic eco-city is in the works in
Malaysia. The proposed town's name is Iskandar, and is
expected to cover the spatial dimensions of Luxembourg, and
house 3 million people by 2025. As the guardian reports, other
recently planned eco-cities have so far not come to
realization.
Read more
Although Reykjavik, Iceland has one of the highest car
ownerships in the world (680 cars per 1000 residents) there is
now an increase in cycling and the government also plans to
invest massively in bike paths for commuters.
Read more
Congestion charge is back up in Milan, Italy. It will run on
an experimental basis through March 2013.
Read more
ACTION AND NETWORKING
WORLD CARFREE NETWORK HELPS REDUCE CROATIAN CROSS-BORDER RAIL CUTS
This summer Croatian Railways announced plans for drastic
cuts to cross border train services. Instead of the current 56
services per day, as of December 2012 only 12 trains per day
were due to run to neighboring countries. At the beginning of
October World Carfree Network launched an e-mail action
via change.org. This has had some success, as instead of
12 trains per day, 26 will still run.
Read more
PUSHING LOWER SPEED LIMITS ON THE EU LEVEL
A campaign for 20mph/30 kmh speed limits has been accepted as
a European Citizens Initiative. Gathering 1 million
petition signatures will require serious consideration of this
by the EU Commission. Read more about the initiative and sign
the petition! (Signing open only to EU citizens)
Read more
PARKing DAY, AS EXPERIENCED BY CHARLOTTE, NC
The good folks of Charlotte, North Carolina (USA) did their
PARKing duties on the international day that celebrates
temporary parking space upgrades. Read on to learn about the
enthusiasm for converting public space by one of the UNC
students who made it happen.
Read more
REPORTS
LIVING THE CARFREE LIFE
Follow the story of John Andersen, who went carfree and found
"extra cash" in his pocket.
Read more
SUBJECTIVE REPORTING FROM A TRANSPORT CONFERENCE
Debra Efroymson visited a Transport Planning Conference in
Manila, Philippines. She reports here both about the
conference itself as well as impressions from traffic-clogged
Manila.
Read more
MEDIA
CARFREE DAY IN FLORIANOPOLIS, BRAZIL
If you like watching happy kids and families reveling in
carfree streets, then this home-made video clip is for you.
Watch it
World Carfree News is published once a month
by World Carfree Network.
Bulletin #98 by Justin Hyatt
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