Towards Car-Free Cities III
- Prague 2003 - Programme - Programme Details - Proceedings - Transcripts
POST-CONFERENCE REPORT - TOWARDS CAR-FREE CITIES III
Sixty participants from across Europe and beyond descended on Prague
March 17-22, a week packed with presentations, round-table strategy
sessions, a press conference and official public day, a walking tour,
a bike ride, and finally, a big closing party and concert.
Featured presenters included J.H. Crawford (author of "Carfree
Cities" and publisher of Carfree.com), Oscar Edmundo Diaz (organiser
of the now-famous car-free days in Bogota, Colombia), Lars Gemzoe (co-
author of "New City Spaces" and "Public Spaces - Public Life",
Copenhagen, Denmark), Kirstin Miller (of Ecocity Builders, Berkeley,
USA), and John Whitelegg (Professor of Environmental Studies, author
and transport consultant, Lancaster, UK).
Above all, the high-energy, productive week resulted in the
forging of invaluable interpersonal contacts and collaborations and a
strengthening of the international Car Busters network. The network,
it was decided, will hold a Towards Car-Free Cities conference
annually in Central Europe - with TCFC IV to be held in July, August
or September 2004, possibly in Berlin or somewhere in Poland. The
network will use the name Car Busters in some situations, but also
gain flexibility by utilising a second, more conservative-sounding
name where appropriate. That second name is still undecided but could
be something like Car-Free International or the Towards Car-Free
Cities Network (suggestions welcome).
Aside from the continuing conference series, a number of
collaborative projects were prioritised for the coming year and the
long-term, such as a website aimed at officials and planners, and the
founding of a Car-Free Institute based in Venice. The conference also
wrote a proposal for a coordinated global World Car-Free Days
programme, which was then delivered in person by Oscar Edmundo Diaz
to the European Union in Brussels and the United Nations in New York.
Conference sponsors/partners:
Council of Europe |
Nadace Partnerstvi |
Nadace Via |
Carfree.com |
The Prague Pill |
Oziveni |
Czech Greenways |
Cycling and Energy Futures |
SOS Praha |
Toulcuv Dvur |
IMC Praha |
STUZ |
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