The Case for Car-Free Communities: Rethinking Small Town Transportation

THE CASE FOR CAR-FREE COMMUNITIES RETHINKING SMALL TOWN TRANSPORTATION

ZOEY MAUCK

CREATED WITH SUPPORT FROM THE IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

May 2019 Ames, Iowa

Written and Compiled by Zoey Mauck Zoey is an urban designer with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University. She grew up in Des Moines, Iowa where a transforming downtown environment and growing network of bike lanes and trails ignited her passion for the creation of great spaces for active transportation. Throughout her time in Des Moines, studies at Iowa State, and a transformational semester spent in Stockholm, Sweden, she has continuously worked toward creating functional, inclusive, and vibrant spaces for active transportation. While this project served as an Iowa State University Honors Program capstone project, her goal is to constantly add to the content as she works, travels, and learns more about the value and practicality of car-free communities.

Thank you to the following people for their support and assistance throughout this project : Ben Shirtcliff Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and project advisor / Iowa State University Carlton Basmajian Associate Professor of Community + Regional Planning / Iowa State University David Wilwerding Community Development Director, Johnston, Iowa Debra Efroymson Executive Director of Institute of Wellbeing, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Additionally, thank you to : The Iowa State University Foundation The Iowa State University Honors Program The Iowa State University College of Design Depts. of Landscape Architecture and Community and Regional Planning

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Contents Foreword - p.4 Introduction - p.6 1. Potential in Small Towns - p.8 Size and Proximity Zoning Human Safety Affordability Community Buy-In Regional Trails

2. A Needed Revolution and Its Benefits - p.16 Environment Equality • • • •

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Race/Ethnicity Income Gender Divide Age

Human Health Money Spent on Cars Relative to Income Traffic Deaths Economic Growth Park Space Noise Summary

3. Making the Transition - p.30 Getting the Community On Board Ensuring Connectivity Bike Boulevards Fietstraat Temporary Pedestrian Streets Protected Bike Infrastructure Car-Lite Design

4. Elements Essential in a Car-Free Community - p.38 Density Mix of Land Uses Appropriate Walking Distances Seating, Shelters, and Other Street Amenities Mentalities/Governing Changes Occasionally Leave Room for a Car or Two...

Variety of Parking Spaces

5. A Future That Will Allow for Car-Free Towns - p.48 Diverse Land Uses Bike Share Small Electric Vehicles Recycled Materials to be Used for Creating Bike Trails Heated Paths and Roadways All-Around Better Public Transit Autonomous Vehicles

6. Perry Has Potential - p.56 Perry Background Community Size Spatial Qualities High Trestle Trail and Raccoon River Valley Trail Connections Lower-Income Populations A Major Employer Latino Population Existing Initiatives

7. Challenges in Going Car-Free - p.66 Older Adults and Mobility-Impaired Individuals Funding Culture and Attitude Development Patterns Climate

8. Current Efforts to Go Car-Free + Key Takeaways - p.72 Mackinac Island, MI Zermatt, Switzerland Oslo, Norway Brussels, Belgium Pontevedre, Spain Stockholm, Sweden Open Streets Events

Conclusion - p.82 Endnotes + Image Credits - p.84

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Foreword

With their small scale and compact development, small towns hold ideal conditions to go car-free. Serving as a case study in this book, Perry, Iowa – a town of 7,500 people with an increasingly diverse population – has many of the features necessary to go car-free. With an already high level of community involvement in creating a more livable town, Perry holds the potential to support this new way of thinking about transportation, and can serve as a model small town for others considering a move toward a car-free future. \ 4

Sven Peterson grew up in Perry, and since 2015, has served as the City Administrator. He has seen the town grow and transform into the incredibly diverse and culturally rich community it is today. Looking into the future, this growth shows no sign of stopping, and by considering forwardthinking initiatives like going car-free, Peterson hopes Perry will continue to be a well-renowned town that is accessible to, and well-loved by, all of its residents.

Since the 1990s, Perry has been investing in trails within the community.

This has grown from isolated parks to a trail system that connects neighborhoods to community amenities and hundreds of miles of trails into the Greater Des Moines Metro. This investment is utilized across generations for transportation and recreation. Perry is far from finished with its investment in pedestrian infrastructure and will continue to make trail connections within the community.

The plight of many rural midwestern towns is the loss of population.

More and more we are witnessing a migration from the outlying areas to more densely populated metros. So then, how can rural communities become more attractive to draw back population? While the full answer is complicated, part of the solution is community amenities. By creating places where people want to live and raise families, we can become more competitive to draw families back to Rural Iowa.

Rebuilding communities to be car-free will take a multi-faceted approach.

Not only will we have to invest in infrastructure to support multi-modal transportation, but we will also have to work to bring housing, job options, culture, and community amenities into rural communities. Many families live in outlying communities and commute to a metro area for work for a small town feel and lower cost of living. On the reverse, more affluent families hold the better jobs in the outlying communities and choose to live in the metro area for a variety of reasons. By building a wider range of housing options from workforce to white collar, while at the same time working to attract well paying jobs, we can foster an ecosystem where fewer people are reliant on automobiles for transportation.

-Sven Peterson, Perry City Administrator

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Introduction

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“...more bikes means more people enjoying good health for longer. The economy gets a notable boost, not least from not having to pay out quite so much to treat the many, expensive ailments linked to sedentary living. Air quality improves, road casualties fall, and a small but notable step is taken toward mitigating the worst consequences of climate change.

But, arguably as important, streets suddenly become based around people who, while moving, are recognizably, obviously, reassuringly human.�

- Peter Walker, author of How Cycling Can Save the World

Air pollution, obesity, traffic fatalities, poverty, accessibility, and overall human happiness might seem to be entirely separate issues, but there is one thing that sits at the root of them all: the car. Our world has become consumed, and in turn, congested, with single-passenger vehicles that affect each of these things in different ways. Some impacts (ex. traffic fatalities) might seem more obvious than others (ex. human happiness), but in the end, all deserve equal attention when considering how straightforward the solution could be: creating car-free communities.

This book, while containing elements that can be applied to communities of all scales, specifically focuses on opportunities and potential for small towns to go car-free. With their small size, historically dense development, involved communities, and many other factors, they offer ideal settings for showing the rest of the world what a shift away from motor vehicle transportation can look like. As small towns prove the successes and benefits of a car-free system, larger cities and new developments can learn from the moves they make, developing car-free systems at larger scales.

Through an exploration of the opportunities, benefits, and essential elements associated with car-free communities, as well as a break down of how to make the transition and a list of future technologies that will make going car-free more approachable, this analysis aims to reveal how perceived challenges can be overcome to achieve success in creating human-centered, healthy, equitable, and livable communities.

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Potential in Small Towns Size and Proximity Zoning Human Safety Affordability Community Buy-In Regional Trails

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Because of both their population size and total land area, small towns are great places to pioneer new design and living practices. Specifically, they are great places to pursue a carfree design because of their small land area, existing safe environments, need for affordable transportation options, community buy-in numbers, and connections to regional trails.

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Small towns are often built with a centralized community, like a town square or main street district, where many of the essential businesses and town amenities are located. This dense buildup of conveniences means people don’t need to travel far from their homes to access all that they need. But recently, fewer people are living in small towns, with 83% of U.S. residents currently living in metropolitan areas1. One way for small towns to begin drawing larger populations is to play off of what they already have – high building density and mixed land use – and make these areas more accessible for biking and walking. Getting more people out onto the streets instead of in their cars will boost small business growth, encourage more local events to take place on the reclaimed streets, and foster a stronger sense of community. It could also mean attracting a larger, younger, and more vibrant population to continue to move the town forward.

Small Towns

Size and Proximity

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Necessities/amenities in small towns are often in comfortable walking distance.

Small Towns

Zoning Traditionally, communities were zoned and built in a style that centralized primary needs like the grocery store, medical services, post office, etc.

Before the car, this made for bustling town centers that people could easily access by walking or biking. And while the car was added into the mix as a way to access places farther away than town centers, these centers are often still in place with great opportunities for new businesses to grow should the community reprioritize transportation to accommodate biking and walking.

However, because of the car, much of the public space in town centers that historically may have been used for open air markets, additional vendors, or park space has been converted to parking lots or driveways. Businesses have also begun to spread toward the edges of the community as land is annexed and zoned to accommodate businesses. These more distant locations may offer cheaper rent. Though people will are still willing to drive to them, they are no longer easily accessible by walking or cycling.

Increased quality of life is possible through greatly reduced trip distances and more vibrant neighborhoods that combine a mix of zoned uses.

American cities often zone for single use, forcing longer trips (induced travel) and deadening neighborhoods (empty downtowns outside of the work day), so by rethinking and rezoning communities, they can be returned to their glory days of centralized, biking and walking accessible necessities and amenities.

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Zoning that allows for mixed uses creates walkable, vibrant places.

Small towns have low traffic counts, few high-speed roads, and the bones needed for a successful bike network (think regular street grid)2. This makes small towns the perfect places for a transportation revolution. As it is now, car crash death rates are higher in low density areas. This can be partially attributed to low seat belt use3 since most trips being made in a small town are very short and thus deemed unnecessary to buckle up for.

Create bike-accessible streets and expanded sidewalk networks, and many of these senseless deaths can be prevented.

Small Towns

Human Safety

Another safety consideration to address regards the current state of any existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities. While the streets may be quieter in small towns than in bigger cities, a lack of ADA-compliant sidewalks, crosswalks, or signage denoting where bikes or pedestrians will be can contribute to accidents that could be prevented with the addition of updated facilities.

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Adding ADA features to already-walkable towns increases accessibility.

Small Towns

Affordability In the United States, roughly 19-25 percent of each household’s income goes toward transportation4. Spending this much money on something that could be easily replaced by a bicycle (which costs significantly less than a car from the beginning and requires minimal maintenance after the initial purchase). Short distance trips could be easily replaced by walking.

Car sharing or transit membership could provide a convenient solution for longer distance trips. People could thus save themselves a major expense.

Other costs to consider that are lowered by biking/walking instead of driving are healthcare, gym memberships, auto insurance costs, parking, and decreased productivity due to health problems related to insufficient physical activity. If infrastructure is designed in a way that supports active transportation, physical health is improved, lessening the risk of heart disease, depression, and obesity. By lowering these risks, less money will need to be spent for healthcare. Along the same lines, since active transportation provides exercise while running errands, there is less need to invest in a gym membership to keep fit.

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Ditching the car also means there is no need to pay for auto insurance (though a much smaller fee could be paid to insure a bike in case of damage or theft) and parking a bike is free. A final consideration is the increase in productivity brought on by being physically active. Studies have shown that biking to work raises the productivity of an average employee by 15%, and these cyclists take nearly 15% fewer sick days and make 27% fewer task errors5. This benefits the employee biking to work, but also maximizes the employers’ investment in that employee. All of these savings accrued make a solid case for making the switch from driving to an active transportation lifestyle.

In the U.S., 19-25% of household income is spent on car ownership.

Small communities, because of their small populations, similar experiences, and desire to maintain a high quality of life in their town, are often quick to support initiatives for community improvement. Because of this, small towns often have community organizations tasked with seeking out and implementing positive changes into their community. This could come in the form of an active parks and recreation department, an event planning committee, historic district organization, or another type of group. To get these groups on board with strategies to create a car-free city, it will be important to take the involved age groups into consideration, provide education to the group about the need for and potential impact of the transportation changes, and share examples of communities at a similar scale that have made these types of moves.

Small Towns

Community Buy-In

One example of a current community-led initiative that many small towns across the country and beyond are leading is the “Blue Zone” movement.

This movement brings community members together to make physical and social improvements to their town’s overall well-being and longevity through nine key categories, one of which is titled “move naturally”. The goal of this category is to encourage community members to take on an “active commute”, weaving exercise into each day without needing to think much about it. Currently, towns in nine U.S. states are part of the Blue Zone movement.

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Getting the community involved in large changes promotes community buy-in.

Small Towns

Regional Trails With a boom in the transformation of old railroad beds into regional shared-use trails in the United States, many small towns now find themselves placed along the route of a heavily used trail. This presents many new opportunities for not only increased recreation and health within the community, but also opportunities for transportation between communities. One small town might have a specialized grocery store, place of employment, or medical service offered that people from another town need to reach. Before regional trails, a connection to the next small town over would almost require that the person have a car since biking on highways and gravel roads would be extremely dangerous. But with the development of regional trails, these people can now bike to the next community over, and often travel a shorter distance than a car needs to travel since these trails jog through accrued private land where roads cannot go.

Traditional bikes can be used for those with the ability to travel medium to long distances to get to the next town over, but as electric bikes and other small electric vehicles continue to develop as viable modes of transportation, an even more diverse array of citizens will have access to surrounding communities through the push of a button and some easy pedal strokes. If tiny electric vehicles become more readily available, older adults with physical limitations, anyone with a physical disability, or those who are not allowed to obtain a driver’s license will have another transportation option.

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Another benefit of having a regional trail running through or skirting the edge of town is the new form of tourism that is brought in. Small businesses like coffee shops, convenience stores, bike shops, and local community landmarks will prosper as hungry and exploratory cyclists ride through town. This provides the opportunity to not only boost the success of current businesses, but also creates a community that will be accommodating to new businesses.

The Raccoon River Valley Trail connects 15 small towns in Central Iowa.

Small Towns \ 15

A Needed Revolution and its Benefits Environment Equality • Race/Ethnicity • Income • Gender Divide • Age Human Health Money Spent on Cars Relative to Income Traffic Deaths Economic Growth Park Space Noise Summary \ 16

There are many clear benefits from communities choosing to go car-free. But beyond just improving the feel of a community, going car-free is becoming a more and more necessary change to make. As society continues to rely on vehicles that are slowly chipping away at the health of individuals, the environment, and even the local economy, this needed revolution is becoming increasingly more apparent.

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Environment

A major force behind the overload of CO2 in the atmosphere is the way we think about transportation. Of the 3.7 million people that die every year due to outdoor air pollution, 40% of these deaths can be attributed to the emissions from road transportation4. That’s 1.48 million annual deaths due largely to poor urban design that makes driving appear to be the best transportation.

Benefits

The negative impact that humans are making on the environment makes headlines in some way, shape, or form nearly every day. Whether it’s another oil spill, a more extreme than usual natural disaster, or another study tying human daily habits to the rising global temperatures – action is needed to prevent making the earth uninhabitable for future generations and for other life forms.

Additionally, the amount of land currently dedicated to roads is excessive.

These roads are often paved traversing natural environments, prevent rainwater infiltration, segment off land into fragments too small to support wildlife, and give easy access to those causing environmental destruction like loggers or poachers. Paving the roads itself is a major source of pollution. The production of Portland cement, an element of concrete, contributes to nearly 5% of the world’s total carbon emissions6.

A shift in the transportation norm from driving a car to walking, riding a bike, or using transit could mean removing many existing roadways.

The removed materials could then be recycled, while the roads could be brought to life with plants and park space or returned to their natural state.

Creating bike trails and sidewalks takes significantly fewer materials than do regular roadways. New trails and sidewalks could even be built with recycled materials that have been newly discovered as great materials to replace concrete. More details related to these new materials for paving can be found in the section “Future Innovations that will Allow for Car-Free Towns”, titled Recycled materials to be used for creating bike trails.

3.7 million people die each year from air pollution, with 40% of those deaths attributed to transportation emissions.

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Benefits

Equality

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General equality in transportation involves the acknowledgment of many layers, including physical, social, and economic barriers. Through movements like the passage of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), some of the physical limitations in transportation have been leveled out, but there is still plenty of work to be done with this as well as the social and economic aspects. This section on equality looks specifically at how these three factors dictate transportation choice.

The costs and limited accessibility tied to car-ownership generally limits lower-income or physically/mentally disabled people to using alternative modes of transportation. This in turn leads those who can afford or access a car to stereotype alternative modes as for “poorer people�, thus preventing them from opting out of car use. This division is something that the creation of car-free communities aims to improve, giving everyone equal access to the same places in a community.

As a specific case of a more equitable transportation option, biking in particular has shown to lessen social divides, bringing people together who are generally travel-deprived and thus cut off from mixing with different social groups. With safe bike infrastructure that reaches everyone in a community, children are less reliant on their parents, older people can use electric bikes instead of walking, women will feel more safe cycling, those with disabilities will feel safer using manipulated bicycles not in busy traffic lanes, and those who can’t afford a vehicle will experience an efficient transportation system rather than feeling like a nuisance in the road.

Adding safe bike infrastructure might seem like a cure-all for the lack of equality in transportation, but there are still many specific issues that hold various groups back from cycling for transportation.

Sergels Torg, an accessible pedestrian plaza in Stockholm, Sweden.

Equality - Race/Ethnicity With a variety of ethnicities come a variety of incomes, and non-white groups typically have lower incomes; both Blacks and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as Whites to be living in poverty in America7. As discussed in the next section, it is important to level the playing field for transportation costs and options to create opportunities for all groups.

Community bike rides foster connections among diverse groups.

Benefits

Designing communities to become car-free will gradually bring more equality to the roads, but the steps toward getting to car-free status must be made with equality in mind. The idea, “if you build it, they will come” often applies to the addition of safe bike paths and trails, but “they” often only applies to a certain demographic. With the interest in walkable and bike-friendly communities on the rise, wider sidewalks and bike lanes have been popping up in many areas. However, many of the areas that first make these changes are predominantly white, affluent neighborhoods. As an example, when Baltimore, MD recently built a network of protected bike lanes, Ellen Worth (an open-data advocate) placed the new bike network map over a map detailing the community’s racial demographics8. She found that the majority of not only bike lanes, but also bike racks and bike share stations, were located in primarily white districts. If alternative transportation is to be made accessible to all, adding bike amenities in every neighborhood and not just a select few will be necessary. As Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogota, Colombia, said after building hundreds of miles of protected bike lanes in the city, “(Bike lanes) are a right, just as sidewalks are. They are a powerful symbol of democracy. They show that a citizen on a thirty-dollar bicycle is equally important to one in a thirtythousand-dollar car.4”

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Benefits

Equality - Income Transportation is a major expense in America. With so much of our transportation infrastructure dedicated to cars, there are many communities where owning a car is a necessity for daily life. But with 19% of Americans’ income (25% in areas that are the most car-dependent) going toward car ownership4, this object necessary for daily life creates serious financial burdens, even for middle-class families.

When the costs of car ownership and the way America’s transportation are built predominantly for cars are considered together, it becomes easily noticeable that our primary transportation system is discriminatory against low-income and disabled people. America has essentially built a transportation system for the rich.

Another aspect of the relationship between income and car ownership is that people working for lower wages, and high unemployment in some communities, might mean more people are driving older cars with fewer safety features to prevent fatalities in a crash3. These vehicles make even minor crashes more dangerous, affecting both the driver as well as any pedestrians, cyclists, or other vehicle drivers involved.

As arguments for raising the minimum wage occur, it will be important to educate Americans on the value of their income. Even if their hourly wage goes up, is it really worth it to be spending 25% of that income on a dangerous, polluting metal box? \ 20

The Des Moines Bike Collective partners with affordable housing groups to donate bikes to families in need.

Equality - Gender Divide

The way in which most women ride a bike also plays into the low number of female cyclists out on the road. Women are less likely to use a bike for transportation since they are more often making multi-stop trips, picking up groceries and dropping off kids, making biking slightly less convenient compared to the man making an out and back trip to the office4. Women are also more likely to face risk in high traffic areas. There is the idea that women ride less assertively than male riders, oftentimes hugging the edges of the road and going slightly slower, making them less noticeable and thus, an easy target for an oblivious driver4. If cars are removed from the streets altogether, women will no longer have these safety concerns, thus leveling the field for both genders to feel safe biking.

Women-led bike maintenance classes give women the confidence to bike.

Benefits

One of the factors that leads to the gender divide in cycling can be tied to the safety of bike infrastructure. Research has shown that almost everyone, but more specifically women, prefers bike facilities that are separated from moving traffic9. As part of this study, it was also revealed that men are more concerned with finding a direct route while cycling, whereas women are more likely to make detours to ensure safety. In my own independent study as part of a Focus Grant at Iowa State University, I interviewed 60 female cyclists in the Central Iowa area about their experiences with biking.

When asked what holds them back from cycling, a majority said feeling unsafe on the road, and when asked where they feel most comfortable biking, the vast majority said protected trails. Several other questions of this nature were asked, and all answers trended toward the desire for safer bike infrastructure. While the sample size of this study was small, it is clear that in order to make biking more accommodating to women, shifts in the design of streets is a must.

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Benefits

Equality - Age

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While younger generations are becoming less and less interested in driving, in general, as soon as someone turns 16 and secures their license, the idea of transportation is associated primarily with driving until they are deemed too old to drive. But driving for this long is taking a toll on human health (see next section) and causing people to age quicker. In countries like Denmark where 16% of trips are completed by bicycle10, older people are cycling later into their lives. It’s been shown that older people who regularly cycled had significantly stronger legs and better balance than those who did not as often4. Biking also helps older adults stay connected socially to others, both because they can interact while on the road and because they are able to legally operate a bike to visit others longer than they are allowed to operate a car4. So while it might seem that cars are the best mode of transportation for older people, it is not necessarily the case.

Another age group that will benefit from a car-free community are those who are net yet old enough to drive. Having a community that is easily accessible by foot or bike gives independence to younger people, improving their physical fitness, allowing them to further explore their community, and be social with friends at their own convenience. Additionally, a 2012 study of 20,000 students ages 5-19 in Denmark, found that kids who biked or walked to school instead of driving or taking transit performed significantly better on concentration tasks11. This high level of concentration was maintained for four hours after getting to school, meaning they had a higher rate of concentration than those who utilized motor vehicles for over half the school day. Currently in North America, just 2% of students living 1-2 miles away from school cycle there, while 50% are driven this distance 4. Making cycling-accessible communities and increasing that 2% will improve the health and well-being of America’s youth, and encourage healthy habits so they can grow to be seniors still biking and walking.

Cycling helps older adults maintain health as well as social connection.

Human Health

While many drive because it is considered the easiest transportation option, for others it is the only safe option in areas that lack any public transit or active transportation infrastructure. One way to understand why people feel more comfortable driving in certain communities is to look at that community’s Walk Score. Walk Score is a number assigned to each community that takes into account the distance between town amenities and pedestrian friendliness (based on block length, intersection density, and other road metrics). Points are totaled for each of these factors, and the community is assigned a Walk Score ranging from 0-24 (car-dependent) to 90-100 (walker’s paradise)14. If a community’s Walk Score is low, that community is more likely to have overweight residents15. On the cycling side of things, studies have shown that the main reason people don’t bike is their fear of riding with motor traffic. Without safe infrastructure separating bikes from motor traffic, unhealthy transportation will continue to be used.

Physical activity has become something that people have to set aside time for each day, and in a society where breaks from work are becoming fewer and far between, exercise is often pushed to the back burner. If active transportation options are developed into a community where it is more convenient to walk or bike than drive, people are much more likely to get the recommended amount of daily physical activity. Those who bike or walk receive the benefit of being less prone to obesity, diabetes, strokes, heart disease, cancer, and are more likely to be able to maintain an independent lifestyle as they age4. Replacing the driving habit takes time, but the health benefits are well worth the change.

Biking/walking limits obesity, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, cancer, and more.

Benefits

Since the invention of the automobile, walking and biking have essentially been “designed-out” of the way people get from place to place. Eliminating these transportation options has come with a high cost to human health; in a country where more than two in three adults are considered to be either overweight or obese12, studies have proven that places with higher obesity rates correlate with higher percentages of car commuters versus those choosing alternate modes of transport13. A sedentary lifestyle is consistently one of the top four causes of early death worldwide4.

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Benefits

Money Spent on Cars Relative to Income Currently, there is a negative correlation with number of vehicles per household and poverty rates, single-person households, and young couples16. This is primarily due to the high costs associated with cars.

According to AAA, a car that is driven 15,000 miles per year averages $8,469 per year ($706/month) in ownership costs17. Since this is just an average, many vehicles cost even more. These costs often add up to 15-20% of household incomes, an amount that, along with housing, student loans, and supporting a family, are incredibly high. Purchasing a comfortable pair of walking shoes, a used bike that requires minimal maintenance, or a transit pass that is often subsidized by employers seems slightly more sensible than spending close to one fifth of your income on a car.

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An average of 15-20% of household income goes toward personal vehicles.

Traffic Deaths

Benefits

1.25 million people a year are killed worldwide while on roads, with a quarter of those killed being pedestrians or cyclists. In total, that’s about 3,500 people senselessly killed each day just because they’re using a road4. More specific to this country, Americans are nearly four times more likely to die in a car crash than people in Sweden or Britain18, places where biking and walking are much more prevalent modes of transportation.

Transportation shouldn’t be a death sentence, so changes need to be made to our mindset and infrastructure to create healthy, safe places for transportation.

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1.25 million people a year are killed worldwide while on a roadway.

Benefits

Economic Growth Many small towns are in a period of both economic and population decline as more and more people are moving to cities. But with their high-density development patterns, supporting car-free transportation options could be a step toward ending these declines in growth. 63% of millennials and 42% of baby boomers would prefer to live in a community where they don’t need a car13. For a small town to attract a younger population and maintain its current community members, developing car-free transportation systems is essential. Having this population base will lead to economic stability or even gains, in addition to an increase in jobs. As an example, recent transportation enhancements in Baltimore, MD revealed that each dollar invested in pedestrian and bike infrastructure led to the creation of 57% and 100% more jobs respectively than any highway enhancements did19.

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Car-dominated streets detract from the visibility of businesses.

Park Space In many densely developed areas, an open space for recreation and connection with nature is often too far from where people live in order for it to be considered easily accessible. And even if the open park space isn’t too far, safe biking and walking infrastructure or quick public transit options are not numerous enough to avoid driving to reach it.

Benefits

Now imagine that every street in the community is suddenly car-free.

Instead of driving far to find an open space to play a pickup sports game, learn to ride a bike, or have a picnic, the street can now fulfill the needed space for all of these activities. With the addition of street furniture and a few other amenities, streets can be reclaimed as public space for all to enjoy.

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Nytorget, a park in Stockholm, Sweden is activated on sunny summer days.

Noise

Benefits

The noise of a city may seem like white noise to someone who has been in that environment for a significant amount of time. However, constant noise can cause hearing loss over time. Those who live in cities are regularly exposed to noises above 85 decibels due to airports, industry, and of course, traffic20.

While hearing loss is a significant issue, it’s not the only noise problem tied to high traffic in the city. Elevated sound levels in cities, averaging 60 decibels, can also lead to higher blood pressure and heart rate, which are major causes of elevated stress, lack of focus, and loss of sleep15.

Additionally, efforts to suppress these damaging sound levels have often trended toward favoring wealthy parts of town, with quieting a street even seen as synonymous with gentrification.

So what is a solution to this problem? Going car-free seems pretty convincing. Kate Wagner, an architecture and design critic says “Urbanplanning approaches to eliminating noise on a city-by-city basis can be as simple as taking a single lane away from cars and giving it to bicycles, people, or green space...Noise control should be a consideration from the very first planning stage, rather than tacked on as an afterthought.�15 Car-free, quiet streets mean safer streets, with less hearing loss, less stress, and an environment more conducive to enjoyable, discernible social interaction. \ 28

Imagine being able to talk at a normal voice level and hear each other on the street, hear the sound of calling birds, or the rustle of leaves in the wind, rather than the rumble of engines.

At an average of 60 decibels, city sounds can lead to human health issues.

Summary

By keeping these benefits in mind and using them as advocacy tools, transitional practices and eventually permanent elements (both discussed in the following sections) can be implemented to create stronger communities through improved transportation.

Benefits

When considering all of these benefits together, it is easy to see that going car-free has numerous positive outcomes, including some you may have not anticipated. Some deal with physical aspects of daily life, like having access to more open space for recreation and a significantly lower risk of death due to transportation, while others address societal issues, like equality when it comes to all aspects of feeling comfortable using any given means of transportation.

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Making the Transition Getting the Community On Board Ensuring Connectivity Bike Boulevards Fietstraat Temporary Pedestrian Streets Protected Bike Infrastructure Car-Lite Design

Making the transition to fully car-free communities has its clear benefits, but it will take time to make this change. There are many ways that communities can take small steps to make \ 30 this transition, ranging from community education to physical interventions to make streets more friendly to those who walk, bike, or choose transit. As more and more of these transitional pieces are incorporated into communities, the concept of going completely car-free will become much more achievable.

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Getting the Community on Board Going completely car-free will take many steps, but the first should be to work on getting the community on board with the concept. Like the end goal itself, getting people on board will take many steps and initiatives, but it can be done. Different approaches will work better in some communities more so than others, but the following strategies may prove useful: Create marketing campaigns with information about the perks of active transportation or taking transit over driving.

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Hold public meetings to field questions and concerns from the public about limiting car use.

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Create easy accessibility to bike rentals.

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Incentivize making trips via modes of transportation other than cars.

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Create temporary pilot projects showing how a street would function with a bike lane/removal of parking/etc. to demonstrate the practicality of making these changes.

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And the list could go on. Assessing current opinions in each community will help determine the best way to go about education on the value of a car-free community.

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Organizations like Better Block engage the community in urban transformation.

Ensuring Connectivity

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To get the no-car mindset started, the community must first be easily accessible through good connectivity. At the very least, this should mean that safe and comfortable sidewalks connect all citizens to the essentials in town. In a smaller community, this could mean being connected to the grocery store, bank, community park, etc. where in a bigger city it would be essential to have access to a grocery store and a transit stop.

The next step in strong connectivity would mean a consistent bike network.

This could involve on or off-street bike facilities, but would get users through town in a safe and efficient manner. As explained on the next few pages, different approaches to bike infrastructure hold different benefits, but when making the transition toward a car-free community, implementing any of these strategies in a continuous nature through a community is a step in the right direction.

A final measure of strong connectivity is the accessibility of public transit.

Transit systems might not (currently) be realistic in every community depending on size or layout, but for those who can house a bus, tram, or train system, ensuring that the routes meet the needs of all community members is essential. This means fair prices, reliable timing, accessible access to route information (website, app, etc.) and routes that get everyone where they need to go.

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Communities should be accessible by transportation modes other than a car.

Bike Boulevards The simplest way to create stronger bike connections through a town without making major infrastructural changes is the addition of a bike boulevard. A bike boulevard (which can also take the name of neighborhood greenway, neighborhood bikeway, or neighborhood boulevard) is a lowtraffic street with added traffic-calming devices (Shading street trees, lower speed limits, bike markings, public art, etc.) that designate it as a bike friendly street. Bicycle Boulevards are generally located at a distance of one or two blocks away from, and running parallel to, a major road that isn’t accommodating to bikes in order to provide safer access to all of the same places along that road.

It is important to note that for optimal connectivity, these streets should also contain sidewalks on at least one side of the road to accommodate walkers. Separating pedestrians from cyclists is wise, as they have different needs and move at different speeds.

Transition

Many existing streets already meet the basic qualifications to serve as a bike boulevard, but with the addition of bicycle-oriented signage, enhanced intersection safety, and the traffic-calming features mentioned above, these streets can become part of a strong bike network.

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Bike boulevards make roads accessible to both bikes and cars.

Fietstraat

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Like a bike boulevard but with a more bike-forward treatment, a fietstraat (bike street) is an established bike route, but cars are also given access.

This access is often limited to residential properties that will only need access a few times a day at the most. Fietstraats (primarily implemented in Belgium and the Netherlands) differ from bike boulevards in that here, cars are seen as “guests� more than equals, and are not allowed to overtake cyclists21. They also tend to be painted in a solid color (generally a deep red in Europe) to visually separate them from regular streets.

Like bike boulevards, many roadways are currently optimal for this type of treatment, so all that is needed is signage, paint, and local education on how fietstraats work.

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A fietstraat in the Netherlands gives bikes priority over car traffic.

Temporary Pedestrian Streets Most people have probably attended (or at least understand the concept of) a neighborhood block party. Barricades are put up, people spill out into the streets, and instead of a car-dominated place, the street becomes a space for social engagement and activity. Now imagine if this concept was applied for more than just one day each year and you have a temporary pedestrian street.

See the “Stockholm, Sweden” case study in the section for more information on the successful implementation of temporary pedestrian streets.

Transition

Making a street temporarily pedestrian-only requires some consideration about the affected car circulation and the accessibility for emergency or delivery vehicles, but like a bike boulevard, this intervention can be easily constructed. The primary need in creating a pedestrian street is strong barriers that prevent drivers from thinking they can get through to the street. After that, there are all types of enhancements that can be added to “pedestrianize” the street: public art pieces, street furniture, outdoor cafes and food carts to name a few.

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Temporary street pedestrianization can lead to permanent closure if successful.

Protected Bike Infrastructure

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Around 71% of Americans would prefer to bike more often, but are too concerned for their safety to ride on roadways22. While shared-lane markings, on-street bike lanes, and bike boulevards are moves in the right direction toward a bike-friendly community, protected bike lanes make the greatest impact.

A protected bike lane is a facility that is physically separated by some type of physical barrier from moving traffic. The different types of barriers that are used include parked cars, planters, curbs, or bollards, and give cyclists peace of mind that moving traffic – and car doors suddenly opening – will not interfere with their ride. This type of facility is so well-liked that in many cities, within the first year of incorporating protected bike lanes, a 75% increase in the number of bikes was noted.23

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Protected bike facilities make biking safer for all road users.

Car-Lite Design Eliminating the car from the city center is often the simplest route to take (depending on the existing design and layout of said city center). But what happens when you get to the town’s edge and need to travel to another community or are at the edge of town and need to quickly get clear to the other side of town?

An example of this design methodology in the context of a city is Houten, Netherlands, but this methodology is also often applied in the layout of university or corporate campuses. The core of the space is geared toward pedestrians, bikes, and occasional intersecting buses, but cars and a majority of transit routes are restricted to the external “ring� around the space.

Transition

Car-lite design allows cars to still be part of the transportation equation, just in a less-prevalent way. This style of design established interior roads as low-traffic, while maintaining exterior roads that host higher levels of, and faster, traffic. These exterior roads often form a ring, creating an inner walkable/bikable community while allowing travel by car around and out of the town.

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Car-lite design, shown here in Houten, Netherlands allows minimal interior car traffic.

Elements Essential in a Car-Free Community Density Mix of Land Uses Appropriate Walking Distances Seating, Shelters, and Other Street Amenities Mentalities/Governing Changes Occasionally Leave Room for a Car or Two...

Accessible External Transportation Variety of Parking Spaces

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The idea of creating a car-free city seems relatively straightforward – just get rid of all of the cars, right? But in order to create a truly well-functioning car-free community, there are many elements that must be considered, both physical features and regulatory practices.

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Density Before cars were used as the primary mode of transportation in the modern world, the average density of living situations in America was 40 to 80 people per acre24. Because of this high density, shops and services were built in close proximity to these high concentrations of people, making communities easily walkable. Density also builds community, as people are more likely to run into each other consistently than if they live far apart.

There is also something to be said for the daily unintentional interactions with strangers on the sidewalk or in the bike lane. Facial expressions and small interactions can be shared more easily while walking or biking than when behind a reflective glass windshield traveling at 30mph.

Another benefit that density adds to the community is the additional security created when people are consistently utilizing sidewalks and parks. Jane Jacobs coined the idea of “eyes on the street” when writing about the value of having people living their daily lives walking and using infrastructure and serving as natural observers due to an innate interest in witnessing human activity25. With the decrease in density and shift to automobile use, these “eyes” have since disappeared in many communities.

In order to increase density in a way that makes people feel comfortable on the streets, human scale of buildings and structures must be considered.

High density skyscrapers bring high concentrations of people to live in a given area, but shorter buildings provide comfortable street environments that create feelings of enclosure, human scale, and complexity22.

Here, an urban area in Stockholm, Sweden, is easily accessible without a car due to its high-density design.

Elements

In newly developing areas today, densities are near one tenth of what they used to be. This creates isolation among communities, encourages sprawling business development, and discourages people from walking or biking for transportation. In order to rethink cities as places without cars, historic densities should be brought back. This is one reason why small towns are such good places to re-implement walkability. At their scale, high density living is a given due to the structure and size of the town. In cities, high density development allows transit systems to thrive since large numbers of people can be served by similar stops or stations.

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Mix of Land Uses

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Placing residential and commercial uses in the same area is essential in creating communities where walking, biking, or transit are considered convenient. While small towns often pre-date the notion of zoning, more recently built urban centers, for example, were built up as single-zone spaces that only housed office and residential uses, and were carved up with high-speed, one-way roads. These types of places might serve their purpose for people who want to bike or walk to work, but when it comes to getting groceries, picking up a prescription, or going out for a night on the town, the need to drive to a surrounding area is almost inevitable. By rezoning to mixed use, life can be brought back into areas at all times of the day, encouraging people to stay in their neighborhood and walk or bike to their destinations.

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The 16th St Mall in Denver, Colorado has a variety of building uses along a pedestrian and bus-accessible corridor.

Appropriate Walking Distances Crossing a four or six lane street can be intimidating for a pedestrian or cyclist even on streets with slow speed limits. As traffic lanes have been widened over the years, this has become an even bigger problem.

Attempted fixes like pedestrian crossing lights that come on before the car light turns green or adding bump-out sidewalks to give pedestrians a head start on crossing the street have made street crossings somewhat safer, but as long as cars are on the street, pedestrian safety issues will be prevalent.

Other hindrances for pedestrians are the length of street blocks. As communities have developed, many blocks have been consolidated or new developments have built “superblocks”, making walking highly inefficient22.

As the number of walking connections in communities has dwindled, so has the width of many sidewalks. A five-foot wide sidewalk may serve a single individual walking one way, but what about a couple? A mother with a child? An individual in a wheelchair?

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Solutions to these problems could be discussed and tested for years, but instead, going car-free gets rid of all of these issues. Long city blocks could be broken up by reimagining parking lots or alleyways as pedestrian connections and parks. Crossing the “street” could take place anywhere along the road repurposed as a pedestrian corridor. Width of sidewalks would no longer become a problem since nearly every surface outside your door would be considered a place to walk or bike. Nearly every safety or efficiency issue can be addressed by going car-free.

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A former building turned public space and pedestrian cut-through in Ames, IA.

Seating, Shelters, and Other Street Amenities If people are walking or biking around town, their body is doing much more than just tapping their foot on the gas pedal. This means that additional street amenities will be needed to make sure people feel safe and comfortable with active transportation options.

Elements

One of these elements is the addition of benches. For the elderly, those with disabilities, or a parent with children, walking even a mile could prove challenging in certain situations. Because of this, adding comfortable seating opportunities along walking routes will be essential. These seats could be as simple as a classic bench, but with additions like picnic tables, group seating areas, or seats with desk-like extensions, people will feel more like staying awhile in these areas, boosting the earlier discussion of “eyes on the street�.

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Another element to consider when looking at increased biking and walking is the addition of shelter to protect people from the weather. Especially in northern and rainier climates where inclement weather can pop up without much notice, adding roofed or enclosed shelters will ensure people that they have a safe, comfortable place to go along their route should the weather shift. The same can also be said for warmer regions where the heat of the sun can sometimes become unbearable. As with the addition of seating, shelters can create community gathering spaces and places to kickoff events, bringing more vibrancy to the streets.

Additional improvements to make along active transportation routes include water refill stations, proper lighting, bike racks and/or longer term storage, trees and other vegetation, and publicly available restrooms. A lot goes in to planning a walking or biking route, and these safety and comfortimproving features make more streets accessible to all.

Example of a bench/planter in Stockholm, Sweden.

Mentalities/Governing Changes Reinventing streets as places for people instead of cars involves much more than simply denying vehicular access. As governments become increasingly concerned with the issues caused by parking minimums, vehicle emissions, pedestrian safety, and the value of walkable communities over drivethrough communities, the desire to go car-free is on the rise. Even today, there are examples of large cities and small cities making efforts to go car-free. But how do we shift the mentality that cars have a place in our communities?

Collaboration between the governments and designers of cities and towns of various sizes will become more and more essential as cars are slowly phased out from the urban environment. The moves made in one community might not translate well into another, but through open collaboration, small changes can be made to facilitating going car-free possible everywhere. As this becomes increasingly common, there will be more and more information available to reveal what works and what doesn’t. Thus deciding to make a street, area, or whole town car-free will be supported by evidence to back up why – and how – it will work.

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Enrique Penãlosa, mayor of Bogota, Columbia, who helped make bold moves for their transportation system.

Occasionally Leave Room for a Car or Two...

While, yes, a car-free city would ideally not have a single car in it, motor vehicles do have a small time and place. But if allowed, they should be allowed with great regulation under the following circumstances: Freight Delivery Freight could be addressed through rail, cargo bikes, and other options as much as possible. Noisy, polluting, and dangerous trucks should be a lastresort solution to moving freight. If to be allowed, delivery trucks should only have access at highly restricted times of the day, preferably early in the morning when the fewest number of people are out on the streets.

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Emergency Vehicles When it comes to emergency health situations, hopping on a bike or a bus is not a viable option for quickly getting to a hospital. Communities should be designed in a way that prioritizes people using the streets but still allows for emergency vehicle access.

Handicap Accessibility There are ways to accommodate mobility-impaired people through public transit and even biking options, but in some scenarios, the safest way to access a place will be with a vehicle. Boosting the accessibility of public transit to all users should be a main priority, but in a period of transition or in small numbers, handicap parking and vehicle access should be permitted and included in community design.

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Pedestrian zones should prioritize pedestrians, but allow some exceptions.

Accessible External Transportation By going car-free, it is likely that people will tend to stay closer to their home on a daily basis. For example, they will be more likely to choose to get groceries at the grocery store two blocks away as opposed to a different grocery five miles away since they will be on foot, bike, or taking a form of transit. This shrinks a person’s community, even in a large city, which is great for fostering tight-knit communities, but has the potential to make life feel restricted to just one area.

To prevent the feeling of being restricted, it is important to have stations for accessing transport beyond one’s town or city. Be it regional buses, trains, or airports, there should be easy access to these locations without the need for a car. And while the goal of creating car-free communities is to eliminate cars altogether, in highly rural areas where public transit does not currently exist, parking opportunities for car-sharing services on the edges of town should be made available.

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A busy and easily-accessible train station in MalmĂś, Sweden.

Variety of Parking Spaces

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Without cars in the area, parking spots will be open and free to use for other activities and services. But with the variety of micro-mobility vehicles, bikes, strollers, and carts being used, designated parking areas should be established to make sure there is a safe, appropriate, and convenient place available for each of these to be parked. As all of these other vehicles take up vastly less space than the car, there will still be much more space available in our towns and cities if we remove the car.

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Bike parking in Amsterdam (left) and stroller parking in Copenhagen (right).

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A Future that will allow for car-free towns Diverse Land Uses Bike Share Small Electric Vehicles Use of Recycled Materials Heated Paths and Roadways All-Around Better Public Transit Autonomous Vehicles

Going car-free has its challenges in the world as it is today, but as technology progresses, mentalities change, and the dangers associated with driving cars continue to become \ 48 more evident, making this change will become more and more simple to implement, and will become the obvious choice for cities trying to decide how to become healthy and attractive to people of all ages and backgrounds.

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Diverse Land Uses Throughout history, many communities have been zoned in ways that place single land uses in large blocks rather than integrating uses. This has created places where a car is almost required to get to needed destinations.

By rezoning these single-zoned areas and allowing more multi-family housing opportunities and small businesses to grow, communities will densify, naturally creating more walk, bike, and transit-friendly places.

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Future Diverse land uses in a single area create livable and car-free urban environments.

Bike Share A recent effort to make biking more accessible to everyone is the implementation of bike share programs. These allow anyone to purchase either an hourly, single day, weekly, annual, or other membership to access publicly available bikes. The bikes are often only able to be used for 30 minutes to an hour before they need to be returned to a dock in order to ensure there are always bikes available to users. Being a member of a bike share system can cost less than owning and maintaining a bike, reduces the risk of a personal bike getting stolen, and often serves as a great “last mile� transportation mode, last mile meaning the distance between the final transit stop and the location a person needs to access. In cities like New York where driving a personal car is rare, nearly fifty thousand rides are taken each day4, showing just how effective a bike share system can be.

Bike share programs are increasingly modernizing, developing dockless systems and providing electric in addition to regular bikes. Dockless bikes are even more convenient because a user can ride them right up to their destination instead of looking for a nearby dock and then walking from there to their destination. However, dockless bikes are often left strewn carelessly across sidewalks, thereby deteriorating the environment and causing accessibility issues. If dockless systems are put in place, parking regulation will be needed. Adding electric bikes increases the accessibility of the bikes for people with minor physical disabilities and lessens the age barrier that comes with regular bikes.

Future

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While bike share is a great way to get more people biking in a community, there are some concerns that need to be addressed to make sure the bikes are serving the community fairly. If using a docked system, docks should be evenly distributed in town and should be sure to reach lowincome neighborhoods. Discounted memberships could also be included for students, seniors, or low-income community members to make sure everybody can afford a bike. Finally, safety features like lights, reflectors, and locks should be part of every bike with optional services to rent a helmet for maximum safety.

NiceRide in Minneapolis, MN has 3,000 bikes available between 400 stations.

Small Electric Vehicles A recent movement making waves in the transportation world is the rise of the small electric vehicle. Be it an electric scooter, bike, hoverboard, or longboard, these can be seen in heavy use throughout many cities and college/business campuses. While these might seem like a toy to some, they can serve a much greater purpose. The electric aspect of these vehicles allows the users to pedal or push like they usually do, but they now have the option to add electric assist to make the ride less strenuous, and their dockless nature is an added convenience. This means users can travel longer distances with less exertion. So those who don’t want to show up to work dripping in sweat after biking up that killer hill? Switch to an electric bike and that problem is solved.

Small electric vehicles also provide opportunities for new user types to ditch the car and make the switch to these new types of transportation. A specific group that could benefit are older adults. While infrastructure and safety can occasionally contribute to older people feeling uncomfortable biking, they mainly stop riding due to balance problems.4 Get them onto a bike or scooter that helps them conquer the hills they feel unfit for or onto a bike trail they’re worried about overexerting themselves on, and they’ll be able to avoid succumbing to a car-dependent lifestyle for a longer amount of time.

Electric scooters have popped up as a transportation option in many cities.

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Future

Another aspect of small electric vehicles to consider is their value in a regional system. In a state like Iowa where regional trails continuously expand to connect to other small towns and metro areas, it could become possible to use small electric vehicles as a way to commute to other towns for work or travel. Some electric vehicle batteries now last upwards of 100 miles on a single charge. This way of traveling will still likely take a longer time than driving, but as communities fade out car use, it will become a great alternative.

Use of Recycled Material Recent developments have been made in the type of materials used to build sidewalks and trails. To increase affordability, reduce the need for the production of new materials, and recycle previously used materials, objects like plastic bottles, rubber tires, and even toilet paper have been used instead of typical paving surfaces like asphalt and concrete.

In the Dutch province of Friesland, a little more than a half mile of a bike highway was recently repaved with recycled toilet paper. This recycled material is gathered by sifting the paper fibers out of wastewater, where they are then cleaned, sterilized, bleached, and finally dried into a fluffy material26. While this recycled material theoretically has many practical uses, since it was once touched by human waste, it is deemed unusable for anything that comes into direct contact with humans. But when being used to create asphalt, the high temperatures used to mix the material likely kill off any pathogens that still remain. With these new innovations come initially high costs and uncertainty as to how long they will maintain their quality. But if new trails are needed to accommodate a growing number of bikers and walkers and road reconstruction is needed to repair the damage done by cars, recycled materials are surely worth a try.

Future

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It is also important to think about the material that is already easily available to use in our communities. As Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s former Transportation Commissioner said in regard to sectioning off portions of Broadway to become pedestrian areas, “There’s a lot you can do with paint, and planters and stones from old bridge projects.”4 Especially as auto highways become less necessary with the decline in car-use, the materials that went in to constructing those highways and elevated expressways could be repurposed in streetscape designs and urban furniture.

Recycled toilet paper paving getting installed in Friesland, Netherlands.

Heated Paths and Roadways Traveling through snow and ice has become less of an issue for motor vehicles as technology has improved, but walking or biking across a patch of ice is usually a different story. If biking and walking are to become more widespread modes of transportation, adding heating capabilities into sidewalks, paths, and roads where people will be traveling will make these places much safer in winter weather.

One example of this, called a snowmelt system, has been implemented in Holland, Michigan since 1988. This system is comprised of over 120 miles of plastic tubing underneath sidewalks and streets that circulate water that is heated via the heat waste of power generation27. This tubing covers close to 4.9 miles of paved surfaces in town, making sidewalks and streets accessible and safe for all road users. While this system has been in place for many years, the concept has not been made a standard in roadway design in all communities that deal with winter weather. Looking into the future, new technologies and applications should be explored in order to make snowmelt systems a more widely recognized and used technology.

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Future A snowmelt system getting installed in Holland, Michigan.

All-Around Better Public Transit In many communities, public transit is currently either non-existent or available at such a limited capacity that it is not seen as a convenience. But going into the future, it will be important to enhance the availability and types of public transit available, especially with added efficiencies in newer systems. Some of these newer systems available include:

Future

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Electric buses: Many cities have started transitioning their fleet of buses from gas-fueled to electric. With new developments in electric technology, these vehicles are beginning to become more affordable. In addition to electric technology, as discussed on page 51, autonomous technology will be part of the future of transportation. So by combining these two technologies, electric + autonomous buses will be likely additions to the public transportation scene.

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Personal Rapid Transit (PRT): These self-driving “podcars” can hold a small group of people, and for a small cost, transport them to their pre-selected location via a lightweight track system. This system has been in use in places like Morgantown, West Virginia for several decades, but through new developments in autonomous technology, could be spread to even more communities28. While PRT is better than individual car ownership, mass transit should be prioritized.

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Simple changes: big changes in the way public transit vehicles are fueled and driven are coming, but even small changes to our current transit systems will make a great impact on transit use. One of these that is already taking off in many communities is the opportunity to purchase transit fares digitally. This especially speeds up bus systems since users can scan an app upon entering the bus instead of fishing around for exact change.

These are just a few of the many ways public transit can be enhanced in the future to increase attractiveness and ridership.

Electric buses produce no emissions or noise, improving the urban environment.

Autonomous Vehicles A future yet potentially destructive alternative to personal vehicle ownership is the rise of shared autonomous vehicles. These vehicles could work in essentially the same way that rideshare services like Uber or Lyft work, but there would be no driver in the car. Numerous test runs have been done on these vehicles to ensure they’ll be safe for pedestrians and cyclists, and some are already out on the roads. The idea surrounding this new innovation is to curb personal vehicle ownership, enhance safety, lessen the number of vehicles on the road, and reduce the number of parking spaces and parking lots needed.

However, while some aspects of autonomous vehicles seem positive, the fact that they are still cars strays from the idea of a car-free city. Even with intensive safety testing, they still have the potential to cause crashes, get hacked into and controlled by outside sources, and become issues of privacy if the vehicles are able to keep track of and share where you are being driven. Additionally, many car companies are trending toward autonomous car development, trying to convince the consumer that these vehicles are a positive way to replace public transportation, reviving a societal mistake that was made with the initial invention of the car.

In a car-free community, autonomous vehicles have no place, but the technology could be adapted to regional transportation systems, allowing those who live in a car-free community to access an autonomous bus or train to get to a different community.

Autonomous technology has some benefits, but autonomous vehicles have no place in a car-free city.

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Future

Autonomous vehicles are already in production, but the conveniences that they provide come with incredible risks. Looking ahead, appropriate measures must be taken to ensure that they are safe for all road users and do not inhibit the opportunity for communities to go car-free.

Why Perry Has Potential Perry Background Community Size Spatial Qualities High Trestle Trail and Raccoon River Valley Trail Connections Lower-Income Populations A Major Employer Latino Populations Existing Initiatives

Perry, a community of around 7,500 people in Central Iowa, has many features that lend to the possibility of creating a car-free culture. Given the size of the community both \ 56 physically and population-wise, the access to two major regional trails, and many other factors, Perry has the potential to become a trailblazer in reducing car use in small towns and beyond.

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Perry Background Located in Central Iowa, Perry is a city that owes its origins to the westward railroad expansion in the late 1800s. An early pioneer in Iowa, Harvey Willis, purchased the land that is now Perry, and actively sought out the opportunity for a railroad to cross his land29. He was successful, bringing in the Des Moines and Fort Dodge Railroad and eventually the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul rail lines. The railroad brought many people to the town, diversifying the population, and a boom in the economy surrounding the building of the railroads. However, as government priorities changed to emphasize the development of roads and highways and both passenger rail and freight transport rates by train fell, the population and economies within the town began to change, with the last rail, the Milwaukee, ending service in 1970.

With the main driver for the growth of the town fading out came new opportunities and a growing multicultural population. In the 1980s, an Oscar Mayer plant (now Tyson Foods) opened on the western edge of Perry, creating a new economy for the town. It now employs over 1,200 people, many of whom are Latino30. Now, primarily because of Tyson, the population is on its way to becoming majority Latino for the first time in the town’s history.

This population and economic shift brought new culture, perspectives, and opportunities to this small town, now with a population of around 7,500, and along with that, many successes in the creation of a welcoming, inclusive community. As will be discussed in this section, Perry holds many opportunities to yet again make a positive change – going car-free – and hopefully with the same open-minded, welcoming mindset that has brought Perry to where it is today.

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Perry Historic image of the Perry, IA Round House.

Community Size Perry, Iowa, at 4.18 square miles, is small enough to be easily accessible for biking and walking. While a good portion of the central area of town has accessible sidewalks, the outer edges and higher-density residential areas lack sidewalks. Because of the historic small town nature of the community and the low traffic counts (see below), this is not a detrimental situation. But in a community this small in physical size, everyone should feel safe getting across town by foot or bike without fear of cars interfering.

Additionally, with a small physical footprint comes the opportunity for quick and efficient snow removal during the inevitable snow storms each winter, making biking and walking possible at all times of the year.

The size of the town is also small with respect to the population, at around 7,500 people. Because of this small population, the streets maintain a fairly low daily traffic volume. Aside from Highway 144 (1st Street, the major north/south highway that runs through town) and Highway 141 (on the southern edge of town) traffic counts throughout town are relatively low aside from Willis Ave, the primary East to West thoroughfare in town, which sees the most Annual Average Daily Traffic at 4230 cars per day. This means that slowly transitioning some of the quietest streets into car-free streets will not cause major traffic issues, and with careful planning and consideration, even Willis Ave could one day go car-free.

Perry

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The Average Annual Daily Traffic map reveals primarily quiet streets in Perry.

Spatial Qualities Central Iowa has fairly flat terrain, and Perry is no different. The town being nearly hill-free lends itself to being incredibly accessible for biking and walking since users will need to induce little effort to get from block to block. Add electric bikes, scooters, and other small vehicles to the mix, and users will be getting across town as fast as cars can, if not faster if cars are no longer on the streets.

In addition to the terrain (or lack thereof) creating great accessibility, the town is set up on a standard grid, making navigation simple and almost as straightforward as can be. The primary commercial areas are in several clusters, creating districts that allow citizens to run errands in one fell swoop. The removal of unnecessary parking would create enhanced accessibility to all. Thus, the commercial areas hold great potential to become places where people will want to stop and stay awhile.

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Perry The Perry street grid makes wayfinding simple and keeps block length short.

HTT and RRVT Connections Perry is connected to both the Raccoon River Valley Trail (RRVT) and more recently the High Trestle Trail (HTT), two major regional trails that traverse central Iowa. Having these connections has amped up the idea of Perry as a “biking community” since it’s the center point of the two trails and has historically hosted recreational bike rides like RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) and BRR (Bike Ride to Rippey). While these regional trails provide great opportunities for recreation, with new technologies, they can also become major resources for transportation.

As mentioned earlier in the section “What makes small towns perfect for car-free lifestyles”, regional trails can connect people from small town to small town, or in Perry’s case, into larger metropolitan areas like Des Moines. Many people living in Perry work outside of the town and often in places already connected by one of the trails, so with the growth of electric bikes and enhanced amenities provided along the trails, it could become possible for people from Perry to commute to both small towns like Adel or the larger Des Moines metro for work without a car.

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The Raccoon River Valley Trail (left) and High Trestle Trail (right) meet in Perry.

Lower-Income Populations The average income in Perry is around $42,000/year with a 13.2% poverty rate31. With the cost of car ownership mentioned previously being $8,469 per year, that works out to a car consuming nearly 20% of yearly household income. This is not a sustainable amount to be spending on transportation.

Since functioning cars cost so much to purchase and maintain, old, lowquality vehicles are often seen sitting in many yards and driveway spaces since these might be the only mode of transportation some Perry residents can afford.

Perry has the opportunity to offer a high quality of life to even the lowestincome citizens by investing in infrastructure that caters to those without a car, leveling the playing field so everyone can be a part of the Perry community.

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Many lots in Perry are consumed by old, non-functioning vehicles.

Perry

Photo of old cars in Perry yards

A Major Employer Many Perry-dwellers commute to surrounding communities for work, but just outside of Perry city limits, Tyson Foods serves as a major employer for many in town as well as people coming from out of town locations like Johnston and Des Moines. Having this large corporation so close to town gives reason to establish a small-scale local and regional transit route, car-sharing program, and/or biking/walking groups that travel to and from work together. With so many people going to the same place, there is no need for individual people to drive their individual cars to work each day.

Perry

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The Tyson plant is located just outside of the western Perry city limits.

Latino Population With the addition of the Tyson plant close to town and an influx of Latino immigrants to fill the positions, the population in Perry is now nearly 37 percent Latino32. For several reasons, this diverse population would be receptive to and benefit from a car-free community, including: •

Many immigrants who came to Perry for work were previously living in countries with fewer cars and more chances to walk, carpool, or take a bus. Rethinking Perry as a car-free community would allow immigrant families to feel welcome and accustomed to the way of life due to similar transportation styles.

•

While holding a position at Tyson provides economic opportunity for the employees, the income made is often spent feeding and housing their families, and for many, sending money back to their families in their country of origin. This leaves little room to afford a car, yet many still own one. If public transit and walkability/bikeability are made more accessible and acceptable in Perry, the need for a car would dwindle and more money could be put toward life necessities.

•

While many Latino community members in Perry have been living there for several generations or have recently moved and become citizens, not everyone has maintained United States Citizen status. This means some community members are unable to obtain a driver’s license or digitally purchase transit fares, leaving them with inaccessible transportation options. Improving walkability/bikeability in a way that doesn’t make these community members feel exposed and setting up small-scale transportation options will ensure everyone in Perry has access to transportation, no matter their citizenship status.

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Designing transportation systems in a way that accommodate diverse populations ensures that everyone has access to fair and accessible transportation, and additionally, means that these populations will be receptive and supportive of the changes that come along with going car free.

Perry The Perry Latino population is an active group that is continuously growing.

Existing Initiatives Once a community finds success in tackling one initiative, it is likely they will be motivated to continue working toward additional improvements.

Perry is one of those communities that has done great things in the past, thus, it holds great potential to continue to evolve in pursuing projects to bolster their community. As just a few examples: Perry is fortunate to be a stop along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, a 89 mile loop through central Iowa popular among both local and touring cyclists. In the past 14 years, another trail, the High Trestle Trail, has been steadily growing toward Perry, so the town created the “Let’s Connect” campaign (advertised through the Perry Big Bike, shown below), raising over $5 million to connect the two regional trails. This shows their dedication not only to promoting recreation and tourism in their town, but also their interest in becoming a hub for cyclists. This will make the car-free initiative much more likely to be supported.

In 2012, the old post office in town was purchased by a group of women at a very small cost. The name “La Poste” as it is called now pays homage to its former function as well as the large Latino population in Perry, and serves as a community gathering space for weddings, graduations, art festivals, weekly music performances, and all kinds of other events that bring the community together.

Perry

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The community has also recently redeveloped an empty parcel between two buildings on Willis St. and revamped it as “Soumas Court”, a public space with art, seating, and information recognizing George Soumas, a three-time mayor in Perry and World War II Veteran.

The Perry Big Bike was a centerpiece for the High Trestle Trail fundraising effort.

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Perry

Challenges in Going Car-Free Older Adults and Mobility-Impaired Individuals Funding Culture and Attitude Development Patterns Climate

Going car-free, especially in small towns, seems like an obvious positive when the numerous human and environmental benefits are quantified. However, just because \ 66 the idea sounds positive, doesn’t mean that it will be easy to incorporate into society. Eliminating anything entirely in a community brings challenges along with it, though it is important to not let these perceived challenges limit the validity of making such a crucial societal change.

The following section introduces some of these challenges along with examples of how communities can overcome them.

7

Older Adults and Mobility-Impaired Individuals While there is discussion later on about how creating walkable and bikefriendly communities is beneficial to older adults, this concept is not yet widespread. Cars are seen as a safe way for older and mobility-impaired people to get from place to place. There are ramps, lifts, and other features that can be added to many vehicles, and handicap parking spots placed in accessible locations to access the adjacent building. These are thoughtful ways to accommodate those with mobility limitations, but there are other solutions.

Expanding public transit to reach close to people’s homes and travel destinations is essential. Commuter trains and subways generally have elevators and escalators to get people from street level down to the train.

Some buses have been adapted to include ramps and extra space for someone using a wheelchair. Additionally, some older adults or mobilityimpaired community members might be willing or want to walk, bike, or use their wheelchair to get to where they need to go, but the facilities available in their community might not be ADA compliant or be available in the places they need to go.

Another thought to consider with this population is that if they were to have grown up in a car-free society where exercise was naturally a part of daily life, they might not be in the physical condition they are struggling with now. Going car-free in many parts of the world will prove challenging for the current older or mobility-impaired population. But for the generation that is raised in a society without cars, it is likely they will have fewer physical disabilities, will be able to use active transportation until later on in their life, and live longer because of their consistently active lifestyle and because of safety from traffic crashed that can cause lifelong disabilities.

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Challenges Ramps can be added to public transit to ensure everyone can use the system.

Funding In the U.S., a significantly fewer number of people walk or ride bikes for transportation than drive cars. Because of this, when high-cost bike or pedestrian projects come up, it is easy to make the argument that investing in these facilities is unreasonable due to the low number of users. But it is worthwhile consider that with upgraded and safer facilities, the number of people that feel comfortable biking and walking will increase, thus making these types of infrastructure cheaper after all.

When addressing skeptical audiences with reasoning for pursuing a car-free system, backing up the argument with specific facts makes it more likely that the audience will begin to let go of their skepticism. For example, one mile of a protected bike lane is 100 times cheaper to build than one mile of roadway33. This is, of course, on a case by case basis, but goes to show how affordable transportation upgrades and maintenance in the future would be were communities to go car-free. Additionally, bikes are far lighter than cars, thus causing much less damage to street surfaces. The same goes for the addition of sidewalks. It’s hard to argue that less pavement damage is a bad thing.

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Public transit is a completely different battle, but can also be done affordably. Many roads in the U.S. at one point had a street car or trolley system, so with the modern technology we have today and the existing road layouts, these systems can be reinvented efficiently and without too much rearrangement to the urban grid. Demonstrating that the base infrastructure is already in place will make people feel more open to change. Additionally, bus systems that provide convenient routes will lessen the number of cars on the road, reducing the damage and thus cost of maintaining roadways. Again, arguing against good quality pavement is difficult and unlikely.

Challenges

The weight of cars and volume of travel leads to significantly more road damage than that of bike or pedestrian traffic.

Culture and Attitude In the car-centered country we live in, there are many stereotypes associated with means of travel that aren’t a car. Public transit is seen as dirty and only for those that can’t afford cars. People who ride bikes are either wealthy and entitled or poor and unfit for riding in the road.

Having your kids walk to school instead of driving them means you are lazy and don’t care about their safety. These views are unjustified, but are widespread enough that people with these ideas often rally against the addition and improvement of facilities and systems that support modes other than driving.

In order to shift the perspectives of nay-sayers, the positive tangible as well as overall community benefits need to be shared. Once a community has the facilities to be considered walkable, it is shown that the people in these walkable communities trust their neighbors more, participate in more community activities and organizations, and are more likely to volunteer in their community34. A great example of this is Safe Routes to School, where parents, school employees, and sometimes city officials work together to establish groups for walking/biking to school so students have access to a safe route and person leading their route. This gets multiple community groups together to volunteer for the benefit of safe walking. Walking is sometimes seen as being for someone who can’t afford a car, but there is no denying that the benefits added when a community becomes “walkable” make walkable infrastructure a valuable resource.

After these changes to the community are in place, some of their greatest proponents could be those who most fiercely opposed them initially.

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Challenges Safe Routes to School programs help students get safely to school with the help of volunteers

Development Patterns As communities grow, sprawling development often occurs with the idea of maximizing economic development opportunities, providing more affordable housing for growing populations, and providing opportunities for people who don’t enjoy the urban lifestyle. While some sprawl has complemented the growth of urban cores, much of it has taken the daily necessities out of the core and into outside areas while often also segregating communities through phenomena like White Flight. As an example, in many smaller communities, larger grocery stores and shopping centers are built on the outer edges of town, leaving smaller convenience stores and gas stations with less healthy food options in the central core.

These larger stores may be trying to maximize visibility from the highway, build their own space instead of rehabilitating an existing building in town, or save money by purchasing cheaper land on the urban perimeter, but consumer transportation needs generally are not taken into account.

Bringing these places farther away from where people are living and working makes the idea of biking or walking there a challenge. The task of carrying a week’s worth of groceries home on a bike takes effort regardless of how far the store is from home, but placing that grocery store a few miles outside of town means the task is more likely to be dismissed as impossible by many. This challenge can be combated by encouraging mixed-use zoning, discussed in more detail in the “Physical Features” section in “Elements Essential in a Car-Free City”. \ 70

Challenges

Suburban development has led to highly spread out places only accessible by car.

Climate Extreme climates can often easily house public transportation systems, but active transportation is a completely different battle. The argument can be made that many northern climate countries would struggle without cars because of the cold winter weather, snow, and rain, and southern countries struggle due to intense heat and humidity throughout the year. This is a definite challenge, but there are ways to make year-round biking and walking in these places work.

For example, Minneapolis, MN is one of the most bike friendly cities in the United States35 but is also ranked as the 16th coldest city in the United States36. How does this work? Minneapolis has an extensive trail and onstreet bike facility system and moderate elevation changes making many of these systems easily accessible even to beginning riders. During the winter, the city has committed to clearing all trails and bike lanes, and bike shops sell all kinds of gear, like waterproof shoe-covers, mitts that attach to handlebars to keep hands warm, and every type of thermal clothing you could think of. Fat bikes (bikes with over-sized tires meant to handle rough terrain like snow) and studded tires can be seen throughout the city.

Another riding condition to address is a hot climate. By wearing clothing that lightly covers your skin from the sun, staying hydrated, adding storage to your bike to take the weight/heat off of your back, and choosing cooler times of the day to ride, commuting in the heat is doable. Communities can also include elements like shading street trees and drinking fountains to help keep active transportation users cool during these months.

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However, an important consideration to make is that while it is possible to bike in these extreme conditions, in order to be safe and/or comfortable, expensive gear is often needed. Studded tires and sweat-wicking fabrics are great, but come at a high cost for the average individual. So cities can step in to provide services and amenities like trail plowing and conveniently placed drinking fountains to ensure places for biking and walking are safe and accessible year round.

Challenges Prioritizing bike paths and sidewalks for snow clearing allows year-round travel.

Current Efforts to Go Car-Free + Key Takeaways Mackinac Island, MI Zermatt, Switzerland Oslo, Norway Brussels, Belgium Pontevedre, Spain Stockholm, Sweden Open Streets Events

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Many communities worldwide are opting to limit or even outlaw cars from coming into their communities. Some are completely car-free due to the historic nature of the place (Mackinac Island), some have maintained or turned their historic downtown cores into a walking and biking paradise (Brussels, Belgium), and others are still in the process of creating car-free areas but have plans for bold improvements in the coming years (Oslo, Norway).

While these places are different from Perry, Iowa in many ways, there is something that can be learned from each example. By comparing each of these places and recognizing their successes and challenges, Perry can plan and create a car-free community with elements that have already been proven successful.

8

Mackinac Island, MI Mackinac Island has always been almost completely car-free. When cars started to become the common mode of transportation in the late 1800s, they briefly made their way onto the island via tourists, but their loud noises, fumes, and the fact that they scared horses led to car bans that started in 1898 and were never lifted37. Mackinac Island now prides itself on supporting a healthy, car-free lifestyle (aside from construction and emergency vehicles) complete with 80% of the island preserved as public land. The community is built along narrow streets designed initially to accommodate horse-drawn carriages, but that also make for great places to bike or walk38. You know a business is doing well on the island when the bike racks outside are filled to the brim.

Takeaway: Narrow streets create human-scale environments that make walking and biking feel comfortable and accessible. As cars are phased-out on roads in Perry, the width of the road can be made to feel smaller by adding planters, benches, artwork, and other street interventions to give the roadway a welcoming feel. As Perry transitions into being completely car-free, the edges of the road can be replaced with landscape areas and/ or buildings could be expanded and built up into the reclaimed road edge to encourage density.

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Current Efforts

Mackinac Island, MI is a completely car-free island.

Madrid, Spain Madrid plans to ban cars from 500 acres of the city by 2020 with 65% of residents in support of the change. This high level of support can likely be attributed to the hyper-dense design of Madrid. 45,000 people live in just one square kilometer (0.62 miles) of the newly designated car-free zone39.

This density makes walking and biking quick and efficient, especially as parking spaces and lots are removed.

Takeaway: Density is key in going car-free. Communities that suffer with sprawl are challenged by their lack of density, but by densifying certain areas of the community and setting growth boundaries, better opportunities to go car-free will arise.

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Current Efforts

Madrid, Spain capitalizes on their high density built environment to create carfree areas.

Zermatt, Switzerland Zermatt, Switzerland, located at the base of the Matterhorn in the Alps, established itself as a combustion-engine car-free community to prevent smog from blocking views of the Matterhorn40. In this tourism-driven town, people walk, bike, or take a horse-drawn carriage. Electric vehicles are permitted for commerce, emergency or municipal purposes, and for shuttle service to nearby train stations, hotels, and ski-lifts. Zermatt is a small city with three main streets and many cross streets that make nearly everything walkable in at most 30 minutes.

Takeaway: While Zermatt has essentially been car-free since it was established, communities with long, harsh winters can draw inspiration from their lifestyle. Additionally, when cars are allowed in Zermatt, the vehicles used are electric which would be a policy worth applying in many communities.

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Current Efforts

Zermatt, Switzerland eliminated cars to protect scenic views of the Alps.

Oslo, Norway Oslo, Norway is in the midst of the largest car ban ever, with plans to ban all cars from the city center in 2019. The aim is to make the city more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists, reduce pollution, and boost business activity. Oslo plans to achieve this by eliminating over 700 parking spots, re-zoning the entire city center, shifting streets into entirely pedestrian environments, and raising the cost of congestion tolls41. Due to the changes that have already been made, Oslo has seen a boom in the development of sidewalk cafes, outdoor furniture, bike paths, and bike racks40. With the large scale, quick nature, and expectations of this ban comes a world watching to see the results.

Takeaway: While the full results of the car ban will not be understood for at least another year, the changes that have already been seen with the current state of the ban are already significant. This shows that even at smaller scales than a full-car ban, significant changes can be made to a community when the initiative is taken to limit car access.

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Current Efforts

Oslo, Norway is embarking on a bold plan to ban cars from the city center by the end of 2019.

Brussels, Belgium Brussels, due to its historic design as a walkable city, has successfully maintained its central city square without cars for many years. Even while housing the second largest car-free zone in Europe, there is still work to be done. Currently, Brussels is redesigning a four-lane boulevard into an entirely pedestrian street, banning cars in the city center for one day every September, and banning the use of diesel vehicles made before 1998. They are also making progressive moves with public transportation, establishing projects like a “Mobility Week� to encourage the use of public transportation and making public transportation free when air pollution is high42.

Takeaway: Starting from areas in town that are typically more car-free than others (a public square, market space, etc.) is a good way to ease into going more completely car-free. Additionally, adding incentives when pollution is high not only encourages people to use transit at that time, but will demonstrate to them why taking transit instead of driving makes such a great impact.

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Current Efforts

Brussels, Belgium is building on their historic design to promote walkability.

Pontevedre, Spain When Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores became mayor of Pontevedre, Spain (a city of 80,000 people) in 1999, he knew there was work to be done to turn the city center around. He stated “Before I became mayor 14,000 cars passed along this street every day. More cars passed through the city in a day than there are people living here.”43 Pontevedre’s streets were dirty, full of cars, and the local economy was in decline. So he took initiative, eliminating street parking, closing parking lots, using traffic-calming methods on the periphery of the city, and extending their current car-free zone to encompass a larger area.

After these changes were made, the traffic death rate went from 30 people every 10 years to three people, CO2 emissions are down 70%, and 12,000 new people have moved into the city.

Takeaway: Some might worry that going car-free will scare people away from their community, just as many business owners automatically assume that removing parking spots will negatively affect their business. However, experiences in many different cities has shown that making moves toward becoming car-free actually attracts people.

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Current Efforts

Pontevedre, Spain reduced car use and witnessed a boom in population growth.

Stockholm, Sweden One city that has been particularly successful in the application of temporary pedestrian streets is Stockholm, Sweden. For the past four years, Stockholm has had an initiative called “Living Stockholm� that converts certain segments of streets all over the city into pedestrian ways with temporary seating, added greenery, and no cars, some during summer and some even in the winter.44 To ensure that the city’s mission of bringing public streets to life is recognized and respected by everyone in the community, they have even established a provision in traffic regulation policy as follows: Chapter 8 Provisions for traffic on the pedestrian street.45 On a pedestrian street the following applies: Vehicles must not be driven at a higher speed than walking.

Vehicles must not be parked in any place other than specially arranged parking spaces.

Vehicle drivers have a duty to weigh on walking.

On a pedestrian street, motor vehicles may not be brought other than to cross it. Such vehicles may, however, be carried on pedestrian streets if necessary for deliveries to or from stores or equivalent at the pedestrian street, transport of goods or accommodation to or from the address at the pedestrian street, transport of guests to or from hotels or the equivalent at the pedestrian street, or transport of sick or disabled persons to or from the address on the pedestrian street.

Takeaway: At all times of the year and even for very small segments, pedestrianized streets provide opportunities to bring people together in reclaimed spaces that are normally used by cars.

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Current Efforts

Stockholm, Sweden established a program to create temporary pedestrian streets throughout the summer.

Open Streets Events Since the 1970s, Bogotá, Columbia has closed down major roads throughout the city on Sundays and public holidays for most of the day, opening up the streets for people to walk around, bike, skateboard, paint, socialize, and do any other activity they want to do that is normally confined to the adjacent sidewalks46. They call the event “Ciclovía” or cycleway. This idea took off and spread to many other cities and countries, taking on names like “open streets” or “living streets”, but still with a goal to give the streets back to the people instead of prioritizing them for cars.

Takeaway: Even if going car-free can’t be done right away or at all, smallscale events to demonstrate what a car-free place could feel like are a great way to get the ball rolling toward achieving completely car-free status.

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Current Efforts

Open Streets events, like Ciclovia, show the community how streets can be reclaimed for public use.

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Current Efforts

Conclusion

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In compiling this book, the fact that there was no well-known, well-defined example of a completely car-free community was surprising to me. Small towns, especially in countries with progressive transportation systems and affinity for health and wellness, hold so much potential to revert to their original car-free nature, yet cars have made their way into all of these places. If cars were removed from society, you’d “find yourself among towns and cities that were suddenly more welcoming to human beings, rather than built for rapid, anonymous, one-ton metal boxes, often carrying a single person for a laughably short distance4”.

Many communities worldwide are making strides toward limiting car use or becoming car-free altogether, but there is a long way to go. Moving forward, I plan to continually gather examples of movements, policies, and physical interventions being made around the world to advance the idea of car-free communities. As this resource continues to grow, my hope is that communities are able to use this, and hopefully other resources that arise as people begin to see the value in getting out of the car, to move their communities away from car-use and create places of equitable transportation. One day, a quick Google search for “car-free communities” will yield a long list of examples of truly car-free places.

By challenging ourselves as planners, designers, and as ordinary and longsuffering residents to step back and consider how cars negatively affect our lives, we can create communities that are healthy, safe, and humancentered once again. \ 83

Endnotes + Image Credits

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Endnotes 1.

Andrew A. Pack, “Increasing Density: A Small-Town Approach to New Urbanism.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. July 29, 2016. https:// www.stlouisfed.org/publications/bridges/fall-2013/increasing-density-asmalltown-approach-to-new-urbanism.

2 “America’s Five Best Small Cities for Biking.” PeopleForBikes. August 06, 2018. https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/americas-five-best-smallcities-biking/.

3 Lisa Rapaport, “Car Crash Death Rates Highest in Remotest Rural Areas.” Reuters. October 05, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/ us-health-rural-autos-crash/car-crash-death-rates-highest-in-remotest-ruralareas-idUSKBN1CA2EW. 4 Peter Walker, How Cycling Can save the World. New York: TarcherPerigee, 2017.

5 Blix Journal. “4 Ways Biking Boosts Your Productivity.” Blix Electric Bikes. March 23, 2017. https://blixbike.com/blogs/journal/4-waysbiking-boosts-your-productivity.

6 Liverani, Stephanie. “Road to Reduced Carbon Emissions Might Be Paved in Asphalt.” The American Ceramic Society. September 27, 2016. https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/road-to-reduced-carbon-emissions-might-be-paved-in-asphalt).

7 “Demographic Trends and Economic Well-being.” Social & Demographic Trends. July 25, 2016. http://www.pewsocialtrends. org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/.

8 Ellen Worth. “Baltimore City Biased and Racist Bike Infrastructure - Maps and Charts.” Miscellaneous Posts(blog), December 20, 2016. http://chamspage.blogspot.com/2016/12/baltimore-city-biased-and-racist-bike.html.

9 Schmitt, Angie. “Survey: Women More Likely to Prefer Separated Bike Infrastructure.” Streetsblog USA. September 11, 2018. https://usa. streetsblog.org/2018/09/11/survey-women-more-likely-to-prefer-separated-bike-infrastructure/.

10 “Facts about Cycling in Denmark.” Cycling Embassy of Denmark. http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/facts-about-cycling-in-denmark/statistics/.

11 Goodyear, Sarah. “The Link Between Kids Who Walk or Bike to School and Concentration.” CityLab. February 08, 2013. https://www. citylab.com/transportation/2013/02/kids-who-walk-or-bike-school-concentrate-better-study-shows/4585/.

12 Lisa Rapaport, “Car Crash Death Rates Highest in Remotest Rural Areas.” Reuters. October 05, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/ us-health-rural-autos-crash/car-crash-death-rates-highest-in-remotest-ruralareas-idUSKBN1CA2EW. 13 Schwartz, Ariel. “Mapping The Link Between Obesity And Car Driving.” Fast Company. November 13, 2014. https://www.fastcompany. com/1679157/mapping-the-link-between-obesity-and-car-driving.

14 “Walk Score Methodology.” Walk Score. 2018. https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml.

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15

Erica Noonan, “A Matter of Size,” Boston Globe (March 7, 2010).

16 Maciag, Mike. “America Still Loves Cars, But Some Cities Are Starting to Ditch Them.” Governing Magazine. December 05, 2017. http:// www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-car-freehouseholds-cities.html.

17 Nicole Arata, and Philip Reed. “What Is the Total Cost of Owning a Car?” NerdWallet. October 18, 2018. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/ loans/total-cost-owning-car/.

18 Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank, and Richard Jackson, Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004).

19 Heidi Garrett-Peltier, “Estimating the Employment Impacts of Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Road Infrastructure (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, December 2010), 1–2.

20 Wagner, Kate. “City Noise Might Be Making You Sick.” The Atlantic. February 20, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/city-noise-might-be-making-you-sick/553385/.

21 “Fietsstraat, De Rode Loper Voor De Fietser.” Antwerpen. September 13, 2018. https://www.antwerpen.be/nl/ info/54f70c35cba8a71c0a8b4fa2/fietsstraat-de-rode-loper-voor-de-fietser.

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22 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior. Report. August 2008. https://one.nhtsa.gov/Driving-Safety/Research&-Evaluation/National-Survey-of-Bicyclist-and-Pedestrian-Attitudes-and-Behavior.

23 Terracast. “4 Benefits of Adding Protected Bike Lanes That May Surprise You.” TerraCast Products. June 27, 2018. http://www.terracastproducts.com/4-benefits-adding-protected-bike-lanes-may-surprise/.

24 Reid H. Ewing, and Keith Bartholomew. Pedestrian- & Transitoriented Design. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2013.

25 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. London: Pelican, 1964.

26 Jansen, Tiffany. “Toilet Paper Was Clogging Pipes. The Netherlands Used It to Pave a Bike Lane.” CityLab. September 28, 2017. https://www.citylab.com/environment/2017/09/bike-path-recycled-toiletpaper-netherlands/541326/.

27 “Snowmelt: A Snow-Free Holland.” Holland, Michigan. Accessed March 24, 2019. https://www.holland.org/snow-free-holland.

28 Cunningham, Amanda. “Public Transportation of the Future: Four New Sustainable Technologies.” Building Design Construction. January 31, 2017. https://www.bdcnetwork.com/blog/public-transportation-future-fournew-sustainable-technologies.

29 United States. Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. State Historical Society of Iowa. The Early History of Perry, Iowa. By Eugene Hastie.

5th ed. Vol. 40. The Annals of Iowa. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Dept. of Cultural Affairs, 1970. 381-87.

30 Schneider, Keith. “Rebuilding a Town, One Piece at a Time.” The New York Times, April 13, 2010. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/ realestate/commercial/14perry.html.

31

“Perry, IA.” Data USA. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/perry-ia/.

32 “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Perry City, Iowa; Iowa.” Census Bureau QuickFacts. July 1, 2017. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/ table/perrycityiowa,ia/PST045217.

33 Zachary Shahan, “1 Mile of a Protected Bike Lane Is 100x Cheaper than 1 Mile of Roadway (Chart).” TreeHugger. October 11, 2018. https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/1-mile-protected-bike-lane-100x-cheaper-1-mile-roadway-chart.html.

34 Shannon H. Rogers et al., “Examining Walkability and Social Capital as Indicators of Quality of Life at the Municipal and Neighborhood Scales,” Journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life 6, no. 2 (2011): 2013.

35 AC Shilton, “The Best Bike Cities in America.” Bicycling. October 18, 2018. https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a23676188/best-bike-cities-2018/.

36 Evan Comen, “America’s 50 Coldest Cities.” 24/7 Wall St. July 23, 2018. https://247wallst.com/special-report/2018/01/08/americas50-coldest-cities-3/9/.

37 McManus, Melanie Radzicki. “No Cars Allowed: Michigan’s Mackinac Is an Island of Bicycles.” Star Tribune. September 01, 2017. http:// www.startribune.com/no-cars-allowed-michigan-s-mackinac-is-an-island-ofbicycles/442411773/.

38 Newell, Andrea. “Mackinac Island: Where Cars Are Banned and Bikes Rule the Road.” Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit. March 10, 2015. https://www.triplepundit.com/2013/10/mackinac-island-biketown-usa/.

39 https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/11/spain-nationwide-car-free-city-center-car-ban/576976/?utm_source=facebook&utm_ medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_term=2018-1130T18%3A18%3A49&utm_campaign=citylab&fbclid=IwAR1_Y0eyRPibPT6d4Y3IdD3y3-TeFE-enhPxjRIozeBOKh6zz33gtrCW7TE 40 html.

“About Zermatt.” Ski-Zermatt. http://ski-zermatt.com/zermatt.

41 Deshayes, Pierre-Henry. “Drivers See Red over Oslo’s Green ‘war on Cars’.” September 24, 2018. https://phys.org/news/2018-09-driversred-oslo-green-war.html.

42 Garfield, Leanna. “13 Cities That Are Starting to Ban Cars.” Business Insider. June 01, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/cities-goingcar-free-ban-2017-8#brussels-belgium-features-the-largest-car-free-area-ineurope-8.

43 Burgen, Stephen. “’For Me, This Is Paradise’: Life in the Spanish City That Banned Cars.” The Guardian. September 18, 2018. https://www. theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/paradise-life-spanish-city-bannedcars-pontevedra.

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44 Ország, Juraj. “Places of Interest: Stockholm Summer Pedestrian Zones and Pop-up Parks.” Trevl. May 30, 2018. https://trevl.eu/places-ofinterest-stockholm-summer-pedestrian-zones-and-pop-up-parks/.

45 “Levande Stockholm.” Stockholm Stad. February 1, 2019. http:// www.stockholm.se/levandestockholm.

46 “Bogota: Bike Friendly City.” Colombia.co. May 25, 2018. https:// www.colombia.co/en/visit-colombia/tourism-by-regions/bogota-bike-friendly-city/.

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