car-free

Urban Transport Without the Hot Air, Volume 1
by Steve Melia

I have no idea what difference this makes to GDP but these principles have been understood for many years in old university cities like Cambridge; Michel Woitrin also understood it when planning Louvain-la-Neuve. Car-free development can provide traffic-free walking routes for residents and the wider area. A national programme of urban intensification will multiply opportunities for car-free development. Where parking is controlled, road capacity is limited and planners are trying to fit more housing into a limited space, its advantages are obvious. Car-free residential developments could also breathe life into many of our existing pedestrianized areas. Private property developers have embraced the limited form of ‘car-free housing’ in inner London. To go further, to build a Vauban or a Stellwerk 60, takes leadership from local politicians and planners.

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As a result, relations with surrounding neighbours were strained to begin with, but they improved when both groups united against another planning application, for a railway workshop nearby. In Britain the term ‘car-free housing’ – the adjective is usually hyphenated in Britain – usually describes conventional housing with no parking. Car-free conditions are frequently used in inner-London boroughs, which are covered by controlled parking zones. A planning condition attached to car-free new housing precludes the residents from applying for residents’ parking permits. These conditions are intended to reduce pressure for parking spaces in dense areas, but they bring no direct benefit to the residents who are subject to this condition.

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This was based on a study of just 15 new developments, two of which had part of the data missing. Notwithstanding those weaknesses, the report was used to lobby the Greater London Authority and Islington borough council for more permissive parking policies. Islington, like several inner-London boroughs, has a policy facilitating ‘car-free’ new housing in areas covered by residents’ parking schemes: residents of car-free new properties can’t have parking permits. Several developers called for this policy to be scrapped, but the council rejected their arguments.139 The RAC Foundation supports some serious and useful research, although the Foundation is linked to a motoring organization, which sometimes influences the conclusions of its reports and the way they are presented.140 Its report on parking policy offers a slightly more nuanced conclusion: “there is no direct evidence to suggest that parking constraints are currently a significant influence on car ownership”.141 ‘Significant’ was not defined in this context.

Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution
by Janette Sadik-Khan
Published 8 Mar 2016

In 2011, the first year, eighteen neighborhoods held events; by 2013, the number had increased to twenty-four neighborhoods. Decades from now these car-free events should be as much a tradition as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the New York City Marathon. While we accomplished a lot with paint and partnerships to make changes quickly and cheaply, we also set up new administrative processes that put the power of public space and its long-term management more directly into the hands of communities. The application program for these neighborhood car-free events reflected the model of our plaza program. It wasn’t about simple empowerment—letting people ask for a plaza or a car-free street—it was necessary to establish a community management plan to keep the new spaces and events alive, and to maintain and help pay for them.

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It could be an exercise in social integration.” Today, Ciclovía’s route runs more than seventy miles and attracts more than one million people to the streets every Sunday and holiday. Car-free or “open streets” events have spread around the world, from Los Angeles and Minneapolis, to Johannesburg and several cities in India, in cities with populations ranging from twenty thousand to twenty million. Peñalosa says that the automotive dominance is instantly tamed by car-free events as people have an opportunity to connect again with their streets: “All of a sudden people see that the streets are public space and belong to all of us, and things start clicking into other possibilities.”

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See Fordham Road Grand Concourse bike lane, 158 Moses’s “urban renewal” projects, 16 Southern Boulevard, traffic fatalities, 220 Bronx Hub, 106 Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, 15 Brooklyn Barclays Center, 278 Bedford Avenue bike lane, 163, 164 Flatbush Avenue, 75 Fourth Avenue, 59 Gowanus Expressway, 59 Grand Army Plaza, 164, 165 Kent Avenue bike lane, 144, 162–64 Montague Street, car-free event, 120–21 Moses’s “urban renewal” projects, 16 New Lots Avenue plaza, 106 Nostrand Avenue, 75 Ocean Parkway, 152–53 Pearl Street plaza, 80–82, 81, 254 Prospect Park West, speeding on, 164–65, 169, 171–72 Prospect Park West bike lane. See Prospect Park West bike lane Brooklyn Bridge, 44, 119, 144, 266, 271–72 Brooklyn Heights bike-share dock, 197 car-free streets, 120–21 Brooklyn Navy Yard, 189 Brooklyn Nets, 168 Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, 153 murals, 141, 142 Brooklyn Spoke, 198 Broome Street, 11 Bruni, Frank, 177 Bryant Park, 87 Burden, Amanda, 83 Burying highways, 65–66 Buses, 233–49 Bogotá’s TransMilenio, 234–35 Curitiba, Brazil, 234, 235 Fordham Road, 239, 248, 255 Second Avenue, 240, 248, 252 34th Street, 237–38, 240–41, 244–45 Bus rapid transit (BRT), 234–35 Byrne, David, 119, 136–37, 137, 180–81 Byron, Joan, 236 C Cairo, Tahrir Square, 3 Camden High Street (London), 50 Canal Street, 11 Cantor, Dan, 238 Cars autocentric view, 64–65 orientating streets toward people vs., 18–21 Car2Go, 284–85 Carbon footprint, of New York City, xiii, 23–25 Car-free events, 122–24 Bogotá’s Ciclovía, 116–18 Summer Streets, 118–19, 122–23 Weekend Walks, 123 Car lane widths, 49–55 Carmageddon, 106 Caro, Robert, 18 Car ownership, 26–28, 45 young people and, 183–84 Carpool lanes, 47–49 Car rentals, 184 Car sharing, 26, 183–84, 284 Central Park, 117, 146, 164 Champs-Élysées, 3 Chase Bank, 124 Chattanooga, bike share, 187–88 Chelsea Market, 83 Cheonggyecheon Creek, 65–66 Cherry Street, 135 Chicago bike lanes, xvi, 152 Dearborn Avenue, 152 China Beijing, biking, 288–89 Hangzhou, bike share, 204 infrastructure investment, 266 Chinatown (New York City), 75 Grand Street bike lane, 159, 160–61, 162, 190 Ciclovía, 116–18 Citibank, 187, 201 Citi Bikes, 179–205, 261, 292 2009 New York City study, 185, 186 Alta and PBSC and, 186–89, 200 community outreach, 191–92, 196 critics of, 196–98, 200–202 Jon Stewart’s routine, 179–80, 202 launch of, 180–82, 183, 190, 191, 197 location siting and stations, 191–98, 195, 203 locking system, 186, 198, 200 Petrosino Square sketch-ins, 181, 181 safety concerns, 190–91, 214, 221–23 sponsorship of, 185, 187 Climate change, 278, 280 Clinton, Bill, xii Clinton Street, 217 Colbert, Stephen, 198, 202 Colbert Report, The (TV show), 198, 202 Colombia.

Mobility: A New Urban Design and Transport Planning Philosophy for a Sustainable Future
by John Whitelegg
Published 1 Sep 2015

This can be compared with dreadful, dirty, diesel operated services in the UK using vehicles that are 40 years old e.g. the Lancaster- Morecambe branch line serving a population of approximately 100,000. There is no prospect of new investment on this line. Freiburg is well known for its highly acclaimed car-free residential areas of Vauban and Rieselfeld (Folleta and Field, 2011). Vauban is not 100% car free but has very low levels of car ownership (160 cars per 1000 residents) and low levels of car use, 16% of all trips are by car. Residents must sign a legal agreement not to own a car or pay for a parking space in a shared public garage at a cost of 18,500-22,500 Euros (Foletta and Field, 2011).

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Both areas are served by tram, both have exceptionally high energy efficient homes and photo voltaic installations and both are car-reduced in the sense that car free living is encouraged and “Aufenthaltsqualitaet in öffentlichen Raum” is a design principle that is actually implemented. The English translation of this concept would be “the quality of the public realm that encourages residents to spend time in that realm.” As noted earlier the concept has very little resonance with thinking in the UK. The centre of Freiburg is almost totally car-free and in a way that is significantly different to the pedestrian areas of York or Lancaster or Oxford where cars and lorries frequently invade the pedestrian areas and destroy the “Aufenthaltsqualitaet.”

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A vehicle driving down a residential street at 40 mph packs more destructive energy than a bullet.” Roberts provides evidence that in circumstances where traffic volumes fell e.g. in the Middle East oil crises of 1974 and 1979 child pedestrian deaths fell. In New Zealand between 1975 and 1980 child pedestrian deaths fell by 46% in response to car free days and a weekend ban on petrol sales “but when the oil started flowing and traffic volume resumed its upward trajectory, the number of children killed and injured on the roads increased along with it…when petrol prices rise fewer children die; when they fall, more children die.” The World Health Organisation (WHO, 2004, page 7) recommends against the use of the word “accident.”

Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality
by Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett
Published 27 Aug 2018

Thanks to the bike–train combination, Lennart and Ruth are perfectly mobile despite being car-free, traveling to four or five cities around the country on a typical week. Even in a smaller town like Leiden, the mobility options and quality of life afforded to them exceed those of most other places in the world. “It’s the little things. On a day-to-day basis, you don’t really notice it that much,” says Nout. “But noise is one of the biggest things. I’d never realized how quiet it is here. The city center is car-free, which makes it so peaceful and quiet.” Places such as Leiden are fairly typical of the Dutch experience, perhaps more so than the urban centers of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Utrecht.

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Those five weeks were nothing short of life changing as we pedaled along Rotterdam’s stunning Erasmus Bridge and the Maastunnel, Eindhoven’s awesome Hovenring and Van Gogh Path, Amsterdam’s bustling Vondelpark and Rijksmuseum, Utrecht’s vibrant Vredenburg and Biltstraat, and Groningen’s impressive “smart routes” and car-free city center. We also had the immense privilege of sitting down with many local experts, such as the Urban Cycling Institute’s Meredith Glaser, Dutch cycling ambassador Mark Wagenbuur, Cycling Cities: The European Experience co-authors Ruth Oldenziel and Frank Veraart, and the University of Amsterdam’s own “Fietsprofessor” Marco te Brömmelstroet.

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But we have found that making most trips on foot or bike has led to very meaningful conversations with our children, because we focus more on them and not on what is happening through a windshield. It is an outcome we never could have anticipated, but we have a better understanding of their experiences and developing personalities, simply because of the human scale at which we travel through Vancouver. At the end of the day, our family doesn’t identify ourselves as “car-free,” nor are we stubborn radicals determined to save the world. We chose simple means—walking or cycling—for the majority of our daily trips because they are the most practical, efficient, and enjoyable ways to get from A to B. More families like ours will choose these healthier, happier means once our cities make them not just safe and convenient, but also delightful.

Straphanger
by Taras Grescoe
Published 8 Sep 2011

“Strictly speaking,” said Delleske, “we are not a car-free district. People with cars are still welcome, but they have to buy a parking space when they move in.” Nine solar-powered parking lots are dotted throughout Vauban, most of them less than a 300-yard walk from apartments. At €17,500, however, a parking space is expensive; most new residents decline the option, and a solid majority have chosen to sell their cars. “We have reduced car use by seventy percent. Over two-thirds of all trips are now made by bicycle,” he said. What were the advantages, I asked Delleske, to living car-free? “The main one is cost. I save easily four hundred euros a month by not owning a car.

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At once cocoon and workhorse, it ingeniously reconciles two contradictory human impulses: the desire for home and security and the longing to roam and experience the world. Crucial for its load-carrying capacity in remote and rural areas, irreplaceable for many of its functions in cities, it is too useful an invention to ever completely vanish. Indeed, thanks to generations of car-centered development, living a car-free life—particularly for those raising young children—can seem like an impossible dream. Given the way most metropolitan areas are currently configured, calling for a ban on cars may seem tantamount to urging people to trade their refrigerators for iceboxes, or swap their vacuum cleaners for brooms.

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On Pacific Avenue, shirtless dudes held aloft cardboard signs hawking off-street parking in vacant lots and front yards for twenty-five bucks. It took me half the morning to make the trip, and most of the lunch hour to find a parking space. The ultimate goal of all this motorized suffering, amazingly enough, was a casual stroll with other human beings along a car-free boardwalk. As I became intimately acquainted with the bumper of the Mazda ahead of me on the I-10 all the way back to my hotel, I heard the traffic woman on the AM station wonder aloud: “Where are those hovercars they promised us?” Don’t hold your breath. A driver in Los Angeles spends an average of 72 hours delayed in traffic annually, the equivalent of almost two full weeks of work.

Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives
by Chris Bruntlett and Melissa Bruntlett
Published 28 Jun 2021

It’s about refusing to sacrifice vast amounts of the public realm to the private automobile; instead reserving space for commerce, community, and social connection. The ubiquitous bicycles are simply a by-product of that larger process; a tool to achieve the end goal of what policy makers call an autoluw (low-car or nearly car-free) city. At the same time, while we had been so focused on communicating the myriad benefits of cycling, it became clear that although not the stated intention of these transport policies, the improvements to social and emotional well-being resulting from decisions play—rather discreetly—a huge role in improving the livability of cities.

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This actually amplifies our experience of the stress, making it more abrasive to our system. When asked how urban planners can address the global mental health crisis, Mazumder pulls no punches: “Primarily, we need to eliminate the threat that cars pose. Whether that’s through traffic calming or car-free streets, that’s the first thing I would target.” From there, he points to high-quality infrastructure that buffers against traffic, as well as increasing access to restorative green space, opportunities for social connection, and developing a sense of community and cohesion. Mazumder, who identifies as a racialized person, also believes it is important to recognize that good infrastructure and access to nature alone won’t mitigate the stress of the city for everyone.

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Soon, individual restaurants were turning over a few hundred euros per table per night, and the value of outdoor commerce became abundantly clear to everyone. Word spread up and down the Markt, and the remaining business owners approached the City to demand the same agreement. The rest is history, and Delft’s figurative “living room” became permanently car free. Ironically, one of the first events to take advantage of the fully reclaimed square in the spring of 2004 was the Delftse Autosalon (Delft Motor Show); a now-annual event that attracts automotive dealerships and 10,000 visitors from across the region. Today the square is bustling with commerce, community, and connection: tourists taking selfies in front of the New Church, children running around and playing tag, and patrons packed on the patios for dinner and drinks.

Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
by Charles Montgomery
Published 12 Nov 2013

If you own a car, you are contractually obligated to purchase a parking spot in one of the two garages at the edge of town. (That can be a shock. Leonard’s parents bought their parking spot for 20,000 euros.) But if you don’t own a car—and you are willing to sign an intimidating “car-free” pledge—you do not have to fork out for a parking spot. Instead, you buy a share of a leafy lot on the edge of town for about 3,700 euros. (This is an investment: if the car-free culture prevails, you will share that park with everyone. If Vauban requires more parking, you stand to make a sizable return.) This rationalization of car costs means that no matter how Vaubanites get to work, they tend to walk or cycle when they are close to home.

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civil war and sporadic terrorism: Martin, Gerard, and Miguel Arévalo Ceballos, Bogotá: Anatomía de una transformación: políticas de seguridad ciudadana 1995–2003 (Bogotá: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2004). nobody was killed in traffic: Stockholm Challenge, www.stockholmchallenge.org/project/data/bogot&-car-free-day-within-world-car-free-day-forum (accessed January 2, 2011). While the elder proselytized: Peñalosa has influenced more than a hundred cities. On his advice, cities such as Jakarta, Delhi, and Manila have reclaimed streets from their usurpation by private cars, creating vast linear parks or handing the space to rapid bus systems modeled on Bogotá’s own.

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It occurred on the afternoon that I chased Enrique Peñalosa through the streets of Bogotá. Just as he had insisted on that first ride, our cycle across what was once one of the most infamous of cities was a breeze. The streets were virtually empty of cars. Nearly a million of them had stayed home that morning. Yes, it was el día sin carro, the car-free experiment that had grown into a yearly ritual. At first the streets felt slightly eerie, like landscapes from a postapocalyptic Twilight Zone episode. All the rumble and roar of the city quieted. Gradually we expanded into the space left by the cars. I let go of my fear. It was as though an immense tension had been lifted from Bogotá, as though the city could finally shake out its exhaustion and breathe.

Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation
by Edward Chancellor
Published 31 May 2000

There’s the weekly flea and farmers’ markets; a well-preserved old town; the car-free Bahnhofstrasse with its gelaterias and florist shops; and garden terraces to sip local wines on. If time permits, treat yourself to a concert, opera, ballet or musical performance at the La Poste theatre. Then, it’s time to board the Matterhorn Gotthard Railway, which winds through Nikolai Valley, the deepest-incised valley in Switzerland. Before you reach the mother of all mountains – the Matterhorn – the train first overcomes 900m in altitude (along with a little help of cogwheel technology). Upon finally reaching Zermatt, there’s more car-free life to enjoy at this resort town at the foot of the Matterhorn.

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Take in the world of car racing at the Autobau Erlebniswelt with Sauber Formula One models, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and many more top-of-the-line automobiles on display. Onwards to St. Gallen, home to its acclaimed abbey district; once a prominent centre of culture in the Western world, today its Abbey Library is home to 170,000 books and 2100 manuscripts. You’ll end this route in Appenzell, a delightful car-free village of rolling hills, small boutiques and fresco-fronted buildings. The region is known for rural customs and traditions; head to the Appenzell Museum to learn all about its history. Appenzell’s plethora of rambling trails are perfect for summer visits while come winter, cross-country skiing proves just as popular.

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It’s a popular base for hiking trails through the likes of the Matter Valley; for something different, give paragliding a go. Photo spots Stop off at these designated photo spots: Cardada Tremola Furka Aletsch Arena Matterhorn Find more at Myswitzerland.com/fotospots Route five: Zermatt to Lausanne To access Zermatt you’ll need to leave the car in neighbouring Täsch and take the train into this car-free village. Once you’re there, you can take in the mighty splendour of the Matterhorn – the symbol of Switzerland – from the foothills, or go on an adventure on one of the 43 mountain railways and 360km of pistes. Your next stop is to Sion, an important winegrowing region; the white wine grown here is the well-known Fendant, and walks along the Bisses (irrigation channels) in the nearby vineyards is a great way to soak up the atmosphere.

The Rough Guide to Switzerland (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 24 May 2022

There’s the weekly flea and farmers’ markets; a well-preserved old town; the car-free Bahnhofstrasse with its gelaterias and florist shops; and garden terraces to sip local wines on. If time permits, treat yourself to a concert, opera, ballet or musical performance at the La Poste theatre. Then, it’s time to board the Matterhorn Gotthard Railway, which winds through Nikolai Valley, the deepest-incised valley in Switzerland. Before you reach the mother of all mountains – the Matterhorn – the train first overcomes 900m in altitude (along with a little help of cogwheel technology). Upon finally reaching Zermatt, there’s more car-free life to enjoy at this resort town at the foot of the Matterhorn.

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Take in the world of car racing at the Autobau Erlebniswelt with Sauber Formula One models, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and many more top-of-the-line automobiles on display. Onwards to St. Gallen, home to its acclaimed abbey district; once a prominent centre of culture in the Western world, today its Abbey Library is home to 170,000 books and 2100 manuscripts. You’ll end this route in Appenzell, a delightful car-free village of rolling hills, small boutiques and fresco-fronted buildings. The region is known for rural customs and traditions; head to the Appenzell Museum to learn all about its history. Appenzell’s plethora of rambling trails are perfect for summer visits while come winter, cross-country skiing proves just as popular.

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It’s a popular base for hiking trails through the likes of the Matter Valley; for something different, give paragliding a go. Photo spots Stop off at these designated photo spots: Cardada Tremola Furka Aletsch Arena Matterhorn Find more at Myswitzerland.com/fotospots Route five: Zermatt to Lausanne To access Zermatt you’ll need to leave the car in neighbouring Täsch and take the train into this car-free village. Once you’re there, you can take in the mighty splendour of the Matterhorn – the symbol of Switzerland – from the foothills, or go on an adventure on one of the 43 mountain railways and 360km of pistes. Your next stop is to Sion, an important winegrowing region; the white wine grown here is the well-known Fendant, and walks along the Bisses (irrigation channels) in the nearby vineyards is a great way to soak up the atmosphere.

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
by Henry Grabar
Published 8 May 2023

Designates Open-Air Dining Areas along 101 Freeway Median,” Onion, July 28, 2020, theonion.com/l-a-designates-open-air-dining-areas-along-101-freeway-1844531667. Go to note reference in text Yelp reported a boost: Laura Bliss, “Where Covid’s Car-Free Streets Boosted Business,” Bloomberg, May 11, 2021, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-11/the-business-case-for-car-free-streets. Go to note reference in text “Of course, that’s more important”: The Brian Lehrer Show, “Mayoral Campaign Update; Vaccine Volunteers; Long Island Police Hiring Practices Under Scrutiny; Ask the Mayor,” aired May 28, 2021, WNYC, wnyc.org/story/the-brian-lehrer-show-2021-05-28.

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It was the right note for a suburban retail architect making the transition to city planning. In Fort Worth, he was trying to bring the mall downtown. The Gruen Plan had four central elements: The downtown was exclusively for pedestrians, who would navigate via electric trams and air-conditioned passageways. Underground tunnels would carry freight and garbage. Encircling this car-free area was a freeway loop, with connections into six gargantuan parking garages. The idea was to ensure that no place downtown was more than 150 seconds’ walk from a parking spot. To swallow up downtown traffic that Gruen predicted would, by 1970, require more street space than the entire built square footage of all Fort Worth’s downtown buildings combined, the plan called for sixty thousand parking spots.

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Between 1959 and 1985, 140 American cities built pedestrian malls downtown. Some evolved into civic treasures, including the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, and the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia. But most of them failed. Kalamazoo’s project has been whittled down to a single car-free block. Fewer than a third of these walkways remain in place. Gruen’s crowning downtown achievement would come a couple years later with Midtown Plaza, an anchor mall for the center of Rochester, New York. It was a city Gruen thought ruined “by parking lots, garages, used-car lots, widened roads and other automotive facilities.”

Lonely Planet Switzerland
by Lonely Planet

Continue east along the Rhône Valley, nipping up to Leukerbad to drift in thermal waters beneath soaring mountain peaks. In Visp, head south to obsessively stare at the iconic Matterhorn from the hip streets, slopes and trails of stylish, car-free Zermatt. In the second week, get a taste of the Glacier Express with a train trip to Oberwald. Stop off in Betten for a cable-car side trip up to picture-book Bettmeralp, with its car-free streets and amazing vistas of the 23km-long Aletsch Glacier from atop Bettmerhorn. From Oberwald, drive north over the Grimsel Pass (2165m) to Meiringen (eat meringues!) and west into the magnificent Jungfrau Region with its once-in-a-lifetime train journey up to Europe’s highest station; base yourself in Interlaken or Grindelwald.

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Next stop is ski resort Andermatt, another perfect place to stretch cramped legs and overnight. The roller-coaster journey continues with a descent then a steady climb to the Furka Pass, enabled by Switzerland's highest Alpine tunnel (and, at 15.4km, the longest of the 91 tunnels on this journey). Next port of call is Betten, cable-car station for the drop-dead gorgeous, car-free village and ski resort of Bettmeralp. Hop off here or in neighbouring Fiesch and spend a day hiking or skiing and staring open-mouthed at the gargantuan icy tongue of the Aletsch Glacier. From here the Glacier Express swings southwest along the Rhône Valley into Valais, stopping at Brig, its eclectic schloss (castle) topped with exotic onion domes; wine-producing Visp; and – drum roll – final destination Zermatt, where that first glimpse of the Matterhorn makes a fitting finale.

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Family-oriented Arosa and Lenzerheide in the next valley are scenic picks for beginners, intermediates and cross-country fans. Want to give the crowds the slip? Glide across to the uncrowded slopes of Pizol, Scuol, Samnaun or Pontresina. Valais & Vaud Nothing beats skiing in the shadow of the Matterhorn, soaring 4478m above Zermatt. Snowboarders, intermediates and off-pisters all rave about the car-free resort's 360km of scenic runs. Almost as gorgeous is Crans-Montana, a great beginners’ choice with gentle, sunny slopes, and Matterhorn and Mont Blanc puncturing the skyline. Verbier has some terrifically challenging off-piste for experts. Hard-core boarders favour snow-sure, glacier-licked Saas Fee.

Your Money: The Missing Manual
by J.D. Roth
Published 18 Mar 2010

, Making a list, Shopping smart, Picking a Mortgage, Closing the Deal C cable costs, The Power of Small Change, The phone company canceling credit cards, Stop Accumulating Debt, How and When to Cancel a Card, Boosting Your Score car loans, How and When to Cancel a Card, Money matters car-sharing organizations, Car-Free Living CardRatings.com, Choosing a Card Career Renegade blog, Resources for Entrepreneurs Carfax reports, Buying Used, Selling a Car cars buying guides, Close the deal competitive bidding, Close the deal costs of ownership, Do your homework, Reducing Your Cost of Ownership, Saving on gas, Car-Free Living dealership stories, Close the deal depreciation, Buying a Car happiness and, Buying a Car insurance, Car Insurance, Homeowners Insurance, Homeowners Insurance leasing, The Right Way to Buy a Car living car free, Car-Free Living maintenance, Reducing Your Cost of Ownership mechanics, Selling a Car prices, Research prices researching choices, Do your homework sales fraud, Selling a Car selling, Sell your old car separately, Selling a Car, Selling a Car test drives, Go for a test drive wrong way to buy, The Wrong Way to Buy a Car cash cash surpluses, Mapping Your Financial Future cash-based budget systems, Envelope Budgeting compulsive spending and, Curbing Compulsive Spending pain of paying, Why Use a Credit Card?

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When you enter info about each fill-up, Fuelly computes your average miles per gallon, cost per tank, and more. There's also a version of the site you can use with mobile gadgets like iPhones. Car-Free Living The best way to save money on a car is to not own one. Each year, AAA publishes an estimate of driving costs (http://tinyurl.com/driving-costs). They figure the average American spends about $9,369 each year to own a car. That works out to over $25 a day, or $750 per month. Imagine what else you could do with that money if you ditched your car! Not everyone has the option of going car-free. But for millions of people in cities like New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, giving up a vehicle is a viable option.

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But for millions of people in cities like New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, giving up a vehicle is a viable option. In Chicago, for example, you can buy a week-long pass for unlimited subway and bus trips for only $24—that's just $96 per month. Though many people like the idea of going car-free, it can be tough to actually make the leap. Still, with rising gas prices, more folks are looking for ways to live well without wheels. Most people who give up their vehicles aren't radical, anti-car environmentalists; they've simply decided they'd rather use their time and money in different ways. (For an example, see the story of Chris Guillebeau on Reduce clutter.) Even if you keep your car, just driving less can save you money.

Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling
by Carlton Reid
Published 14 Jun 2017

There are bike paths on the campus and in the city, the civic symbol of which is a penny-farthing. Cycling in Davis is not cultish—it’s ordinary, no special clothing required. In most American cities, the modal-share for cycling struggles to reach 2 percent; in Davis, it’s 20 percent. The campus—cheek-by-jowl with the city—is car-free. There are excellent rail connections to Sacramento, San Jose, and San Francisco, and with a free bus service for students and university staff it’s easy to live without a car in Davis. It’s even easier when all of your urban travel can be done swiftly and safely on a standard bicycle. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the rest of America was building only for automobiles, Davis built for bicycles.

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Gentlemen of education and position in their fast motorcars would be less likely to be dastardly and caddish if they were given free rein on roads, he felt. And for that to happen the only solution would be for a separation of transport modes. Perhaps instructively, Tripp preferred the word segregation. Tripp developed his ideas in his 1942 study, Town Planning and Road Traffic, recommending car-free, pedestrian-only shopping precincts, and bridges and underpasses in town centers to keep pedestrians and cyclists apart from motorists. Critics complained that this would mean drivers would get ground-level access to the streets, but all other users would have to climb into the sky or creep underground.

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The CTC members’ magazine Cycletouring was intrigued by this new radical breed of eco-activism, and described for its readers the formation of a bicycle protest group linked to the Young Liberals: Commitment is the name of a new group whose activities have gained press recognition in the past few months as a result of “bike-in” demonstrations in London. One newspaper described how supporters had swept down Oxford street, wearing slogans like “bike power,” and had delivered a letter to the Greater London Council demanding a network of car-free cycleways. “We will concentrate on bikeways for commuters, not only within central London but through arterial routes to the suburbs,” says a Commitment spokesman. “Bikeways for pleasure, linking parks, theatres, concert halls and railways stations, are also planned. We believe we are fighting not only cars on the road, but cars in the head.”

Switzerland
by Damien Simonis , Sarah Johnstone and Nicola Williams
Published 31 May 2006

However, excellent 0 0 NORTHEASTERN SWITZERLAND GERMANY Engen Meersburg Schaffhausen Diessenhofer Constance (Konstanz) Stein am Rhein Rhine Falls Steckborn Friedrichshafen Kreuzlingen Lake Constance (Bodensee) Romanshorn Arbon THURGAU Wil Wittenbach E60 Heiden St Margrethen St Gallen N1 ZÜRICH Uetliberg Gais Stein Appenzell Maur Gonten Reu Küsnacht ss Adliswil Brülisau Kronberg (1663m) Wattwil To Innsbruck (170km); Salzburg (340km) APPENZELL Herisau Zürich Hohenems Hoher Kasten (2003m) Wasserauen Standing in the middle of the Rheinfall (p250), Europe’s largest waterfall AUSTRIA Schwägalp St Gallen Ziegelbrücke Sihlsee Walenstadt LIECHTENSTEIN Niederurnen Murg Wägnalen See Sargans Glarus Mels Braunwald N2 Klöntaler See Schwyz Bad Ragaz SCHWYZ Lake Uri (Urnersee) Braunwald GLARUS n Tun Linthal el Altdorf NIDWALDEN LANGUAGE: GERMAN OBWALDEN ss AREA: 4418 SQ KM Reu POPULATION: 865,855 Klausen Pass URI Chur GRAUBÜNDEN in Rh e To St Moritz (86km) NORTHEASTERN SWITZERLAND N4 Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee) Vaduz Walensee Quinten Näfels Lucerne Discovering car-free Braunwald (p260) in one of the country’s least-visited regions Buchs ZUG Lake Zug (Zugersee) Ägerisee N14 Hitting the books in St Gallen’s Stiftsbibliothek (p252), a superb rococo masterpiece ST GALLEN N3 Zug Appenzell Feldkirch Säntis (2503m) Rapperswil Lake Zürich (Zürichsee) Wädenswil Letting every Swiss stereotype come to life in mouth-watering Appenzell (p255) NORTHEASTERN SWITZERLAND Bregenz Rorschach Winterthur HIGHLIGHTS Rheinfall Lindau Frauenfeld Gossau Stein am Rhein To Munich (160km) Mainau Island SCHAFFHAUSEN Perhaps the car-free resort of Braunwald sums up the region’s symbolic position within the country.

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GLARNERLAND & AROUND At the bottom of eastern Switzerland, connected to the centre of the country only by the narrow Klausenpass, this little pocket gets relatively little attention. That doesn’t mean it’s undeserving, however, just that you have more of it to yourself. Besides the car-free resort of Braunwald and the dramatic Churfirsten mountains, Glarnerland offers breathtaking hiking, low-key skiing and snowboarding, and plenty of climbing and adrenaline sports. For more information, contact Glarner Tourismus (%055 610 21 25; tourismus@glarusnet.ch). BREGENZ elevation 1256m BRAUNWALD Car-free Braunwald basks in sunshine on the side of a steep hill, gazing at the snowcapped Tödi mountain (3614m) and the pastures in the valley below.

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Broken Bar Disco (%027 967 19 31; Bahnhofstrasse 41; h10pm-4am) Down in a vaulted cellar of the Hotel Post, this is a popular dance dive where you can jive on a keg and expend any energy left over after the day on the slopes. The Hotel Post is home to various bars and eateries in the one complex. Getting There & Away CAR Zermatt is car-free. Dinky little electric vehicles are used to transport goods, serve as taxis and so on around town. At the moment, drivers have to leave their vehicles in the huge open parking area in Täsch (Sfr7.50 per day), or in one of the several covered garages there and take the train (Sfr7.80, 12 minutes) into Zermatt.

How Cycling Can Save the World
by Peter Walker
Published 3 Apr 2017

EPILOGUE 1 Carlton Reid, Roads Were Not Built for Cars: How Cyclists Were the First to Push for Good Roads & Became the Pioneers of Motoring (Washington, DC: Island Press), 2015. 2 Agence France-Presse, “Oslo Moves to Ban Cars from City Centre within Four Years,” The Guardian, October 19, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/19/oslo-moves-to-ban-cars-from-city-centre-within-four-years. 3 “Swedish Capital to Go Car Free in September,” The Local, July 20, 2015, http://www.thelocal.se/20150720/swedish-capital-to-go-car-free-for-a-day. 4 Adam Greenfield, “Helsinki’s Ambitious Plan to Make Car Ownership Pointless in 10 Years,” The Guardian, July 10, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jul/10/helsinki-shared-public-transport-plan-car-ownership-pointless. 5 Stephen Moss, “End of the Car Age: How Cities Are Outgrowing the Automobile,” The Guardian, April 28, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/28/end-of-the-car-age-how-cities-outgrew-the-automobile. 6 Interview with the author. 7 Interview with the author. 8 Interview with the author. 9 Interview with the author. 10 Interview with the author.

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His vision for bikes was rational, a direct response of his awkwardly named PlaNYC, a 2007 document that sought to prepare the city for the expected arrival of another million residents in the coming years. Bloomberg’s commissioner for transport and, for good or ill, the public face of the city’s new bike lanes and associated car-free public plazas, was Janette Sadik-Khan. While a technocrat rather than a politician, Sadik-Khan talks in similarly free market ways about the city’s previous overreliance on the car and how this meant it was “getting diminishing returns” from its infrastructure. “Transportation is not an ideology, it’s not a left or right thing,” she told me.

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They guessed 58 percent, when the real figure was about half that.10 Studies from places including Copenhagen have shown that while shoppers on a bike will tend to purchase less per trip than those in a car, they visit more often, and so tend on average to spend more overall.11 All this, you might argue, is all very well in a Graz or a Copenhagen, but what about really big cities? New York is a fascinating example here. When the city started to earmark certain streets for the first protected bike lanes and car-free plazas, some shops and other businesses along the routes complained vociferously. How would customers get to them? they asked. They claimed it would be disastrous for trade. They were completely wrong. In 2013, the city’s transport department commissioned a series of detailed studies about the impact on businesses along some of the city’s new bike routes, and the findings were striking.

Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America
by Angie Schmitt
Published 26 Aug 2020

Maria Angelica Perez Avendaño and Gustavo Jimenez, “Mexico City’s Car Congestion Slows Economic Growth, Costs Businesses,” World Resources Institute, April 28, 2015, https://www.wri.org/blog/2015/04/mexico-city-s-car-congestion-slows-economic-growth-costs-businesses. 35. Cáñez, telephone interview. 36. Alissa Walker, “Watch Oslo Transform into a Car-Free Utopia,” Curbed, April 24, 2017, https://www.curbed.com/2017/4/14/15301558/transportation-oslo-bike-lanes-cars-streetfilms. 37. Adele Peters, “What Happened When Oslo Decided to Make Its Downtown Basically Car-Free?,” Fast Company, January 24, 2019, https://www.fastcompany.com/90294948/what-happened-when-oslo-decided-to-make-its-downtown-basically-car-free. 38. Feargus O’Sullivan, “In Madrid, a Car Ban Proves Stronger Than Partisan Politics,” Citylab, July 24, 2019, https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/07/madrid-car-ban-street-map-city-politics-mayor-court-decision/594487/. 39.

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Madrid, a leader on this front, banned most cars from its center city in 2018. Despite signs of backlash, the decision has proved popular and enduring. When a far-right government won power in the city the following year and called for reversing the ban, tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets38 and were successful in winning political support to continue the car-free zone. In addition, both Paris and London have long-term plans to phase out cars from central areas and streets. Already London has imposed congestion pricing to limit traffic in its central area. In addition, the city imposes steep fees on high-polluting vehicles within its designated Ultra Low Emissions Zone.

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None of these policies would be possible without generous support for transit and years of work building bike facilities and other supportive infrastructure. These European cities also benefit from a housing stock that predates the auto era and a built environment that is dense and pedestrian friendly. Car-free zones, and other measures, have helped produce dramatic reductions in air pollution, which is a leading killer in many of these cities. In addition, they have helped Western Europe, along with Japan, become the world leader on traffic safety. Norway now has just 2.7 traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents—or less than one-fourth of the United States’ per capita fatality rate.

Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars
by Samuel I. Schwartz
Published 17 Aug 2015

Less useful for commuting, but even better loved by the city’s residents, he expanded the city’s ciclovías, which close seventy-five miles of Bogotá’s streets each Sunday and transform the temporarily car-free streets into plazas full of street entertainers, group exercise classes, and of course walkers and cyclists. It gets even better: ever since 2000, on the first Thursday in February, the entire city, rich and poor, goes car-free. Peñalosa went further still. Those sidewalks that had been commandeered as de facto parking lots by the city’s traditional buses and cars? Peñalosa ordered them cleared, and then built a network of curbs and bollards to keep the vehicles off them permanently.

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The first four chapters of Street Smart describe the huge implications for cities and suburbs in a world in which the private automobile is a less and less dominant component of a modern transportation network—though I may as well say it here clearly: the private automobile isn’t going to disappear from the landscape of the industrialized world, and Street Smart isn’t a recipe for doing away with it. It wouldn’t be practical even if it were desirable, which it isn’t. A car-free future is a myth: seductive but unreachable. A dozen other myths, plausible but misleading, pervade the world of transportation. It’s widely believed, for example, that building new roads parallel to congested ones will relieve congestion. Or that wider lanes are safer than narrower lanes. Planners and politicians regularly contend that the more lanes you add to an intersection, the more traffic it can handle; that moving a city’s traffic faster will make that city function better; or that closing a congested street or knocking down a highway leads inevitably to gridlock.

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The only hour when I found a measurable impact was between three and four in the afternoon. I knew, however, I had to come up with something more or I’d be bypassed in the process. So I proposed that we should open the Sixth Avenue entrance to the park but only as far as 72nd Street. Essentially the park would remain car-free north of 72nd Street and on the entire West Drive. I produced a rigorous report and it worked. The park remained closed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (we lost the 3–4 p.m. hour) and the Sixth Avenue entrance remained open (a vestige that remains today). The Central Park incident was a reminder that New York had a less environmentally conscious executive running things.

An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy
by Marc Levinson
Published 31 Jul 2016

As storage tanks were drained, the Belgians, the Swiss, the Italians, the Norwegians, even the auto-obsessed West Germans soon faced car-free Sundays of their own. Speed limits were lowered, thermostats turned down, diesel supplies rationed. Indoor swimming pools in Stockholm were closed to save the energy required to heat them, and the Tour de Belgique auto race was called off. Permits for Sunday driving became coveted status symbols. West Germany, imagining itself to be a socially conscious market economy, was challenged by a gas station manager’s brusque explanation of her method for allocating petrol: “People I don’t know don’t get any.”2 Across the Atlantic, there were no car-free Sundays. Instead, there was panic.

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From Eindhoven in the south to Groningen in the north, the streets of the Netherlands were nearly free of cars—aside from those of German tourists and of clergy, who, by special dispensation, were allowed to drive to church. Abandoning her Cadillac limousine, Queen Juliana, age sixty-four, cheerfully hopped on a bicycle to visit her grandchildren. To those uninvolved with the difficult decisions behind it, Holland’s first car-free Sunday of 1973 was a bit of a lark.1 Four weeks earlier, Egyptian and Syrian armies had burst through Israel’s defensive lines, routing Israeli troops and threatening to overrun the entire country in what became known as the Yom Kippur War. When the United States and the Netherlands funneled weapons to Israel, Arab oil-producing countries retaliated.

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Storage tanks at European ports were overflowing, and tankers lined up in the Atlantic waiting their turn to dock at US refineries. Higher prices and conservation measures had cut demand, so some oil exporters, desperate for cash, set their pumps at top speed to raise production and keep their incomes steady. January 1974 brought the last of Europe’s car-free Sundays. In February, Nixon released gasoline from government stockpiles, and the lines at gas stations went away. On March 18, the Arab producers, eager for US help in mediating the withdrawal of Israeli troops, officially abandoned the embargo and turned their attention to averting a price collapse as oil flooded the markets.

Public Places, Urban Spaces: The Dimensions of Urban Design
by Matthew Carmona , Tim Heath , Steve Tiesdell and Taner Oc
Published 15 Feb 2010

Evolution thus shows how radical change can happen through incremental change, as is also shown by the well-documented experience of Copenhagen’s pedestrianisation (Gehl & Gemzoe 1996, 2000). Much of central Copenhagen became pedestrianised and car-free but it happened incrementally, at a pace that allowed people to adapt and respond to the change (Box 9.2). BOX 9.2 Car-Free Streets and Squares in Copenhagen The area of car-free streets and squares in Copenhagen has growm significantly in the last 40 years, increasing from 15 800m2 in 1962 to nearly 100 000 m2 in 1996. The programme began in 1962 with the pedestrianisation of the city’s main street, Stroget.

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Furthermore, although it was expected that the Danish climate would severely limit the potential to develop public life, the season for outdoor seating at cafés has gradually been extended from a summer season of three or four months, to one lasting from April until November (Gehl & Gemzoe, 2000: 57). Gradual expansion of the city’s system of car-free and almost car-free spaces had three main advantages:• City residents had time to develop a new city culture and to discover and exploit the opportunities. • People had time to change their travel practices. Car owners, for example, gradually became accustomed to the idea of driving and parking in the city centre being more difficult: parking in the city centre was consistently reduced by 2–3% per year.

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Murphy (2001: 24) highlights the proliferation of ‘exclusion’ zones (i.e. zones designed to be free of some undesirable social characteristics). This is a broad phenomenon. There are, for example: smoke-free zones; campaign and politics-free zones; skateboard-free zones; mobile or cell-phone-free zones; alcohol-free zones; and car-free zones (Figure 6.11). Figure 6.11 Love Square, Philadelphia (Image: Steve Tiesdell). Skateboarders had colonised an underused space; when the city authorities wanted to upgrade the space, the skateboarders were moved out Although public spaces may be regulated through a series of bylaws and other regulations, the existence of explicit controls on behaviour and activity is more pronounced and evident in quasi-public space.

How to Retire the Cheapskate Way
by Jeff Yeager
Published 1 Jan 2013

As we saw in the profile of Lys and Dan Burden, one of the primary reasons they chose the retirement location they did was that it will allow them to live car-free or at least “car-lite,” saving them an estimated $11,500 per year. Whether or not you’re relocating in retirement, thinking through your options when it comes to transportation is an extremely high priority. Can you downsize from owning two cars to just one? Can you live without a car completely—or at least keep it parked in the garage more often—by relying on public transportation, community-provided transportation for seniors, or car/ride-sharing programs? An excellent book on the topic about how to live car-free or car-lite is, ironically, entitled How to Live Well Without Owning a Car, by Chris Balish.

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It even hosts its own annual kinetic sculpture races!” (Me: clueless expression.) “Just Google it, Jeff!” she laughs. I subsequently did, and you should too. Very high on the Burdens’ list of prerequisites for potential retirement locales was a place where they could live “car-lite” or even entirely “car-free.” That’s not surprising since Dan is the cofounder and executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute (www.walklive.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to “working to create healthy, connected communities that support active living and that advance opportunities for all people through walkable streets, livable cities and better built environments.”

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That allowed Dan and Lys to make the monthly mortgage payments and build equity in the home, all while enjoying essentially a free place to live while they both attended the University of Montana. When the couple moved to Florida nine years later, they sold the house and managed to repay each of the shareholders twice the amount each had “invested.” “At that time we were considered well below the poverty line, but we lived like kings and queens,” Dan says. “We were living car-free and eating really healthy by buying in bulk for everyone living in the house. It worked out to about $30 per person per month for all of our food. So for a total of $60 a month, including utilities, everyone was getting room and board, while their original investment in the house was growing. Not bad, eh?”

If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities
by Benjamin R. Barber
Published 5 Nov 2013

For decades, China’s urban transportation was heavily dependent on bicycles (including three-wheeled, one-ton load flatbeds), but today in the new age of automobiles, Chinese cities have come back to bike-share as a way to fight urban congestion and pollution in a newly car-crazed country. Formal intercity organizations and enlightened urban officials continue, of course, to play a leading role. Leoluca Orlando, recently elected to a third term in Palermo, inaugurated a “car-free cities club” that brings together cities supporting extensive car-free pedestrian zones—of which there are now thousands worldwide. Founded in 1997, his association operated for a decade as the European Union’s Car Free Cities Network. Such networks add momentum to civil society programs targeting emissions and congestion, although many, like the Sustainable Cities Collective, are today primarily web based.

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He has continued to serve in the Italian Parliament and has also been a deputy to the European Parliament (with a first term from 1994 to 1999). In the summer of 2012, Orlando won an unprecedented third term as Palermo’s mayor. In the interim he held many regional and European offices, including chair of the Car-Free Cities Network. He quickly achieved a global reputation as a European civic organizer, a writer, and an actor. He has written a dozen books and legal treatises and has won the European Parliament’s European Civic Prize (in 2000) for “his struggle against organized crime and his engagement in favor of the civic renewal of his city.”

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City-to-city cooperation takes place not only at the municipal level but at the civil society and citizen level, where borrowing, imitation, and shared experimentation are as important as formal governmental networking. In 1997, with a push from Mayor Leoluca Orlando of Palermo, the European Union founded “The Car-Free Cities Network.” Figure 1: Alpha and Beta city network membership. The intercity association UCLG estimates that “70 percent of the world’s cities and their associations participate in city-to-city international programs.” At the same time, “less than one percent of global development funding is channeled through local governments.”

This Is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook
by Extinction Rebellion
Published 12 Jun 2019

We simply need to lock down city car culture: privatized, corporate-led, fossil-fuel-hungry automobile dependency, and growth-based planning. This is not about merely addressing the technical issues of designing and building the low-hanging fruit of sustainable-mobility options like bike lanes and mass rapid transit, although of course these are essential first steps. We need to unlock car-free, socially just, zero-carbon, common-owned mobility. Getting rid of cars means getting rid of the conditions that makes us need cars. It’s a new mobility paradigm based on responding to climate breakdown, social inequality and living well. This is all absolutely achievable. In only just over one hundred years, we have witnessed the rise of only a handful of cars to a number approaching a billion.

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But cities full of Google and Tesla driverless cars will not stop the descent into alienated street life, status anxiety and debt-fuelled, corporate-controlled consumerism. The driverless-car city is the next step in the great car take-over of the urban world. Putting ourselves front and centre of the car-free city is one of the most crucial but difficult tasks ahead. We are not stuck in traffic. We are the traffic. Recognizing our own personal implication in car culture and the damage it is doing is personally threatening. So much is invested in it that it is easier to ignore it. For many of us, perhaps the car represents the only crumb of sanity, freedom and control in an otherwise out-of-control world.

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The Cleveland Model, Co-operation Jackson, the shack-dwellers movement, renters’ unions, housing cooperatives, open-source digital manufacture and crowd-sourced city plans are all showing how to reverse-engineer city communities and democracies to become places of safety and equality. Saving the city requires building a common city, which can put into reverse the pro-growth capitalist city. So what’s the overall place that this points to? A car-free, negative-emissions, commons-based bio city. This needs to be a positive vision of a beautiful place, thriving communities, abundant commons, pleasurable mobility, sufficient energy, a climate-safe future together. But we have to be realistic. We need to acknowledge and unravel the structural conditions that drive urban unsustainability.

Tuscany Road Trips
by Duncan Garwood , Paula Hardy , Robert Landon and Nicola Williams
Published 2 Jun 2016

Slowly Lounge, Bar map Google map (www.slowlycafe.com; Via Porta Rossa 63r; 6.30pm-3am Mon-Sat, closed Aug) Sleek and sometimes snooty, this lounge bar with a candle flickering on every table is known for its glam interior, Florentine Lotharios and lavish fruit-garnished cocktails – €10 including buffet during the bewitching aperitivo ‘hour’ (6.30pm to 10pm). Ibiza-style lounge tracks dominate the turntable. 6 Santa Maria Novella Shake Café Cafe map Google map (055 29 53 10; www.shakecafe.bio; Via degli Avelli 2r; 7am-8pm) Handily close to the train station, this self-service juice bar has a perfect people-watching pavement terrace on car-free Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Its juices and smoothies include fabulous combos such as pineapple, fennel, celery, mint, chicory and liquorice. Unusually for Florence, Shake Café also makes cappuccinos with soya, almond or rice milk. Salads, wraps, sandwiches and gelati stave off hunger pangs. Sei Divino Wine Bar map Google map (Borgo d’Ognissanti 42r; 6pm-2am Wed-Mon) This stylish wine bar tucked beneath a red-brick vaulted ceiling is privy to one of Florence’s most happening aperitivo scenes.

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Lucca 1 Sights 1 Cattedrale di San Martino D4 2 City Wall C1 3 Museo della Cattedrale D4 4 Torre Guinigi D3 4 Sleeping 5 Alla Corte degli Angeli C2 6 Piccolo Hotel Puccini C3 5 Eating 7 Da Felice C3 8 Local Food Market A3 9 Ristorante Giglio C4 1 Sights Stone-paved Via Fillungo, with its fashion boutiques and car-free mantra, threads its way through the medieval heart of the old city. East is one of Tuscany’s loveliest piazzas, oval cafe-ringed Piazza Anfiteatro, named after the amphitheatre that was here in Roman times. Spot remnants of the amphitheatre’s brick arches and masonry on the exterior walls of the medieval houses ringing the piazza.

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Blue lines indicate where anyone can park (€2 per hour). 8 Getting Around Rent wheels (ID required) to pedal the 4.2km circumference of Lucca’s romantic city walls from a couple of outlets on Piazza Santa Maria, or try the following: Tourist Center Lucca (0583 49 44 01; www.touristcenterlucca.com; Piazzale Ricasoli 203; bike per hour/3hr/day €4/8/12; 8.30am-7.30pm summer, 9am-6pm winter) Exit the train station and bear left to find this handy bike rental outlet, with kids’ bikes, tandems, trailers and various other gadgets. It also has left-luggage facilities. Pietrasanta Pop 24,237 Often overlooked by Tuscan travellers, this refined art town is an unexpected and beautiful surprise. Its bijou historic heart, originally walled, is car-free and loaded with tiny art galleries, workshops and fashion boutiques – perfect for a day’s amble broken only by lunch. Founded in 1255 by Guiscardo da Pietrasanta, podestà of Lucca, Pietrasanta was seen as a prize by Genoa, Lucca, Pisa and Florence, all of whom jostled for possession of its marble quarries and bronze foundries.

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
by Jeff Speck
Published 13 Nov 2012

Between walking, biking, and our extensive Metro transit system, driving was rarely the most convenient choice. And the parking lot beneath my apartment building charged a small fortune in fees. Add to that the availability of Zipcar car sharing in my neighborhood and it soon became apparent that going car-free was the most convenient option. Back in my Miami days, the idea of selling my car would never have occurred to me. My apartment was in the heart of South Beach’s art deco district. My job was on the mainland, in Little Havana, about a twenty-minute drive away. My gym was in Coral Gables, twenty minutes further afield.

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Lunch, unless I wanted Cuban food every day—a decided health risk—required another twenty minutes of driving. All told, I was spending close to ninety minutes each weekday in traffic, about normal for an American. And I was OK with that. But, in Washington, it soon became apparent that there were other benefits to my new car-free lifestyle, besides just convenience. Six months into my autoless diet, I had lost ten pounds through walking and biking, and reduced my stress levels by avoiding traffic. I had gained thousands of dollars in transportation savings and also developed a deeper understanding of my city by experiencing it at a walking and biking pace.

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The city has also completed about twenty blocks of the spectacular High Line project, a former elevated railway that has been converted to a linear park, perhaps the most delightful piece of civic art to have been created since midcentury. You’ve probably seen the pictures, and they don’t lie: these public amenities are a real boon to the livability of their neighborhoods and are well used in all but the worst weather. These car-free successes provide a powerful lesson that unfortunately does not apply to most American cities. It is a mistake to think that similar designs will produce similar results in vastly dissimilar places. Face it: you aren’t Copenhagen, where cyclists outnumber motorists.33 You aren’t New York, where pedestrian congestion can actually make it almost impossible to walk south along Seventh Avenue near Penn Station at 9:00 a.m.

Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis
by Leo Hollis
Published 31 Mar 2013

It is for this reason that when we think about cities we must concentrate not just on the design of buildings but the encouragement of life between the buildings. This is exactly what the Danish architect Jan Gehl thinks. Gehl has long campaigned to redesign the city by putting the pedestrian first. Starting in his home city, Copenhagen, he was the driving force behind the Stroget Car-Free Zone, the longest pedestrian area in Europe, devised in the 1960s. Like Whyte, Gehl believes that the city can rediscover its original functions in the hypermobile world: the city as a place for discourse, for bumping into strangers and old friends, for the exchange of information and goods, for formal occasions like feasts and festivals as well as private pleasures.

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While new technology has allowed us to do many of these things remotely, they do not replace the human urge to be where other people are. As he writes: ‘Life in buildings and between buildings seems in nearly all situations to rank as more essential and more relevant than the spaces and buildings themselves.’24 Stroget – the joys of a car-free city centre It started off as an experiment. At Christmas time it was customary to cut off the central street, Stroget, that ran through the middle of Copenhagen, for a couple of days. Yet in 1962 they extended the closure to engage public reaction. For some the plan could only lead to disaster, with complaints that ‘we are Danes, not Italians!’

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Here the emphasis is on incremental change from the bottom up, with a focus on five main goals: A deliberate phased approach to instigating change The offering of local solutions to local planning challenges Short-term commitment and realistic expectations Low risks, with a possibly high reward The development of social capital between citizens and the building of organisational capacity between public-private institutions, non-profit and their constituents.28 Such tactical urbanism can be found in many places: Depave is a group from Portland, Oregon that tears up unwanted asphalt and returns the land to gardens. The Open Street Initiative has pedestrianised thoroughfares for the weekend to open up American cities to walkers and cyclists; the scheme now runs in over forty cities across the US. The mayor of New York has turned Times Square into a car-free plaza. The change in legislation on food trucks has allowed a new vibrant culinary culture in many US cities. Guerrilla gardening has turned forgotten corners of the city into blooming borders. Making a city for the people makes a difference. After a century of architectural visionaries and their dreams of transforming human nature to the destructive nightmares of autopia that ripped up the old neighbourhoods in the name of efficiency and cleanliness, we have learnt that if we do not take account of the people who use them, it has every chance of failing.

One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility
by Zack Furness and Zachary Mooradian Furness
Published 28 Mar 2010

For example, outdoor bike racks are generally scarce or inconveniently located, indoor parking facilities are almost nonexistent in U.S. cities, makeshift bike racks like parking meters are gradually disappearing from urban spaces (replaced by digital boxes), and most employers do not allow employees to bring their bicycles inside their place of work, much less provide facilities to shower and/or change clothes.23 One can add to this any number of issues, including the prevalence of road hazards, a decreasing number of independent bike shops nationwide, and a relatively hostile street environment in which it is not uncommon for male drivers to sexually harass women on bikes and to intimidate, taunt (getting called “faggot” is all-too-typical), and occasionally kill male cyclists.24 Even seven-time Tour de France champion lance armstrong is not immune from these general trends; he was threatened and almost run over by a vengeful driver following a verbal exchange on the road in the late 1990s.25 Whether one chooses to ride a bicycle or does so out of necessity, daily mobility quickly becomes an issue when some of the most mundane, routine experiences one has as a bicyclist are fraught with a degree of hassle that one rarely experiences as a driver. Sara Stout, a prominent bicycle advocate and car-free activist in portland (Oregon), describes how this everyday sensibility begins to transform one’s perspective about bicycle transportation and the need to effect some sort of change: “at first bicycling is utilitarian, it’s just how you choose to get around . . . but it becomes political really quickly because it’s hard to get around.

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Halloween rides, for example, consistently feature some of the most elaborate festivities and parade themes. Critical Mass has also been used to pay tribute to cyclists killed by automobiles, and occasionally integrated into political protests and reclaim the Streets events: guerilla street parties thrown to celebrate both car-free space and the act of celebration itself.8 Without a charter, a centralized network, or formal affiliation with any organization, the event spread to more than three hundred cities throughout the world with rides featuring as many as eighty thousand participants, or “Massers.”9 Critical Mass is essentially a direct action, anarchic event in that rides are unsanctioned by city officials and riders are motivated by self-determination, self-rule, and non-hierarchical organization.

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The Dutch provo, who aligned themselves with anarchists, antiwar activists, beatniks, freaks, and the like, actually articulated this punk disposition in the 1960s when describing their allies as a worldwide provotariat who dwell in “carbon-monoxidepoisoned asphalt jungles”: they are the people who “don’t want a career, who lead irregular lives, who feel like cyclists on a motorway.”10 While an apt metaphor, this sentiment is also a truism for many dissidents who, like the provo, do not simply feel like cyclists on the motorway, they are the cyclists on the motorway. Thus, it is hardly surprising that the Diy punk underground has spawned an array of politicized (if not politically disorganized) cyclists who are passionate about car-free living, technical skill sharing, and the idea of gaining independence from both the auto and oil industries.11 indeed, within certain scenes, custom built fixed-gear bikes, old beach cruisers, BMX bikes, converted single speeders, and thrift store “beaters” are as integral to punk culture as seven-inch records, zines, mohawks, and bad tattoos.

Copenhagenize: The Definitive Guide to Global Bicycle Urbanism
by Mikael Colville-Andersen
Published 28 Mar 2018

Today it’s almost impossible to imagine in a country with such a high standard of living, but families in apartments in the neighborhood where I live had to huddle around wood-burning stoves in one room during the winters. Later today, after I write this paragraph, I will be heading out with my daughter, Lulu-Sophia, to enjoy Car-Free Sunday in Copenhagen. The first of its kind in Denmark was on November 25, 1973, and was an initiative by the government to save fuel. In many cities in Denmark, every second streetlight was turned off for the same reason. There were public demonstrations on City Hall Square with tens of thousands of people with their bicycles, demanding safer conditions for cycling.

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The downtown cores in Edmonton and Calgary are, like so many other cities, doughnuts outside of working hours. Devoid of life after the workers head home. These cities effectively amputated their streetlife and replaced it with artificial limbs in the air. Back in 1970, Calgary tried to funk it up by making a stretch of 8th Avenue car-free and renaming it Stephen Avenue. The idea has never really worked, and parts of the street have since been handed back to cars, and it’s a poor cousin to so many other pedestrianized streets around the world. The Skywalk system and other concepts like it are simply attempts to put streetlife—and people—on a shelf, out of the way.

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Hauschild + Siegel and the City of Malmö are ahead of the curve, but we will see more developments like this appearing in cities around the world. Designing for bicycles and for urban living. A much-needed bike rack placed outside the front entrance of the Clarion Hotel & Congress Trondheim. The OhBoy Bicycle House development in Malmö, Sweden. Car-free living in a modern city. © Hauschild + Siegel Architects CHAPTER 11 DESIRE LINES AND UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOR You can observe a lot by watching. Yogi Berra Cyclist on a desire line trajectory across an intersection in Copenhagen. Yep. You’ve heard it before. You might even have said it or at least thought it.

Pocket Helsinki Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

There's also a handful of other specialities from Denmark, Lithuania and Austria. (www.sweetstory.fi; Katariinankatu 3; h10am-6pm Tue-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) 1 Top SightsSuomenlinna A Unesco World Heritage site, Suomenlinna, the ‘fortress of Finland’, was built by the Swedes in the mid-18th century and is spectacularly set over a series of car-free islands linked by bridges. Ferries from central Helsinki make the scenic journey to Suomenlinna, where you can explore museums, former bunkers and fortress walls, as well as Finland's only remaining WWII submarine. Getting There Ferries (www.hsl.fi; single/return €3.20/5, 15 minutes, up to four hourly) depart from Helsinki’s kauppatori.

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Waterbuses (www.jt-line.fi; return €7) also depart there in summer, making three stops on Suomenlinna (20 minutes). MAP GOOGLE MAP Sveaborg; www.suomenlinna.fi y Top Tips AGuided walking tours, departing from the tourist office, are a great way to learn about the island. ASuomenlinna is car-free; pedicab operator Taksi Viapori ( GOOGLE MAP ; %050-358-4686; www.taksiviapori.fi; Suomenlinna; per ride €5.20, 20min Suomenlinna tour €30) will take you anywhere on the islands for a flat fee. 5 Take a Break Suomenlinna has some lovely grassy spots; bring a picnic in fine weather. Microbrewery Suomenlinnan Panimo has ciders and beers accompanied by fresh fish and game platters.

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2020
by Lonely Planet
Published 21 Oct 2019

Then leave the crowds behind and explore the country by train – the furthest stop is less than 2½ hours away. • Take a walking tour in Rotterdam to discover its innovative architecture and harrowing war history. • Take a day-trip from historical Arnhem and cycle across Hoge Veluwe National Park to admire Van Goghs at the Kröller-Müller Museum. • Explore Groningen’s cosy and car-free city centre, where bars don’t have a closing time and the countryside is just a bike ride away. © RON BUIST / 500PX Last daylight falls on a field of tulips near Zijldijk, Groningen LIBERIA For most outsiders, Liberia is a bit of a mystery. But those in the know wax lyrical about the optimism of its people and the country’s natural wonders.

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We’ve identified ten destinations where you can minimise the impact of your family’s travels. 1 AUSTRIA Explore the kid-friendly Austrian capital of Vienna, which offers more organic farmland than any other city and has both ‘Green Taxis’ and plenty of bike-share stations for getting around. Find a small-scale farmstay for accommodation, then keep the family’s legs moving by cycling, hiking and swimming in Weissensee. Make time for a visit to Werfenweng: a car-free, playground-rich lakeside town with green vehicles for visitors. Vienna has a large number of playgrounds, some fantastic museums for children and the splendid Schloss Schönbrunn where kids can dress up. © JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU RESORT © EXPLORATORIUM, WWW.EXPLORATORIUM.EDU 2 FIJI Leave the resorts and cruise ships behind and head off the beaten track to stay in a village homestay.

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2022
by Lonely Planet
Published 26 Oct 2021

Then leave the crowds behind and explore the country by train – the furthest stop is less than 2½ hours away. • Take a walking tour in Rotterdam to discover its innovative architecture and harrowing war history. • Take a day-trip from historical Arnhem and cycle across Hoge Veluwe National Park to admire Van Goghs at the Kröller-Müller Museum. • Explore Groningen’s cosy and car-free city centre, where bars don’t have a closing time and the countryside is just a bike ride away. © RON BUIST / 500PX Last daylight falls on a field of tulips near Zijldijk, Groningen LIBERIA For most outsiders, Liberia is a bit of a mystery. But those in the know wax lyrical about the optimism of its people and the country’s natural wonders.

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We’ve identified ten destinations where you can minimise the impact of your family’s travels. 1 AUSTRIA Explore the kid-friendly Austrian capital of Vienna, which offers more organic farmland than any other city and has both ‘Green Taxis’ and plenty of bike-share stations for getting around. Find a small-scale farmstay for accommodation, then keep the family’s legs moving by cycling, hiking and swimming in Weissensee. Make time for a visit to Werfenweng: a car-free, playground-rich lakeside town with green vehicles for visitors. Vienna has a large number of playgrounds, some fantastic museums for children and the splendid Schloss Schönbrunn where kids can dress up. © JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU RESORT © EXPLORATORIUM, WWW.EXPLORATORIUM.EDU 2 FIJI Leave the resorts and cruise ships behind and head off the beaten track to stay in a village homestay.

Coastal California
by Lonely Planet

Greyhound (www.greyhound.com; 34 W Carrillo St) has a few daily services along Hwy 101 south to LA ($18, three hours) or north to San Francisco ($53, nine hours) via San Luis Obispo ($26, 2¼ hours). CAR-FREE SANTA BARBARA If you use public transportation to get to Santa Barbara, you can get valuable hotel discounts, plus get a nice swag bag of coupons for various activities and attractions, all courtesy of Santa Barbara Car Free (www.santabarbaracarfree.org). Getting Around Equipped with front-loading bicycle racks, local buses operated by Metropolitan Transit District (MTD; 805-963-3366; www.sbmtd.gov; 1020 Chapala St) cost $1.75 per ride; ask for a free transfer when boarding.

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Golden Gate Ferries ( 415-923-2000; www.goldengateferry.org; 6am-10pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) Regular services run from the Ferry Building to Larkspur and Sausalito in Marin County. Transfers are available to MUNI bus services, and bicycles permitted. Vallejo Ferries ( 415-773-1188; one way adult/child $15/7.50) Get to Napa car-free, with departures from Ferry Building docks about every hour from 6:30am through 7pm weekdays and every two hours from 11am through 7:30pm on weekends; bikes are permitted. From the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, take Napa Valley Vine bus 10 to downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena or Calistoga. Also connects to Six Flags Marine World theme park in Vallejo.

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This ain’t your standard dumbed-down playground, suffocated by Big Brother’s safety regulations. With lightning-fast slides, a hedge maze and towering climbing walls, even some adults can’t resist playing here. Cycling & Mountain-Biking Along a former railway line, the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail travels 18 car-free miles along the waterfront, passing Cannery Row en route to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Road-cycling enthusiasts with nerves of steel can make the round trip to Carmel along the 17-Mile Drive (see the boxed text, Click here). Mountain-bikers head to Fort Ord for 50 miles of single-track and fire roads; the Sea Otter Classic (www.seaotterclassic.com) races there in mid-April.

The Great Reset: How the Post-Crash Economy Will Change the Way We Live and Work
by Richard Florida
Published 22 Apr 2010

Perry, “Average New Home Size Falls for the Frst Time since ’94,” Seeking Alpha (online), March 8 2009, retrieved from http://seekingalpha.com/article/124684-average-new-home-size-falls-for-first-time-since-94. 12. Micheline Maynard, “Is Happiness Still That New Car Smell?” New York Times, October 22, 2009. 13. Christopher Leinberger, “Car Free in America/Bottom Line: It’s Cheaper,” New York Times, online symposium, May 12, 2009, retrieved from http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/carless-in-america/?hp 14. Yuri Kageyama, “Car-Free: In Japan, That’s How a Generation Rolls,” Associated Press, January 6, 2009. 15. Rich Morin and Paul Taylor, “Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn,” Pew Research Center, April 23, 2009, retrieved from http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/733/luxury-necessity-recession-era-reevaluations. 16.

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In fact, they drove about 8 percent less than the model predicted.” Combined with the exceptionally sluggish sales of new cars, Silver concedes that Americans might be “considering making more-permanent adjustments to their lifestyles”—buying fewer cars or buying them less frequently, driving less, and generally “entertaining the idea of leading a car-free existence.”16 A separate study by J. D. Power and Associates, best known for its quality rankings of cars, confirms what young people tell me: after analyzing hundreds of thousands of online conversations on everything from car blogs to Twitter and Facebook, the study found that teens and young people in their early twenties have increasingly negative perceptions “regarding the necessity of and desire to have cars.”17 “There’s a cultural change taking place,” John Casesa, a veteran auto industry analyst, told the New York Times.

Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation
by Paris Marx
Published 4 Jul 2022

They gained the ear of people in power, then received public funding and helped to develop policies to deemphasize the automobile’s place in Dutch transport policy. The growing death toll was one reason for the shift, but the oil shocks also played an important role in building momentum. After oil prices soared in 1973, the Dutch prime minister asked citizens to change the way they lived so they could conserve energy, and Sundays became car-free days. Those experiences affected policy decisions, and by the 1980s Dutch cities and towns were promoting bicycle use by giving them dedicated lanes and redesigning streets to reduce vehicle speeds. Meanwhile, across the continent governments were promoting energy efficiency and European automakers were building smaller, more efficient vehicles.

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Despite Norway’s position as a world leader in electric vehicle sales, Oslo’s new government was not content simply to see more vehicles converted to battery power. Instead, it put forward a very simple, yet radical plan: private vehicles would be banned from the city center entirely. Even though the vehicle ownership rate was less than 12 percent in the proposed car-free zone, the response of conservatives and motorists was swift. One right-wing politician branded the plan “a Berlin Wall against motorists” and drivers claimed they felt bullied by the new city government. After a year of negotiation and attacks in the press, the left-wing coalition relented: instead of banning private vehicles, it would remove all 650 on-street parking spaces.

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As in Oslo, there followed a backlash from right-wing and motorist groups to the permanent closure of the highway that carried 43,000 vehicles a day, even as a poll found that 55 percent of Parisians were in favor. The plan went to court as opponents tried to have it overturned, and while they won a legal victory in February 2018, an appeals court ruled in October that the riverbank would remain car-free. The pedestrianization of a segment of the Rive Droite was an action that garnered a lot of attention, but it was just one piece of a much larger plan to remake Paris for its residents, instead of people who would drive in from elsewhere. This shift in urban policy did not begin with Hidalgo, but rather her Socialist predecessor Bertrand Delanoë, who became mayor in 2001.

Central Europe Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Gstaad (www.gstaad.ch) has a pedestrianised centre, excellent public transport and makes huge efforts to preserve its natural surroundings in the Bernese Oberland. Valais skiers can carve with a clear conscience in Verbier (www.verbier.ch) , where energy-efficient snow-grooming machines use biodiesel fuel. In the Jungfrau region, Zermatt ( Click here ) is a whiter-than-white green classic with its car-free and eco-sound building policies, free shuttle buses and 60% hydroelectricity. Other notable wholly car-free resorts include Saas Fee (www.saas-fee.ch) near Zermatt, Wengen and Mürren (Click here ) near Lauterbrunnen, and Valais’ Bettmeralp (www.bettmeralp.ch) . Food & Drink Staples & Specialities Lactose intolerants will struggle in this dairy-obsessed country, which makes some of the world’s most delectable chocolate and where cheese is a way of life.

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Copernicus statue in front of Old Town Hall, Toruń, Poland WITOLD SKRYPCZAK/LONELY PLANET IMAGES © Visiting Jungfrau Villages 14 Three of Europe’s most impressive, glacier-encrusted peaks form the backdrop to the quaint towns and ski villages throughout Switzerland’s Jungfrau region ( Click here ). By day, take advantage of 200km worth of ski and snowboard pistes (and hundreds more kilometres of hiking trails). By night, return to an atmospheric chalet in resort towns like bustling Grindelwald or car-free Mürren. Here every home and hostel has a postcard-worthy view, and cowbells echo in the valleys. This is storybook Switzerland at its best. Mürren, Switzerland GLENN VAN DER KNIJFF/LONELY PLANET IMAGES © Top of section need to know BUSES » For travel in the mountains or between villages.

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Most people assume this medieval little island-city is part of Baden-Württemberg but it’s not. Here you’ll see the blue-and-white Bavarian state colours, and sudsy brews trump the wines found elsewhere along the lake. Connected to the nearby lakeshore by bridges, this is a charming, nearly car-free town. Key sights (often adorned with murals) include the Altes Rathaus (Reichsplatz) , the city theatre (Barfüsser-platz) and the little harbour’s Seepromenade , with its Bavarian Lion monument and lighthouse . When the haze clears, the Alps provide a stunning backdrop for watersports that include windsurfing and rowing.

Western USA
by Lonely Planet

Don’t expect Manhattan just yet, but for adventurous urbanites, now is an exciting time to be Downtown. Downtown is easily explored on foot or by subway or DASH minibus. Parking is cheapest (about $6 all day) around Little Tokyo and Chinatown. EL PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELES & AROUND Compact, colorful and car-free, this historic district is an immersion in LA’s Spanish-Mexican roots. Its spine is Olvera St, a festive tack-o-rama where you can chomp on tacos and stock up on handmade candy, folkloric trinkets and bric-a-brac. Avila Adobe HISTORIC BUILDING ( 213-628-1274; Olvera St; 9am-4pm) This 1818 ranch home claims to be the city’s oldest existing building.

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Getty Villa MUSEUM (www.getty.edu; 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon; ) Malibu’s cultural star, a replica Roman villa that’s a fantastic showcase of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. Admission is by timed ticket (no walk-ins). Parking is $15. SANTA MONICA Santa Monica is the belle by the beach, mixing urban cool with a laid-back vibe. Tourists, teens and street performers make car-free, chain-store-lined Third Street Promenade the most action-packed zone. There’s free two-hour parking in public garages on 2nd and 4th Sts ($3 after 6pm). For more local flavor, shop celeb-favored Montana Avenue or down-homey Main Street, backbone of the neighborhood once nicknamed ‘Dogtown’ as the birthplace of skateboard culture.

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South of Mission Bay, hippie-flavored Ocean Beach (OB; Click here) has a fishing pier, beach volleyball, sunset BBQs and good surf. Newport Ave is chockablock with bohemian bars, eateries and shops selling beachwear, surf gear and antiques. West of Mission Bay, Mission Beach (MB) and its northern neighbor, Pacific Beach (PB), are connected by the car-free Ocean Front Walk, which swarms with skaters, joggers and cyclists year-round. The small Belmont Park amusement park in MB beckons with a historic wooden roller coaster and large indoor pool. SeaWorld AQUARIUM ( 619-226-3901; www.seaworld.com/seaworld/ca; 500 SeaWorld Dr; adult/child 3-9yr $70/62; 9am-10pm Jul–mid-Aug, to 11pm Fri-Sun, shorter hr rest of year) It’s easy to spend a day at Mission Bay’s four-star attraction.

The Miracle Pill
by Peter Walker
Published 21 Jan 2021

Places like Vauban show what you can do if you just reconfigure neighbourhoods. The whole of the public realm then becomes a sociable, playful, welcoming space.’36 Movement for all For all that I was perhaps a bit sceptical about BIG’s Toyota Woven City concept, one theme it explores is hugely interesting. Among the reasons for the green, welcoming, car-free streets is to make the public realm more open to older people, and to those with disabilities. The former is particularly relevant given Japan has such a rapidly ageing population, with forecasts that around a third of all its population will be sixty-five or older within a decade from now.37 The new Toyota community will, Rost tells me, be designed so older people ‘feel invited to come outside’.

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Given the impracticality of persuading people to spend hours a day fidgeting, Levine’s solution is for activity to be built into other areas of life, including active travel. He argues that a combination of the inactivity crisis and the climate emergency should be used as an opportunity to completely reshape cities in favour of walking and cycling, and he would like to see his adopted home, Paris, make itself entirely car-free: ‘When big things happen in societies, it’s rarely one thing that precipitates big change, it’s normally the collision of several things.’26 Levine was being more prescient than he could have realised. We spoke just before the coronavirus emergency descended. At time of writing, to cope with the socially distanced transport aftermath, Paris’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has removed cars from a series of city centre roads and announced plans for hundreds of miles of extra cycle lanes.

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Nieman, ‘Coronavirus disease-2019: A tocsin to our aging, unfit, corpulent, and immunodeficient society’, Journal of Sport and Health Science, Vol. 9, No. 4 (2020): 293–301. 8 Peter Walker, Matthew Taylor, ‘Labour to plan green economic rescue from coronavirus crisis’, The Guardian, 17 May 2020. Interview took place on 15 May. 9 Briefing to political journalists in the daily ‘lobby’ conference (held via telephone conference call amid coronavirus). 10 Matthew Taylor, ‘Large areas of London to be made car-free as lockdown eased’, The Guardian, 15 May 2020. 11 Interview with the author. 12 Interview with the author. 13 Interview with the author. 14 Interview with the author. 15 Interview with the author. 16 Interview with the author. INDEX A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition.

Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life
by David Sim
Published 19 Aug 2019

The gardens are shared with neighbors, and common outdoor spaces are shared with the wider neighborhood. There are larger public spaces, such as a plaza outside the community building and a forested landscape to the south, with a small stream. The streets are important public spaces for playing and meeting. Although not car-free, Vauban promotes car-free living, with excellent public transport and bicycle infrastructure. Parking is accommodated in multi-story garages located on the edge of the district. Vauban represents the combination of an ambitious plan by the City and enthusiastic and dedicated local activism. The development successfully accommodates greater density and diversity at a human scale with buildings oriented toward the public realm.

Lonely Planet Southern Italy
by Lonely Planet

Capri 1Top Sights 1Seggiovia del Monte SolaroC2 2Villa JovisG1 3Villa LysisG1 4Villa San Michele di Axel MuntheC1 1Sights 5Certosa di San GiacomoE3 6Giardini di AugustoE3 7Grotta AzzurraB1 8Piazza Umberto IG4 2Activities, Courses & Tours 9Banana SportE1 10Capri WhalesE2 11Motoscafisti di CapriE1 4Sleeping 12Capri PalaceC1 13Casa MariantoniaC2 14Grand Hotel QuisisanaG4 15Hotel Villa EvaB1 16La MinervaE2 5Eating 17È DivinoG4 18Gelateria BuonacoreG4 19Il GeranioE2 20La PaletteF2 21Le GrottelleF2 6Drinking & Nightlife 22Caffè MichelangeloC2 23Taverna Anema e CoreG4 7Shopping 24Carthusia I Profumi di CapriE2 25La ParisienneG4 26Limoncello Capri Canale MassimoC1 1 Sights 1Capri Town & Around With its whitewashed stone buildings and tiny, car-free streets, Capri Town exudes a cinematic air. A diminutive model of upmarket Mediterranean chic, it’s a well-tended playground of luxury hotels, expensive bars, smart restaurants and high-end boutiques. In summer the centre swells with crowds of camera-wielding day trippers and yacht-owning playboys (and girls), but don’t be put off from exploring the atmospheric and ancient side streets, where the crowds quickly thin.

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Ischia is a refreshing antidote to glitzy Capri. Most visitors head straight for the north-coast towns of Ischia Porto, Ischia Ponte, Forio and Lacco Ameno. Of these, Ischia Porto boasts the best bars, while Forio and Lacco Ameno have the prettiest spas and gardens. On the calmer south coast, the car-free perfection of Sant’Angelo offers a languid blend of a cosy harbour and lazy beaches. In between the coasts lies a less-trodden landscape of chestnut forests, vineyards and volcanic rock, loomed over by Monte Epomeo, Ischia’s highest peak. 1 Sights oCastello AragoneseCASTLE (Aragon Castle; %342 9618566, 081 99 28 34; www.castelloaragoneseischia.com; Rocca del Castello, Ischia Ponte; adult/reduced €10/6; h9am-sunset) There are castles and then there’s Ischia’s Castello Aragonese, a veritable fort-city set on its own craggy islet, looking like a cross between Harry Potter’s Hogwarts and Mont Saint Michel.

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Glowing with warm, earthy tones, five rooms and one spacious suite feature high ceilings, marble, tile or wooden floors, soundproof windows and modern bathrooms. B&B AmélieB&B€ (map Google map; %328 8654824, 091 33 59 20; www.bb-amelie.it; Via Prinicipe di Belmonte 94; s €40-60, d €60-80, tr €90-100; aiW) On a central, car-free street, affable, multilingual Angela has converted her grandmother’s spacious 6th-floor flat into a cheery B&B. Rooms are simple, colourful and spotless. All have private bathroom (either as an ensuite or in the hallway) and two come with private terrace. Breakfast includes homemade cakes and jams, and Angela, a native Palermitan, is a font of local knowledge.

Lonely Planet's Best of USA
by Lonely Planet

Finish Abbot Kinney Blvd; JMTA 33 Skateboarders, Venice Beach / KYLIE MCLAUGHLIN / GETTY IMAGES © Downtown Los Angeles 1 Sights 1 Geffen Contemporary at MOCA D2 2 Grammy Museum A3 3 Grand Central Market C2 4 Japanese American National Museum D2 5 LA Live A3 6 La Plaza de Cultura y Artes D1 7 Museum of Contemporary Art C1 8 Walt Disney Concert Hall C1 5 Eating 9 Cole’s C3 10 Q Sushi B2 11 Sushi Gen D2 6 Drinking & Nightlife 12 Edison C2 7 Shopping 13 Fashion District B3 1 SIGHTS 1 El Pueblo de Los Angeles Compact, colorful and car-free, this historic district is an immersion in LA’s Spanish-Mexican roots. Its spine is Olvera Street, a festive kitsch-o-rama where you can snap up handmade folkloric trinkets, then chomp on tacos or sugar-sprinkled churros. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes Museum Map Google Map This museum chronicles the Mexican-American experience in Los Angeles, from the Mexican–American War when the border crossed the original pueblo, to the Zoot Suit Riots to Cesar Chavez and the Chicana movement.

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Getty Center Museum In its billion-dollar, in-the-clouds perch, high above the city grit and grime, the Getty Center presents triple delights: a stellar art collection (everything from renaissance artists to David Hockney), Richard Meier’s cutting-edge architecture, and the visual splendor of seasonally changing gardens. (%310-440-7300; www.getty.edu; 1200 Getty Center Dr, off I-405 Fwy; h10am-5:30pm Tue-Fri & Sun, to 9pm Sat; pW) F Getty Center / P. EOCHE / GETTY IMAGES © 1 Santa Monica The belle by the beach mixes urban cool with a laid-back vibe. Tourists, teens and street performers throng car-free, chainstore-lined Third Street Promenade. For more local flavor, shop posh Montana Avenue or eclectic Main Street, backbone of the neighborhood once nicknamed ‘Dogtown,’ the birthplace of skateboard culture. 2 ACTIVITIES CYCLING & IN-LINE SKATING Get scenic exercise in-line skating or pedaling along the paved South Bay Bicycle Trail, which parallels the beach for most of the 22 miles between Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades.

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Yosemite Valley Drive The only driving route in Yosemite Valley takes you past the valley’s classic sights and viewpoints, including Bridalveil Fall and Yosemite Falls. Most of this route is covered by the free Yosemite Valley and El Capitan shuttles (the latter goes as far west as the El Capitan Bridge), so consider parking the car, freeing up your hands, and doing this by public transport. The 12.5-mile loop follows the only two roads in and out of Yosemite Valley: Northside Drive and Southside Drive. Each is (mostly) one way and, as their names suggest, they sit on either side of the Merced River. Without traffic, you can easily drive the loop in less than an hour, but budget more time as you’ll want to stop frequently.

Coastal California Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Marin County Golden Gate Transit Ferries ( GOOGLE MAP ; %415-455-2000; www.goldengateferry.org; h6am-9:30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) runs regular ferry services from the Ferry Building to Larkspur and Sausalito (one way $11.75). Transfers are available to Muni bus services and bicycles are permitted. Blue & Gold Fleet Ferries also operate to Tiburon or Sausalito (one way $11.50) from Pier 41. Napa Valley Get to Napa car free (weekdays only) via the Vallejo Ferry ( GOOGLE MAP ; %707-643-3779, 877-643-3779; http://sanfranciscobayferry.com), with departures from the Ferry Building docks about every hour from 6:30am to 7pm weekdays and roughly every 90 minutes from 10am to 9pm on weekends; bikes are permitted. However, the connecting bus from the Vallejo Ferry Terminal – Napa Valley Vine bus 29 to downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena or Calistoga – operates only on weekdays.

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Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (the landscape architect of New York City’s Central Park), it’s great for walking and the views are stupendous. Oakland Hills The large parks of the Oakland Hills are ideal for day hiking and challenging cycling, and the East Bay Regional Parks (%888-327-2757; www.ebparks.org; per car free-$6; hhours vary; c#) manages more than 1200 miles of trails in 65 regional parks, preserves and recreation areas in the Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Off Hwy 24, Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve is the northernmost of the Oakland Hills parks. It has great views of the Bay Area from its Round Top Peak (1761ft).

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Sunshine Freestyle Surf & SportSURFING ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %831-375-5015; www.facebook.com/SunshineFreestyle; 443 Lighthouse Ave; surfboard/wetsuit/body board rental from $20/10/7; h10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun) Monterey’s oldest surf shop rents and sells all the surfing gear you’ll need. Cycling & Mountain Biking Along an old railway line, the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail travels for 18 car-free miles along the waterfront, passing Cannery Row en route to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Road-cycling enthusiasts can make the round trip to Carmel along the 17-Mile Drive. Mountain-bikers head to Fort Ord National Monument to pedal over 80 miles of single-track and fire roads; the Sea Otter Classic (www.seaotterclassic.com) races there in mid-April.

Germany Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Rügen Germany’s largest island has charmed visitors since the 19th century with its sandy beaches, white chalk cliffs and historic resorts (Click here) Halligen Islands There are more seals than people on these flat-as-a-pancake islets in the North Sea (Click here) Mainau If you love beautiful gardens, you’ll be enchanted by the profusion of tulips, dahlias, roses and orchids in this garden island owned by a member of the Swedish royal family (Click here) Helgoland Lashed by wind and waves, there’s something oddly alluring about this lone red sandstone rock in the middle of the North Sea (Click here) Hiddensee For a genuine sense of happy isolation visit this car-free Baltic island in the winter (Click here) Herreninsel This island in the Chiemsee is home to the grandest of Ludwig’s II palaces, Schloss Herrenchiemsee, a tribute to French Sun King Louis XIV (Click here) German Flavours Sure, there are pizzas and hamburgers everywhere, but for a true taste of Germany try one of these traditional dishes.

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Otherwise RVO bus 9608 (www.rvo-bus.de) connects Mittenwald with Garmisch-Partenkirchen (30 minutes) several times a day. Oberstdorf 08322 / POP 9900 Spectacularly situated in the western Alps, the Allgäu region feels a long, long way from the rest of Bavaria, both in its cuisine (more Spätzle than dumplings) and the dialect, which is closer to the Swabian of Baden-Württemberg. The Allgäu’s chief draw is the car-free resort of Oberstdorf, a major skiing centre a short hop from Austria. Activities Oberstdorf is almost ringed by towering peaks and offers some top-draw hiking. In-the-know skiers value the resort for its friendliness, lower prices and less-crowded pistes. The village is surrounded by 70km of well-maintained cross-country trails and three ski fields: the Nebelhorn (half-day/day passes €32/37.50), Fellhorn/Kanzelwand (half-day/day passes €33.50/39) and Söllereck (half-day/day passes €21.50/26).

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At weekends thousands flock here from Munich to enjoy the ultramodern swimming complex, Alpine slide and hiking trips down the river. Bad Tölz is also the gateway to the Tölzer Land region and its emerald-green lakes, the Walchensee and the Kochelsee. Sights & Activities Cobble-stoned and car-free, Marktstrasse is flanked by statuesque town houses with ornate overhanging eaves that look twice as high on the sloping street. Above the town, on Kalvarienberg, looms Bad Tölz’ landmark, the twin-towered Kalvarienbergkirche (Cavalry Church). This giant baroque structure stands side by side with the petite Leonhardikapelle (Leonhardi Chapel; 1718), the destination of the Leonhardi pilgrimage.

Road to ruin: an introduction to sprawl and how to cure it
by Dom Nozzi
Published 15 Dec 2003

(I can vouch for the fact that he is a very capable driver; he’s taken me on driving tours through some of Florida’s more egregious sprawl.) But he con-vincingly argues that, for more people, using an automobile should be an option instead of a requirement for daily survival. This is a practical and attainable vision, not a wild-eyed dream of a car-free utopia. Like each of us, his point of view is no doubt shaped by his days at the office. Nozzi works in one of those outposts on the front lines in the battle over sprawl and development, the local city planning department. Thosehalls play host to intense brawls over street design, land use, and neighborhood form.

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cities developed and grew after the emergence of cars. It is no coincidence that cities across Europe, since entering the auto age, have begun to see U.S.-style sprawl. As long as we design our roads to encourage sprawl, we will be afflicted by sprawl. Sprawl is enabled by car travel (through near universal ownership of reasonably affordable cars, free and abundant parking, and high-capacity urban roads). A different path is to strive to make people the quality-of-life design imperative in our cities, and ecosystems the imperative in outlying areas. If we insist on a walkable, high quality of life in ourcommunities—even at the cost of some city squirrels and raccoons—fewer people will hop in their cars to live in remote subdivisions that have replaced outlying ecosystems.

Bikenomics: How Bicycling Can Save the Economy (Bicycle)
by Elly Blue
Published 29 Nov 2014

It’s no wonder that we are all driving less, but particularly young people—and not necessarily because they are discovering other ways to get around. Like I did as a teen, they are going out less. It’s the surefire consequence of a terrible economy. Nearly all U.S. teens have access to the Internet and are socializing online as an alternative to driving to the mall or hanging out in the parking lot.209 Yet what happens when these car-free youth grow up? Owning a car remains the price of admission to an adult life with job, kids, and responsibilities, in even a relatively human-scale suburban landscape like the one I grew up in. The same roads that frustrated me as insurmountable barriers when I tried to travel around under my own power as a teen made trips to the same places absurdly fast and easy when someone gave me a ride.

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People started to ride on their own initiative, organizations formed, and some trails and bike lanes were built. Things really took off in places that heavily invested in bike infrastructure networks, like Davis, California and Eugene and Corvallis, Oregon—three of the top bicycle cities in the nation to this day. Popular bicycling movements were more limited here. Residents of New York City rallied for a car-free Manhattan, but for the most part organized street activism on bicycles didn’t take off. A bicycle renaissance like the one occurring in Amsterdam wasn’t meant to be, at least not yet. Bicycling had been normal and widespread prior to the rise of the car, and among children up through the 1950s.

The Minimalist Home: A Room-By-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life
by Joshua Becker
Published 18 Dec 2018

From 2004 to 2014, the number of US garages large enough to hold three or more cars increased from about 19 percent to about 23.5 percent. Dietz, “Two-Car Garage Most Common in New Homes.” Meanwhile, the average number of cars per household in the United States peaked at 2.07 in 2007. Angie Schmitt, “The American Cities with the Most Growth in Car-Free Households,” Greater Greater Washington, January 21, 2014, https://ggwash.org/view/33531/the-american-cities-with-the-most-growth-in-car-free-households. Today there are 1.9 cars per household in the United States. “Household, Individual, and Vehicle Characteristics,” Bureau of Transportation Statistics, www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/highlights_of_the_2001_national_household_travel_survey/html/section_01.html (site discontinued). 6. 

USA Travel Guide
by Lonely, Planet

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service to Wantagh has a bus connection to Jones Beach. Further east, just off the southern shore, is a separate barrier island. Fire Island includes Fire Island National Seashore ( 631-289-4810; www.nps.gov) and several summer-only villages accessible by ferry from Long Island. The Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove (both car-free) comprise a historic, gay bacchanalia that attracts men and women in droves from New York City, while villages on the west end cater to straight singles and families. There are limited places to stay, and booking in advance is strongly advised (check www.fireisland.com for accommodations information).

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Insectarium MUSEUM, GARDEN Offline map Google map (www.auduboninstitute.org; 423 Canal St; adult/child $15.95/10.95; 10am-5pm; ) A supremely kid-friendly learning center that’s a joy for budding entomologists. The Japanese garden dotted with whispering butterflies is particularly beautiful. Canal Street Ferry RIVER Offline map Google map (pedestrian & cyclist/car free/$1; 6:15am-12:15am) Departing from the foot of Canal St is a fast and fabulous ride across the Mississippi to Algiers, an attractive historic neighborhood just across the river, and back. GARDEN DISTRICT & UPTOWN The main architectural division in New Orleans is between the elegant town houses of the Creole and French northeast and the magnificent mansions of the American district, settled after the Louisiana Purchase.

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Top of section Great Lakes Includes » Illinois Chicago Indiana Indianapolis Ohio Cleveland Amish Country Cincinnati Michigan Detroit Wisconsin Milwaukee Minnesota Minneapolis Why Go? Don’t be fooled by all the corn. Behind it lurks surfing beaches and Tibetan temples, car-free islands and the green-draped night-lights of the aurora borealis. The Midwest takes its knocks for being middle-of-nowhere boring. So consider the moose-filled national parks, urban five-ways and Hemingway, Dylan and Vonnegut sites its little secret. Roll call for the Midwest’s cities starts with Chicago, which unfurls what is arguably the country’s mightiest skyline.

Germany
by Andrea Schulte-Peevers
Published 17 Oct 2010

Return to beginning of chapter GERMANY IN THE SLOW LANE Like a fine wine, some of Germany’s most memorable destinations are best appreciated in leisurely sips, not quick gulps. So say goodbye to the automobile and hello to the slow lane as you embark on a journey of discovery that will enrich you personally while also lowering your carbon footprint. Hiddensee, a tiny island on the Baltic Sea, for instance, is an entirely car-free zone, making bicycle the best way to get around. At the other end of the country, Oberstdorf in the Allgäu has also banned cars, as have most of the East Frisian Islands. Germany is criss-crossed with long-distance hiking trails, including the Rennsteig in the Thuringian Forest, one of the oldest and most famous trails in the country.

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* * * HIGHLIGHTS Royal Riches Drain your camera batteries as you try to capture the magnificence of Potsdam’s Schloss Sanssouci and the park that surrounds it Click here Watery Ramblings Pull up for a forest beach picnic while kayaking through the idyllic Spreewald Biosphere Reserve Techno Marvel Rub your eyes in disbelief while watching entire barges being hoisted 60m in the air at the massive ship-lift Click here in Niederfinow Monastery Magic Feast your ears on classical music during a summer concert at the romantically ruined medieval monastery at Chorin Scorching Skates Combine exercise with sightseeing while skating or cycling along the car-free trail network of Flaeming Skate POPULATION: 2.53 MILLION AREA: 29,478 sq km * * * Return to beginning of chapter Information The excellent website maintained by Tourismus Marketing Brandenburg ( 0331-200 4747; www.brandenburg-tourism.com) should satisfy all your pretrip planning needs and also has a room-booking function.

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The famous Leonhardifahrt is a pilgrimage up to the Leonhardi chapel on Kalvarienberg, where townsfolk dress up in traditional costume and ride dozens of garlanded horse carts to the strains of brass bands. Bad Tölz tourist office ( 786 70; www.bad-toelz.de; Marktstrasse 48; 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat) doubles as the museum ticket office. Return to beginning of chapter Sights & Activities ALTSTADT Cobble-stoned and car-free, Marktstrasse is flanked by statuesque town houses with ornate overhanging eaves that look twice as high on the sloping street. The Stadtmuseum ( 504 688; Marktstrasse 48; adult/concession €2/1.50; 10am-4pm, Tue-Sun) touches on practically all aspects of local culture and history, with a fine collection of painted armoires (the so-called Tölzer Kasten), a 2m-tall, single-stringed Nonnengeige, examples of traditional glass painting and a cart used in the Leonhardifahrt.

Lonely Planet Brazil
by Lonely Planet

Itineraries Rio & the Southeast 2 WEEKS Gorgeous beaches, rainforest-covered islands and historic towns are just some of the things you’ll experience on this loop around the Southeast. Spend a few days discovering Rio and its beaches, restaurants and incredible music scene before heading to Paraty, a beautifully preserved town with rainforest hikes and stunning beaches nearby. Next, stop in Ubatuba with its jungle-clad mountains and spectacular coastal scenery. Ilhabela is a car-free island of beaches, forests and waterfalls. Stop in São Paulo for high culture, including the nation’s best museums and restaurants. Head next to exquisite Tiradentes and Ouro Preto, with some of Brazil’s finest colonial architecture. Afterwards, take in a bit of friendly Mineira hospitality, good restaurants and buzzing nightlife in Belo Horizonte.

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Check out the brightly painted colonial buildings of the Pelourinho, take in a dazzling dance performance of the Balé Folclórico da Bahia and feast on seafood at Pelô Bistrô. Browse for handicrafts at the Mercado Modelo in Cidade Baixa, and try to catch a sunset out at Barra (the stylish eatery and bar Pereira is a good choice). On your fifth day, make a day trip out to Morro de São Paulo for a slice of tropical, car-free paradise. Be sure to check out the island’s 17th-century ruins, and pay a visit to a few beaches (go to Segunda Praia for dining and seaside drinks; while less visited Quarta Praia makes for an alluring retreat). Beat the sunrise for an early-morning flight down to Foz do Iguaçu (via São Paulo).

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Take short day trips to Argentina and Paraguay to get a taste of lush rainforests before heading east (by overnight bus or quick flight) to Curitiba, a city with an intriguing environmentally friendly design, plus pretty botanic gardens and an Oscar Niemeyer museum. Next, take the scenic train ride to the sleepy waterfront town of Morretes. From there you can visit the Parque Estadual Pico do Marumbi, a lush reserve that offers some memorable walks amid the highlands. Continue on to Paranaguá, the departure point to car-free Ilha do Mel. The forest-covered island has lovely beaches and low-key guesthouses, and is skirted by some pretty trails. Next head to beer-loving Blumenau and nearby Vale Europeu, where Pomerode boasts Teutonic architecture, blond-haired residents and a local brew more Bavarian than Brazilian. Head back east to the coast and continue south to Ilha de Santa Catarina, a forest-covered gem of sand dunes, sparkling beaches, pretty lagoons and sleepy fishing villages.

Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World
by Fareed Zakaria
Published 5 Oct 2020

To provide safety for the greater numbers of runners, walkers, and bikers who now avoid the subway, cities like Barcelona and New York banned cars from some streets. Parking spaces were converted into outdoor seating for socially distant dining. The moves have proved so popular that in some European cities these zones reclaimed by pedestrians may remain car-free after the virus recedes. Far from downtown, cities remain the hub, with suburbs and exurbs arrayed around it. Some people like the density of city life, others prefer to live farther out in larger homes, but come and go into the city constantly for work and entertainment. This constellation of activity will vary from place to place, but everywhere, the city is the center of the solar system around it.

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,” Chicago Council on Global Affairs, February 24, 2020, https://youtu.be/55VkdnzGzhw. 139 YIMBY: Alana Semeuls, “From ‘Not in My Backyard’ to ‘Yes in My Backyard,’ ” Atlantic, July 5, 2017. 139 resoundingly reelected: “Hidalgo, Mayor since 2014, beat conservative candidate Rachida Dati in France’s municipal elections, winning 50.2% of the ballot compared to Dati’s 32%. Agnes Buzyn trailed in with just 16%”: Carlton Reid, “Anne Hidalgo Reelected as Mayor of Paris Vowing to Remove Cars and Boost Bicycling and Walking,” Forbes, June 28, 2020. 139 remain car-free: Feargus O’Sullivan, “What Happens to Public Space When Everything Moves Outside,” City Lab, May 29, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020–06–29/what-happens-to-public-space-when-everything-moves-outside. 140 “United City-States of America”: Parag Khanna, “A New Map for America,” April 15, 2016, citing Joel Kotkin’s “mega-regions.”

Badvertising
by Andrew Simms

IIHS-HLDI (2023) High point of impact makes SUV crashes more dangersous for cyclists.13 April. www.iihs.org/news/detail/higher-point-of-impact-makes-suv-crashes-more-dangerous-for-cyclists 26. Dreiser, Theodore (1916) A hoosier holiday. New York: John Lane, 98. 27. Simms, Andrew (2021) Car free stories: the irresistible rise of people-friendly, clean air cities. Possible, September. www.wearepossible.org/our-reports-1/car-free-stories-the-irresistible-rise-of-people-friendly-clean-air-cities 28. See remarks by R.A. Kidd, former county surveyor of Nottinghamshire in Smith, Allan (1984) A history of the County Surveyors Society. 29. Shalite, Ruth (1999) The return of the hidden persuaders.

Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community
by Karen T. Litfin
Published 16 Dec 2013

One block away was Vermont Avenue, an interminable row of old three-story buildings that had morphed into one strip mall after another, with signs in Korean, Spanish, and other languages I didn’t recognize. The notoriously congested Hollywood Freeway was just a few blocks away, and so was a subway station. In this city, the epitome of car culture, LAEV is intent upon moving toward car-free living. With one car for every five members – about a tenth the average for the surrounding metropolitan area – this community is well on its way. Several founders of the LA County Bicycle Coalition live at LAEV, so bicycle advocacy is a way of life here, but it’s the homespun Bicycle Kitchen that most exemplifies the community’s character.

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Together, they won an EPA Climate Showcase grant to create models for climate-friendly zoning and building codes. “Twenty-one years in, and we’re finally helping mainstream development!” Liz Walker observed. EVI’s third neighborhood, TREE, which was being planned when I visited, will model best practices like passive house and high-density construction, car-free common spaces, multi-use structures, community gardens, and mixed-income housing. Incorporating two other projects, an urban “pocket neighborhood” and a 26-acre suburban development, the EVI–county partnership is forging a new pedestrian neighborhood zoning ordinance. “If it works,” Liz said, “we’ll disseminate it to other cities, states, and national levels.”

Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do About It
by Daniel Knowles
Published 27 Mar 2023

Since the advent of the automobile, architects and urban planners worldwide have found it almost impossible to resist building cities around roads and an assumption that most people will drive. Tokyo somehow managed not to. It rebuilt in a much more human-centric way. It may come as a surprise that Japan is home to the world’s biggest relatively car-free city. After all, Japan is the country that gave the world Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Nissan, and exports vehicles all over the world. And in fairness, a lot of Japanese people do own cars. Overall car ownership in Japan is about 590 vehicles per 1,000 people, which is less than America’s rate of about 800 per 1,000, but comparable to a lot of European countries.

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The fastest-growing parts of Britain are towns like Milton Keynes or Aylesbury, a new suburb on the edge of London’s green belt. They are places you need a car. The reason walkable cities aren’t building more homes is because building housing in dense cities is difficult. NIMBYish neighbors facing a new car-free property often refuse to believe that people will not bring cars and park them on the street. Naama finds it baffling; she thinks people who need a car will not buy a property without a parking space. “You’re not going to make your life miserable, if your work is dependent on a car. Let’s say you live in downtown and you work in the suburbs—then you won’t buy a unit without a parking spot,” she says.

California
by Sara Benson
Published 15 Oct 2010

Amtrak’s Coast Starlight and Pacific Surfliner routes Click here reward carbon-conscious travelers with epic scenery. Although riding Greyhound buses Click here lacks the romance of the rails, you’ll definitely meet a diverse cross-section of Californians who will give you insight into the real ‘state of the state,’ something drivers cocooned inside their cars don’t get. Cities sometimes offer car-free tourism incentives, as in Santa Barbara (go to www.santabarbaracarfree.org). While hitchhiking Click here is risky, ride-sharing using online bulletin boards like Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) is not uncommon. Craigslist also has listings for vacation rentals and housing sublets, short-term jobs, community activities and fee-free classified ads for anything you might want to buy, sell or barter during your trip, whether that’s a surfboard, a pair of skis or a used car.

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Stop off in San Luis Obispo and visit its farmers market. SLO is also a gateway to all-natural outdoor adventures like cycling Hwy 1 north to Big Sur or kayaking Morro Bay, where endangered species persist. Further south, beach-laden Santa Barbara offers all kinds of discounts and incentives for car-free travel Click here. In NorCal, Hopland’s Solar Living Institute has been spreading the renewable-energy message almost as long as Al Gore has. Down in the Mojave Desert, you can tour the quixotic-looking wind farms outside Palm Springs. Return to beginning of chapter History * * * STRANGER THAN FICTION GOOD WORDS & BAD DREAMS SPAIN’S MISSION IMPOSSIBLE SOAP OPERAS DOWN ON THE RANCH THE GOLDEN BEAR THE EUREKA YEARS VIGILANTES, ROBBER BARONS & THE RAILROAD THE GREAT WATER FIGHT SHAKING UP THE WILD WEST COUNTERCULTURE HITS THE MAINSTREAM TECHNO-TRENDS * * * STRANGER THAN FICTION Gold is the usual reason given for the madcap course of Californian history, but it all actually started with a dazzling pack of lies.

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Private guided tours cost from $59/89 for a one-/two-tank dive. They can also advise on snorkeling in the shallow inlets of the bay. CYCLING & MOUNTAIN-BIKING With stunning scenery and paved bike paths, cycling is a popular peninsula activity. Along a former railway line, the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail travels 18 car-free miles from Lovers Point in Pacific Grove along the waterfront, passing Cannery Row and downtown Monterey en route to Marina, north of town. Mountain-bikers head east to Fort Ord, which has 50 miles of single-track and fire roads; the Sea Otter Classic ( 800-218-8411; www.seaotterclassic.com) races take place there in April.

Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives
by Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez
Published 5 Jan 2010

Low-ranking military personnel—who are often both working poor and young—have also often been particularly targeted for this type of lending.33 Car title loans are another means by which people are driven closer to poverty. These loans, maybe better termed car title pawns, are made to people who own their cars free and clear. The loans function much like home equity loans, but the deed at stake is the car’s title. Companies such as Cash America and New Century Financial make short-term loans for a portion of the value of the car, with interest rates often as high as 300 percent annually. The lenders hold the title and a duplicate set of keys and, if payments are missed, swoop in to repossess and resell the car.

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A national transit policy based on much more ambitious goals than the ones advocated by those groups could produce a system that shifts tax policy and subsidy support away from cars and toward convenient, eco-friendly public transit—not just for city and suburb but for country and exurb—and fosters government regulation of the auto companies to make cars cheaper, safer, and cleaner. Here’s how we reach both the modest goal of reducing car use, and the more ambitious goals of remaking our transit system so that we can allow more people to live car-free, slash transit’s contribution to global warming, and create more jobs in a sustainable economy. As you’ll see, our prescription does not require us to give up the real freedom that cars can provide. It does, however, point us toward a healthier, more balanced car culture that minimizes the manifold prices we pay for this freedom.

The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China
by David Eimer
Published 13 Aug 2014

Gyantse’s monastery dominates one end of the Tibetan old town, almost burrowing its way in to the hills behind it. At the other end, a ruined fort, or dzong, lies atop a precipitously rocky hill that rises incongruously close to the centre of town. It looms over low-rise Gyantse like a crumbling castle guarding a loch in Scotland. Between those two landmarks, the old town’s mostly car-free main street is lined by two- and three-storey white-stone houses. Their window frames and doors were outlined in black, some bearing the gyung drung, the Tibetan Buddhist swastika. Women in long black dresses and bangden walked home with baskets of shopping, along with monks and people going to and from the monastery, prayer wheels in hand.

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I ate a lot of cabbage in the far north, one of the few vegetables that can be stored throughout the winter, and became accustomed to the lack of fresh fruit. Mohe’s residents, like those of most Chinese small towns, are friendly. They were both chuffed and intrigued to have a foreign visitor who wasn’t a Russian from over the border eighty kilometres away. Mohe’s quiet, surprisingly car-free streets too ensure it is far more pleasant than most places of an equivalent size in China. It is a modern town now, after an inferno in 1985 reduced most of its original wooden houses to ashes. Many of the new buildings are in a mock-Russian style, with peaked red roofs, domes and ornate façades.

Lonely Planet France
by Lonely Planet Publications
Published 31 Mar 2013

Ski school École du Ski Français ( Click here ) initiates kids in the art of snow plough (group or private lessons, half- or full day) from four years old, and many resorts open their fun-driven jardins de neige (snow gardens) to kids from three years old. Families with kids aged under 10 will find smaller resorts like Les Gets, Avoriaz (car-free), La Clusaz, Chamrousse and Le Grand Bornand easier to navigate and better value than larger ski stations. Then, of course, there is all the fun of the fair off-piste: ice skating, sledging, snowshoeing and mushing. The French Alps and Pyrenees are prime walking areas. Tourist offices have information on easy, well-signposted family walks – or get in touch with a local guide.

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Use is free for the first 30 minutes; the 2nd/3rd/4th and subsequent half-hours cost €1/2/4 each. BUS Rouen’s bus lines are operated by TCAR ( 02 35 52 52 52; www.tcar.fr) . The most useful routes for travellers are the T2 and T3, which serve the Auberge de Jeunesse Robec. A single-journey ticket costs €1.50. CAR Free parking is available across the Seine from the city centre, along and below quai Jean Moulin. METRO Rouen’s metro ( 02 35 52 52 52; www.tcar.fr) runs from 5am (6am on Sunday) to about 11pm and is useful for getting from the train station to the centre of town. One ticket costs €1.50. There are Espace Métrobus ticket offices inside the train station.

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Getting There & Around BUS The bus station ( 02 31 89 28 41) is two blocks east of the tourist office. Bus Verts ( 08 10 21 42 14; www.busverts.fr) services include an express bus to Caen (€11, one hour): Caen €7.95, two hours, 12 daily Monday to Saturday, six Sunday Deauville & Trouville €2.30, 30 minutes Le Havre €4.50, 35 minutes, eight daily Monday to Saturday, four Sunday CAR Free parking is available next to Naturospace, which is 600m from the Avant Port on bd Charles V. TRAIN To catch the train (eg to Paris), take the bus to Deauville or Le Havre. MANCHE The Manche département (www.manchetourisme.com) encompasses the entire Cotentin Peninsula, stretching from Utah Beach northwest to Cherbourg and southwest to the magnificent Mont St-Michel.

Lonely Planet Western Balkans
by Lonely Planet , Peter Dragicevich , Mark Baker , Stuart Butler , Anthony Ham , Jessica Lee , Vesna Maric , Kevin Raub and Brana Vladisavljevic
Published 1 Oct 2019

Old Town city walls, Dubrovnik, Croatia | DREAMER4787/SHUTTERSTOCK © Itineraries Cruising the Coast 3 WEEKS This itinerary traces a leisurely path along arguably the Mediterranean’s most spectacular coastline, from the Adriatic Sea all the way to the Ionian. An extensive network of ferries and buses makes car-free travel a breeze. Spend your first week exploring the Istrian peninsula, starting in pretty Piran, the main attraction of Slovenia’s tiny slice of coast. Cross the border into Croatia and head to Poreč, where an extraordinary Byzantine basilica awaits. Continue on to the gorgeous old town of Rovinj and the ancient city of Pula, replete with Roman ruins.

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A total renovation is on the cards, but as one staff member pointed out to us, they’ve been waiting for that since 1985 – so don’t hold your breath. Sheshi SkënderbejSQUARE (Skanderbeg Sq; map Google map) Sheshi Skënderbej is the best place to start witnessing Tirana’s daily goings-on. Until it was pulled down by an angry mob in 1991, a 10m-high bronze statue of Enver Hoxha stood here, watching over a mainly car-free square. Now only the equestrian statue of Skanderbeg remains, and the ‘square’ – once Tirana’s most popular meeting point in the decades where 99% of people were forced to get around on foot – is now a huge traffic roundabout. Early evening is a particularly nice time to come here. Buskers strum a few tunes and vendors sell popcorn and balloons as the locals stroll and chat.

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The setting is magnificent, with a chic upstairs dining room as well as romantic tables set right above the water. The modern Dalmatian menu is well matched by a fine wine list, featuring many high-quality local drops. 6Drinking & Entertainment Vinum BonumWINE BAR (%091 47 70 236; Punta Jurana 66; h6pm-midnight May-Oct; W) Tucked away on a car-free lane just off the harbour, this casual place allows you to nibble on antipasti while you sample some of the island’s best wine and rakija (grappa). Moreška Cultural ClubDANCE (www.moreska.hr; Ljetno kino, Foša 2; 100KN; hshows 9pm Mon & Thu Jul & Aug, shows 9pm Thu Jun & Sep) Enthusiastic townspeople perform the traditional Moreška sword dance, accompanied by a brass band, in an hour-long show.

Berlitz: Sardinia Pocket Guide (Berlitz Pocket Guides)
by Apa
Published 1 Feb 2012

Popular trips are the Maddalena Archipelago, either on a day's organised excursion or by ferry from Palau; the island of Tavorola east of Olbia; and the pristine beaches on Nuoro's east coast, accessible by boat from Cala Gonone. Sightseeing Unless your child is a budding archaeologist, interest in the prehistoric nuraghic stone cones and archaeological museums is bound to wane after a while. More appealing are hilltop castles, grottoes and catacombs. Of the main towns, Alghero has the most to offer: car-free alleys, seafront walks, medieval towers, a lively port and exciting boat trips to the Grotta di Nettuno. The Aquarium, though not spectacular, has more than 100 species of fish. Sardinia is ideal for families APA/Sylvaine Poitau Sports With 1,800km (1,125 miles) of coastline and clear blue waters, Sardinia is ideal for all types of water sports.

Portland Like a Local
by DK

On foot Portland is amazingly walkable: sure, it’s surrounded by hills, but most of the city is pretty flat. Plus, each block is shorter than the average US city block, meaning it’s easier to find places to cross the road (as well as giving the city a more interconnected feel). Pedestrian-friendly bridges like the Hawthorne and car-free Tillikum make crossing the river easy, too. Portlanders are pretty laid-back, so walking tends to take a leisurely pace. That said, if you need to stop and check a what3words location, step to the side of the sidewalk. Walking is less fun when it rains (which can happen a lot), but don’t let this put you off: just pull on some boots and a rain jacket like the locals and you’re good to stroll.

New York City Like a Local
by Dk Eyewitness

The garden also hosts enchanting music and poetry events. » Don’t leave without stopping by the delightful Creative Little Garden and 6BC Botanical Garden, both of which are also on 6th Street. g Community Gardens and Urban Farms g Contents Google Map GOVERNORS ISLAND TEACHING GARDEN Map 5; 778 Enright Road, Governors Island; ///claims.video.dare; 212-788-7900 Hop on a ferry to the serene and car-free Governors Island for a proper gulp of fresh air. Sure, the island’s urban farm is overrun with kids on field trips during the week, but come the weekend and it’s all yours. Learn all about the eco-friendly garden, take a class to hone in on a specific topic, or just befriend the farm’s gaggle of goats.

Vancouver Like a Local
by Jacqueline Salomé

BEACH NIGHTS Vancouverites spend the majority of their summer evenings on the beach picnicking and swimming with friends, catching the sunset, and biking home beneath the stars. STREET PARTIES Summer is festival season, and the city practically pulsates with life as major thoroughfares give way to indie music performances, pop-up disco parties, and foodie vendors. Don’t miss the Khatsahlano Street Party in Kitsilano, Car Free Day in East Van, and the Mural Festival in Mount Pleasant. FALL CULTURE CRAWL In November, artists, painters, jewelers, and makers in Vancouver’s Eastside open their studios to the public for the annual Eastside Culture Crawl. Locals can’t resist a peek behind the scenes. A GOOD OL’ HOCKEY GAME Hockey is practically a religion here, and the love for the Vancouver Canucks runs deep, no matter how many times they lose.

San Francisco Like a Local: By the People Who Call It Home
by Dk Eyewitness
Published 5 Apr 2023

The eastern portion is packed with attractions, from museums to themed gardens, but those in-the-know head for the wilder western half, home to grazing bison and six of the park’s ten lakes. » Don’t leave without wandering along JFK Drive, just off Kezar Drive. This is the city’s only permanent car-free street and every weekend, and weekday evening, it buzzes with cyclists, walkers, and runners. g Green Spaces g Contents Google Map GLEN CANYON PARK Map 6; Enter at Elk Street and Chenery Street, Glen Park; ///spends.silver.rents; www.sfrecpark.org Sitting along a deep canyon adjacent to the Glen Park, Diamond Heights, and Miraloma Park neighborhoods, this 70-acre (28-ha) oasis is synonymous with urban trekking.

In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist
by Pete Jordan
Published 20 Aug 2012

Where attitudes about cars and bikes were concerned, a corner was definitely being turned. THE 1973 OIL embargo and resulting energy crisis caused a great many people to reconsider the role of the automobile in Amsterdam. In this context of expanding environmental and ecological awareness, in early 1974, several neighborhood and activist groups joined to form Amsterdam Autovrij (Car-Free Amsterdam)—an umbrella group with the mission to reduce the number of cars in the capital. In May 1974, Amsterdam Autovrij organized the city’s first large-scale pro-bike/anti-car protest. One thousand cyclists assembled on Dam Square and then, for two hours, they cycled as a pack through the streets.

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Van Duijn not only pedaled his ten-speed in the bike-demo, he also addressed the cyclists at the ride’s conclusion on Amstelveld, where he told the crowd, “A bike is just about nothing, that’s why it’s so good.” In addition, Van Duijn called for the city center to be free of car traffic for a full week in 1975. Afterward, despite his earlier pledge, Mayor Samkalden did not resign. Instead, he called the planting of crosses tasteless and jettisoned the idea of a car-free week. Van Duijn’s antics led to further disdain from his fellow wethouders. Two weeks after the October 1974 bike demo, Labor Party wethouder for economic affairs Cees de Cloe snapped at Van Duijn: “You’re working against me. How am I supposed to carry out an economic policy if you’re riding a bike and babbling about windmills?”

Eastern USA
by Lonely Planet

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service to Wantagh has a bus connection to Jones Beach. Further east, just off the southern shore, is a separate barrier island. Fire Island includes Fire Island National Seashore ( 631-289-4810; www.nps.gov) and several summer-only villages accessible by ferry from Long Island. The Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove (both car-free) comprise a historic, gay bacchanalia that attracts men and women in droves from New York City, while villages on the west end cater to straight singles and families. There are limited places to stay, and booking in advance is strongly advised (check www.fireisland.com for accommodations information).

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Insectarium MUSEUM, GARDEN (www.auduboninstitute.org; 423 Canal St; adult/child $15.95/10.95; 10am-5pm; ) A supremely kid-friendly learning center that’s a joy for budding entomologists. The Japanese garden dotted with whispering butterflies is particularly beautiful. Canal Street Ferry RIVER (pedestrian & cyclist/car free/$1; 6:15am-12:15am) Departing from the foot of Canal St is a fast and fabulous ride across the Mississippi to Algiers, an attractive historic neighborhood just across the river, and back. GARDEN DISTRICT & UPTOWN The main architectural division in New Orleans is between the elegant town houses of the Creole and French northeast and the magnificent mansions of the American district, settled after the Louisiana Purchase.

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Top of section Great Lakes Includes » Illinois Chicago Indiana Indianapolis Ohio Cleveland Amish Country Cincinnati Michigan Detroit Wisconsin Milwaukee Minnesota Minneapolis Why Go? Don’t be fooled by all the corn. Behind it lurks surfing beaches and Tibetan temples, car-free islands and the green-draped night-lights of the aurora borealis. The Midwest takes its knocks for being middle-of-nowhere boring. So consider the moose-filled national parks, urban five-ways and Hemingway, Dylan and Vonnegut sites its little secret. Roll call for the Midwest’s cities starts with Chicago, which unfurls what is arguably the country’s mightiest skyline.

The Rough Guide to England
by Rough Guides
Published 29 Mar 2018

Turn up in any National Park area and local information offices will be able to advise on anything from a family stroll to a full day out on the mountains. For shorter walks, you could check out the National Trust website (nationaltrust.org.uk), which details picturesque routes of varying lengths that weave through or near their properties. If you’re travelling on public transport, consult the user-generated site Car Free Walks (carfreewalks.org), which details hundreds of routes that set off and finish at train stations and bus stops, providing OS map links and elevation profiles for each. For walks within day-trip distance of London by public transport, check out the Rough Guide to Walks in London & the Southeast.

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The former Granary building itself is home to Central Saint Martins, part of the University of the Arts. To find out more about the development, visit King’s Cross Visitor Centre to the side of the Granary building, which has a model of the development and from where you can take a guided tour (1hr 30min; free; book online). Largely car-free, with plenty of green spaces and frequent pop-up markets and events, the whole area is fun to explore. Walk along the canal, past the picturesque St Pancras Lock, and you reach a cluster of brooding Victorian gasholders, one framing a landscaped park with mirrored pergola, Gasholder Park. On the other side of the canal, connected by a pedestrian bridge, is Camley Street Natural Park, which was transformed into a wildlife haven of woodland sand ponds in the 1980s

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< Back to The Southeast Canterbury The fine old city of CANTERBURY offers a rich slice through two thousand years of English history, with Roman and early Christian remains, a ruined Norman castle and a famous cathedral that looms over a medieval warren of time-skewed Tudor buildings. Its compact centre, partly ringed by ancient walls, is virtually car-free, but this doesn’t stop the High Street seizing up in high summer with the milling crowds. Brief history The city that began as a Belgic settlement was known as Durovernum Cantiacorum to the Romans, who established a garrison and supply base here, and was renamed Cantwaraburg by the Saxons.

Greece Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

KTEL Kastoria runs special festival buses to Nestorio. 4Sleeping Arhondiko tou VergoulaB&B€ ( GOOGLE MAP ; %24670 23415; www.vergoulas.gr; Aidistras 14; s/d/tr incl breakfast €40/50/60; W) Restored but still rustic, this 150-year-old Doltso mansion comes with soothing lake views, while its traditional rooms, plus cosy breakfast/dinner salon, add homespun charm. Anesis HotelHOTEL€ ( GOOGLE MAP ; %24670 83908; www.anesishotelkastoria.gr; Grammou 10; s/d incl breakfast €40/50; naW) If you're travelling car-free or have an early start at the bus station, Anesis' central location can't be beaten. The enormously helpful service, comfortable rooms and filling breakfast make it worthy of more than a quick stopover. oIdistonAPARTMENTS€€ ( GOOGLE MAP ; %6944397909, 24670 22250; www.idiston.gr; Leoforos Megalou Alexandrou 91; s/d/tr €50/60/75) Relaxing lake views unfold from the balconies of many of these spacious suites.

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Aegina is home to a spectacular Doric temple and ruined Byzantine village, while nearby pine-clad Angistri feels protected and peaceful outside of the booming midsummer months. Further south, Poros, with its forested hinterland, curves only a few hundred metres from the Peloponnese. The Saronic showpiece, Hydra, is a gorgeous car-free island with a port of carefully preserved stone houses rising from a chic, history-charged harbour. Deepest south of all, pine-scented Spetses also has a vibrant nautical history and pretty town architecture, plus myriad aqua coves only minutes from the Peloponnese. When to Go AApr & May The islands awaken after winter; come for flower-filled Easter.

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Along its western flank in particular, the scenery is utterly spectacular, with the coastal highway lined with pink oleanders and forming a slender strip between steepling crags above and dazzling blue waters below. Kalymnos is also greener than most of its neighbours, cradling fertile valleys and verdant enclaves. Add the enticing, car-free islet of Telendos, immediately offshore, and you have a compelling destination. To do it justice, you’ll need to allow at least three days, and ideally rent your own transport. While its sponge-fishing heyday is long past, Kalymnos remains inextricably entwined with the sea. Its turquoise bays hold some delightful beaches, albeit largely pebble rather than sand, while gastronomic treats include octopus in ouzo, and spinialo (devilfish and urchins in seawater).

The Rough Guide to Toronto
by Helen Lovekin and Phil Lee
Published 29 Apr 2006

Here, Kew Beach Park, situated just below Queen Street, is a picture-perfect spot with rolling, grassy hills and a sandy beachfront that is delightful even on a packed Sunday afternoon. Balmy Beach is separated from Kew Beach by a tiny inlet at the foot of Silverbirch Avenue, but there is very little distinction between the two – despite what some locals may say, Balmy’s beach and parklands are just as nice as Kew’s. Slightly west of Kew Beach, unspoiled, car-free Cherry Beach is a favourite among hikers, birdwatchers and cyclists. It begins at Ashbridges Bay Park, which is at the corner of Lakeshore Boulevard East and Coxwell Avenue. Signs inside the park point out the Martin Goodman Trail, a hiking route that spans the entire Toronto waterfront. THE S UBURBS Queen Street and led to the sparsely settled Beaches.

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Parks with baseball diamonds also have soccer pitches chalked out for the use of local teams or for neighbourhood pickup matches. Access to the parks is free, but it may be necessary to book ahead for organized matches through the Toronto Parks and Recreation department (see p.204). S P O RT S A N D O U T D O O R AC T I V I T I E S Soccer 207 known as Tommy Thompson Park), a car-free zone that stretches out like a skinny finger into Lake Ontario from the foot of Leslie Street beyond Ashbridges Bay. Various cycling routes can be downloaded from either the Toronto Parks and Recreation website (see p.204) or the Toronto Bike Plan website (W www .toronto.city.on.ca/cycling/bikeplan).

Frommer's Los Angeles 2010
by Matthew Richard Poole
Published 28 Sep 2009

F igueroa S t., Los Angeles; & 800/421-9092): M y favorite Downtown lodging is this venerable 1925 building re-created as a Spanish colonial–G othic palace. F un and funky, the ex otically decorated guest rooms hav e far mor e style than y our average hotel; what ’s mor e, this gentrified corner of D owntown offers easy , car-free Metro Line access to Hollywood and Universal Studios. See p. 95. • The H otel C alifornia (1670 O cean Ave., S anta M onica; & 866/5710000): You’ll like livin ’ it up at this hacienda-style beachfr ont motel that charges less than half the price of its fancy-pants neighbors. You’ll dig the hotel’s sur fer/sun-worshiper ambience, cheery r ooms with California-themed decor, and dir ect access to the sand via a private path.

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INEXPENSIVE W H E R E TO S TAY Best Western Holly wood Hills Hotel H O L LY W O O D 5 Location is a big selling point for this family-owned (since 1948) member of the r eliable Best Western chain: It’s just off U.S. 101 (the H ollywood Fwy.); a M etro Line stop just 3 blocks away means easy , car-free access to U niversal Studios; and the famed H ollywood and Vine intersection is just a 5-minute walk away . The entir e hotel has been r ecently r enovated in a contemporar y style, and all the spiffy guest r ooms come with a r efrigerator, coffeemaker, microwave, and wireless Internet. The rooms in the back building ar e my fav orites, as they sit w ell back from busy Franklin Avenue, face the gleaming blue-tiled, heated outdoor pool, and have an attractive view of the neighboring hillside.

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Every rental comes with a free tour map, a safety helmet, a bike lock, and a handlebar bag for storage. In the South Bay, bike rentals—including tandem bikes—are available 1 block fr om The Strand at Hermosa Cyclery, 20 13th St. (& 310/374-7816; www.hermosacyclery. com). Cruisers are $7 per hour; tandems are $13 per hour. FYI, The Strand is an excellent car-free path that’s tailor-made for a leisurely bike ride. FISHING Del R ey S port F ishing, 13759 F iji Way, M arina del R ey ( & 800/8223625; www.marinadelreysportfishing.com), has three deep-sea boats depar ting daily on half- and full-day ocean fishing trips. O f course, it depends on what ’s r unning when you’re out, but bass, barracuda, halibut, and y ellowtail are the most common catches on these party boats.

Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age
by Lizabeth Cohen
Published 30 Sep 2019

Earlier that fall, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art titled The Island Nobody Knows and its accompanying catalog unveiled a master plan commissioned by the committee from the well-known architect Philip Johnson and his then partner John Burgee.99 Johnson and Burgee’s plan took advantage of Welfare Island’s natural strengths—plentiful waterfront and impressive panoramas of Manhattan and Queens—in proposing a mixed-use, urban-style, car-free community of five thousand apartments to house approximately eighteen thousand residents of diverse economic status. Not far from the bright lights of Manhattan by subway, it offered New Yorkers a quieter, more spacious living environment. Flats ranged in size from efficiencies to four-bedrooms for large families.

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A Swedish-inspired automated vacuum sanitation system (known as AVAC) whisked all domestic trash through giant pneumatic vacuum tubes buried under the street to a central refuse disposal site for compacting. Free, quiet, nonpolluting, battery-powered electric minibuses transported residents around the car-free island to and from the central thousand-car Motorgate garage, near the only bridge access, from Queens. This complimentary public transit and plentiful pedestrian pathways eliminated any social distinctions based on automobile ownership, putting all residents on an equal footing. When it became clear that the subway would be delayed beyond the opening of the first apartments (it didn’t actually operate until 1989), Logue’s team came up with the clever idea of installing a gondola-style aerial tramway—which soon became the island’s icon—from there to Manhattan’s East 60th Street, its first use in an urban environment worldwide.

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(NEW YORK STATE URBAN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT, 1969) ROOSEVELT ISLAND, LOGUE’S UTOPIA IN THE EAST RIVER. Roosevelt Island embodied Logue’s idealistic goals for the UDC. Like the other two New Towns that the UDC built in upstate New York, it aimed to mix residents along income and racial lines. It was also car-free and handicap accessible, long before the latter was common, and it used technology in innovative ways. (THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND HOUSING COMPETITION, NEW YORK STATE URBAN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION [BOOKLET], 1974) PRESERVING HISTORIC STRUCTURES ON NEW ROOSEVELT ISLAND. Historic buildings already on the island, like the Chapel of the Good Shepherd here being repurposed as a meeting and interfaith facility, were incorporated into the UDC’s “New-Town-in-Town,” a commitment to preservation that Logue had learned in Boston.

City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age
by P. D. Smith
Published 19 Jun 2012

Rather, people should be attracted to the city by its atmosphere – the vibrancy of its street life and urban culture. Pedestrianised areas play a significant role in creating this. Today Copenhagen’s pedestrian network has expanded to about 100,000 square metres, making it one of the most extensive in the world, a model of urbanism copied from Melbourne to Montreal.56 Europe’s largest car-free urban zone is Vauban in south-west Germany. The rate of car ownership in this pioneering development is 220 per 1,000 residents, compared to 520 per 1,000 in the nearby city of Freiburg im Breisgau. Seventy per cent of Vauban’s families do not own a car. Those that do have to leave it in the multi-storey car park on the outskirts for an annual charge of £12,500 per parking space.

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Tourists and New Yorkers alike loved the pedestrianised area so much that it was made permanent in 2010.61 In Paris each summer since 2002 a section of the two-lane urban expressway (the Voie Georges Pompidou) on the Right Bank of the Seine has been turned into an urban beach – the ‘Paris Plage’ – complete with sand and deckchairs. In 2010, the city’s mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, proposed permanently changing stretches of the road on the Left Bank and part of the Right Bank from a ‘motorway’ into a ‘human, lived-in boulevard’, with parks, foot and cycle paths.62 Despite its love affair with the car, Shanghai has also embraced car-free urban zones, as in the recent redevelopment of Xintiandi in the Shikumen neighbourhood.63 In the twenty-first century, the threat of climate change and concerns about pollution have turned the car from saviour to villain. As well as walking and cycling, public transport is enjoying a renaissance in many cities.

Fodor's California 2014
by Fodor's
Published 5 Nov 2013

“Up” the coast toward San Francisco is west, “down” toward Los Angeles is east, and the mountains are north. Getting Here and Around U.S. 101 is the main route into Santa Barbara. If you’re staying in town, a car is handy but not essential; the beaches and downtown are easily explored by bicycle or on foot. Visit the Santa Barbara Car Free website for bike-route and walking-tour maps and car-free vacation packages with substantial lodging, dining, activity, and transportation discounts. Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District’s Line 22 bus serves major tourist sights. Several bus lines connect with the very convenient electric shuttles that cruise the downtown and waterfront every 10 to 15 minutes (50¢ each way).

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You can also take Yosemite Audio Adventures CD tours with you as you explore the park. It’s Easy Being Green The Golden State is glowing green all over. It’s the only state in the nation to mandate green building codes for all new construction to reduce greenhouse emissions. Santa Barbara’s car-free program can save you up to 50% on lodging, meals, and, of course, transportation. Palm Desert is also pushing green, not only in sustainable construction but also in encouraging use of golf carts for local transportation. Homegrown Hospitality Agritourism in California isn’t new (remember, Knott’s Berry Farm once was a berry farm), but it is on the rise, with farm tours and agricultural festivals sprouting up everywhere.

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Tour options include the waterfront (1¼ hours), Butterfly Beach and Montecito (2 hours), historic downtown Santa Barbara (2½ hours), and through town to the mission (3 hours). This outfit also rents electric bikes. | 16 Helena Ave., at Cabrillo Blvd. | 93101 | 805/963–7672 | www.segwayofsb.com | $65–$110. Essentials Transportation Contacts Santa Barbara Car Free. | 805/696–1100 | www.santabarbaracarfree.org. Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District. | 805/963–3366 | www.sbmtd.gov. Santa Barbara Trolley Co. | 805/965–0353 | www.sbtrolley.com. Visitor Information Santa Barbara Visitor Center. | 1 Garden St., at Cabrillo Blvd. | 93101 | 805/965–3021, 805/568–1811 | www.sbchamber.org | Mon.

Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions
by Christian Lander
Published 5 Aug 2008

White people all support the idea of public transportation and will be happy to tell you about how subways and streetcars/trams have helped to energize cities like Chicago and Portland. They will tell you all about the energy and cost savings of having people abandon their cars for public transportation and how they hope that one day they can live in a city where they will be car-free. At this point, you are probably thinking about the massive number of buses that serve your city and how you have never seen a white person riding them. To a white person a bus is essentially a giant minivan that continually stops to pick up progressively smellier people. You should never, ever point this out to a white person.

Pocket Rough Guide Berlin (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 16 Oct 2019

GDR-era memorials abound at this sprawling city park, which also offers a picturesque nineteenth-century fountain, a great recreational area with climbing walls and sandy volleyball courts, and a couple of beer gardens. Pfaueninsel. Take to the water to escape the city for a fantasy island getaway – now a car-free nature reserve, stalked by a flock of peacocks, Pfaueninsel also features a mini-Schloss and gardens landscaped by the original designer of the Tiergarten. < Back to Itineraries The Reichstag iStock PLACES 1 Spandauer Vorstadt 2 The Museum Island 3 Unter den Linden and the government quarter 4 Alexanderplatz and the Nikolaiviertel 5 Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten 6 Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding 7 Friedrichshain 8 West Kreuzberg 9 East Kreuzberg 10 Neukölln 11 Charlottenburg 12 Schöneberg 13 Day-trips from Berlin Spandauer Vorstadt Shops Restaurants Cafés and bars Clubs and venues Arcing elegantly above the Spree between Friedrichstrasse and Alexanderplatz, the Spandauer Vorstadt was an eighteenth-century suburb that today serves as Berlin’s primary “downtown” area, and is the heart of the Mitte district.

The Complete Android Guide: 3Ones
by Kevin Purdy
Published 15 Apr 2011

You can tell Vlingo to "Call Dave on Mobile," "Text Jim Message: Meet me at Sonic," "Find copy store in Charlotte," and much more. A bonus feature that's almost another app: SafeReader, a feature and home screen widget you can enable to have your incoming text messages and emails read to you out loud, presumably while you're in the car. (Free) Tutorials: Keyboard Shorcuts T-Mobile G2, with Keyboard Extended Not every Android phone features a physical keyboard with buttons to press, and not every keyboard is built the same. Still, for those Android phones with actual QWERTY, or "hard," keys, there are shortcuts that can launch apps, speed around text, and generally move faster than touching and tapping.

Bike Snob
by BikeSnobNYC
Published 5 May 2010

Thankfully it wasn’t long before I found myself in the residential neighborhood of Kew Gardens, which has a good-sized Orthodox Jewish community. Here Main Street was as quiet as you please, due mostly to the fact that it was Shabbat and nobody was driving. A historical sign confirmed that until the early twentieth century most of this area was still farmland, so between that and the fact that piety had temporarily rendered the area car-free I was almost able to delude myself into thinking it was the nineteenth century. For the first time since leaving College Point I also saw another cyclist. Exceedingly pleased, I bid him an enthusiastic “Ahoy!” but he clearly thought I was disturbed and did his best to ignore me. Also for the first time on my ride I saw one of those “Share the Road” signs with a picture of a bicycle on it.

Frommer's California 2007
by Harry Basch , Mark Hiss , Erika Lenkert and Matthew Richard Poole
Published 6 Dec 2006

From exploring caverns to riding in the stagecoach and panning for gold, the neighboring towns of Angels Camp, Murphys, Columbia, Sonora, and Jamestown offer a cornucopia of Gold Rush–related sites, museums, and activities. It’s a great place to bring the family (kids love roaming around the dusty car-free streets of Columbia), and the region offers some of the best lodgings and restaurants in the Gold Country. In short, if you’re the Type A sort who needs to stay active, the southern Gold Country is for you. For information about lodging, dining, events, and the arts and entertainment in the area, contact the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau, P.O.

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In room: A/C, TV w/pay movies, high-speed dataport, minibar, coffeemaker, hair dryer, video games. INEXPENSIVE Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel Location is a big selling point for this family-owned (since 1948) member of the reliable Best Western chain: It’s just off U.S. 101 (the Hollywood Freeway); a Metro Line stop just 3 blocks away means easy, car-free access to Universal Studios; and the famed Hollywood and Vine intersection is just a 5-minute walk away. The entire hotel was recently renovated in a contemporary style, and all the spiffy guest rooms come with a refrigerator, coffeemaker, microwave, and Wi-Fi. The rooms in the back building are my favorites, away from busy Franklin Avenue, facing the gleaming blue-tiled, heated outdoor pool, with an attractive view of the neighboring hillside.

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DOWNTOWN E X P E N S I V E / M O D E R AT E Traditionally the domain of business folk and convention attendees, downtown L.A. is becoming increasingly attractive to leisure travelers for several reasons: a Rudy Giuliani–style cleanup in the late 1990s; a growing number of cultural attractions and destination dining; excellent-value weekend packages at luxury hotels that empty out once the workweek ends; and easy, car-free access via the Metro Line to Hollywood and Universal Studios. Every freeway passes through downtown, so it’s a breeze to hop in the car and head to other neighborhoods, except during rush hour. Consider yourself forewarned, however: Despite low weekend rates, downtown L.A. can feel like a ghost town, particularly after dusk.

Rome
by Lonely Planet

For something completely different, Rome’s cheesy wax museum, the Museo delle Cere (Click here ), gives the chance to go face to face with popes, rockstars, footie players and opera singers. Villa Borghese, Parks & the Zoo When the time comes to let the kids off the leash, head to Villa Borghese (Click here ), the most central of Rome’s main parks. Here there’s plenty of space to run around in – though it’s not absolutely car-free – and bikes to hire. The park is also home to Bioparco (Click here ), Rome’s zoo. It isn’t cheap, and it’s not the best zoo in the world, but after dragging your loved ones to all those churches and museums, it is an option. Not For Parents For an insight into Rome aimed directly at kids, pick up a copy of Lonely Planet’s Not for Parents: Rome .

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Need to Know ➡ Area Code 05010 ➡ Location 120km northwest of Rome ➡ Tourist Office ( 07 6334 1772; info@iat.orvieto.tr.it; Piazza Duomo 24; 8.15am–1.50pm & 4–7pm Mon–Fri, 10am–1pm & 3–6pm Sat, Sun & holidays) Orvieto Eating | Drinking Sights Perched precariously on a cliff made of the area’s tufa stone, besides its magnificent cathedral, Orvieto also houses an important collection of Etruscan artefacts, and the cliff beneath is riddled with a fascinating series of ancient underground caves. If you’re planning extensive sightseeing in the town, a good investment is the Carta Unica (adult/concession €18/15) , which includes five hours’ free parking, a return trip on the cable car, free bus transport, and admission (only once) to the Cappella di San Brizio in the cathedral, Museo Claudio Faina e Civico, Orvieto Underground, Torre del Moro, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and the Crocifisso del Tufo necropolis (the last is at the foot of the rock massif on which Orvieto stands). It’s available at participating sites and next door to the tourist office.

San Francisco
by Lonely Planet

Check out our biking tour ( Click here ), which takes you from the waterfront over Golden Gate Bridge. Many SF streets have bicycle lanes, and major parks have bike paths. The best and safest places to cycle in SF are Golden Gate Park, the Embarcadero and the wooded Presidio. The classic Sunday ride runs through Golden Gate Park, along John F Kennedy Dr (car-free on Sundays) to Ocean Beach (best when it’s not too windy). City biking maps San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (www.sfbike.org) produces San Francisco Biking/Walking Guide, which shows how to avoid traffic and hills – find it at local bike shops, Rainbow Grocery (Click here ) or at the Bicycle Coalition’s website as a PDF.

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Marin County Golden Gate Transit Ferries ( 415-455-2000; www.goldengateferry.org; 6am-9:30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) runs regular ferry services from the Ferry Building to Larkspur and Sausalito (one-way adult/child $9.25/4.50). Transfers are available to Muni bus services, and bicycles are permitted. Blue & Gold Fleet Ferries also provides service to Tiburon or Sausalito (one-way $10.50). Napa Valley Get to Napa car-free via Vallejo Ferry ( 877-643-3779; www.baylinkferry.com; adult/child $13/6.50) with departures from Ferry Building docks about every hour from 6:30am to 7pm weekdays and every two hours from 11am to 7:30pm on weekends; bikes are permitted. From the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, take Napa Valley Vine bus 10 to downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena or Calistoga.

Lonely Planet Florence & Tuscany
by Lonely Planet , Virginia Maxwell and Nicola Williams
Published 1 Dec 2013

Advance reservations essential, especially on Sunday when Lucchese families flock here for Villa Bongi’s outstanding-value lunch – three courses, wine, water and coffee for €20 (kids under 10 years €5). Shopping Via Fillungo is the main shopping strip, and what a joy too with its tiny boutiques and car-free mantra. Don’t miss the tiny microbrewery at No 90 where you can taste and buy Italian craft beers. Premium FASHION MAP GOOGLE MAP (www.premiumfashionboutique.it; Via Fillungo 90; 3.30-7.30pm Mon, 10am-1pm & 3.30-7.30pm Tue-Fri, 9.30am-8pm Sat) No fashion boutique has quite so much charm. A 1950s-styled interior complements the mix of hip contemporary and vintage labels that embrace everything from cashmere scarves and handmade hats to the latest in shoe design.

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Versilia is a major gateway to both the Apuane Alps, Garfagnana and Lunigiana with roads from the coastal towns snaking their way deep into the heart of the mountains and connecting with small villages and walking tracks. Top of Chapter Pietrasanta pop 24,900 Often overlooked by Tuscan travellers, this refined art town is a real unexpected surprise. Its bijou historic heart, originally walled, is car-free and loaded with tiny art galleries, workshops and fashion boutiques – perfect for a day’s amble broken only by lunch. Founded by Guiscardo da Pietrasanta, podestà (governing magistrate) of Lucca in 1255, Pietrasanta was seen as a prize by Genoa, Lucca, Pisa and Florence, all of whom jostled for possession of its marble quarries and bronze foundries.

Fodor's Oregon
by Fodor's Travel Guides
Published 13 Jun 2023

Forest Park One of the largest woodland city parks in the country, Forest Park stretches 8 miles along the hills overlooking the Willamette River west of Downtown. It’s filled with trails through a gorgeous forest canopy and it accesses a couple of noteworthy attractions. s Sights HForest Park CITY PARK | One of the nation’s largest urban wildernesses (5,200 acres), this city-owned, car-free park supports more than 50 species of birds and mammals and more than 80 miles of trails through forests of Douglas fir, hemlock, and cedar. Running the length of the park is the 30-mile Wildwood Trail, which extends into adjoining Washington Park (and is a handy point for accessing Forest Park), starting at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Hoyt Arboretum.

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HTilikum Crossing Bridge BRIDGE | Downtown Portland’s collection of striking bridges gained a new member in 2015 with the opening of this sleek, cable-stayed bridge a few steps from Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Nicknamed “the Bridge of the People,” the Tilikum is unusual in that it’s the largest car-free bridge in the country—it’s open only to public transit (MAX trains, buses, and streetcars), bikes, and pedestrians. The 1,720-foot-long bridge connects Southeast Portland with the South Waterfront district and rewards those who stroll or cycle across it with impressive skyline views. E Tilikum Crossing, Southeast j Eastbank Esplanade just south of OMSI on the East Side, and S.W.

San Francisco
by Lonely Planet

Check out our biking tour ( Click here ), which takes you from the waterfront over Golden Gate Bridge. Many SF streets have bicycle lanes, and major parks have bike paths. The best and safest places to cycle in SF are Golden Gate Park, the Embarcadero and the wooded Presidio. The classic Sunday ride runs through Golden Gate Park, along John F Kennedy Dr (car-free on Sundays) to Ocean Beach (best when it’s not too windy). City biking maps San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (www.sfbike.org) produces San Francisco Biking/Walking Guide, which shows how to avoid traffic and hills – find it at local bike shops, Rainbow Grocery (Click here ) or at the Bicycle Coalition’s website as a PDF.

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Marin County Golden Gate Transit Ferries ( 415-455-2000; www.goldengateferry.org; 6am-9:30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) runs regular ferry services from the Ferry Building to Larkspur and Sausalito (one-way adult/child $9.25/4.50). Transfers are available to Muni bus services, and bicycles are permitted. Blue & Gold Fleet Ferries also provides service to Tiburon or Sausalito (one-way $10.50). Napa Valley Get to Napa car-free via Vallejo Ferry ( 877-643-3779; www.baylinkferry.com; adult/child $13/6.50) with departures from Ferry Building docks about every hour from 6:30am to 7pm weekdays and every two hours from 11am to 7:30pm on weekends; bikes are permitted. From the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, take Napa Valley Vine bus 10 to downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena or Calistoga.

Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons
by Peter Barnes
Published 29 Sep 2006

Building the Commons Sector | 137 Figure 9.1 • American Permanent Fund • Children’s start-up trust • Universal health insurance • Copyright royalty fund • Spectrum trust • Commons tax credit… on m Co m ra l ltu Cu • Land trusts • Municipal wi-fi • Community gardens • Farmers’ markets • Public spaces • Car-free zones • Time banks… s • Regional watershed trusts • Regional airshed trusts • Mississippi basin trust • Buffalo comons… en Local Regional National Op M an ag ed Gl o ba lC om m on s THE NEW COMMONS SECTOR SURFACE WATER TRUSTS The Oregon Water Trust, founded in 1993, acquires surface water rights to protect salmon and other fish.

Frommer's Memorable Walks in San Francisco
by Erika Lenkert
Published 15 Mar 2003

Among many other performers, one who stood out was Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and the poet who read at the inauguration of President Clinton; she sang here during the 1950s. Turn right on Pacific Avenue, and just after you cross Montgomery Street, you’ll be at brick-lined Osgood Place on the left, which now is registered as a Historic Landmark and, as a result, is one of the few quiet—and car-free— alleyways left in the city. Stroll up Osgood and go left on Broadway to: 8. 1010 Montgomery St. (at the corner of Montgomery and Broadway). This is where Allen Ginsberg lived during the time he wrote his legendary poem Howl. Ginsberg first performed Howl on October 13, 1955, at the corner of Fillmore and Union streets (in a different part of town) at the Six Gallery—a converted auto-repair shop fitted with a small stage and chairs in a half-circle for a reading 44 • Memorable Walks in San Francisco by six poets.

Cuba Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Museo de Transporte Automotor MUSEUM OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (Oficios No 13; admission CUC$1.50; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun, 9am-1pm Sun) Few miss the irony of this vaguely surreal museum stuffed with ancient Thunderbirds, Pontiacs and Ford Model Ts, most of which appear to be in better shape than the dinosaurs that ply the streets outside. Calle Mercaderes STREET Cobbled, car-free Calle Mercaderes (Merchant’s Street) has been extensively restored by the City Historian’s Office and is an almost complete replica of its splendid 18th-century high-water mark. Interspersed with the museums, shops and restaurants are some real-life working social projects, such as a maternity home and a needlecraft cooperative.

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Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau CULTURAL BUILDING OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (www.centropablo.cult.cu; Muralla No 63; 9am-5:30pm Tue-Sat) Tucked away behind Plaza Vieja, the ‘Brau’ is a leading cultural institution that was formed under the auspices of the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (Uneac; Union of Cuban Writers and Artists) in 1996. The center hosts expositions, poetry readings and live acoustic music. Its Salón de Arte Digital is renowned for its groundbreaking digital art. Top of Chapter 1 Habana Vieja: Calle Obispo Around Calle Obispo STREET Narrow, car-free Calle Obispo (Bishop’s Street), Habana Vieja’s main interconnecting artery, is packed with art galleries, shops, music bars and people. Four- and five-story buildings block out most of the sunlight, and the swaying throng of people seems to move in time to the all-pervading live music. Museo de Numismático MUSEUM OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (Obispo, btwn Aguiar Habana; admission CUC$1.50; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat, 9:30am-12:45pm Sun) This numismatist’s heaven brings together various collections of medals, coins and banknotes from around the world, including a stash of 1000 mainly American gold coins (1869–1928) and a full chronology of Cuban banknotes from the 19th century to the present.

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Entertainment Uneac CULTURAL CENTER OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba; National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists; Manduley, btwn Luz Caballero Martí) If you only visit one Uneac in Cuba – there are 14 in total, at least one per province – make it this one. Situated in a lovingly restored house on car-free Calle Manduley, this friendly establishment offers literary evenings with famous authors, music nights, patio theater (including Lorca) and cultural reviews. There’s an intermittent bar on a gorgeous central patio, and regular art exhibitions: invariably the city’s best. Teatro Comandante Eddy Suñol THEATER OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (Martí No 111) Holguín’s premier theater is an art deco treat from 1939 on Parque Calixto García.

Rough Guide DIRECTIONS Venice
by Jonathan Buckley

P.97  SAN POLO AND SANTA CROCE  Campo Santa Maria Mater Domini With its parish church, crumbling old houses, workaday bars and artisan’s workshop, Campo Santa Maria Mater Domini is like a snapshot of an earlier age. P.94  SAN POLO AND SANTA CROCE  Northern Cannaregio On any day of the year, residents far outnumber tourists on the long canalside pavements of northern Cannaregio. P.111  CANNAREGIO 9/29/06 2:26:48 PM Venetian oddities 40 Maze-like, car-free  The Ospedaletto and dilapidatedly From the grotesque decoration of its facade you might never guess that the Ospedaletto is actually a church. durable, Venice in its entirety is a P.121  CENTRAL CASTELLO very strange place, and no matter how many times you return to the city it will never lose its aura of extreme peculiarity.

Retire Before Mom and Dad
by Rob Berger
Published 10 Aug 2019

It changed their shopping habits, particularly where they shopped (now closer to home), and it saved them a truckload (pun intended) of money. As Ben explained, “Even with the Uber, taxi, and Zipcar bills, we saved money compared to owning a car. No more car insurance bills, parking lot charges, or campus parking fees. We were surprised at how much we had to learn in order to go car-free: Alternate services, iPhone apps, Uber rules…. But we’re proud of our accomplishment, and talking about it generates spirited conversations about other environmentally friendly solutions. We know that our location in Bethesda helps a lot, but we encourage others to find bold solutions that work for them.”27 * * * 25 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jrose/2018/10/02/the-one-monthly-payment-killing-your-wealth/#27a3b6b043c1 26 https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/total-cost-owning-car/ 27 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/learning-to-love-life-without-a-car/2016/01/29/7ec1e34c-ba3e-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html 3 Key Concepts Cars are expensive.

Croatia
by Anja Mutic and Vesna Maric
Published 1 Apr 2013

Pansion Saturn B&B €€ ( 236 102; www.val-losinj.hr; Obala Maršala Tita 1; s/d 289/678KN) This is a cheap and cheerful little B&B overlooking the central bay, with a slightly old-school feel. The rooms are spacious and bathrooms modern, and there is a terrace bar with lovely views of the bay and the pastel houses. ISLANDS AROUND LOŠINJ The nearby car-free islands of Susak, Ilovik and Unije are the most popular day trips from Mali Lošinj. Tiny Susak (population 183, area 3.8 sq km) is unique for the thick layer of fine sand that blankets the underlying limestone and creates delightful beaches. It’s the island’s unusual culture that makes it particularly interesting.

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However, as these leave around 10am and return before 6pm, you don’t get much more than a quick glimpse at each island. Koločep is the nearest of the islands and is inhabited by a mere 150 people. There are several sand-and-pebble beaches, steep cliffs and sea caves, as well as centuries-old pine forests, olive groves and orchards filled with orange and lemon trees. Car-free Lopud has a number of interesting churches and monasteries dating from the 16th century, when the inhabitants’ seafaring exploits were legendary. Lopud village is composed of stone houses surrounded by exotic gardens. You can walk across the spine of the island to beautiful and sandy Šunj beach ; here a little bar serves griddled sardines and other types of fish.

Lonely Planet Wales (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet
Published 17 Apr 2017

Turn right and head towards the beautiful sandstone iYr Hen Lyfrgell, which houses the Cardiff Story museum. Continue down the street and into the heart of the Hayes. The name is derived from a Norman-French word relating to the small garden enclosures that would have once stood here. It's now Cardiff's main shopping strip, and deliciously car-free. jSt David's mall occupies the entire left-hand flank, but duck into the Victorian-era kMorgan Quarter on your right. Finish back on the Hayes under the giant hoop and arrow of the sculpture lAlliance. zFestivals & Events Six NationsSPORTS (www.rbs6nations.com; hFeb & Mar) The premier European rugby championship, with Wales taking on England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and France.

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Monmouth 1Sights 1Castle & Regimental MuseumB1 2Monmouth CastleB1 3Monnow BridgeA3 4Nelson Museum & Local History CentreB1 5Shire HallB1 6St Mary's Catholic ChurchC1 7St Thomas the Martyr's ChurchA3 2Activities, Courses & Tours 8Monmouth Canoe & Activity CentreD1 4Sleeping 9Monnow Bridge Caravan & Camping SiteA2 5Eating 10Bistro PregoC1 11Misbah TandooriC1 1Sights & Activities St Thomas the Martyr's ChurchCHURCH ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.monmouthparishes.org.uk; St Thomas' Sq; hhours vary) Positioned by the Monnow Bridge, sweet little St Thomas still retains some original features from its founding in around 1180. Inside there's a distinctive Norman Romanesque arch, and pews and a gallery fashioned out of dark wood. Monnow BridgeBRIDGE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) Monmouth's main drag, such that it is, starts at car-free Monnow Bridge, the UK's only complete example of a medieval fortified bridge. It was built in 1272 to protect the English town from the Welsh, but it was later used to extract tolls from people entering the town. Much of what you see now dates from a 1705 restoration. Monnow Bridge, the UK’s only complete medieval fortified bridge, in Monmouth | MIKE CHARLES / SHUTTERSTOCK © Monmouth CastleCASTLE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.monmouthcastlemuseum.org.uk; Castle Hill) All that remains of Monmouth Castle is a scant section of wall that once enclosed the great hall and the adjoining tower.

Lonely Planet Sri Lanka
by Lonely Planet

APigeon Island National Park Off beautiful Nilaveli beach, this island has great snorkeling that kids love. ATurtle hatcheries On the west coast, these are popular. AUnawatuna Fringing reefs mean the beach here is safe and shallow for little ones. APolonnaruwa Kids can run themselves silly at the vast and car-free ancient heritage sites such as this one, with its very cool ruins. AThree-wheelers Buzzing, blowing and completely unlike a ride anyplace else, these ubiquitous transport options are good for a thrill. AHill Country Train Rides Kids will love hanging out the doors of chugging trains (and giving their parents heart attacks!).

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You can buy the Anuradhapura ticket at the Jetavanarama Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; h7.30am-6.30pm), the Archaeological Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; h7.30am-6.30pm), at a ticket office ( GOOGLE MAP ; h7.30am-6.30pm) just east of the Citadel and sometimes at a ticket booth ( GOOGLE MAP ) near the Abhayagiri site. The scale of the ruins is huge. You can appreciate individual areas on foot, but a bicycle is an ideal way to get around the car-free trails and red-earthed walkways that link the main sites. Anuradhapura has four main zones. The Mahavihara was the spiritual centre of Anuradhapura, home to Sri Maha Bodhi – the sacred bodhi tree. Nearby are the Citadel, a compact collection of structures about 1000 years old, and Jetavanarama, with a huge dagoba and important museum.

Amazing Train Journeys
by Lonely Planet
Published 30 Sep 2018

Don’t bring pen knives or similar, as there is airport-style security at the ferry terminals. CB Matanzas boasts music, art, history, handmade books, and a preserved 19th-century French pharmacy. Matanzas © ATTILA JANDI | SHUTTERSTOCK New England’s Amtrak Downeaster USA As car-free city breaks go, this train escape is hard to beat, chugging from the downtown main streets of urban Boston to Maine’s rural greens in under four hours. That’s from the seventh most densely populated city in the US to the state with the highest percentage of forest coverage, all in less time than it takes to cook an old-style Yankee plum pudding.

Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It
by M. Nolan Gray
Published 20 Jun 2022

As urban planner Jonathan Levine observes, demand to locate in and adjacent to transit is quite high among many Americans, as reflected by high land prices in those areas.19 Economists Emily Hamilton and Eli Dourado pick up on similar land value premiums in walkable areas.20 Yet zoning often ignores this demand, capping densities in precisely the places where many aspirational car-free commuters might like to live.21 If people want to live in a way that dramatically reduces the impact of their commute on the environment—and developers are eager to build this housing for them—why would we stop this? Beyond suppressing density, the other half of zoning—use zoning—might play an even greater role in lengthening vehicle trips and undermining the ability to walk, bicycle, or take transit.

Frommer's California 2009
by Matthew Poole , Harry Basch , Mark Hiss and Erika Lenkert
Published 2 Jan 2009

Contact them for the latest on dog-r elated issues, including information on off-leash parks around town. 8 S U S TA I N A B L E TO U R I S M / E COTO U R I S M California offers numer ous way to be an ecofriendly visitor. The biggest fav or y ou can do for the envir onment is keeping your driving to a minimum, and in California there are numerous car-free adventures to choose fr om. H ere ar e a fe w examples: • Instead of driving though the Wine Country, consider a self-guided but fully supported 3-day biking tour with Wine Countr y B ikes (& 866/9224537; www.winecountrybikes.com). • From San Francisco, you can take a bus to Yosemite N ational P ark (p . 312) and join one of the numer ous hiking, biking, and horseback riding trips that explore Yosemite Valley. • Tour the state via Amtrak (www . amtrakcalifornia.com).

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From exploring caverns to riding in the stagecoach and panning for gold, the neighboring towns of Angels Camp, Murphys, Columbia, Sonora, and J amestown offer a cornucopia of G old Rush–related sites, museums, and activities. It’s a great place to bring the family (kids lo ve roaming around the dusty car-free streets of Columbia), and the region offers some of the best lodgings and restaurants in the G old Country. In short, if you’re the Type A sor t who needs to stay activ e, the southern G old Country is for y ou. For information about lodging, dining, ev ents, and the ar ts and enter tainment in the ar ea, contact the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau, 542 W.

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In room: A/C, TV w/ pay movies, high-speed Internet, minibar, coffeemaker, hair dryer, safe, CD player, video games. Inexpensive Best Western Holly wood Hills Hotel Location is a big selling point for this family-owned (since 1948) member of the r eliable Best Western chain: It’s just off U.S. 101 (the H ollywood Fwy.); a M etro Line stop just 3 blocks away means easy , car-free access to U niversal Studios; and the famed H ollywood and Vine intersection is just a 5-minute walk away . The entir e hotel has been r ecently r enovated in a contemporar y style, and all the spiffy guest r ooms come with a r efrigerator, coffeemaker, microwave, and wireless Internet. The rooms in the back building ar e my fav orites, as they sit w ell back from busy Franklin Avenue, face the gleaming blue-tiled, heated outdoor pool, and have an attractive view of the neighboring hillside.

Greece
by Korina Miller
Published 1 Mar 2010

Over a decade of radical urban renewal Athens has reinvented itself. Post-Olympics Athens is conspicuously wealthier, more sophisticated and cosmopolitan. The shift is evident in the stylish new restaurants, shops and hip hotels, and in the emerging artsy-industrial neighbourhoods and entertainment precincts. The car-free historic centre is an open-air museum, yet the city’s cultural and social life takes place around these ancient monuments, reconciling past and present. Beyond its fascinating ancient ruins and museums, Athens has a rich cultural calendar of festivals and a burgeoning contemporary arts scene. Its seasonal social life gives it an exciting energy.

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Its paved, narrow streets nestle into the northeastern slope of the Acropolis and pass by many of the city’s ancient sites. Plaka is touristy in the extreme, but it is still the most atmospheric part of Athens. The main streets, Kydathineon and Adrianou, are packed solid with restaurants and souvenir shops, but elsewhere you can find a peaceful oasis in virtually car-free streets with restored neoclassical mansions. The quaint labyrinthine Anafiotika quarter above Plaka is a narrow maze of whitewashed, island-style houses built by stonemasons from the island of Anafi, brought in to build the king’s palace. MONASTIRAKI ΜΟΝΑΣΤΗΡΑΚΙ Centred on busy Plateia Monastirakiou (Monastiraki Sq), the area just west of Syntagma is the city’s grungier but nonetheless atmospheric market district.

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This region of rolling hills, criss-crossed with elaborate stone walls running throughout olive and mastic groves, is highly atmospheric. Ottoman rulers’ penchant for mastic made the Mastihohoria wealthy for centuries. Some architectural wonders remain in the villages of Pyrgi and Mesta. The former features houses decorated in unusual colourful patterns, while the latter is a car-free, walled fortress settlement built by the Genoese in the 14th century. Other unique southern Chios attractions include Byzantine churches, the striking Cave of Sykia with its stalactites and stalagmites, and beaches. The port of Limenas Mesta, which offers seafood tavernas, is also a convenient jumping-off point for ferries to Psara (for ferry information, Click here).

Sweden
by Becky Ohlsen
Published 19 Jun 2009

Taxi One of the larger companies is Taxi Göteborg (65 00 00). Taxis can be picked up outside Centralstationen, at Kungsportsplatsen and on Kungsportsavenyn. Women travelling alone at night can expect a fare discount. Return to beginning of chapter AROUND GÖTEBORG SOUTHERN ARCHIPELAGO 031 / pop 4300 A car-free paradise, the southern archipelago is a short hop from Göteborg’s hustle. Despite the summer crowds, you’ll always find a quiet bathing spot or serene pocket of green. There are nine major islands and numerous smaller ones. The largest island, Styrsö, is less than 3km long. Military restrictions saw most of the area closed to foreigners until 1997; it’s now a residential hot spot for cashed-up commuters.

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A row of slick cubic buildings will house 22 contemporary rooms (and a suite), each featuring the hues of its namesake herb or spice. ÅSTOL & RÖNNÄNG Nearby Åstol looks straight out of a curious dream – think a tiny, barren chunk of rock dotted with rows of gleaming white houses that seem perched on top of each other from the sea. There’s not much to do, but it’s utterly loveable. Amble round the car-free streets, soak up the views of the other islands, and feast on fish at Åstols Rökeri (67 72 60; noon-midnight mid-Jun–mid-Aug), a fish smokery with summer restaurant attached. You can reach Åstol by ferry from Rönnäng (Skr30, roughly hourly between 5.30am and 11.30pm). Rönnängs Vandrarhem (67 71 98; Nyponvägen 5; dm from Skr250; ), an SVIF hostel in Rönnäng, about 1km from the ferry, is good and spacious, with one sizeable kitchen and a rambling, country home feel.

Moon Oregon Trail Road Trip: Historic Sites, Small Towns, and Scenic Landscapes Along the Legendary Westward Route
by Katrina Emery and Moon Travel Guides
Published 27 Jul 2020

The Eagle Creek Fire raged through here in 2017, burning 48,000 acres of and forcing many portions of the historic highway to close, but they are open once again. Even so, watch for burned sections, which are more prone to rockslides. Across the Columbia River, Washington’s Highway 14 offers a smaller, slower route, with scenic finds of its own. Consider exploring the region car-free via Columbia Gorge Express, which runs buses five times daily to and from Portland, Troutdale, Multnomah Falls, Cascade Locks, Hood River, and The Dalles. If you have time to make a base in The Dalles or Hood River, the service provides an easy way to explore the area on day trips. The bus drops off in the downtown center of each city—except for Portland, where it goes to Gateway Transit Center on the east side of town, from where you can jump on the MAX Light Rail to get downtown.

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After 5.5 miles (8.9 km), take exit 69 for Mosier, turn right on U.S. 30, and then make a quick left onto Rock Creek Road. You’ll arrive in 0.7 mile (1.1 km). The drive from Hood River takes just over 10 minutes. Biking Beautiful bicycling options abound in every direction in Hood River. Hop on the Fruit Loop or bike the car-free section of the Historic Columbia River Highway to Mosier. Head to Discover Bicycles (201 State St., 541/386-4820, www.discoverbicycles.com, 10am-6pm Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm Sat.-Sun.) for cruisers ($40 per day) and road bikes ($60 per day), or Hood River Bicycles (208 4th St., 541/387-3276, http://hoodriverbicycles.com, 9am-5pm Wed.

Lonely Planet Greek Islands
by Lonely Planet , Alexis Averbuck , Michael S Clark , Des Hannigan , Victoria Kyriakopoulos and Korina Miller
Published 31 Mar 2012

Approachable Aegina is home to a spectacular Doric temple and ruined Byzantine village, while nearby pine-clad Angistri feels protected and peaceful outside of the booming midsummer months. Further south, Poros with its forested hinterland, curves only a few hundred metres from the Peloponnese. The Saronic showpiece, Hydra, is a gorgeous car-free island with a port of carefully preserved stone houses rising from a chic history-charged harbour. Deepest south of all, pine-scented Spetses also has a vibrant nautical history and pretty town architecture plus myriad aqua coves, only minutes from the Peloponnese. When to Go May The islands awaken after winter; come for flower-filled Easter.

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This region of rolling hills, criss-crossed with elaborate stone walls running through olive and mastic groves, is highly atmospheric. The Ottoman rulers’ penchant for mastic made the Mastihohoria wealthy for centuries. Some architectural wonders remain in the villages of Pyrgi and Mesta. The former features houses decorated in unusual colourful patterns, while the latter is a car-free, walled fortress settlement built by the Genoese in the 14th century. Other southern Chios attractions include Byzantine churches, the striking Cave of Sykia with its stalactites and stalagmites, and beaches. The port of Limenas Meston, which offers seafood tavernas, is also a convenient jumping-off point for ferries to Psara and Lavrio on the mainland.

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Mesta is an ingenious example of medieval defensive architecture, featuring a double set of walls, four gates and a pentagonal structure. Since the rooftops are interconnected, with the right guide you can actually walk across the entire town. In medieval times, mastic was a hot commodity, prized for its medicinal powers, meaning Mesta had to be especially well fortified. As a car-free village, it’s a relaxing, romantic place where children can run around safely. Mesta also makes a good base for hill walking, exploring hidden southern beaches and caves, and participating in cultural and ecotourism activities. Village life converges on the central square with its small cafes and restaurants, nearby the enormous Church of the Taxiarhes.

Northern California Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Marin County Golden Gate Transit Ferries ( GOOGLE MAP ; %415-455-2000; www.goldengateferry.org; h6am-9:30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) runs regular ferry services from the Ferry Building to Larkspur and Sausalito (one way $11.75). Transfers are available to Muni bus services and bicycles are permitted. Blue & Gold Fleet Ferries also operate to Tiburon or Sausalito (one way $11.50) from Pier 41. Napa Valley Get to Napa car free (weekdays only) via the Vallejo Ferry ( GOOGLE MAP ; %707-643-3779, 877-643-3779; http://sanfranciscobayferry.com), with departures from the Ferry Building docks about every hour from 6:30am to 7pm weekdays and roughly every 90 minutes from 10am to 9pm on weekends; bikes are permitted. However, the connecting bus from the Vallejo Ferry Terminal – Napa Valley Vine bus 29 to downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena or Calistoga – operates only on weekdays.

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Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (the landscape architect of New York City’s Central Park), it’s great for walking and the views are stupendous. Oakland Hills The large parks of the Oakland Hills are ideal for day hiking and challenging cycling, and the East Bay Regional Parks (%888-327-2757; www.ebparks.org; per car free-$6; hhours vary; c#) manages more than 1200 miles of trails in 65 regional parks, preserves and recreation areas in the Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Off Hwy 24, Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve is the northernmost of the Oakland Hills parks. It has great views of the Bay Area from its Round Top Peak (1761ft).

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Sunshine Freestyle Surf & SportSURFING ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %831-375-5015; www.facebook.com/SunshineFreestyle; 443 Lighthouse Ave; surfboard/wetsuit/body board rental from $20/10/7; h10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun) Monterey’s oldest surf shop rents and sells all the surfing gear you’ll need. Cycling & Mountain Biking Along an old railway line, the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail travels for 18 car-free miles along the waterfront, passing Cannery Row en route to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Road-cycling enthusiasts can make the round trip to Carmel along the 17-Mile Drive. Mountain-bikers head to Fort Ord National Monument to pedal over 80 miles of single-track and fire roads; the Sea Otter Classic (www.seaotterclassic.com) races there in mid-April.

France (Lonely Planet, 8th Edition)
by Nicola Williams
Published 14 Oct 2010

For the vehicle-mad, there’s Douarnenez’ seafaring Musée du Bateau, Clermont-Ferrand’s Vulcania, car museums in Lyon, Monaco (razz around the F1 Grand Prix track in a Ferrari;) and Mulhouse, which also sports the Cité du Train. Your kid wants to be an astronaut? Build and launch a shuttle at Toulouse’s interactive Cité de l’Espace. The coastlines drum up bags of old-fashioned fun: Cruise Porto’s crystalline caves on Corsica, meet sharks in Monaco’s Musée Océanographique, pedal (or be pedalled) and snorkel on car-free Île de Porquerolles, party at the Nice Carnival, see how oysters grow at an oyster farm in Brittany and ride a mechanical elephant Jules Verne–style on Île de Nantes. Return to beginning of chapter TREASURE TROVE France flaunts 32 World Heritage Sites (http://whc.unesco.org), including the banks of the Seine in Paris and royal palaces at Versailles, Fontainebleau and Chambord.

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Montmartre & Pigalle All the streets in Montmartre, 18e, encircled by rue Caulaincourt, rue de Clignancourt, bd de Rochechouart and bd de Clichy (from 11am to 7pm April to August, from 11am to 6pm September to March), as well as rue des Martyrs, 9e (from 10am to 1pm Sundays). Canal St-Martin, 10e The area around quai de Valmy and quai de Jemmapes, 10e (from 10am to 6pm Sundays in winter, to 8pm in summer); in July and August yet more streets running south from quai de Jemmapes become car-free. Bois de Boulogne (from 9am to 6pm Saturdays and Sundays) and Bois de Vincennes (from 9am to 6pm Sundays). Jardin du Luxembourg, 6e Immediate surrounding streets, including parts of rue Auguste Compte, rue d’Assas, bd St-Michel and rue des Chartreux (from 10am to 6pm Sundays March to November)

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Auberge de Jeunesse Moulin de Méen ( 02 96 39 10 83; dinan@fuaj.org; Vallée de la Fontaine des Eaux; camping €6, dm incl breakfast €15.70; reception 9am-noon & 5-9pm, closed late Dec–early Feb; ) Dinan’s HI-affiliated youth hostel is in a lovely vine-covered old water mill about 750m north of the port. Hôtel Tour de l’Horloge ( 02 96 39 96 92; hiliotel@wanadoo.fr; 5 rue de la Chaux; s €42-57, d €47-62) In the centre of the old town, the 12-room Horloge occupies a charming 18th-century house on a cobbled, car-free lane, which contrasts with its brand-new renovations in colourful North African style. Head to the top floor, where rooms have exposed wooden beams and a lofty view of the hotel’s namesake clock tower. Hôtel Les Grandes Tours ( 02 96 85 16 20; www.hotel-dinan-grandes-tours.com; 6 rue du Château; s €48-52, d €51-55; Feb–mid-Dec) In its former life as the Hôtel des Messageries, this hotel was fabled as the place Victor Hugo stayed with his very good friend Juliette Drouet in 1836.

Frommer's Portable San Diego
by Mark Hiss
Published 2 Nov 2007

U.S. residents must show proof of international travel within the last 6 months in order to stay. 1 Downtown San Diego’s downtown is an excellent place for leisure travelers to stay. The nightlife and dining in the Gaslamp Quarter and Horton Plaza shopping are close at hand; Balboa Park, Hillcrest, Old Town, and Coronado are less than 10 minutes away by car; and beaches aren’t much farther. It’s also the city’s public-transportation hub and thus very convenient for car-free visitors. Many downtown hotels seem designed for the expense-account or trust-fund crowd, but there are more moderate choices, in terms of price. There’s the colorful, modern Bristol Hotel, 1055 First Ave. (& 800/662-4477 or 619/232-6141; www.bristolhotelsandiego. com), adjacent to the Gaslamp Quarter; and in the budget category, you can’t beat the 260-room 500 West, 500 W.

Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?: Trick Questions, Zen-Like Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles, and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You ... Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy
by William Poundstone
Published 4 Jan 2012

Since there’s a 95 percent chance of at least one car passing in thirty minutes, there must be a 5 percent chance of no car in that time frame. In order to have a thirty-minute stretch with no cars whatsoever, three things must happen (or rather, not happen). First, ten minutes must pass with no cars. Then, another ten minutes must pass, still without a car. Finally, a third ten minutes must be car-free. The question asks for the chance of a car’s passing during a ten-minute period. Call that chance X. The chance of no car in ten minutes is 1 − X. Multiply that by itself three times, and it should come to 5 percent: (1 − X)3 = 0.05 Take the cube root of both sides: Solve for X: Nobody expects you to do cube roots in your head.

The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving
by Leigh Gallagher
Published 26 Jun 2013

It’s so much easier to walk downstairs and walk outside and walk to a restaurant, or grab a bite.” This obsession with “walkable suburban,” it should be noted, does not mean that residents never have to get in their cars again. Only in a very few places in the country is it routine for people to live car-free entirely—New York City being one of them. My neighborhood in Manhattan’s West Village has a Walk Score of 100, making it a “walker’s paradise,” and I would say it fits that bill: in eighteen years of living in various neighborhoods in New York City, I have never owned a car. But my experience is an aberration of the highest order.

Transport for Humans: Are We Nearly There Yet?
by Pete Dyson and Rory Sutherland
Published 15 Jan 2021

A study of Londoners’ travel behaviour showed that only 4% of drivers reported giving serious thought to which mode of travel they should use for a given journey.11 The psychologist Daniel Kahneman described this phenomenon with the phrase ‘what you see is all there is’. A behaviourally framed solution would make us walk to our cars by shifting residential parking out of sight, away from driveways and streets into separate car parks. Streets then become car free, with exceptions made for pick-up and drop-off zones. This is the exact long-term policy adopted by the district of Vauban in Freiberg, Germany.12 13 The dependability gap A cognitive psychologist might observe that we are suffering from risk aversion. The car is a dependable mode of transport: even if the traffic is heavy, you will almost always get to where you want to go eventually.

Age of the City: Why Our Future Will Be Won or Lost Together
by Ian Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin
Published 21 Jun 2023

And the fact that 98 per cent of electricity in Norway comes from renewable sources means that EVs do not simply shift emissions to the power grid.48 Elsewhere, in cities like London, Paris and Barcelona, the transition to EVs is being accelerated by the introduction of fees for driving petrol or diesel vehicles through certain zones. That is a positive first step, but it needs to be combined with greater reliance on renewable energy sources. Another example of what is possible is Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where investments by the government in public transport and cycle routes have made a car-free city a reality.49 Making buildings more energy-efficient is another major area of opportunity for cities, with the potential to reduce emissions and save money at the same time. Solar panels can be affixed to urban rooftops. Households can be equipped with smart meters to better understand their energy usage.

Edinburgh Like a Local: By the People Who Call It Home
by Dk Eyewitness
Published 28 Sep 2021

city’s cycling infrastructure is getting museums tend to cost a little to enter, for a lovely stroll but note walkers share Its compact size makes it easy to get bet er. The city centre is becoming but never a lot. Theatre tickets are also the narrow paths with cyclists. around. Most of the action takes place increasingly car-free, and there are reasonable, especially in festival season. in the Old Town or the New Town, which marked bike lanes on main routes (be Locals don’t tend to dress up for an are linked by North Bridge, Waverley careful when cycling over tram tracks), evening show, but anything goes. And Bridge and the Mound.

Bali & Lombok Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

On the Beach Various restaurants and cafes face the water along Jl Pantai Arjuna, and there are more along Jl Padma Utara. All are good come sunset. MozarellaITALIAN, SEAFOOD ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.mozzarella-resto.com; Maharta Bali Hotel, Jl Padma Utara; meals from 90,000Rp) The best of the beachfront restaurants on Legian’s car-free strip, Mozarella serves Italian fare that's more authentic than most. Fresh fish also features; service is rather polished and there are various open-air areas for moonlit dining plus a more sheltered dining room. ZanzibarINTERNATIONAL ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0361-733529; Jl Arjuna; meals from 50,000Rp; h8am-11pm) This popular patio fronts a busy strip at Double Six Beach.

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DON'T MISS SUNSET DRINKS IN KUTA & LEGIAN Bali sunsets regularly explode in stunning displays of reds, oranges and purples. Sipping a cold one while watching this free show to the beat of the surf is the top activity at 6pm. Genial local guys offer plastic chairs on the sand and cheap, cold Bintang (20,000Rp). In Kuta, head to the car-free south end of the beach; in Legian, the best place is the strip of beach that starts north of Jl Padma and runs to the south end of Jl Pantai Arjuna. Legian & Double Six Beach Most of Legian's bars are smaller and appeal to a more sedate crowd than those in Kuta. The very notable exception is the area at the end of Jl Arjuna/Jl Double Six where there are cafes and clubs.

Suburban Nation
by Andres Duany , Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck
Published 14 Sep 2010

The result was the evisceration of the public realm. In some cities, the street was relegated entirely to the poor and the homeless in favor of underground malls and pedestrian bridges, which continue to sap vitality from the street. Cities such as Dallas and Minneapolis built these stratified systems not because of the weather but to allow cars free rein of the terra firma. Dallas justified its system with the following explanation: “One of the chief contributing factors to traffic congestion is crowds of pedestrians interrupting the flow of traffic at intersections.”cc What some cities would now give to regain those pedestrian crowds! Astratified public realm for a stratified society: pedestrian bridges abandon the street to the underclass An appropriate fate for the Motor City: freeways and parking lots paved the way for Detroit’s decline (shown in 1950 and 1990) It is difficult to count the number of cities that have been extensively damaged by kowtowing to the demands of the automobile.

Life as a Passenger: How Driverless Cars Will Change the World
by David Kerrigan
Published 18 Jun 2017

Less than 3% of the transportation plans for the 50 most populous cities in the US even mention the transit impacts of ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft, let alone driverless cars. Expert opinion on the impact of driverless cars on urban sprawl is divided. On one side, the argument goes that if driverless cars free up parking and garage space, there will be plentiful affordable new residential capacity negating the need for people to move further from city centres for affordable housing. On the other side, the argument goes that if people can be otherwise occupied during even a long commute, they will still be willing to move further from the city centre or their place of employment to have the residence they wish, perhaps with larger gardens than typical closer to the city.

Lonely Planet Maldives (Travel Guide)
by Planet, Lonely and Masters, Tom
Published 31 Aug 2015

Chartered seaplanes run by Trans Maldivian Airways collect arrivals at Male Airport and fly them direct to their resorts; a pricey but beautiful and very convenient way to travel. Boat Most transport in Maldives is by boat, for obvious reasons. Resorts collect guests from Male or regional airstrips by speedboat, a fast and comfortable way to travel. Independent travellers will need to use the slow but cheap public ferry system to get around. Car Most islands are totally car free, with the exception of Male and a few other larger inhabited islands, where taxis are a good way to get around. On resorts, you'll often be driven to your room in a golf cart. If You Like... Romance Cocoa Island by COMO Simple luxury with little fuss, this gorgeous island is perfect for high end romance.

A Little History of Economics
by Niall Kishtainy
Published 15 Jan 2017

If nations specialise in the production of goods that they’re relatively better at making (in other words, in their comparative advantage) and trade with other nations, then all nations are made better off, said Ricardo. If Cuba found it easier to grow sugar than to make cars, then Cuba should sell sugar to America and buy American cars. Free trade would help poor countries like Cuba to achieve standards of living closer to those of the rich countries, so the theory went. Prebisch said that this was wrong. Poor countries like Cuba tended to export ‘primary’ products such as sugar, coffee and bananas. Rich countries tended to export manufactured products like television sets and cars.

Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required
by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung
Published 8 Jul 2019

But their used minivan cost just $8,000, and gas and maintenance work out to roughly $300 per year. He’ll buy a used car for their daughter for around $5,000, plus $2,000 a year for gas and extra insurance. All told, Justin is expecting to spend around $14,000 on their family’s two cars. Jeremy, a car-free bike enthusiast, scoffed at my question, saying his so-called transportation costs totaled something like $150—for a stroller. He does not intend to buy his son a car, since he doesn’t feel the need to own one either. He prefers to take public transit and bike around Taipei with his son. Pete estimates it costs around 50 cents per mile, on average, to drive, but you can cut this cost in half by driving a fuel-efficient hatchback, bought used with cash.

A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next
by Tom Standage
Published 16 Aug 2021

They imposed lower speed limits, gradually replaced on-street parking with cycle lanes and wider sidewalks for pedestrians, and excluded cars from some areas altogether. Helsinki has established a 745-mile network of bike paths, which are even cleared of snow in winter; Oslo raised parking charges and tolls to enter the city, established car-free zones around schools, and shifted some city-center deliveries from vans to electric cargo bikes. Together with high levels of investment in public transport, all this has reduced the volume and speed of traffic on city streets, with a resulting fall in deaths and injuries. In 2020 cities around the world, from Paris to Milan to Kampala, took advantage of coronavirus lockdowns to move in the same direction, creating new bike lanes and broadening sidewalks to reclaim street space from cars.

England
by David Else
Published 14 Oct 2010

The free monthly listings magazine twenty4-seven (www.twenty4-seven.co.uk) covers all the latest bars, gigs and clubs, and is available from tourist offices, bars and restaurants. Activities There’s a distinct whiff of adrenalin in Devon and Cornwall. Their landscapes lend themselves to activities ranging from amped-up adventure to chilled-out wanderings. The tourist board’s subsite (Click here) is completely car free and sweeps from Bodmin Moor to Padstow. Bikes can be hired in most large towns; we specify options throughout. SURFING Cornwall is a magnet for Britain’s surfers, with excellent breaks running all the way from Porthleven (near Helston) in Cornwall, west around Land’s End and along the north coast.

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Getting There & Around To reach some remote spots you will need your own wheels. However, if you’re determined, many rural areas are accessible by public transport, and if you’re sticking to the main towns and sights, it’s perfectly possible to get around by bus and train. Timetables and transport maps are available from stations and tourist offices, and the handy Car-Free Days Out (www.carfreedaysout.com) booklet has comprehensive public-transport listings. For all bus and train timetables, call Traveline South West (0871 200 2233; www.travelinesw.com). BUS The region’s main towns and cities are served by regular National Express coaches. For local buses, the more remote the area, the less regular the service; parts of Dartmoor and west Cornwall can be particularly tricky to navigate.

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The headland is also home to the country’s oldest surviving lighthouse tower, dating from around 1670 – it stands in the golf course about 300m before the car park beside the modern lighthouse. On the northern side of the headland, about 4 miles north of Bridlington, is the RSPB’s Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve ( 01262-851179; pedestrian/car free/£3.50; visitor centre 10am-5pm Mar-Oct, 9.30am-4pm Nov-Feb). From April to August these cliffs are home to more than 200,000 nesting sea birds, including guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, a rare colony of gannets, and those supermodels of the seagull world, the delicate and elegant kittiwakes, with their fat and fluffy chicks.

Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are Thekeys to Sustainability
by David Owen
Published 16 Sep 2009

But programs like Summer Streets don’t really lead anywhere, in terms of broad transportation strategy for urban areas. City bicyclists undoubtedly enjoyed being able to tool down Manhattan’s spine, virtually unimpeded, from the middle of Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, but removing motor traffic from upper Park Avenue didn’t make that street any less of a pedestrian wasteland than it already was. Car-free programs like Summer Streets treat pedestrians and bicyclists the way Robert Moses used to treat cars, by segregating them on expressways of their own. A better idea, which Bloomberg’s office announced a few weeks later, was a plan to reconfigure Broadway by closing two of its four lanes to vehicle traffic and turning those lanes over to pedestrians, bicyclists, and vendors.

Peers Inc: How People and Platforms Are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism
by Robin Chase
Published 14 May 2015

Zipcar thrived by leveraging the opening provided by the wasteful economics of current car consumption models—the fact that personally owned cars sit idle 95 percent of the time.4 But we weren’t the only ones leveraging idle capacity: The U.S. government similarly shared its R&D and satellites with everyone for global positioning systems (GPS), and the city of Bogotá, Colombia, took advantage of the fact that its thoroughfares were relatively car-free on Sunday mornings by turning the streets over to pedestrians, runners, bicyclists, and skaters and featuring performances throughout the city. Examples of exploiting the hidden value in idle assets abound once you start to look for them. Recognizing the role of excess capacity was the first of my epiphanies.

Microserfs
by Douglas Coupland
Published 14 Feb 1995

* * * Capture specific functions Microsoft Navajo NASA Flesh-eating bacteria Arthur Miller Kristy McNichol Lance Kerwin skateboard trail mix PERL Job description toner cartridge very really a lot ummm . . . Martin-Marietta FRIDAY Susan and Karla came into the living room when I was reading the Handbook of Highway Engineering, and they both flipped out. They totally grokked on it. We kept on oohing and ahhhing over the book's beautiful, car-free on-ramps, off-ramps, and overpasses - "So clean and pure and undriven." Karla noted that freeway engineers had their own techie code words, just as dull and impenetrable as geek talk. "Examples: subgrades, partial clover-leaf interchanges, cutslopes, and TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines) . . ." "They even abused three-letter acronyms," said Karla, who also decreed that Rhoda Morgenstern would have dated a freeway engineer back in the 1970s.

The Lost Decade: 2010–2020, and What Lies Ahead for Britain
by Polly Toynbee and David Walker
Published 3 Mar 2020

Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield forged post-industrial identities, some enthusiastically led by newly elected mayors. Croydon, hurt by the 2011 disturbances, regrouped. In the midst of austerity, some councils took courageous steps: Birmingham expanded pedestrian zones in the centre; Edinburgh announced monthly car-free days; Nottingham put a levy on workplace parking; Bath and Bristol moved towards congestion charging, Oxford towards a central-area car ban. Raising the Take Civic renewal has a long way to go. So much depends on reforming another legacy of the 2010s: the rickety financial underpinnings of councils.

EcoVillage at Ithaca Pioneering a Sustainable Culture (2005)
by Liz Walker
Published 20 May 2005

Second, the fact that we live so close together makes carpooling and car sharing a natural. A third of EVI couples or families have been able to cut down to one vehicle, and two of our single homeowners are Jim Bosjolie EcoVillagers and friends raise the walls in a timber frame duplex in SONG. The “Eco” in EcoVillage 127 completely car-free. It helps that several families make their second cars available to other members who sign up to use them (for a small fee of 30 cents a mile). And one family with two young children doesn’t charge money but instead barters car use in return for childcare. Fewer cars make for less pollution and a reduced consumption of all the materials that go into producing and maintaining them.

Istanbul Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Princes’ Islands: fayton (horse-drawn carriage) ride on the car-less Princes’ Islands IZZET KERIBAR / GETTY IMAGES © The Best... ASight Haghia Triada Monastery, Heybeliada APlace to Eat Heyamola Ada Lokantası, Heybeliada APlace to Drink Yücetepe Kır Gazinosu Restaurant, Büyükada Top Tip One of the wonderful things about the Princes' Islands is that they are largely car-free zones. Be sure to enjoy a fayton (horse-drawn carriage) ride while you're here. Getting There & Away AFerry At least eight municipal ferries run to the islands daily from 6.50am to 7.40pm (to 9pm June to mid-September), departing from the Adalar İskelesi (Adalar Ferry Dock) at Kabataş. The most useful departure times for day-trippers are 8.40am, 10.40am and noon (8.30am, 9.30am, 10.30am and 11.30am June to mid-September).

Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil
by Hamish McKenzie
Published 30 Sep 2017

Who’d want them? Of course, lots of people wanted them, and path dependency is real. We’d already carved up mountains, paved over swamplands, and invented garages to cater to our four-wheeled wonder wagons, so giving up on them now hardly seemed realistic. After a multitude of commenters disabused me of my car-free fantasy, I breathed a sigh of concession and moved on. It was about then that I discovered Tesla. I had joined Pando in April 2012, a few months after Steve Jobs, the cofounder and CEO of Apple, died, and I found a tech world still grieving the loss of its superstar. The industry was bereft of a figure who could command the world’s attention with the twitch of a stage-managed eyebrow, a man who could send the media into conniptions with an addendum to a slide show.

The Alps: A Human History From Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond
by Stephen O'Shea
Published 21 Feb 2017

Back in the cozy cocoon of the car, my journey southward leads out of the trees and into grassier slopes punctuated with brutal chevrons of exposed rock. A traffic circle indicates that the town of Morzine has been reached. For the ski world, Morzine is famed for its high-altitude sister resort, Avoriaz, a car-free creation of jet-set entrepreneurs in the 1960s, led by an Olympic ski champion, Jean Vuarnet, who also lent his name to the must-have designer sunglasses. I smile as I pass Morzine, for Avoriaz holds two old memories for me. One, of being in an après-ski bar with a GI on leave who kept bewildering me by his mention of “Alvarez”—until I realized that was how he pronounced “Avoriaz.”

You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall
by Colin Ellard
Published 6 Jul 2009

Danish architect Jan Gehl made similar arguments in his classic book Life between Buildings and then went on to show the city of Copenhagen how to put such principles into effect in spectacular fashion.11 In the 1950s, like many other cities all across the world, Copenhagen found its dense core becoming choked with cars and empty of public spaces. Beginning with the placement of sidewalk cafés in the 1960s, Copenhagen’s city fathers began a protracted campaign to resurrect public space in the city. With Gehl’s help, this campaign reached its height with the opening of a major car-free pedestrian zone, the Strøget, which attracts throngs of visitors and residents and has become the crowning jewel of the city. The tactics used by Gehl to invite people back into city cores on foot have been so effective that now other cities, most recently New York, are trying to emulate them. At some point a new verb, “to copenhagenize,” has entered the lexicon to describe the measures recommended by Gehl.

Ghost Road: Beyond the Driverless Car
by Anthony M. Townsend
Published 15 Jun 2020

Over eight million Americans now work from home, for instance—more than 5 percent of the workforce, and the share is rising fast. Instead of designing these new towns for people with supercommutes of more than 90 minutes each way, could we make them attractive to people with no commute? Rather than forcing people to choose between high density and auto dependence, could we harness microsprawl to create car-free neighborhoods with cheaper housing and more open space—as well as all the low-carbon conveniences of cities, like education, health care, and entertainment? Instead of simply speeding the delivery of Amazon orders, could municipal conveyors be the glue that makes circular systems for local manufacturing, retail, and services viable?

Not the End of the World
by Hannah Ritchie
Published 9 Jan 2024

Modern petrol and diesel cars are much cleaner than their older cousins. Emissions standards have become stricter and filtering technologies much better. But, as we’ll see in the next chapter, the debate on petrol versus diesel is quickly becoming outdated. Fossil fuel-powered cars are on their way out. Electric cars and car-free living are making their breakthrough. We should ditch the old technologies soon, and make that switch as quickly as possible. It will save many thousands of lives every year. (5) Drive less; cycle, walk and take public transport We can debate which type of car causes the least pollution, but this misses the solution that trumps them all: not driving at all.

Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest
by Lonely Planet

There’s a US Forest Service visitor center and refreshment stand at the base of the falls. 8Information US Forest Service Visitors Center (%503-695-2372; 53000 E Historic Columbia River Hwy, Multnomah Falls Lodge; h9am-5pm) This info center inside Multnomah Falls Lodge is staffed by the Friends of Multnomah Falls and the US Forest Service; it has books, trail maps, and local information about hikes and bicycle routes, and you can buy a Northwest Forest Pass here. 8Getting There & Away The Historic Columbia River Hwy is most easily explored by car. To reach it, take exit 17 or 35 off I-84. For car-free day trips to Multnomah Falls, you can take the Columbia Gorge Express (%888-246-6420; www.columbiagorgeexpress.com) that runs three times per day to/from Portland (round trip $5). DON’T MISS TOP WATERFALLS Waterfalls are at their gushiest in spring. The following are all off Hwy 30 (the Historic Columbia River Hwy), listed from west to east.

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zFestivals & Events Vancouver Craft Beer WeekBEER (www.vancouvercraftbeerweek.com; event tickets from $15; hlate May) A taste-tripping showcase for BC’s amazing craft-beer scene, with dozens of tasty events around the city. Vancouver International Jazz FestivalMUSIC (www.coastaljazz.ca; hJun) City-wide cornucopia of superstar shows and free outdoor events from mid-June. Car Free Day VancouverCARNIVAL (www.carfreevancouver.org; hJun & Jul; c) Neighborhoods throughout the city – including Main St and Commercial Dr – turn over their main drags for pedestrian-friendly food, music and market stalls. Eastside Culture CrawlART (www.culturecrawl.ca; hmid-Nov) Vancouver’s best visual-arts festival: a four-day gallery and studio open house with hundreds of participants. 4Sleeping 4Downtown & West End Samesun Backpackers LodgeHOSTEL$ (map Google map; %604-682-8226; www.samesun.com; 1018 Granville St, Downtown; dm/r incl breakfast from $62/180; iW; g10) Vancouver’s liveliest hostel is right on the city’s nightlife strip.

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability
by Lierre Keith
Published 30 Apr 2009

We have to measure our personal longings against the damage to our home and we have to let that damage be real to us, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. It’s hard to do this when our immediate needs are being met: the lights are on, the cupboards full. Still, that is our adult knowledge now, and our final adult task. Number two is to stop driving a car. You’ll quickly discover the structural impediments to car-free living. The entire built environment has been rearranged for the demands of the automobile, demands that are completely at odds with the needs of human community. US Americans use much more fossil fuel than Europeans, not just because we’re fixated on our individual entitlements, but because we were foolish enough to let suburbs, with their segregated distances between home, work, and material goods like food, become our dominant living pattern.

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure
by Tim Harford
Published 1 Jun 2011

Kathryn Schulz, in her elegant book Being Wrong, describes the state of profound uncertainty that comes with feeling wrong about some fundamental belief. She compares it to being a toddler lost in the heart of Manhattan. But experimenting doesn’t have to be like that. On the very same day on which I read Schulz’s words, my three-year-old daughter was lost in the centre of London – on the South Bank, a car-free space that is otherwise just as bewildering as Times Square. And it didn’t bother her in the slightest: she bolted out of the door of a café and began to play hide and seek. Witnesses told her increasingly frantic family that she had sauntered along the bank of the Thames, playing on the street furniture, ducking behind benches, dancing around and exploring a space she found delightful.

The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future
by Levi Tillemann
Published 20 Jan 2015

More than half of New York City households (56 percent) don’t have a car. This may seem unsurprising in the cramped quarters of Manhattan, but plenty of other cities are also trending the same way. In Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Baltimore more than 30 percent of households are car-free.9 The New Race: The Pizza Man Cometh But perhaps nothing harbors more potential to effect a fundamental paradigm shift in transportation than autonomous vehicles. The concept of a car that drives itself begins to blur the lines between cars and robots in potentially profound ways. And while it sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, that reality is already here today.

Rush Hour: How 500 Million Commuters Survive the Daily Journey to Work
by Iain Gately
Published 6 Nov 2014

Both drivers and city-centre pedestrians would suffer as a result of congestion, and the aspirations of the entire population, of whom it was expected that they would take car ownership ‘as much for granted as an overcoat’, would be frustrated. The answer, in Professor Buchanan’s opinion, was to create ring roads around cities, and car-free zones within them: ‘Distasteful though we find the whole idea, we think that some deliberate limitation of the volume of motor traffic is quite unavoidable.’ He had visited California and Texas as part of his research, and concluded that: ‘The American policy of providing motorways for commuters can succeed, even in American conditions, only if there is a disregard for all considerations other than the free flow of traffic which seems sometimes to be almost ruthless.

Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People and Planet
by Klaus Schwab
Published 7 Jan 2021

Indeed there were great warning signs for anyone who would take heed, and at the Forum's meetings in Davos, we paid close attention. In 1973, Aurelio Peccei, the club's president, gave a keynote speech at Davos about his organization's findings, warning of an impending end to growth. Still, after surviving multiple recessions and introducing some energy-saving measures such as daylight savings time and car-free Sundays, the world eventually returned to its familiar growth path in the 1980s. The days of 5 and 6 percent GDP growth were over (at least in the West), but growth levels of 3 to 4 percent there were not at all out of the ordinary. Other economies, including the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) helped to make up for the shortfall.

Nomad Capitalist: How to Reclaim Your Freedom With Offshore Bank Accounts, Dual Citizenship, Foreign Companies, and Overseas Investments
by Andrew Henderson
Published 8 Apr 2018

For example, even though I enjoyed driving a Mercedes in the United States, I much prefer not having the hassles of a car now. However, if you want to drive an amazing car, you can lease the most exotic cars on earth for a few thousand dollars a month. You are likely paying that in taxes already, and one simple business tweak could essentially make your dream car free. You want multiple homes? You can have them, as I will explain in this chapter. While my beach house is not in the Hamptons, traveling around the world has made me loathe that ‘scene.’ Nevertheless, you can easily rent a halfway decent place in the Hamptons for a month for $50,000, or find a better version of it overseas in Ibiza, Monaco, Rio or Dusa Nua.

Discover Greece Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

In over a decade of radical urban renewal, Athens has reinvented itself. Post-Olympics Athens is conspicuously wealthier, more sophisticated and more cosmopolitan. The shift is evident in the stylish new restaurants, shops and hip hotels, and in the emerging artsy-industrial neighbourhoods and entertainment precincts. The car-free historic centre is an open-air museum, yet the city’s cultural and social life takes place around these ancient monuments, reconciling past and present. Just beyond this seductive city lies the plain of Attica, with awe-inspiring sites, such as the Temple of Poseidon. Nearby, across a short stretch of the Aegean, Hydra beckons, offering an island getaway from the city.

Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People and Planet
by Klaus Schwab and Peter Vanham
Published 27 Jan 2021

Indeed there were great warning signs for anyone who would take heed, and at the Forum's meetings in Davos, we paid close attention. In 1973, Aurelio Peccei, the club's president, gave a keynote speech at Davos about his organization's findings, warning of an impending end to growth. Still, after surviving multiple recessions and introducing some energy-saving measures such as daylight savings time and car-free Sundays, the world eventually returned to its familiar growth path in the 1980s. The days of 5 and 6 percent GDP growth were over (at least in the West), but growth levels of 3 to 4 percent there were not at all out of the ordinary. Other economies, including the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) helped to make up for the shortfall.

Invention: A Life
by James Dyson
Published 6 Sep 2021

A true countryman who loved music, birds, and painting in watercolors, he had won five rugger caps for Scotland and served with the Household Cavalry during the thick of the action as his armored car pushed into Germany in the fiercely fought ember days of the Second World War. He was to become a lifelong friend. I last saw Logie shortly before he died in 2020. School was Gresham’s in Holt, remote and largely car-free then, a handsome Norfolk market town 130 miles northeast of London in that part of England, East Anglia, that curves out toward the North Sea and faces the Netherlands. Founded in the reign of “Bloody” Mary, or Queen Mary I, during the sixteenth century, Gresham’s, where my father was Head of Classics, had educated any number of highly individual and unorthodox young men who went on to both fame and infamy, such as the poet W.

The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape
by James Howard Kunstler
Published 31 May 1993

I had taken perhaps thirty steps beyond the ticket gate when a great pang of rue corkscrewed through me, realizing that here Henry Ford had built a monument to everything that his life's work had obliterated in the American townscape. In keeping with the period scene, there were no cars in sight. How strange it was to amble down car-free streets-even if you could always hear the distant roar of the Southfield Freeway. I was curious what my fellow visitors thought, and so, bran­ dishing a pocket tape recorder, I asked them. They liked a lot of things about the place. The pottery demonstration, the tintype studio, the "old-fashioned" lunch they got at the Eagle Tavern stagecoach :nn, the little watchmaker's shop off " Main Street," the costumed "schoolmarm" ringing her bell on the village green, the sheep grazing in the Firestone farm pasture, and so on.

Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life
by Kristen R. Ghodsee
Published 16 May 2023

Conflicts arise when some residents prefer to use their pooled association fees (each household paid about $180 per month in 2021) to hire out more of the collective labor when others insist that it should be done by the community. Another common conflict is the use and abuse of the pedestrian road. Like most cohousing communities, Two Echo is meant to be car-free. Residents park their cars on the periphery and agree to shuttle their groceries and children to and from their cars using carts or wheelbarrows. The rules allow for exceptions in specific circumstances, such as packing up a car for a vacation or delivering large items. This can lead to tensions when some residents take what their neighbors consider too many liberties.

A People's History of Poverty in America
by Stephen Pimpare
Published 11 Nov 2008

Although they acknowledged how indispensable this exchange is to them for sheer survival, many women did not view it as “assistance” or “help” per se, because of the strong norms associated with sharing among members of the extended family.... I was told in numerous interviews that they received little or no “help” from family members, but on further elaboration, women would reveal receiving either cars, free rent, baby-sitting, clothes for their children, or numerous Christmas presents.84 Around the same time, rural Wisconsin resident Colleen Bennett told sociologist Mark Rank about her family:We’re all very close. We take care of each other if anybody has a problem. My husband and I have had financial problems on and off for years.

Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff
by Fred Pearce
Published 30 Sep 2009

From Ma’s office window, we could see below the huddled buildings of Shanghai’s old town. As we talked, bulldozers were tearing down the buildings to make way for new office blocks. Ma saw this as progress. He wanted to do away with the past. Tear down the old towns and create a bright new, green, future. But to me, the old town was a dense, largely car-free enclave, mixing homes and workplaces and shops. It was a model of green design, the perfect embodiment of the dreams of the new urbanists. But he didn’t see it. And still the bulldozers came. 34 Zero Carbon: Why We Can Halt Climate Change THE THREAT FROM global warming is greater than usually claimed.

Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City
by Richard Sennett
Published 9 Apr 2018

The plan is as follows: imagine a piece of Cerdian fabric, now composed of nine city blocks through which people and traffic flow across three horizontal and three vertical streets; in place of this there will be one superblock, a superilles; around its perimeter traffic will flow, and within the superblock the three horizontal and vertical streets will be pedestrianized. The logic of doing this is not just the amenity of car-free existence; rather, the concentration of sociable and economic activity at the chamfered corner is meant to spread out, because people can easily get to places throughout the superblock. Meant to begin in Cerdà’s home neighbourhood of Eixample, this remaking is sometimes sold as Jane-Jacobs-comes-to-Barcelona – but misleadingly; there’s nothing bottom-up about this plan.

Sardinia Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

As a nascent industrial centre in a resurgent and soon-to-be-united Italy, Iglesias once again flourished until WWII and modern economics tolled its death knell in the 1970s. 1Sights Much of the pleasure of visiting Iglesias lies in the small medieval centre. There are no great must-see sights, but the narrow, car-free lanes and suggestive piazzas are in good nick and are much appreciated by locals who flock here to browse the shops and hang out in the bars. It's also in the centro storico (historic centre) that you'll find many of the churches that give the city its name. oCattedrale di Santa Chiara CATHEDRAL (Duomo; MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Piazza del Municipio) Dominating the eastern flank of Piazza del Municipio, the Cattedrale di Santa Chiara boasts a lovely Pisan-flavoured facade and a chequerboard stone bell tower.

Fodor's Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North With Paris
by Fodor's
Published 18 Apr 2011

In-hotel: restaurant, some pets allowed | AE, DC, MC, V. Sarment d’Or. ¢–$ | This cozy little family-run hotel by the city walls, near the Dolder belfry, blends irreproachable modern comforts with bare-stone walls and dark-timber ceilings. Rooms are pleasant, bright, and clean, and despite Riquewihr’s being car-free, you can drive your vehicle up to the door for a luggage drop-off. The top-floor duplex suite is an exceptional value. The restaurant downstairs offers firelight romance and delicious cuisine—foie gras, frogs’ legs in garlic cream, and breast of duck in pinot noir; it’s closed Monday and does not serve dinner Sunday or lunch Tuesday.

Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back
by Douglas Rushkoff
Published 1 Jun 2009

In New York City, Streetsblog helped to hasten the departure of Mayor Bloomberg’s first DOT commissioner and create a new, more ambitious set of expectations for her successor. Today, with Janette Sadik-Khan at the helm, New York City’s DOT is pushing a bold program to create “sustainable streets” through the prioritization of pedestrians, transit, and bicycles. Concepts that were considered “crazy” and politically impossible—a car-free Times Square and physically separated bike lanes, for example—are now being planned, designed, and built. New York City DOT is not just reformed, it is transformed, and widely considered a leading example for transportation agencies in other U.S. cities to follow. People who contributed to Streetsblog in the early days are now working in the DOT commissioner’s office.

The Lonely Century: How Isolation Imperils Our Future
by Noreena Hertz
Published 13 May 2020

Yet by means of a highly structured process with trained facilitators guiding the discussions, mindful of the need to ensure that everyone had equal voice and carefully drawing out the quietest, by the end of their two evenings and one full day of meetings the group had agreed upon seventeen steps to recommend. These ranged from the broad (‘Trial car-free zones and days’) to the more specific (‘Install more segregated cycle lanes’). Collectively, their recommendations will become the backbone of the council’s 2020 Climate Action Plan.32 In Taiwan a similar process is taking place, but at even greater scale. Since 2015, 200,000 people have taken part in a deliberative democratic process online.33 Issues debated so far include the regulation of drones, Uber’s entry into the Taiwanese market, the online sale of alcohol, whether plastic straws should be banned and the non-consensual publication of intimate images, what is known as ‘revenge porn’.

Imagine a City: A Pilot's Journey Across the Urban World
by Mark Vanhoenacker
Published 14 Aug 2022

Finally, in 1988, on Dad’s fifty-seventh birthday, England Brothers will close, dealing a dreadful blow to the city’s downtown. The area’s first out-of-town mall will open seven months later (one autumn day after school I’ll take the new bus route out to it, and I’ll walk past the shops that line what to me is the marvel of an indoor street, a car-free thoroughfare that need never be snowplowed or sanded). Ten years after that, the old England Brothers building will be demolished, but the store’s distinctive sky-blue boxes, with their logo composed of three strung-together black lamps, will surface now and then in my life well into the next century, until the corners of the last, in which Mom wrapped in white tissue the Christmas ornaments Dad made, break down and I throw the remains away.

Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalization
by Harold James
Published 15 Jan 2023

The United States alone thought it did not need to act until a fuel economy campaign was belatedly launched in the late 1970s. Over the 1970s, the number of lightweight Japanese cars produced rose from 2.4 to 6.4 million, and this branch became a niche export market. The language of shortage reappeared everywhere. Some importing countries imposed “car-free days” as a way of rationing gasoline consumption. There was “panic at the pumps.” Black American activists thought that the heating cuts would create “flu epidemics in the ghettos,” and Rev. Jesse Jackson claimed that the energy crisis would be “the all-purpose alibi to justify further erosion of black rights.”10 The shortages extended well beyond fuel.

Farewell
by Sergei Kostin and Eric Raynaud
Published 14 Apr 2011

A detail worth noting in his deposition, Vetrov admitted that no sooner had he made his request, he stopped, suddenly realizing that he had reached a point of no return. From now on, he would be a mole paid by an adversarial service. Yet, he did not need money to survive or to live better. He had everything a Soviet citizen could dream of, with a luxuriously furnished apartment in an upscale district, a house in the countryside, a car, free medical care for the entire family, and his son’s higher education paid. The “island” is what he thought he would be able to buy in that life awaiting him on the other side of the border. In his current life, a bottle of scotch for him or cheap jewelry for his mistress was all he needed. The value of Vetrov’s confession on this account is relative.

Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism
by Elizabeth Becker
Published 16 Apr 2013

The quai became a promenade with gardens, paths and in the center a long shallow reflecting pool or “water mirror” to catch the light from the sky and reflect the old eighteenth-century bourse, or stock exchange. Finally, Juppé built a modern tramway system that eliminates unnecessary driving and opens up the old city to pedestrians again with public squares, green spaces and car-free walkways. For Bordeaux, this was the equivalent of the Boston Big Dig. For French tourism officials, it was the Big Payoff. From the beginning, they had watched and fostered the renaissance of Bordeaux, promoting this “sleeping beauty” as returned to the living and figuring out how Bordeaux could add new glamour to the French tourist agenda.

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error
by Kathryn Schulz
Published 7 Jun 2010

See e.g., “Borderline Personality Disorder: Splitting Countertransference,” Psychiatric Times, Vol. 15, No. 11 (Nov. 1, 1988). “self-subversive thinking.” Tetlock, 214. doctors interrupt their patients. Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), 17. John Francis. Mark Hertsgaard, “John Francis, a ‘Planetwalker’ Who Lived Car-Free and Silent for 17 Years, Chats with Grist,” Grist, May 10, 2005. Francis’s book is Planetwalker: How to Change Your World One Step at a Time (Elephant Mountain Press, 2005). The quotation appears on p. 44. Joseph-Marie de Maistre. Bates, 203. “the general will cannot err.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Lester G.

The Rough Guide to Brussels 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
by Dunford, Martin.; Lee, Phil; Summer, Suzy.; Dal Molin, Loik
Published 26 Jul 2010

For spectators, Brussels plays host to many national cycling meets and has also been a stop-off point for the Tour de France. Top of the list is the Eddy Merckx Grand Prix, named in honour of the great Belgian cyclist and held on the last Sunday in August; it’s a timed event attracting top professionals (call T 02 349 19 11 for information). For those who would rather cycle than watch, highlights include the European Car-Free Day (third Sun in Sept, W www.mobilityweek.eu), when cyclists take over the entire city centre. The Dring Dring cycling week (W www.dringdring.be), held in May, kicks off with a bike festival in the Parc du Cinquantenaire, where you can pick up an old bike, learn how to become a bike mechanic or take tours of the city on two wheels.

Florence & Tuscany
by Lonely Planet

For tips, recommendations and reviews, head to shop.lonelyplanet.com to purchase a downloadable PDF of the Turin, Piedmont & the Italian Riviera chapter from Lonely Planet’s Italy guide. Pietrasanta POP 24,900 Often overlooked by Tuscan travellers, this refined art town is a real unexpected surprise. Its bijou historic heart, originally walled, is car-free and loaded with tiny art galleries, workshops and fashion boutiques – perfect for a day’s amble broken only by lunch. Founded by Guiscardo da Pietrasanta, podestà (governing magistrate) of Lucca in 1255, Pietrasanta was seen as a prize by Genoa, Lucca, Pisa and Florence, all of whom jostled for possession of its marble quarries and bronze foundries.

Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made
by Gaia Vince
Published 19 Oct 2014

The entire city is on a raised platform so that the smart-metered services – from waste to water – can be monitored and accessed from underneath. Masdar plans to be carbon neutral and is powered by an enormous solar station and wind farms, with buildings that incorporate smart shading, solar panels and architecture to maximise cooling breezes. The city, which aims to be completed by 2020, is car-free with above- and below-ground driverless electric transport pods that operate like a personal rapid transit system. The human network is key to next-generation smart cities, to reducing energy consumption and more effective use of the city in all ways. Crowd-sourcing and collaborative mapping are two such techniques that over the past few years have revolutionised information creation on the Internet without the need for massive infrastructure projects to plant sensors across cities.

Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
Published 15 Jul 2003

The ass end of the minivan will snap around. The pesky Kourier will be cracked like a whip at the end of her unbreakable cable. Into the fire hydrant she will go. Studley the Teenager will be victorious, free to cruise in triumph down Bellewoode Valley and out into the greater world of adult men in cool cars, free to go return his overdue videotape, Raft Warriors V: The Final Battle. Y.T. does not know any of this for a fact, but she suspects it. None of this is real. It is her reconstruction of the psychological environment inside of that bimbo box. She sees the hydrant coming a mile away, sees Studley reaching down to rest one hand on the parking brake.

Fodor's Essential Belgium
by Fodor's Travel Guides
Published 23 Aug 2022

In 2019, repeated public complaints finally saw Aalst’s carnival stripped of its UNESCO status due to its refusal to remove anti-Semitic images, while Ath’s Giants’ Parade sparked similar protests over its “sauvage” (savage) character. As large gatherings return post-COVID, traditional folk festivals may face a long-overdue reckoning. BYE-BYE TO CARS Cars are increasingly unwelcome in Belgium’s cities. Ghent banished vehicles from its historic center in 2017, Bruges is so difficult to drive in that it’s practically car-free by default, and Antwerp is planning on emptying the motoring heart of the city by 2024. But Brussels has the biggest plans of all and is slowly freeing up its center, having paved the once-busy Bourse and Boulevard Anspach. It now claims the second-largest pedestrianized area in Europe, even if locals grumble this has increased traffic on the already jammed outskirts.

Lonely Planet Mongolia (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet , Trent Holden , Adam Karlin , Michael Kohn , Adam Skolnick and Thomas O'Malley
Published 1 Jul 2018

Air pollution in Ulaanbaatar is mostly gone. May The weather will be warming up this month and the tourist season will start tepidly as some ger camps open. Snowfalls may still occur, especially in the north. Central areas will see a rainstorm or two. 2Ulaanbaatar Marathon The citizens of Ulaanbaatar take over the streets on a car-free day that includes running races of various distance (5km to 42km) plus a bike parade and other events. Might happen in June. More info at: www.ub-marathon.ub.gov.mn. zYak Festival Held in Gurvan Saikhan National Park in Ömnögov, this festival features yak racing and yak games. June Temperatures will reach the mid to high 20s (Celsius), allowing for more comfortable travel conditions.

Italy
by Damien Simonis
Published 31 Jul 2010

MEDICAL SERVICES Farmacia Internazionale (Map; 081 837 04 85; Via Roma 45, Capri Town) Hospital (Map; 081 838 12 05; Via Provinciale Anacapri 5) POST Post office Capri Town (Map; 081 978 52 11; Via Roma 50); Anacapri (Map; 081 837 10 15; Via de Tommaso 8) TOURIST INFORMATION Tourist office Marina Grande (Map; 081 837 06 34; 9am-1pm & 3.30-6.45pm Jun-Sep, 9am-3pm Mon-Sat Oct-May); Capri Town (Map; 081 837 06 86; Piazza Umberto I; 8.30am-8.30pm Jun-Sep, 9am-1pm & 3.30-6.45pm Mon-Sat Oct-May); Anacapri (Map; 081 837 15 24; Via Orlandi 59; 8.30am-8.30pm Jun-Sep, 9am-3pm Mon-Sat Oct-Dec & Mar-May) Each tourist office can provide a free map of the island with town plans of Capri and Anacapri, and a more detailed one for €1. For hotel listings and other useful information, ask for a free copy of Capri è. Sights CAPRI TOWN With its whitewashed stone buildings and tiny car-free streets, Capri Town evokes a film set. In summer its toy-town streets swell with camera-wielding day-trippers and the glossy rich. Central to the action is Piazza Umberto I (aka the Piazzetta), the showy, open-air salon where tanned tourists pay eye-watering prices to sip at one of four squareside cafes.

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Robert Guiscard made it the capital of his dukedom in 1076 and, under his patronage, the Scuola Medica Salernitana was renowned as one of medieval Europe’s greatest medical institutes. More recently, it was left in tatters by the heavy fighting that followed the 1943 landings of the American 5th Army, just south of the city. Orientation Salerno’s train station is on Piazza Vittorio Veneto, at the eastern end of town. The main strip, the car-free Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, leads off northwest to the centro storico. Running parallel is Corso Garibaldi, which becomes Via Roma as it heads out of the city towards the Amalfi Coast. Information Ospedale Ruggi D’Aragona ( 089 67 11 11; Via San Leonardo) Hospital. Post office ( 089 257 20 49; Corso Garibaldi 203) Tourist office ( 089 23 14 32; Piazza Vittorio Veneto 1; 9am-2pm & 3-8pm Mon-Sat year-round, plus 9am-12.30pm & 5-7.30pm Sun Jul & Aug) Sights The highlight of the centro storico is the impressive cathedral ( 089 23 13 87; Piazza Alfano; 10am-6pm).

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Check the website for upcoming retreats and courses. FSE runs regular trains between Galatina and Lecce (€1.30, 30 minutes, hourly). Return to beginning of chapter OTRANTO pop 5500 Otranto overlooks a pretty harbour with brightly painted boats atop shimmering clear blue waters. In the historic centre, looming golden walls guard narrow car-free lanes, protecting countless pretty little shops selling touristic odds and ends. In July and August it’s one of Puglia’s most vibrant towns. Much is closed in the low season. Otranto was Italy’s main port to the Orient for 1000 years, and suffered a brutal history. There are fanciful tales that King Minos was here and St Peter is supposed to have celebrated the first Western Mass here.

The Rough Guide to France (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 1 Aug 2019

Vannes At the head of the Golfe du Morbihan, VANNES, southern Brittany’s major tourist town, is such a large and thriving community that the size of the small walled town at its core, Vieux Vannes, may well come as a surprise. Its focal point, the old gateway of the Porte St-Vincent, commands a busy little square at the northern end of a canalized port leading to the gulf itself. Inside the ramparts, the winding car-free streets – crammed around the cathedral, and enclosed by gardens and a tiny stream – make great strolling territory. GULF TOURS Izenah Croisières 02 97 57 23 24, izenah-croisieres.com. Gulf tours from Port Blanc at Baden in summer (April–Sept; €21.50), and a year-round ferry service to the Île aux Moines (daily every 30min: July & Aug 7am–10pm, Sept–June 7am–7.30pm; €5.20 return).

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ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE SAUMUR By train The gare SNCF is on Saumur’s north bank: turn right onto av David-d’Angers and take bus #30 to the centre or cross the bridge to the island on foot. Destinations Angers (frequent; 30min); Nantes (frequent; 60–90min); Tours (frequent; 40min). By bus The gare routière is situated on the south bank, on place Balzac. GETTING AROUND By car Much of Saumur’s old town is pedestrianized but it’s easy to get in and out by car. Free public car parks are located along the waterfront outside the tourist office, in place du Chardonnet and in place Marc-Leclerc on the Île d’Offard. Bike rental There are several bike rental outlets in Saumur – ask for a list at the tourist office. Expect to pay €10 for a half-day and €15 for a full day.

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Here, the arrest of evangelizing St Sernin (Saturnin) – patron of Toulouse – his martyrdom through dragging by a bull and his burial by female disciples, is portrayed on three intricately carved side panels of what’s actually a twelfth-century marble reliquary too small to contain a corpse. ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION LIMOUX By train The train station is to the east of the town on av de la Gare. Destinations Carcassonne (4–8 daily; 30min); Quillan (4–8 daily; 35min). By car Free parking is on the riverbanks by the picturesque old bridge. Tourist office 7 av du Pont de France, inconveniently positioned north of the centre (July & Aug daily 9am–12.30pm & 2–7pm; Sept–June Mon–Fri 10am–12.30pm & 2–5pm, Sat 10am–12.30pm & 1.30–4pm; 04 68 31 11 82, limoux.fr). ACCOMMODATION AND EATING Hotel accommodation is not in plentiful supply in Limoux and what there is does not inspire.

Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, From the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
by Frank Trentmann
Published 1 Dec 2015

Voluntary simplicity, similarly, faces the challenge that, however much we might want to, it is extremely difficult as an individual to simplify one’s lifestyle if the world around us continues to tick to a different rhythm. Voluntary simplifiers find themselves in a position akin to shift-workers whose schedule is out of synch with everyone else’s.92 Collective changes to everyday rhythms have greater promise. Car-free Sundays appeared during the oil crisis in 1973 and were selectively rediscovered in 2010 by Hamburg, Bern and in Paris along a stretch of the Seine. The French thirty-five-hour week, introduced in 2000, freed up Saturdays for family time and sport. Yet it also increased the number taking weekend breaks.93 Even collective interventions face their limits in an age of personalized scheduling and the simultaneity of ‘timeless time’ offered by email and wireless technologies.94 Faster physical and virtual communication have created the ‘long weekend’.

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F. 158 Mun, Thomas 97 Muncie, Indiana 248, 280–81 Munich 568 municipal socialism 182 municipal waste 305, 622–7, 630–53 Murano 29 Murobuse Takanobu 377–8 Murray, Gilbert 306 Muscular Dystrophy Group 555 museums 231, 262, 467, 477, 546 music: artists 263, 351, 352; composition 267; cultures 351–3; festivals 351–2, 685; genres 346, 467 see also jazz; opera; popular music; halls 201, 213; making 463, 465–6, 467, 472; recordings and broadcasting 263, 265, 267–8, 294, 464, 466–8, 685 musical instruments 30, 31, 32, 36, 52, 170, 279, 314, 463, 465, 466, 467; pianos see pianos Muslims see Islam/Muslims muslin 65, 67, 139, 193, 195 Mustafa III 40 Nader, Ralph 552, 555; ‘Nader’s Raiders’ 553 Naidu, Sarojini 298 Nanjing 43, 44, 46, 47; Treaty of 298 napkins 21, 30, 34, 55, 57, 77, 108, 115 Naples 351 Napoleonic Wars 116 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 300 National Cash Register Company (US) 530 National Consumer Council (NCC) 551, 560 National Consumers’ League 287 national dress 297–8, 299–300 national economics (Nationalökonomie) 116, 153, 154 National Health Service (NHS) 522, 538, 556, 560 national identity 204, 242, 296–8, 379, 566 see also anti-colonialism; nationalism national parks 281 National Products movement, China 299 National Spastics Society 555 nationalism 116, 196, 274; and advertising 172–3; aggressive 119; anticolonial see anti-colonialism; arson by nationalists 322; and boycotts see boycotts; Chinese 298–9; and consumerist modernity 298; consumption, savings and 364, 415; Egyptian 299–300; and exotic goods 168–9; and identity see national identity; Indian 129, 137, 143, 144, 268, 296–8, 379–80; Japanese 363; and marketing 298; and mass consumer culture 167; national music festivals 351–2; national products 297–300; ‘national’ shops 300; organized consumers’ contribution to 297–300; and shared moral script 385; South Korean 385; Wafdist 299; and youth ideals 496 nationalization 277, 391 Nazism 11, 234, 235, 274, 289–92, 414; culinary Aryanization programme 598; film 313; and materialism 301, 306 necessity 75, 100, 201, 289, 345, 359, 500, 518 see also needs neckerchiefs 68 Neckermann 513 needlework 457, 458, 462 needs see also necessity: and affluence 272–3, 320–21, 508–9; emotional 321; expansion of 278–9; false 329; hierarchy of 272–3; and wants 5, 294, 365, 407, 677 Negri, Pola 282 negroes 63 see also African-Americans Nehru, Jawaharlal 298, 357, 381 neo-liberalism 5, 273, 389, 391, 392, 403, 522, 549, 553, 567 Nepal 589–90 Nestel, Georg Christoph 42 Nestlé 565, 618–19 Netherlands/the Dutch: as an advanced society in 17th century 39–40; butter extraction from cocoa 167; cacao transported to Venezuela by Dutch 79; ‘cashing out’ on the home 428; and coffee 79, 87, 164, 164; consumer culture 53–8, 56; credit 424, 425; cultural state support 547; Delftware 88; domestic interior at centre stage 108; Dutch housewives’ organization 250; Dutch National Bank 563; Dutch Republic 4, 10, 54–8; elderly people 507, 508, 511; and the Englightement 96; fair trade 562, 564, 566, 568, 574–5, 577; farmers 54, 55, 75; flow of goods and slaves in colonies (1770) 82–3; herring trade control 26; home ownership 236, 245, 428; household waste 1980–2005 643; income share of the rich 436, 437; increase in possessions during 17th and 18th centuries 23; industriousness 97; legacy in Ceylon 146; middle classes 117; mopeds 311; over-indebtedness 431; price controls 27; radio 265; reading habits 354; recycling 644; savings 420; shop opening hours 481; smuggling of tobacco through Dutch ports 162; social spending 539; supermarkets 349; townhouses 55–7; travelling cinemas 212; urban density 93; waste 632, 644; working hours 449, 450; youth running wild 310–11 New Book of Chinese Design 89 New Consumer 567 New Deal 274, 285, 286–7, 288, 389, 413, 524, 529, 543 New Help 107–8 New Labour 548 New Look 200 New World 24, 25, 64, 78, 80, 84, 599 see also Latin America; New England 111, 177 New York 179, 186–7, 208, 217, 239, 248, 323, 503, 505, 655; Barnum’s Hippodrome 609; Broadway 212; cinemas 212, 214–15; Columbia radio research project 266; Consumers’ League 156; Cowperthwaite and Sons 410; department stores 192, 202; Italian immigrants 608; Italian migrant food culture 599; Macy’s 295; waste in NYC 305, 624–6, 625, 630, 631, 632, 636, 642; water use 185, 188 New Zealand 429, 463, 466, 509, 537, 557 Newark, New Jersey 186, 187, 187, 188 Newcomen, Thomas 72 Nicaragua 78, 80, 172 Niccoli, Niccolò 31 Nietzsche, Friedrich 216, 442, 568 Nigeria 124, 131, 591, 592, 593, 594, 652; Pentecostalism 613, 614, 615 Nike 567 Nimby-ism 669 nitrate 170 nitrogen cycle 2 Nivea 291 Nixon, Francis 66 Nixon, Richard 329, 544 nobility see aristocrats/gentry NOOR 620 North Korea 607 Norway 338, 339, 354, 457, 567; fair trade 566; free time activities of men and women aged 20 to 74 (1998–2002) 458–9; household waste 1980–2005 643; people with holiday homes 655; solo living 654; Sunday restrictions 478 nostalgia 219, 288, 304, 352, 377, 384, 485 ‘Not in My Back Yard’ (Nimby-ism) 669 Nottingham 657 novelty 53, 60, 71, 88, 97–8, 114, 293, 439, 678 see also innovation; Benjamin on 198; charity shops and the desire for 657; consumer’s role as creator of 463; coupled with familiarity 321; credit and the cult of 405; Hume on the soul and 102; and the ‘kid in the candy store’ syndrome 443; and preservation of the old 661; as product of East–West exchange 88; products 64–6, 80, 189, 350; psychological effect of 102; pursuit of 4, 49, 51, 330, 405, 496, 623, 661; and risk 387 Nuremberg 38, 39, 40, 41 Oakland, California 309 Obermaier, Uschi 323 objectivity 95–6, 197 obsolescence, inbuilt 258 Odessa 295–6 Odna (Alone) 292–3 Ohayo (Good Morning, film) 365 oil: boom 590; crisis (1973) 324, 330, 638, 639; global trade in 683; wasting 622; wealth 607 old people’s homes 504, 505, 506, 508, 510, 511 Oldenberg, Karl 153 Older American Act 501 Olearius, Adam 85 Oman 618 Ombudsmen 557–8, 559 Onitsha 131 Onyeani, Chika 135 opera 220, 263, 340, 437, 463, 466, 484, 546 opinion polling 319 opium 73, 110, 140, 142 Opobo 130 opulence see excess, extravagance and opulence organic food 581, 584–6, 605 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 12, 418, 449, 683, 684, 687; social spending 12, 537, 539 Orlova, Lubov 293 Ortega y Gasset, José 284 Orthodox Church 607 Osaka Watch Company 359 ovens see cookers overcrowding 217 Owen, David 556 Owusu Ansa, Albert 131 Owusu Ansa, John 131 Oxfam 574, 639 Oxford 86, 155, 639 Ozark 265 Pachinko 473 packaging 622, 635–6, 642, 652 Packard, Vance 302, 304, 316, 622–3, 657 pagan cults 613 paintings/pictures 32, 51, 60, 61, 270; galleries 30, 194; and lithography 226; reproductions in the home 226 Pakistan 593, 670; exodus of Pakistanis from East Africa to Britain with decolonization 596 Palencia 77 palm-oil trade 130 Panama 541; Canal 524 Pandolfini, Jacopo di Giannozzo 29 panoramas, cinematic 213 Paoli, Gino 352 paper 29; furniture and dresses 636; waste and recycling see waste: paper Paris 70, 86, 89, 90, 93, 155, 156, 165, 174, 175, 180, 191; antiques boom 227; Barbedienne’s foundry 225–6; blousons noir 498; Bon Marché 191, 192; boulevards and the price of new homes 243; bourgeoisie 225–6, 250, 374; car-free Sundays 470; as centre of fashion network 204; Commune 537; Compagnie Parisienne de l’Air Comprimé 183; department stores 200, 410, 685; dioramas 213; Dufayel 200, 410; Exposition Universelle (1867) 193; flâneurs 441; functionalism 250; gas lighting 181; Haussman’s rebuilding of 198, 204; Hippodrome 213; housing 243, 248; packaging waste 635–6; Printemps 192; Salon des Arts Ménagers 250; shoppers’ leagues 549–50; shopping galleries 192; Sorbonne 321; toilets 189; Union des Consommateurs de Gaz Parisien 183; waste 629; water supply 178, 182; youth riots 310 parks 154, 183, 219, 305, 473, 475, 550; amusement 219, 220; national 281; state 544 parlours 225 Parsis 139, 142 Pasolini, Pier Paolo 7, 324 pasta 598, 599 paternalism 134, 306, 369, 393, 415, 423, 433, 530, 535, 567, 688; Stalinist 294 Paterson, John 145 Pathé 263 Patients’ Association 555, 556 Patients’ Charter (UK) 556 patriotic consumers 238 patronage 59, 130, 139 Patten, Simon 153–4 Paul, apostle 405 Paul VI 576 pawnshops/pawnbrokers 71, 113, 114, 361, 406, 408, 409, 410 Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) 648 Pear’s soap 171 peasants 24, 27, 69, 153; African 129; Asian 46, 47, 49, 73, 137, 359–60, 361–2, 366, 383; Calabrian 598; English 58; Russian 277 pedlars 203, 205, 359 peer groups 312 Peirce, C.

The Rough Guide to Brazil
by Rough Guides
Published 22 Sep 2018

Paranaguá Bay can be visited as a day-trip, but its islands and colonial towns could also easily take up a week or more of your time – especially the laidback, car-free, beach and surf centre of Ilha do Mel. The Serra Verde Express between Curitiba and Morretes is one of South America’s most thrilling train rides. iStock PARQUE NACIONAL DOS APARADOS DA SERRA Highlights Museu Oscar Niemeyer Stunning contemporary art museum designed by the Brazilian master, located in Curitiba, dynamic capital of Paraná. Serra Verde Express One of South America’s most scintillating train rides, snaking through the Mata Atlântica. Ilha do Mel Brazil’s chilled out island paradise, blissfully undeveloped and car-free. Iguaçu Falls No trip to the South is complete without a visit to these awe-inspiring waterfalls.

Frommer's San Diego 2011
by Mark Hiss
Published 2 Jan 2007

DOWNTOWN, THE GASLAMP & LITTLE ITALY San Diego’s downtown is an excellent place for leisure travelers to stay. The nightlife and dining in the Gaslamp Quarter and shopping at Horton Plaza are close at hand; Balboa Park, Hillcrest, Old Town, and Coronado are less than 10 minutes away by car; and beaches aren’t much farther. It’s also the city’s public transportation hub, and thus very convenient for car-free visitors. Many downtown hotels seem designed for the expense-account crowd, but there are more moderately priced choices. There’s the modern Bristol Hotel, 1055 First Ave. (& 800/662-4477 or 619/232-6141; www.thebristolsandiego.com), adjacent to the Gaslamp Quarter. In the budget category, you can’t beat the 259-room 500 West, 500 W.

C++ Concurrency in Action: Practical Multithreading
by Anthony Williams
Published 1 Jan 2009

Since it would therefore be rather expensive and impractical for each employee to have a company car, companies often offer a car pool instead; they have a limited number of cars that are available to all employees. When an employee needs to make an off-site trip, they book one of the pool cars for the appropriate time and return it for others to use when they return to the office. If there are no pool cars free on a given day, the employee will have to reschedule their trip for a subsequent date. A thread pool is a similar idea, except that threads are being shared rather than cars. On most systems, it’s impractical to have a separate thread for every task that can potentially be done in parallel with other tasks, but you’d still like to take advantage of the available concurrency where possible.

Berlin
by Andrea Schulte-Peevers
Published 20 Oct 2010

The Scheunenviertel’s most visible anchor is the Hackescher Markt area, where the tangle of beautifully restored courtyards called Hackesche Höfe is a major tourist magnet. The bars and cafés beneath the ornately decorated red-brick arches of the Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station are also a favourite spot for cooling one’s heels. In summer, tables spill out onto the car-free Neue Promenade, creating light-hearted Italian piazza flair, complete with flickering torches illuminating breezy palm trees. North of here, Oranienburger Strasse is a main drag that in the daytime lures punters to its amazing Moorish-domed Neue Synagogue and the post-atomic artists’ squat house Kunsthaus Tacheles.

MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World
by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
Published 28 Sep 2010

The 1970s oil shock hit Denmark harder than many of its European neighbors. At the time, every last drop of oil was imported. When prices rose dramatically the entire economy was crushed. Anne Højer Simonsen of the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy recalls the sacrifices. “When I was a child, each Sunday, you could not ride on the highways. There were car-free Sundays. Only emergency vehicles rode. It was terrible. It was very cold all winter. We couldn’t have more than sixteen or seventeen degrees [Celsius] in our living rooms.” It took an entire decade for Denmark to recover. But the experience created a burning platform that unleashed an unstoppable drive toward self-sufficiency.

Fodor's Venice and Northern Italy
by Fodor's
Published 22 Mar 2011

On the upside, Italy’s roads are very well maintained. Note that wearing a seat belt and having your lights on at all times are required by law. Bear in mind that a vehicle in Italian cities is almost always a liability, but outside of the cities it’s often crucial. An effective strategy is to start and end your Italian itinerary in major cities, car-free, and to pick up wheels for countryside touring in between. Typical Travel Times Hours by Car Hours by Train Venice–Milan 3:30 2:35 Venice–Turin 5:00 4:20 Venice–Genoa 4:45 4:30 Venice–Como 4:00 3:30 Venice–Bolzano 3:15 3:10 Milan–Turin 2:00 2:00 Milan–Genoa 2:00 1:45 Milan–Verona 1:45 1:20 Genoa–Turin 2:00 2:00 Milan–Bolzano 3:00 3:30 Genoa–Como 2:45 3:20 Restaurants: The Basics A full meal in Italy has traditionally consisted of five courses, and every menu you encounter will still be organized along some version of this five-course plan: First up is the antipasto (appetizer), often consisting of cured meats or marinated vegetables.

Lonely Planet Nicaragua (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet , Alex Egerton and Greg Benchwick
Published 30 Jun 2013

Little Corn, a tiny, jungled, carless jewel, actually attracts more tourists, with most visitors heading for funky, creative beachside cabañas that are the perfect setting for Robinson Crusoe 2.0. The dive sites are more diverse on Little Corn, the jungle is thick and the food is outrageously good, which explains why so many ignore the larger island and indulge in car-free tranquility. But there is a catch. During high season there can be more foreigners than locals. History Christopher Columbus breezed through the Corn Islands in 1502, but it wasn’t until 1660, when a French pirate by the name of Jean-David Nau arrived, that relations with the indigenous Kukras were cultivated.

The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions
by Greta Thunberg
Published 14 Feb 2023

To be sure, no single person or family, no matter how rapacious and wasteful their lifestyle, is responsible for more than a minuscule share of the excess carbon in the atmosphere or the waste in our landfills or the plastic in our oceans. No household changing its ways will make a measurable difference in terms of combating climate change, either. A wealthy, urban family going vegan, flight-free, and car-free might reduce its carbon emissions by a few tonnes a year, when the world’s problems are measured in the tens of billions of tonnes. Moreover, families’ carbon budgets and broader environmental impact are in no small part determined by the built environment they live in, the economy they work in and the policy choices made for them by their representatives.

Frommer's San Francisco 2012
by Matthew Poole , Erika Lenkert and Kristin Luna
Published 4 Oct 2011

Let’s hope the next Phyllis Diller—who was still struggling when she played a 2-week engagement here in the late 1950s—will catch her big break here, too. The Purple Onion. Continue north on Columbus Avenue and then turn right on Pacific Avenue. After you cross Montgomery Street, you’ll find brick-lined Osgood Place on the left. A registered historic landmark, it is one of the few quiet—and car-free—little alleyways left in the city. Stroll up Osgood and go left on Broadway to 1010 Montgomery St. (at Broadway). 8 1010 Montgomery St. This is where Allen Ginsberg lived when he wrote his legendary poem, “Howl,” first performed on October 13, 1955, in a converted auto-repair shop at the corner of Fillmore and Union streets.

Lonely Planet Andalucia: Chapter From Spain Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet
Published 31 May 2012

Driving Distances (km) Best Places to Eat »Oliver (Click here) »Ruta del Azafrán (Click here) »Bodegas Castañeda (Click here) »Baraka (Click here) Best Places to Stay »Hotel Posada del Toro (Click here) »Santa Isabel la Real (Click here) »Apartamentos Turisticos San Matías (Click here) Getting Around Buses connect even the tiniest villages with the city of Granada, but a car enables flexibility and some dramatic drives. Yet a car can be a liability in the city, with its gnarled mess of unsigned streets, many closed to all but taxis and buses. Ideally, plan your trip so you’re car-free for your Granada stay, or leave your car in a (costly) underground car park for the duration. Trains are of limited help – the only stops are Granada and Guadix. THREE PERFECT DAYS Day 1: Granada’s Islamic Heritage Start your sightseeing early, with a morning visit to the Moorish palaces of the Alhambra.

Lonely Planet Colombia (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet , Alex Egerton , Tom Masters and Kevin Raub
Published 30 Jun 2015

Best Places to Eat AEl Santo Angel AEl Cielo ATierras Amazónicas ALas Margaritas ASão Jorge Best Places to Stay AReserva Natural Palmarí AMalokas Napü AAmazon B&B AWaira Suites Hotel AMahatu Jungle Hostel Amazon Basin Highlights 1 Spend a few days observing abundant wildlife at the excellent Reserva Natural Palmarí. 2 Unwind in the car-free, sustainable and funky remote village of Puerto Nariño. 3 Spot pink and gray dolphins on the warm waters of the mighty Lago Tarapoto. 4 Be serenaded by parrots in the rainforest of Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Amacayacu. 5 Slip silently into the jungle by canoe up the tributaries of the Río Yavarí. 6 Go beyond the lodges on a deep, multiday Amazon tour, where you'll really be welcomed to the jungle!

Lonely Planet Iceland (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet , Carolyn Bain and Alexis Averbuck
Published 31 Mar 2015

The owner happily imparts local knowledge; check-in time (from 3pm) is strictly enforced. HI members get a discount of Ikr700 per person; linen hire is Ikr1250. City CampsiteCAMPGROUND ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Þórunnarstræti; sites per person Ikr1100, plus Ikr100 lodging tax per site; hmid-Jun–mid-Sep) This central site has a washing machine, dining area and free showers, plus a car-free policy (except for loading and unloading). Note: no kitchen. Handily, it’s close to the swimming pool and a supermarket. Hamrar CampsiteCAMPGROUND (www.hamrar.is; sites per person Ikr1100, plus Ikr100 lodging tax per site; hmid-May–mid-Sep) This huge site, 1.5km south of town in a leafy setting in Kjarnaskógur woods, has newer facilities than the city campsite, and mountain views.

Sweden Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Around Gothenburg Southern Archipelago %031 / Pop 5000 Gothenburg's archipelago is divided into two sections, northern and southern. The northern archipelago is more accessible – you can drive there – and therefore more developed. To get more of a taste of remote island life, head to the car-free paradise of the southern archipelago. Though it's easy and quick to reach from Gothenburg, it feels worlds away. There are nine major islands and numerous smaller ones. Brännö is the most popular for overnight stays. 8Getting There & Away Styrsöbolaget ( GOOGLE MAP ; %0771-41 43 00; www.styrsobolaget.se) runs an excellent 16-destination passenger-only ferry network.

The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
Published 15 Aug 2006

They were silent, and gradually the skittering life of the ground, of holes and burrows, of the brush, began again; the gophers moved, and the rabbits crept to green things, the mice scampered over clods, and the winged hunters moved soundlessly overhead. Chapter 7 In the towns, on the edges of the towns, in fields, in vacant lots, the used-car yards, the wreckers’ yards, the garages with blazoned signs—Used Cars, Good Used Cars. Cheap transportation, three trailers. ’27 Ford, clean. Checked cars, guaranteed cars. Free radio. Car with 100 gallons of gas free. Come in and look. Used Cars. No overhead. A lot and a house large enough for a desk and chair and a blue book. Sheaf of contracts, dog-eared, held with paper clips, and a neat pile of unused contracts. Pen—keep it full, keep it working. A sale’s been lost ’cause a pen didn’t work.

Lonely Planet London
by Lonely Planet
Published 22 Apr 2012

East London Kid Picks V&A Museum of Childhood Active and gregarious fun in the numerous play areas. See Click here. Hackney City Farm Best combined with a nearby market (Columbia Rd or Broadway Market) for teens. See www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk. Mudchute City Farm The biggest city farm in town. See Click here. South London Kid Picks Southbank Centre Car free and full of fun, music events at the Royal Festival Hall (Click here) for teens. Battersea Park Leafy and with its own zoo. See Click here. Horniman Museum Has an array of free-to-touch objects, such as puppets and masks, and interactive exhibits in the Nature Base. The Music Gallery is a true highlight, with 1,600 instruments on display; not only can the little ones listen to the instruments’ sounds, they can also bash on a selection in the Hands On room.

The Rough Guide to Florence & the Best of Tuscany
by Tim Jepson , Jonathan Buckley and Rough Guides
Published 2 Mar 2009

A thoroughly reliable place for straightforward Tuscan food. The wine list – over a hundred choices – is good, too. A full lunch will cost around €30, dinner €10–15 more. Closed Wed. | San Gimignano San Gimignano isn’t famous for its food – there are too many visitors and too few locals to ensure high standards. However, the tables set out on the car-free squares and lanes, and the good local wines, make for pleasant dining. The recommended places below are all moderately priced. Good bars are similarly thin on the ground, though there are one or two on each of the main piazzas that are decent enough places from where to watch the world go by. The little but extraordinarily popular A Gelateria di Piazza, at Piazza della Cisterna 4 (closed mid-Nov to mid-Feb), has arguably the best ice cream in Tuscany.

The Simple Living Guide
by Janet Luhrs
Published 1 Apr 2014

Council for International Educational Exchange lists volunteer opportunities throughout the world. 205 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017-5706 or call toll-free 1-888-COUNCIL or E-mail: info@ciee.org or visit Council’s Website, http://www.ciee.org Sierra Club Service Trips, 730 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, 1-415-923-5522 Volunteers for Peace, International Workcamps, 43 Tiffany Road, Belmont, VT 05730, 1-802-259-2759 Abromowitz, Les Active simple pleasures Addiction Research Foundation Adobe houses Advertising and consumption Ahern, Barbara, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 Air travel as air courier Airhitch consolidators creative routing digging for deals drive-away cars free upgrades getting bumped travel agents Albert, Susan Wittig Allowances for children Alternative Celebrations Catalogue American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) American Way of Life Need Not Be Hazardous to Your Health, The (Farquhar) Amigos program Andrews, Cecil Antieau, Clay Apartment gardens Arter, Gil Art of Living, The (Lebell) Aslett, Don, 9.1, 12.1 Assertiveness and tact Attachment Authentic life Bailey, Covert Barbanel, Linda Bartholomew, Greg, 2.1, 2.2 Bender, Sue Berger, Thomas Best Bargain Vacations in the U.S.A.

The Rough Guide to Paris
by Rough Guides
Published 1 May 2023

The Parc Rives de Seine The 10-hectare Parc Rives de Seine opened in 2017. Crisscrossed by bridges, it spans both banks of the river; extending from the from the Tuileries to the Eiffel Tower on the Left Bank and from the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor footbridge to the place de la Bastille on the Right Bank. You can walk the car-free promenades as one continuous 7km stretch. En route you’ll find cafés and bars, the free to use 3D timescope terminal, pétanque courts, exercise bikes and plenty of benches. Les Halles MLes Halles/Châtelet/RER Châtelet-Les-Halles Located right at the heart of the city is the sprawling underground shopping and leisure complex, gardens and métro interchange of Les Halles (pronounced ‘lay al’).

Caribbean Islands
by Lonely Planet

Getting There & Around Air Flights from Grand Cayman and Little Cayman to Cayman Brac’s Gerrard Smith International Airport are offered daily by Cayman Airways Express . Bicycle Bikes may be rented or borrowed from the resorts. Car Renting a car (about US$40 to US$60 per day) is the best way to enjoy the island. B&S Motor Ventures Ltd ( 948-1646; www.bandsmv.com) Hires scooters, 4WDs and bikes as well as cars; free delivery. CB Rent-A-Car ( 948-2329; www.cbrentacar.com; Gerrard Smith International Airport) Right across from the terminal. Hitchhiking There’s no public transportation on Cayman Brac, but the negligible crime rate – and the amiability of the locals – makes hitchhiking safe and easy. The mere sight of a visitor marching down the roadway often results in ride offers by passing motorists.

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Imposing and indomitable, the castle is ringed by an impressive moat and today shelters the Museo de Navegación ( admission CUC$2; 9am-6pm) , which opened in 2008 and displays interesting exposés on the history of the fort, the old town and its connections with the erstwhile Spanish empire. Look out for the huge scale model of the Santíssima Trinidad galleon. Calle Mercaderes HISTORIC STREET Cobbled, car-free Calle Mercaderes has been extensively restored by the City Historian’s Office and offers an almost complete replication of its splendid 18th-century high-water mark. Interspersed with the museums, shops and restaurants are some real-life working social projects. Many of the myriad museums are free, including the Maqueta de La Habana Vieja ( Mercaderes No 114; admission unguided/guided CUC$1/2; 9am-6pm) , a 1:500 scale model of Habana Vieja complete with an authentic soundtrack meant to replicate a day in the life of the city.

Lonely Planet Norway (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet and Donna Wheeler
Published 1 Apr 2015

Historic Buildings & Neighbourhoods From Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge) there's a superb view of the Bryggen, colourful 18th- and 19th-century riverfront warehouses similar to their better-known counterparts in Bergen. To the east, the one-time working-class neighbourhoods of Møllenberg and Bakklandet are now gentrified latte-land, all cobbles, car-free alleys, trim houses in pastel shades and gardens scarcely bigger than a towel that burst with flowers. Here, within old warehouses and renovated workers' housing, are some of the city's most colourful places to eat and drink. The cobblestone streets immediately west of the centre are also lined with mid-19th-century wooden buildings, notably the octagonal 1705 timber church, Hospitalkirken ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Hospitalsløkka 2-4), in the hospital grounds.

Lonely Planet Iceland
by Lonely Planet

HI members get a kr700 discount; linen can be hired. City CampsiteCAMPGROUND€ ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Þórunnarstræti; sites per person kr1300, plus lodging tax per site kr100; hJun–mid-Sep) This central site is popular for its location, not its charm. It has a washing machine, small dining area and showers (kr300), plus a car-free policy (except for loading and unloading; campervans accepted). Note: no kitchen. Handily, it’s close to the swimming pool and a supermarket. Hamrar CampsiteCAMPGROUND€ ( GOOGLE MAP ; %461 2264; www.hamrar.is; sites per person kr1300, plus lodging tax per site kr100; hmid-May–mid-Oct) This huge site, 1.5km south of town in a leafy setting in Kjarnaskógur woods, has newer facilities than the city campsite, and mountain views.

The Rough Guide to Norway
by Phil Lee
Published 25 Nov 2013

All the rooms here are decorated in crisp, modern style and most have harbour views. 1600kr Røvær Vandrerhjem Røvær, 10km to the west of Haugesund 52 71 80 35, vandrerhjem.no. For something more distinctive than Haugesund’s chain hotels, take the ferry to the green, fairly flat and car-free little island of Røvær ( visitrovar.no), where there’s a no-frills HI hostel in a distinctive timber building metres from the ferry dock, as well as easy rambling and a beach or two. Passenger ferries leave from Haugesund’s harbourfront (6–7 daily; 25min; 50kr each way) and dock a short walk from the main village.

Fodor's Costa Rica 2012
by Fodor's
Published 6 Oct 2011

To keep down the dust, the road is periodically spread with an industrial mixture of molasses, which accounts for the stickiness and the lovely sweet smell. You can walk along the beach, at low tide, all the way from Tamarindo Beach, but be careful not to get caught on the headland rocks as the tide comes in. Most car-free visitors get picked up from Tamarindo by their hotels. Or you can take a taxi. Previous Map | Next Map | Costa Rica Maps Outdoor Activities in Playa Langosta Tour operators in Tamarindo, just a few miles north, offer activities in the Playa Langosta area. Where to Eat in Playa Langosta Playa Langosta Beach Club. $$$ | FRENCH | Looking for romance with spectacular food that matches the ambience?

Lonely Planet Eastern Europe
by Lonely Planet , Mark Baker , Tamara Sheward , Anita Isalska , Hugh McNaughtan , Lorna Parkes , Greg Bloom , Marc Di Duca , Peter Dragicevich , Tom Masters , Leonid Ragozin , Tim Richards and Simon Richmond
Published 30 Sep 2017

Don't miss the small collection of communist statues in storage behind the building, including two rarely seen statues of Uncle Joe Stalin himself. Sheshi SkënderbejSQUARE (Skanderbeg Sq; MAP GOOGLE MAP ) Sheshi Skënderbej is the best place to start witnessing Tirana's daily goings-on. Until it was pulled down by an angry mob in 1991, a 10m-high bronze statue of Enver Hoxha stood here, watching over a mainly car-free square. Now only the equestrian statue of Skanderbeg remains, and the 'square' – once Tirana's most popular meeting point in the decades where 99% of people were forced to get around on foot – is now a huge traffic roundabout. Et'hem Bey MosqueMOSQUE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Sheshi Skënderbej; h8am-11am) To one side of Sheshi Skënderbej, the 1789–1823 Et'hem Bey Mosque was spared destruction during the atheism campaign of the late 1960s because of its status as a cultural monument.

Lonely Planet Poland
by Lonely Planet

They were all stolen from the treasury by the Prussians in 1795 and reputedly melted down. 1Old Town The centre of Kraków life since the Tatar invasions of the 13th century, and the most important area for visitors, the Old Town, with its graceful Main Market Square (Rynek Główny) at the heart, is filled with historic buildings and monuments. It’s also packed with restaurants, galleries and allegedly more bars per square metre than anywhere else in Europe. It has featured on Unesco’s World Heritage List since 1978, and is largely car-free. Main Market SquareSQUARE (map Google map) The vast Main Market Square (Rynek Główny; map; j1, 6, 8, 13, 18) is the focus of the Old Town, and is Europe’s largest medieval town square (200m by 200m). Its most prominent features are the 16th-century Cloth Hall at the centre, a 15th-century Town Hall Tower and a striking bronze statue of 19th-century romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz on the square’s eastern side.

1,000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before You Die, Updated Ed.
by Patricia Schultz
Published 13 May 2007

Footpaths, bicycle trails, and kayak and canoe routes crisscross the area, or you can visit by car along Wildlife Drive. If you’re not feeling detached enough from the mainland and its everyday demands, visit Captiva and Sanibel’s three most interesting neighbor islands, located in Pine Island Sound, all of them car-free and accessible only by boat. Cayo Costa State Park is an uninhabited barefoot Eden with deserted beaches whose shelling is arguably the best around. Cabbage Key, a 100-acre, down-home, real-life Margaritaville, is said to have inspired Jimmy Buffett’s song “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” At the other end of the spectrum, Gatsbyesque Useppa Island is a privately owned club that welcomes overnighters (as well as day-trippers who come for excellent seafood lunches) at its genteel Collier Inn, where Teddy Roosevelt used to vacation with his tarpon-fishing friends.

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WHERE: Golden Gate Park is loosely bounded on the east by Stanyan St., on the north by Fulton Ave., on the west by the Great Highway, and to the south by Lincoln Way. Park info: www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/sf/neighborhoods/ggpark.shtml. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE: www.goldengatebridge.org. BEST TIMES: early spring for cherry blossoms in Japanese Tea Garden; Sun for car-free wandering; weekdays for less crowded visits to park museums and Japanese Tea Garden. Foodie Paradise on the Waterfront THE SAN FRANCISCO FERRY BUILDING San Francisco, California The crossroads of all things delicious, the historic San Francisco Ferry Building is a place to congregate and worship the region’s culinary delights at shops, restaurants, and 200 outdoor market stalls that make up the country’s finest farmers market.

USA's Best Trips
by Sara Benson
Published 23 May 2010

Tables overlook atmospheric Fishtown and its weather-beaten shacks-cum-shops. To meet the folks who put the food on your plate, sign up with Learn Great Foods and tour local farms, fisheries and vineyards; some jaunts include alfresco dinner among the greens. * * * Several islands float off Michigan’s shore. Car-free Mackinac Island (www.mackinacisland.org) is the most touristed; park and take a ferry from Mackinaw City. For a quieter alternative, sail to Beaver Island (www.beaverisland.org), an Irish-influenced enclave of 600 people; ferries depart from downtown Charlevoix. South Manitou Island (www.leelanau.com/manitou), with boats leaving from Leland, is another wilderness winner

The Rough Guide to New York City
by Martin Dunford
Published 2 Jan 2009

The first two digits on the post indicate the number of the nearest cross street, while the last two show whether you’re nearer the east side (odd numbers) or west side (even). You can pick up free maps at any of the Visitor Centers (see box, p.152) or two dozen freestanding unmanned kiosks throughout the park. Car access to the park’s drives is severely limited outside rush hours. Even if you’re visiting during a car-free period, you should still keep a watchful eye: crossing the road amid the hordes of goggled and headphoned rollerbladers, cyclists, and joggers can be trying – just be patient. Since there are no bus routes in the park, most people either walk or don rollerblades and glide there. Other options include renting a bicycle from the Loeb Boathouse (see p.156) or Metro Bicycles (1311 Lexington Ave T212/427-4450, Wwww.metrobicycles.com; ask about their other shops, since another may be closer to you).

Fodor's Costa Rica 2013
by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.
Published 1 Oct 2012

To keep down the dust, the road is periodically spread with an industrial mixture of molasses, which accounts for the stickiness and the lovely sweet smell. You can walk along the beach, at low tide, all the way from Tamarindo Beach, but be careful not to get caught on the headland rocks as the tide comes in. Most car-free visitors get picked up from Tamarindo by their hotels. Or you can take a taxi. OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES Tour operators in Tamarindo, just a few miles north, offer activities in the Playa Langosta area. WHERE TO EAT IN PLAYA LANGOSTA Playa Langosta Beach Club. $$$ | FRENCH | Looking for romance with spectacular food that matches the ambience?

The Rough Guide to New York City
by Rough Guides
Published 21 May 2018

Organized walking tours are available from a number of sources, including the Urban Park Rangers and the visitor centres, but almost any stroll, formal or informal, will invariably lead to something interesting. cycling To make their way around from place to place, people typically either walk (there are no bus routes within the park) or don rollerblades and glide there. Other options include renting a bike – West Drive, East Drive and the 72nd Street Cross Drive all have specified car-free hours, allowing you to create various loops around the park in relative freedom. All bicycle rental shops require a credit card or refundable cash deposit. Danny’s Cycles 1690 Second Ave, between 87th and 88th sts 212 722 2201, dannyscycles.com. East of the park (and with an Upper West Side location too, among others), Danny’s Cycles offer good hourly rates, at $10–15/hr ($40–60/day).

Lonely Planet Morocco (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet , Paul Clammer and Paula Hardy
Published 1 Jul 2014

If You Like… Medinas If you pause for a moment in the medina, stepping out of the stream of shoppers, you can watch Morocco’s very essence flash by. These ancient, crowded quarters – with winding lanes, dead ends, riad hotels, piles of spices, traders, tea drinkers, and a sensory assault around every corner – offer a strong dose of Morocco’s famous Maghrebi mystique. Fez The planet’s largest living Islamic medieval city and its biggest car-free urban environment, with donkeys trekking to tanneries in the leather district. (Click here) Marrakesh Exuberant Marrakshis course between souqs (markets), palaces and the Djemaa el-Fna within the medina’s 19km of ramparts. (Click here) Tangier Hop off the ferry for a fitting introduction to North Africa in this gem of a medina, contained by the walls of a 15th-century Portuguese fortress.

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
by Robert M. Sapolsky
Published 1 May 2017

When a car is being dysfunctional and dangerous and we take it to a mechanic, this is not a dualistic situation where (a) if the mechanic discovers some broken widget causing the problem, we have a mechanistic explanation, but (b) if the mechanic can’t find anything wrong, we’re dealing with an evil car; sure, the mechanic can speculate on the source of the problem—maybe it’s the blueprint from which the car was built, maybe it was the building process, maybe the environment contains some unknown pollutant that somehow impairs function, maybe someday we’ll have sufficiently powerful techniques in the auto shop to spot some key molecule in the engine that is out of whack—but in the meantime we’ll consider this car to be evil. Car free will also equals “internal forces we do not understand yet.”*34 Many who are viscerally opposed to this view charge that it is dehumanizing to frame damaged humans as broken machines. But as a final, crucial point, doing that is a hell of a lot more humane than demonizing and sermonizing them as sinners.

Frommer's Israel
by Robert Ullian
Published 31 Mar 1998

Jewish Home Swap (www.jewishhomeswap.com) is a free service that gives people an opportunity to save on vacation costs by exchanging their homes with other people. The emphasis here is on homes with kosher kitchens and locations close to Jewish religious services. THE OLD CITY The advantage to staying in the Old City is that you feel the rhythms and hear the sounds of this extraordinary (and largely car-free) place—the calls to prayer from the minarets, the medley of bells from the city’s ancient churches. You’ll watch the bazaars come to life in the morning and slowly close down for the night; you’ll catch glimpses of street life that a visitor based in the New City would never see. You won’t come across any high-rise (or even low-rise) luxury palaces in the Old City, just a few inexpensive to moderately priced hotels, hospices, and hostels.

Hawaii Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Driving on Saddle Rd can cut travel time by about 15 minutes. 8Getting Around Bicycle Cycling is more recreation than transportation in Hilo. Mid-Pacific Wheels ( GOOGLE MAP ; %808-935-6211; www.midpacificwheelsllc.com; 1133-C Manono St; h9am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun) rents mountain and road bikes for $25 to $45 per day. Bus The Hele-On Bus covers much of Hilo, although service can be infrequent. Car Free parking is generally available. Downtown street parking is free for two hours; finding a spot is easy except during Saturday and Wednesday farmers markets. Taxi The approximate cab fare from the airport to downtown Hilo is $15. AA Marshall's TaxiTAXI (%808-936-2654) Puna The Polynesian word ‘mana’ is tough to translate.

Lonely Planet Turkey (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet , James Bainbridge , Brett Atkinson , Steve Fallon , Jessica Lee , Virginia Maxwell , Hugh McNaughtan and John Noble
Published 31 Jan 2017

Last ferries leave Büyükada at 6.15pm and 8.20pm and Heybeliada at 6.30pm and 8.35pm (9.15pm and 10.15pm from Büyükada and 9.30pm and 10.30pm from June to mid-September). Turyol (%0212-251 4421; http://turyol.com) Operates small ferry services between three and five times per day from both Karaköy and Eminönü to Büyükada (₺6). 8Getting Around One of the wonderful things about the Princes' Islands is that they are car-free zones. The main forms of transport are motorised carts, bicycles and faytons (horse-drawn carriages). The name fayton comes from the mythical Phaeton, son of the sun god Helios. Heybeliada Heybeliada (Heybeli for short) is the prettiest island in the Adalar group, replete with ornate 19th-century timber villas and offering gorgeous sea views from myriad viewpoints.

Lonely Planet Turkey
by Lonely Planet

Turyol Operates up to eight services per day from Eminönü, stopping to take on extra passengers at Karaköy and Kadıköy (₺10 one way), and heads to Kınalıada, Heybeliada and Büyükada. The first service departs Eminönü at 9.40am on weekdays and 8.40am on weekends; the last ferry departs Büyükada at 7pm weekdays, 8pm weekends. 8Getting Around One of the wonderful things about the Princes’ Islands is that they are car-free zones. The main forms of transport are motorised carts, bicycles and electric vehicles. THE HISTORY OF THE FAYTON The name fayton comes from the mythical Phaeton, son of the sun god Helios. Long used as a form of transport on the Princes’ Islands, which are free of cars, these horse-drawn carriages were a popular tourist attraction, taking visitors around the islands on scenic tours.

Judas Unchained
by Peter F. Hamilton
Published 1 Jan 2006

Potted saplings could be sold in sealed display cases for botanical enthusiasts, but no one was ever going to reproduce the woodlands on another world. So the environmentalists didn’t want big construction machinery chopping down trees to put up the cable car posts, and chainsawing off branches to give the cars free passage through the elaborate canopy. After a decade of legal battles the operators won their permit, after proving a minimal-damage impact-assessment. What the environmentalists grudgingly accepted once the cable car was up and running was that the environmental damage was actually reduced. People who used to illicitly walk off the Crossquay and plunge through the jungle, breaking small branches and trampling new shoots underfoot to gain the raw experience now took the cable car.

The the Rough Guide to Turkey
by Rough Guides
Published 15 Oct 2023

While there’s no beach to speak of, the passing boat trade means an astonishing concentration of facilities for such a small place: supermarkets, laundries, yacht chandleries and posh souvenir shops along, or just off, the main inland commercial street, largely pedestrianized. The meticulously landscaped, lawn-fringed shore esplanade is car-free too, and the venue for a hugely popular evening promenade. For the average traveller, however, the main reason to stay here is the proximity to Dalaman Airport. Arrival and information Göcek By dolmuş Regular dolmuşes link Fethiye with Göcek, dropping passengers at the main car park just off the inland shopping street (hourly 8am–10pm; 45min).

Southeast Asia on a Shoestring Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet
Published 30 May 2012

Four Weeks Tramp Malaysia & Beyond Touchdown in Kuala Lumpur, an easy city for international arrivals. Bus to the tranquil Cameron Highlands and its glossy green tea plantations. Follow the northern migration to Penang for street eats and Malaysian fusion culture. Detour to the beaches of Langkawi. Return to Georgetown and bus to Kota Bharu, the jump-off point for car-free, carefree ambience on Pulau Perhentian. Pick up the Jungle Railway to Taman Negara, an ancient, accessible wilderness. Return to Kuala Lumpur for a well-planned, well-funded tour of Malaysian Borneo. Fly to Kota Kinabalu, in Sabah, ascend Borneo’s highest peak Mt Kinabalu. Head east to Sepilok and its orang-utan sanctuary.

The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 1 Jan 2019

Getting around By bus These cost only $0.25 per trip and while hit and miss are useful for travelling short distances up main avenues such as 12 de Octubre, 6 de Diciembre, 10 de Agosto, and Colón. By electric bus There are three main electric bus routes running north to south, with designated stations and car-free lanes, making them the most efficient way to get around. All charge $0.25 flat fare (bought at kiosks or machines in advance). The three services rarely link up, so changing routes often involves walking several blocks. They generally run every 10min Mon–Fri 6am–midnight, Sat & Sun 6am–10pm. El Trole is the trolleybus system that runs down 10 de Agosto to the Old Town; stops are easy to spot because of their distinctive green raised platforms.

Great Britain
by David Else and Fionn Davenport
Published 2 Jan 2007

Some of the dorms, doubles and triples have balconies over the river and Fitz Park, and the hostel has all the facilities a discerning backpacker could wish for. MIDRANGE Cumbria House ( 017687-73171; www.cumbriahouse.co.uk; 1 Derwent Water Pl; r £52-64) Charming Georgian surroundings and an admirable eco-policy (Fairtrade coffee, local produce, and a 5% discount for car-free guests) make this another smart option. Families can rent the top three rooms as a single suite, with views all the way to Blencathra. Heatherlea ( 017687-72430; www.heatherlea-keswick.co.uk; 26 Blencathra St; d £54) One of the best choices in the B&B-heavy area around Blencathra St. Tasteful decor (pine beds, crimson-striped cushions, beige throws) distinguishes the rooms; it’s worth bumping up to superior for the sparkling shower and gargantuan flat-screen TV.