|
People who want to do
without the expense of a car and do not want to pay for the provision of car
oriented infrastructure, should be given the option of living in a car free
environment.
A major structural
determinant of the desire for car travel is the traditional requirement for all
new housing developments to include adequate car parking. Building regulations
tend to be car oriented, with obligations for providing a lot of parking space,
which is usually not evaluated as an economic asset. This reflects the historic
aspiration of people to own and use cars. Car free areas where residents
undertake not to own cars produce a safer and more pleasant environment. Market
research appears to show that there is a significant demand for housing on this
basis. Residents then explicitly choose not to own cars, in favour of an
improved urban environment, near shops and quality public transport services.
A car free development
is breaking with the trend of increasing car ownership. Car free housing opens
up new perspectives in many towns and cities, either for the planning of
peripheral settlements, or for an integrated planning of the transport sector,
encouraging people to be mobile without cars. The area normally used for
parking space can be used to invest in more housing quality at the same density.
After the failure of
the purely residential commuter settlement as a model, the innovative qualities
of the car free approach fit in with the new paradigm of the urban mix and even
suggest practical steps towards this goal.
There is the question
of whether a tenant can legally be obliged not to own a car. A thorough study
of the legal situation in Bremen pointed out that this is possible on the basis of a
voluntary commitment.
The theory is that the
provision of car-free development will lead to less car use. Car-free
developments could contain a mixture of limited car access, limited car parking
or an ownership or tenancy condition which prohibits car ownership. In some
cases a car free development could be complemented by a local car-sharing or
car hire scheme, to enable those who do not own their own car to use a car for
selected trips (e.g., holidays, deliveries).
Car free development
has been shown to be associated with less car travel. This could be partly to
do with location (where located close to facilities and public transport) as
well as due to the car- free nature of the development. Examples of car- free
development are found in the TRANSPLUS project (Deneef
and Schröder, 2002), including the case of a
successful development in Vienna combining high density housing with on-site
facilities; and in the case study of Edinburgh, reported in work related to the
DANTE project (Mittler, 1999; Maat,
2000). The topic of car free development is also considered in some detail in
the book Carfree Cities (Crawford, 2000).
Car
free development may be associated with less car travel. That said, a number of
factors may be involved, including accessibility of the location and
availability of alternative modes, and propensity for individuals to
self-select. Car-free development could yet contribute to a package of
complementary land use measures, which reinforce each other towards sustainable
mobility. |