Carfree – it’s a word that is not part of the American lexicon. Even breaking the word apart – car free – won’t much help the average automobile-dependent U.S. resident intuit its meaning. If the concept seems foreign, that’s because it is.
The World Carfree Network started in Europe more than 10 years ago to, according to its mission statement, “bring together organizations and individuals dedicated to promoting alternatives to car dependence and automobile-based planning at the international level and working to reduce the human impact on the natural environment while improving the quality of life for all.”
But just as Americans begin to seriously grapple with global warming, high gasoline prices, and hopelessly congested roadways, the carfree concept and its adherents are establishing a beachhead here. The group’s eighth annual conference, Towards Carfree Cities, begins Monday in Portland, Oregon, the first time it’s been in the U.S.
And San Francisco activists are hoping to use the occasion to firmly plant the “carfree” word and concept in the minds of local planners and politicians, a cause the Guardian will help promote with daily coverage from the week-long conference.