Category Archives: Feature Article

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Feature Article

Carfree Happiness

I was wondering recently why I seem to be cheerful so much of the time. This is not necessarily my natural state, and living in a noisy city of 12 million people, with terrible traffic that makes going much of anywhere something between a struggle and a nightmare, it is often a challenge to stay […]

Action Report

Women on Wheels: A liberating Ride in Dhaka, Bangladesh

On Friday, 25th February, 2011, a group of about 50 women—mostly foreigners but with several Bangladeshis—took to the streets of Dhaka on bicycle. The ride was organized by a new group called Arohi (aa-row-hee, from the Bengali word for “rider” and the Sanskrit root “aarohana” meaning ascendance); it was their first ride. When I first […]

Feature Article

Pedal Powered House Moving

Dear Carbusters, My new Kentucky home, the city of Louisville, is not yet a place where cars are busted.  I’ve been around a few cities in the past 50 years, and I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere more perfectly set up for cars. Automobile addicted planners should make this place a poster child. Dozens of […]

Design & Innovation

Fazilka Ecocabs Making Waves Across the Country

Ecocabs is the name given to traditional Indian rickshaw operations that are organized into a network and can be called directly by customers. Fazilka is an Indian border town with a population of less than 100 000 inhabitants. It is the first city in the world to have a dial-a-rickshaw facility. Mahatma  Gandhi once said […]

Feature Article

Snow Vs. Bike

Hi Carbusters, Here’s a picture from Berlin, last week. You can see how the snow covered the bike, not the car… Or how the car gets always priority… also when there’s snow, people have to drive everywhere. And the bike (user) is ignored, as many cycle lanes are covered with snow and often don’t get […]

Book Review

Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post-Carbon World

How can North American cities be designed to reduce carbon emissions? The answer, according to architecture professor Patrick Condon, lies in the past, 1880 to 1945 to be specific. That’s when multiple North American cities were designed as streetcar cities that were “walkable, transit accessible, and virtually pollution-free while still dramatically extending the distance citizens […]

Carfree Place

Walking The New Broadway

In the Spring of 1904, the world’s first electrified advertisement appeared on a bank in New York at the corner of Broadway and 46th Street, in what was soon to be called Times Square. In many ways, this event anticipated the beginnings of the modern hyper-commercialized city. Roughly one hundred years later, the pedestrianization of […]

Feature Article

Occupied Streets, Social Clashes: Observations on the Bangkok Protests

When everyday events get turned on their head, interesting possibilities can emerge in the most unexpected places. So with the last winter and spring of unrest in Thailand’s capital. The daily occupation of the city streets by cars goes virtually unnoticed and unchallenged, but when the cars are replaced by people, suddenly virtually the whole […]

Feature Article

High-Speed Rail: Green or Mean?

High-speed rail is often touted as a means to move forward and beyond the current modes for long distance transport. Its advocates tells us that, by combining the low energy use of trains and the high speed of planes, it will be the best option for our future transport needs. But is it really so? […]

Feature Article

What Lies Beneath

Vancouver has, over and over again, been dubbed the world’s most livable city and, according to Silas Archambault, it is definitely one the best North American cities from a carfree perspective. But even in such a place there are many things to do to cure auto dependence, especially by making shorter out of town weekend […]