2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
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---
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created_at: '2010-08-06T04:03:32.000Z'
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title: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
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url: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?_r=2&em
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author: organicgrant
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points: 127
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story_text: ''
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comment_text:
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num_comments: 202
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story_id:
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story_title:
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story_url:
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parent_id:
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created_at_i: 1281067412
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_tags:
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- story
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- author_organicgrant
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- story_1580144
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objectID: '1580144'
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2018-06-08 12:05:27 +00:00
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year: 2009
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2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
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---
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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While there have been efforts in the past two decades to make cities
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denser, and better for walking, planners are now taking the concept to
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the suburbs and focusing specifically on environmental benefits like
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reducing emissions. Vauban, home to 5,500 residents within a rectangular
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square mile, may be the most advanced experiment in low-car suburban
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life. But its basic precepts are being adopted around the world in
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attempts to make suburbs more compact and more accessible to public
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transportation, with less space for parking. In this new approach,
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stores are placed a walk away, on a main street, rather than in malls
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along some distant highway.
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“All of our development since World War II has been centered on the car,
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and that will have to change,” said David Goldberg, an official of
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[Transportation for America](http://t4america.org/ "Group’s Web site."),
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a fast-growing coalition of hundreds of groups in the United States —
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including environmental groups, mayors’ offices and the American
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Association of Retired People — who are promoting new communities that
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are less dependent on cars. Mr. Goldberg added: “How much you drive is
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as important as whether you have a hybrid.”
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Photo
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Levittown and Scarsdale, New York suburbs with spread-out homes and
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private garages, were the dream towns of the 1950s and still exert a
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strong appeal. But some new suburbs may well look more Vauban-like, not
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only in developed countries but also in the developing world, where
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emissions from an increasing number of private cars owned by the
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burgeoning middle class are choking cities.
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In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is promoting
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“car reduced” communities, and legislators are starting to act, if
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cautiously. Many experts expect public transport serving suburbs to play
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a much larger role in a new six-year federal transportation bill to be
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approved this year, Mr. Goldberg said. In previous bills, 80 percent of
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appropriations have by law gone to highways and only 20 percent to other
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transport.
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In California, the [Hayward Area Planning
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Association](http://www.haywardcal.us/links/links.html "Information from city’s Web site.")
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is developing a Vauban-like community called Quarry Village on the
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outskirts of Oakland, accessible without a car to the Bay Area Rapid
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Transit system and to the California State University’s campus in
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Hayward.
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Sherman Lewis, a professor emeritus at Cal State and a leader of the
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association, says he “can’t wait to move in” and hopes that Quarry
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Village will allow his family to reduce its car ownership from two to
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one, and potentially to zero. But the current system is still stacked
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against the project, he said, noting that mortgage lenders worry about
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resale value of half-million-dollar homes that have no place for cars,
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and most zoning laws in the United States still require two parking
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spaces per residential unit. Quarry Village has obtained an exception
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from Hayward.
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Besides, convincing people to give up their cars is often an uphill run.
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“People in the U.S. are incredibly suspicious of any idea where people
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are not going to own cars, or are going to own fewer,” said David
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Ceaser, [co-founder of CarFree City
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USA](http://new.carfreecity.us/AboutUs/OrganizationandMission/tabid/104/Default.aspx "Group’s Web site."),
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who said no car-free suburban project the size of Vauban had been
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successful in the United States.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Advertisement
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-4)
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In Europe, some governments are thinking on a national scale. In 2000,
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Britain began a comprehensive effort to reform planning, to discourage
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car use by requiring that new development be accessible by public
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transit.
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“Development comprising jobs, shopping, leisure and services should not
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be designed and located on the assumption that the car will represent
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the only realistic means of access for the vast majority of people,”
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said PPG 13, the British government’s [revolutionary 2001 planning
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document](http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/155634.pdf "From a government site, the 45-page planning document.").
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Dozens of shopping malls, fast-food restaurants and housing compounds
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have been refused planning permits based on the new British regulations.
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In Germany, a country that is home to Mercedes-Benz and the autobahn,
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life in a car-reduced place like Vauban has its own unusual gestalt. The
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town is long and relatively narrow, so that the tram into Freiburg is an
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easy walk from every home. Stores, restaurants, banks and schools are
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more interspersed among homes than they are in a typical suburb. Most
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residents, like Ms. Walter, have carts that they haul behind bicycles
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for shopping trips or children’s play dates.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Photo
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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For trips to stores like IKEA or the ski slopes, families buy cars
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together or use communal cars rented out by Vauban’s car-sharing club.
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Ms. Walter had previously lived — with a private car — in Freiburg as
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well as the United States.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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“If you have one, you tend to use it,” she said. “Some people move in
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here and move out rather quickly — they miss the car next door.”
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Vauban, the site of a former Nazi army base, was occupied by the French
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Army from the end of World War II until the reunification of Germany two
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decades ago. Because it was planned as a base, the grid was never meant
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to accommodate private car use: the “roads” were narrow passageways
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between barracks.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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## Newsletter Sign Up
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#continues-post-newsletter)
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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The original buildings have long since been torn down. The stylish row
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houses that replaced them are buildings of four or five stories,
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designed to reduce heat loss and maximize energy efficiency, and trimmed
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with exotic woods and elaborate balconies; free-standing homes are
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forbidden.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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By nature, people who buy homes in Vauban are inclined to be green
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guinea pigs — indeed, more than half vote for the German Green Party.
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Still, many say it is the quality of life that keeps them here.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Henk Schulz, a scientist who on one afternoon last month was watching
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his three young children wander around Vauban, remembers his excitement
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at buying his first car. Now, he said, he is glad to be [raising his
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children away from
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cars](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/world/europe/27bus.html "News article on Italian children walking to school.");
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he does not worry much about their safety in the street.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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Advertisement
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-5)
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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In the past few years, Vauban has become a well-known niche community,
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even if it has spawned few imitators in Germany. But whether the concept
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will work in California is an open question.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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More than 100 would-be owners have signed up to buy in the Bay Area’s
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“car-reduced” Quarry Village, and Mr. Lewis is still looking for about
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$2 million in seed financing to get the project off the ground.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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But if it doesn’t work, his backup proposal is to build a development on
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the same plot that permits unfettered car use. It would be called
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Village d’Italia.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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[Continue reading the main story](#whats-next)
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