Vauban - Realistic Experiment?

Yesterday's New York Times reported on a town in southwestern Germany, nestled between the French and Swiss borders that has made a civic commitment to go car-free or more realistically as car-lite as possible. Titled "In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars", the article (along with photos) describes a suburb of Frielberg, Germany (Google - My Maps). The Times also featured a discussion page about going "Carfree in America?".

Comparing Sunnyvale to Vauban

After reading the article take a look at the pictures that I have linked above and also my map created on Google Maps to get an idea of the scope of the car-free village. I am always curious the amount of land devoted to roadway. In a previous blog post I took a look at a corner of Sunnyvale, California (which due to the square mile grid pattern makes it a little fun and easy). In that post I estimated that this purely residential area devotes about 20% of its land area to road way (not counting the concrete used for driveways on private lots). In Vauban I calculated that less than 4% is used for auto roadways!

Here are some additional links on Vauban
Bike Portland - "Germany's Car Conscious Community"

The Christian Science Monitor - "New German Community Models Car-Free Living"

Also this article is linked to in the New York Times article - "Students Give Up Wheels For Their Own Two Feet"



Vauban Photo courtesy of Ecofaubourg at Fickr



View Vauban in a larger map