On car-free days (CFD), people are encouraged either through state policy or by societal consensus to travel by means other than cars. Some cities, like Jakarta and Tehran, have weekly car-free days. Other such days are annual. World Car Free Day is celebrated on September 22. Organized events are held in some cities and countries. In Israel, the holiday of Yom Kippur is regarded as a car-free day through societal consensus without official policy enforcement.
The events, which vary by location, give motorists and commuters an idea of their locality with fewer cars. The concept dates from the 1970s but was popularised in the 1990s. Tel Aviv has had a car-free day due to Yom Kippur since 1935.Currently Bogotá holds the world's largest car-free weekday event covering the entire city. The first car-free day was held in February 2000 and became institutionalised through a public referendum.Wright L. and Montezuma R.: Reclaiming public space , retrieved 2009-10-03
History and timeline
Origins While projects along these lines had taken place from time to time on an ad hoc basis starting with the 1973 oil crisis, it was only in October 1994 that a structured call for such projects was issued in a keynote speech by Eric Britton at the International Ciudades Accessibles (Accessible Cities) Conference held in Toledo, Spain.Thursday: A Breakthrough Strategy for Reducing Car Dependence in Cities
Within two years the first Days were organized in Reykjavík (Iceland), Bath (United Kingdom) and La Rochelle (France), and the informal World Car Free Days Consortium was organized in 1995 to support Car-Free Days worldwide. The first national campaign was inaugurated in Britain by the Environmental Transport Association in 1997, the French followed suit in 1998 as In town, without my car! and was established as a Europe-wide initiative by the European Commission in 2000. In the same year the Commission enlarged the program to a full European Mobility Week which now is the major focus of the Commission, with the Car-Free Day part of a greater new mobility whole.
In 1996, a Dutch action group, Pippi Autoloze Zondag, started a national campaign for car free days. Pippi organized monthly illegal street actions to take over the streets and stop the cars. After blocking the streets, there would be parties, picknicks, kids playing, rollerskate on the motorway, street painting and music artists playing. The police would break the party down and make arrests. Pippi went on to create a Dutch national group to fight for car free days. Pippi lobbied every single national parliament politician from the Netherlands and inspired Dutch national parties to adopt the concept of car free days in their agenda. Every major city government in the Netherlands received Pippi's proposals to implement car free days, forcing them to debate the issue. After two years of actions, several cities in the Netherlands relented and started to implement car free days.
The Environmental Transport Association set the initial annual Car-Free Day on the first Tuesday in their Green Transport Week (around 17 June). In 2000 it was agreed to make it a self-standing day held on September 22, originally as a pan-European day organised under the auspices of the European Commission and later with international extensions—during which a large number of cities around the world are invited to close their centers to cars. Pedestrians, bicycles, public transit and other forms of sustainable transportation are encouraged on these days. People can reflect on what their city would look like with a lot fewer cars, and what might be needed to make this happen. Advocates claim that over 100 million people in 1,500 cities celebrate International Car-Free Day, though on days and in ways of their choice.
Also in 2000, car free days went global with a World Carfree Day program launched by Carbusters, now World Carfree Network, and in the same year the Earth Car Free Day collaborative program of the Earth Day Network and the World Car Free Days collaborative.
Timeline of notable car free related events
1972, Delft, Netherlands. First official Woonerf opens. 1973, Abbaye de Royaumont, France. The OECD Development Center and EcoPlan (The Commons) organize a 4-day international brainstorm on combining car restraint and non-conventional or "in-between" transit (paratransit) in Third World cities. 1973–1974; due to the oil crisis, Denmark had car-free Sundays from 25 November 1973 to 10 February 1974. January–February 1974, Switzerland. Four car-free Sundays were organized during the "Oil Crisis". 1981, East Germany (DDR). First German Car-free Day took place. October 1988, Paris. "Cities without Cars?" program begins. International, unstructured, non-bureaucratic, topic-driven, long term cooperative program is launched by EcoPlan and the Commons. It later morphed into today's New Mobility Agenda. September 1991, New York City. First International Conference on Auto-Free Cities. Organized by Transportation Alternatives. September 1992, Toronto. Second International Conference on Auto-Free Cities. September 1992, San Francisco. Critical Mass. More or less anarchist, at least self-organizing, group cranked up to take back the streets from cars. Fall 1992, Paris, France. First @ccess Forum opened in cooperation with ECTF on Internet. Carfree Day concept discussed and expanded on this international list. Fall 1992, Ottawa, Canada. Auto-Free Ottawa Newsletter started. March 1994, Amsterdam. Car-Free Cities Network launched by DG XI and Eurocities. 14 October 1994, Toledo, Spain. Thursday: Carfree Day Proposal, work plan and public call for international collaboration is presented at Spanish "Ciudades Accesibles" Congress. (Representatives of Car-Free Cities and later Reykjavík, Bath and La Rochelle CFD projects all present.) 1996–2000 8 May 1996, Copenhagen. Copenhagen Declaration is issued by international meeting of European government groups. June 1996, Reykjavík, Iceland. Carfree Day is organized by local government and held in Iceland's capital city. 11 June 1996, Bath, the first British Carfree Day organised within the Environmental Transport Association's Green Transport Week. 17 June 1997, Weybridge, the world's first national Car-Free Day inaugurated by the Environmental Transport Association in Britain. The ETA co-ordinates the annual CFDs. 9 September 1997, La Rochelle, France. Journée sans voiture. Led by Mayor Michel Crépeau and Jacques Tallut, La Rochelle organize France's first real CFD. 21 October 1997, Paris. Thursday: Carfree Day proposal made to French Ministry of the Environment. Proposal from this Consortium made as part of the Common's "Smogbuster" package for fighting car-related pollution and other problems in French cities. (The Ministry used this foundation to launch its own "En ville, sans ma voiture?" program one year later.) 26 October – 1 November 1997, Lyon, France. Towards Carfree Cities I conference. Organized by European Youth for Action and the Lyon-based Régroupement pour une ville sans voiture. Carbusters Magazine & Resource Centre launched. Winter 1997, Amsterdam. Carfree Times published Volume 1, Number 1 (with no public support and made freely available). Winter, 1997, Paris. @World Carfree Day Consortium. This open NGO site is established by The Commons as part of their long term New Mobility program on the WWW to support Carfree Day organization and expert follow-up in cities all over the world. 21 June 1998. Mobil Ohne Auto, Germany-wide Car Free Mobility Day. 22 September 1998, "En ville, sans ma voiture?", France. French Ministry of the Environment and 34 French cities organized "En ville, sans ma voiture?" ("A day in the city without my car?). 1 December 1999, Britain. First National ETA Carfree Planning support (UK) sharing information on planning for European Carfree Day in Britain 19 September 1999, Netherlands. First National Carfree Sunday in the Netherlands. 22 September 1999, First European "Pilot Day". On Wednesday, 22 September 1999, 66 French towns participate in "En ville, sans ma voiture ?" (2nd edition), while in parallel 92 Italian towns organize the first Italian National Carfree Day, "In cittá senza la mia auto". The Canton of Geneva also participates in what later was later called the first European "Pilot Day", wherein all the participating cities designated car-free areas in their centers. Sunday, 26 September 1999. First Belgian CFD announced. 1 December 1999, Britain. Consortium of interested individuals and groups set up the first independent national support group on Web to promote CFDs in Britain (see menu to left for direct link) Sunday, 6 February 2000, Italy. Environment Minister Edo Ronchi opens first of four successive Car-Free Sundays in Italy, to take place on the first Sunday of the month for the next four months. 24 February 2000, Bogotá, Colombia. The Bogotá Challenge. The City of Bogotá organizes Sin mi carro en Bogotá in cooperation with the World Carfree Day Consortium, the world's first large scale "Thursday" CFD project, and launches its Bogotá Challenge to the rest of the world. 10–18 June 2000, British Green Transport Week organised by the Environmental Transport Association. 24–27 June 2000, Bremen, Germany. Car Free Cities conference in Bremen. 21 September 2000. World Carfree Day – first global carfree day, launched and promoted by Carbusters (now World Carfree Network) and Adbusters Media Foundation. 22 September 2000. First European Carfree Day. The government sponsors report that 760 European towns jointly organized the first pan-European "In town, without my car!" day. Perhaps indicating growing confidence, the question mark has now become an exclamation point. 14 October 2000. Chengdu City of Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China, starts the first ever "Car-Free Day" in that nation. 29 October 2000. Bogotá holds the world's first Car Free Referendum (which passes with flying colors). 1 November 2000. Earth Carfree Day program launched by the Commons and WC/FD Consortium in cooperation with Earth Day Network. 23 November 2000 Shed Your Car Day – Fremantle. First Australian CFD. 2001–2005 1 February 2001. Bogotá launches the first ECFD 2001 project with its second Dia sin Carro. Spring 2001. "Domeniche ecologiche 2001" – The Italian Ministry of the Environment organises the first Ecological Sundays car-free program, running on five weekends. 19 April 2001. First Earth Carfree Day. More than 300 groups and cities around the world participate in this first ECFD organised by The Commons WC/FD program and Earth Day Network. September 2001. Second European CFD and second World Carfree Day. September 22, 2001. Toronto becomes the first North American city to officially host a Carfree Day. November 2001. United Nations contacts The Commons and proposed a joint world level project: the United Nations Carfree Days Programme, to be organized as a run-up to the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, demonstrating that this approach is one that can make a difference.
6–8 February 2002. First United National Regional Carfree Days Practicum organized for Latin America, in cooperation with and support of the third Carfree Day in Bogotá, Colombia. Practicum brings together a delegation of mayors from across the region to observe and exchange information on the CFD approach for their cities. 8–10 May 2002. Second UN Carfree Day Demonstration and Practicum for Regional Mayors took place in Fremantle, West Australia. 19 April 2002. First European Mobility Week launched by EC in Brussels. Planned as annual event in September as part of their "In town without my car!" program. 22 September 2002. Third World Carfree Day, promoted by Carbusters (now World Carfree Network) and Adbusters Media Foundation.