[world-carfree-news_eng] World Carfree News #77 - April 2010

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WORLD CARFREE NEWS >>>
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Edition 77 – April 2010 – English version
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Contents:

QUOTATION OF THE MONTH

WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS

- WANTED: Carfree volunteers to the WCN office in Prague
- 3E Youth exchange in York (June 23-June 26, 2010)
- Towards Carfree Cities IX, York, UK (June 28-July 2, 2010)

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

- Call for abstracts!
- Walk to Work Week (April 26-30)
- Cycling and health in an ageing society (June 9-10 in Odense, Denmark)
- Ecotopia Biketour 2010
- Velopalooza (June 4-13, Vancouver, Canada)
- European Mobility Week (September 16-22)
- Sustainable transport conference (June 8, London, UK)

IN THE NEWS 

- Cycling coming to Google Maps
- New green bike line in San Francisco
- Road safety
- One less car park in Zagreb 
- Congratulations, Streetsblog!
- Want to help European Investment Bank?
- "Anti-homeless" bus bench design draws complaints
- About commuting
- Always space for cars

REPORTS

- Freeways responsible for emptying out cities

MEDIA & NETWORKING

- Huge Hungarian Critical Mass
- Survey for women on bikes
- One year of carfree living

CURIOS

- Car sharing ftw!
- Car-eating robosaurus
- First bike ever?

SUPPORT WORLD CARFREE NETWORK

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QUOTATION OF THE MONTH >>
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"Suburbia became a pure autotopia; a society perhaps more locked up in remote
dependence than anything ever seen before."

- Erik Berg in the latest issue of Carbusters Magazine
Read the full article here: http://carbusters.org/2010/04/14/truman-city/
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WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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- WANTED: Carfree volunteers to the WCN office in Prague
Interested in Carfree cities? Sustainable transport? Cycling activism? Urban
design? Streets for people? Want to go abroad and experience something new and
exciting while working for an NGO? If yes, then apply for the one-year EVS
volunteer position. The first EVS volunteer is suppose to start the project in
the beginning of September 2010, the second one - in the beginning of December
2010. If you are interested, please send your CV and motivation letter to
[email protected] before 30th of April 2010
http://worldcarfree.net/about_us/europe/jobs.php

- 3E Youth exchange in York (June 23-June 26, 2010)
During these days we will present and discuss the theory about the traffic
power hierarchy. A structuralist way of looking at the city and the problems
with cars and automobility. The participants will be working round this topic
in small groups, exploring the city of York and in the end of the seminar each
group are going to present one example of the traffic power hierarchy that they
have found on the streets.
If you would like to attend please send a motivation letter and an estimate of
your travel costs to [email protected] 
http://www.salto-youth.net/find-a-training/1700.html

- Towards Carfree Cities IX, York, UK (June 28-July 2, 2010)
We've said it before, but now it's getting close, the ninth TCC Conference! The
theme is "How Do We Get There?" focusing on bringing carfree communities to
life. The conference will include lectures and workshops, study tours and
active street conversion exercises, as well as active discussion on building a
sustainable future. You'll want to register as soon as possible, as
accommodation is filling up quickly. We can also definitely arrange a home stay
for you if you register in April.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email
[email protected]. For more information on Towards Carfree Cities IX, visit
http://www.worldcarfree.net/conference/.
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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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- Call for abstracts!
The 7th Cycling and Society Research Group symposium to be held at the
University of Oxford on Monday 6th September 2010 are making a call for
abstracts.
It can be up to 300 words by the deadline of Friday18th June 2010 and should be
sent to [email protected]. Abstracts will be reviewed by a panel of
members of the Cycling and Society Research Group and notification of
acceptance will be sent via e-mail to the corresponding author by Friday 16th
July 2010.

- Walk to Work Week (April 26-30)
Don't miss Walk to Work Week! The theme for this year's event is 'Get fit
without the hassle. Try walking to, from or during work.' It doesn't sound too
hard, let's just hope it's not raining...
http://www.walkingworks.org.uk/walk-to-work-week-2010

- Cycling and health in an ageing society (June 9-10 in Odense, Denmark)
AENEAS is a new European project in the framework of the Intelligent Energy
Europe (IEE) programme. Its acronym stands for "Attaining Energy-Efficient
Mobility in an Ageing Society." Their field is urban mobility of older people
and this June they're arranging the fourth AENEAS training workshop on
“Cycling and health in an ageing society”. 
http://www.aeneas-project.eu/?page=odensetrainingworkshop

- Ecotopia Biketour 2010
The Ecotopia Biketour is continuing to ride this summer in Europe! The exciting
news is that in 2010 it will start at the Towards Carfree Cities Conference in
York, England, then visit the Camp Action Climat in France, head through
Belgium and end at the Klima Camp in Germany. Theme for this year's tour is
Climate Justice.
http://www.ecotopiabiketour.net

- Velopalooza (June 4-13, Vancouver, Canada)
Velopalooza is a 10 days bike festival that offers many different activities
including a Superhero Ride! Check out the full programme at
http://www.velopalooza.ca/

- European Mobility Week (September 16-22)
This is a huge thing with different activities all over Europe. There is also
an award of the event, 2009 it went to the city of Gävle in Sweden: 
http://www.mobilityweek.eu/Gavle-Sweden-wins-European.html
http://www.mobilityweek.eu/

- Sustainable transport conference (June 8, London, UK)
ACT TravelWise is the UK’s premier network for all organisations working to
promote sustainable travel. Their Annual Policy Conference about sustainable
transport, alternatives to the car and the new role of the car should
definitely be interesting.
http://www.acttravelwise.org/events/2010/06/08
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IN THE NEWS >>
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- Cycling coming to Google Maps
Finally Google has added a layer that includes bicycle routes and trail to
their online map service. Very welkome and useful!
http://imaginenocars.blogspot.com/2010/03/bicycling-comes-to-google-maps.html

- New green bike line in San Francisco
"After the successes in New York City, in South San Francisco, in Portland, in
Long Beach, everywhere, they understand that painting bike lanes green is an
important aspect for both safety, and for bike rights, and making sure drivers
understand that cyclists do have a right to the road," said Marc Caswell, the
SFBC program manager.
http://tinyurl.com/y5wzmhg

- Road safety
Indian newspaper The Hindu about the U.N. resolution for road safety. In India,
death and disability from accidents have been rising steadily in tandem with
motorisation; and the majority of victims are pedestrians, cyclists, and
two-wheeler riders.
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article257532.ece

- One less car park in Zagreb 
On March 22 Croatian media announced that municipal company Zagrebparking has
pulled out of a controversial project to build an underground car park under
the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. The news came after the Zagreb city
assembly on 18th March adopted a set of conclusions aimed at stopping the
future destruction of the city centre by projects such as the Cvjetni luxury
flats, shopping centre and underground car park development currently being
vigorously resisted by Green Action and the Right to the City initiative (see
CB 31 and the new edition). 
http://www.nedamovarsavsku.net and www.zelena-akcija.hr

- Congratulations, Streetsblog!
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has announced that Streetsblog San
Francisco and SFBC volunteer Michael Helquist are the recipients of this year's
Golden Wheel Awards for "intelligent journalism that is leading the
conversation and helping more people understand the connection between
bicycling, great streets and a livable city".
http://tinyurl.com/y34fyxn

- Want to help European Investment Bank?
For the first time ever, after pressure from civil society organisations, the
European Investment Bank - the EU’s house bank - is holding a consultation on
its new transport lending strategy.  
Interested organizations and individuals are invited to comment on the Issues
Paper published at: http://tinyurl.com/y55ns3e
If anyone would like to give co-ordinated input with CEE Bankwatch Network
(http://www.bankwatch.org), contact annar (AT) bankwatch.org or pippa.gallop
(AT) bankwatch.org.

- "Anti-homeless" bus bench design draws complaints
Chengdu in China is trying what must be one of the most stupid and cynical ways
to end the homelessness: A bus bench that's impossible to sleep on.
Unfortunately (or fortuneately) they're no good to sit on either. 
http://www.chinahush.com/2010/03/29/the-anti-homeless-bus-stop-benches/

- About commuting
Streetsblog commenting on a column in the New York Times that says commuting is
making people miserable. It's not the whole truth...
http://streetsblog.net/2010/04/02/the-true-cost-of-a-miserable-commute/

- Always space for cars
Bicycle parking spaces at the Palace of Westminster have been scrapped to make
more room for ministerial cars. A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport
Association (ETA) said: “The hybrid cars used by ministers are green, but
nowhere near as environmentally friendly as bicycles. And this sets a terribly
poor example for planners responsible for the allocation of bicycle parking.”
We've only one thing to say: There are no green cars!
http://tinyurl.com/y7y22t5
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REPORTS >>
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- Freeways responsible for emptying out cities
A recent study shows that for every significant freeway that gets built in a
major city, population declines by about 18%. Read an interview with Nathaniel
Baum-Snow, author of the study, on Planetizen:
http://tinyurl.com/y5xqz2r
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MEDIA & NETWORKING  >>
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- Huge Hungarian Critical Mass
Spring is here! For all not so hardcore bikers it's time to start cykling
again. Here is some inspiration: Critical Mass in Budapest, Hungary two years
ago. Over 80.000 people on bikes, is it the worlds largest CM?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMsWObpEzSM
And if you happen to be in Budapest in April, check this out:
http://criticalmass.hu/blogbejegyzes/20100405/critical-mass-2010-04-24

- Survey for women on bikes
Are you a woman who rides a bicycle? Or are you a woman who would like to ride
a bicycle? Then the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP)
like you to participate in a survey about women and girls and bicycling. (If
you’re not a woman, perhaps you know a few females who fit into these
categories.) 
http://tinyurl.com/yfj2qft

- One year of carfree living
Read about how to free yourself from the car. Step by step. This blogger is
celebrating one year now. Congratulations!
http://imaginenocars.blogspot.com/2010/04/year-well-spent-one-year-spent-carfree.html
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CURIOS >>
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- Car sharing ftw!
Funny clip, but maybe they're taking it a litle bit too serious? Or not.
http://www.viddler.com/explore/failblog/videos/509/

- Car-eating robosaurus
If you have too many cars in your life, maybe you should buy this car-eating
robosaurus? It's so cool, amazing pictures!
http://jalopnik.com/tag/robosaurus/
http://io9.com/341419/buy-yourself-a-truck eating-robocar
 
- First bike ever?
A Chinese historian has recreated what he claims was the first pedal-powered
cycle ever invented - which he says was in use over 2,000 years before the
first western bicycle.
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/818853-was-this-the-worlds-first-ever-cycle
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SUPPORT WORLD CARFREE NETWORK >>
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Our joint carfree vision is only as strong as the people who support us. By
donating to WCN you'll strengthen the voice of the movement that's committed to
defending our right to a sound, sustainable future. For donating and joining as
a member, please visit: http://www.worldcarfree.net/support/ Your support will
make a huge difference.
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Bulletin #77 by Anna Nygård

World Carfree News - Monthly Newsletter
WORLD CARFREE NETWORK
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