A rather timely report for our community as Progress Energy talks
about building a new nuclear power plant and the county administration
faces demands for more roads to accomodate more cars.
Freiburg, Germany, is the center for solar energy in Germany, a result
of fighting and defeating a proposed nuclear power plant close by. It
was the last nuke in Germany to request a permit and all nukes in
Germany will be shut down by 2020.
Harry
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1220/p01s03-woeu.html
New German community models car-free living
By Isabelle de Pommereau | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
FREIBURG, GERMANY
It's pickup time at the Vauban kindergarten here at the edge of the Black
Forest, but there's not a single minivan waiting for the kids. Instead, a
convoy of helmet-donning moms - bicycle trailers in tow - pedal up to the
entrance.
Welcome to Germany's best-known environmentally friendly neighborhood and
a successful experiment in green urban living. The Vauban development -
2,000 new homes on a former military base 10 minutes by bike from the
heart of Freiburg - has put into practice many ideas that were once
dismissed as eco-fantasy but which are now moving to the center of public
policy.
With gas prices well above $6 per gallon across much of the continent,
Vauban is striking a chord in Western Europe as communities encourage
people to be less car-dependent. Just this week, Paris unveiled a new
electric tram in a bid to reduce urban pollution and traffic congestion.
"Vauban is clearly an offer for families with kids to live without cars,"
says Jan Scheurer, an Australian researcher who has studied the Vauban
model extensively. "It was meant to counter urban sprawl - an offer for
families not to move out to the suburbs and give them the same, if better
quality of life. And it is very successful."
There are numerous incentives for Vauban's 4,700 residents to live
car-free: Carpoolers get free yearly tramway passes, while parking spots -
available only in a garage at the neighborhood's edge - go for 17,500
(US$23,000). Forty percent of residents have bought spaces, many just for
the benefit of their visiting guests.
As a result, the car-ownership rate in Vauban is only 150 per 1,000
inhabitants, compared with 430 per 1,000 inhabitants in Freiburg proper.
In contrast, the US average is 640 household vehicles per 1,000 residents.
But some cities - such as Davis, Calif., where 17 percent of residents
commute by bike - have pioneered a car-free lifestyle that is similar to
Vauban's model.
Vauban, which is located in the southwestern part of the country, owes its
existence, at least in part, to Freiburg - a university town, like Davis -
that has a reputation as Germany's ecological capital.
In the 1970s, the city became the cradle of Germany's powerful antinuclear
movement after local activists killed plans for a nuclear power station
nearby. The battle brought energy-policy issues closer to the people and
increased involvement in local politics. With a quarter of its people
voting for the Green Party, Freiburg became a political counterweight in
the conservative state of Baden-Wrttemberg.
At about the same time, Freiburg, a city of 216,000 people, revolutionized
travel behavior. It made its medieval center more pedestrian-friendly,
laid down a lattice of bike paths, and introduced a flat rate for tramways
and buses.
Environmental research also became a backbone of the region's economy,
which boasts Germany's largest solar-research center and an international
center for renewable energy. Services such as installing solar panels and
purifying wastewater account for 3 percent of jobs in the region,
according to city figures.
Little wonder then, that when the French Army closed the 94-acre base that
Vauban now occupies in 1991, a group of forward-thinking citizens took the
initiative to create a new form of city living for young families.
"We knew the city had a duty to make a plan. We wanted to get as involved
as possible," says Andreas Delleske, then a physics student who led the
grass-roots initiative that codesigned Vauban. "And we were accepted as a
partner of the city."
In 1998, Freiburg bought land from the German government and worked with
Delleske's group to lay out a master plan for the area, keeping in mind
the ecological, social, economic, and cultural goals of reducing energy
levels while creating healthier air and a solid infrastructure for young
families. Rather than handing the area to a real estate developer, the
city let small homeowner cooperatives design and build their homes from
scratch.
In retrospect, "It would have been much simpler to give a big developer a
piece of land and say, 'Come back five years later with a plan,' " says
Roland Veith, the Freiburg city official in charge of Vauban.
But the result is a "master plan of an ecological city ... unique in its
holistic approach," says Peter Heck, a professor of material-flow
management at Germany's University of Trier, pointing out that this was a
community-wide effort involving engineers, politicians, city planners, and
residents - not just an environmental group's pilot program.
Today, rows of individually designed, brightly painted buildings line
streets that are designed to be too narrow for cars. There are four
kindergartens, a Waldorf school, and plenty of playgrounds - a good thing,
because a third of Vauban's residents are under age 18, bucking the trend
in a graying country.
As Germany's population ages - and shrinks - experts say Vauban's model
will become more important as officials increasingly tailor-make
communities in an effort to attract citizens .
"We have fewer young people. What you need now is a good quality of life
with good services, a good infrastructure for kids and older people," says
Thomas Schleifnecker, a Hannover-based urban planner.
Across Europe, similar projects are popping up. Copenhagen, for instance,
maintains a fleet of bikes for public use that is financed through
advertising on bicycle frames.
But what makes Vauban unique, say experts, is that "it's as much a
grass-roots initiative as it is pursued by the city council," says Mr.
Scheurer. "It brings together the community, the government, and the
private sector at every state of the game."
As more cities follow Vauban's example, some see its approach taking off.
"Before you had pilot projects. Now it's like a movement," says Mr. Heck.
"The idea of saving energy for our landscape is getting into the basic
planning procedure of German cities."
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