Clipped from:
World Carfree Network, Press release: http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd/wcd-pr2009.php
World Carfree Day is an annual celebration of cities and public life, free from the noise, stress and pollution of cars. Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets and neighbourhoods to celebrate World Carfree Day and to remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated societies.
World Carfree Day, promoted and supported by the World Carfree Network, is intended to advance the economic, social and environmental benefits of self-propelled or mass transportation. It is meant to promote more sustainable ways of transportation and new ways of building and thinking the urbanism of our cities, allowing streets to be a living space, rather than only a transit space.
With the global economy in freefall, carmakers are facing turbulent times and people around the world are re-evaluating their relationship with the car. So now is the perfect timing to try out the alternatives, spread the carfree word, join or start a World Carfree Day in your area! It is also time to push for a new use of car factories that could be used to build public transportation, providing employment and allowing us to build a better urban environment.
Before the 10th anniversary of World Carfree Day next year, let the 2009 edition be a showcase for how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars 365 days a year!
Resources
World Carfree Network, www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd, invites organisations and individuals everywhere to share information. Any questions or for more information about World Carfree Day in your area, please contact:
Ms. Sara Stout
Tel. (+1) 718-344-8154
E-mail: sarastout [at]worldcarfree.net
Mr. Clayton Ryon
Email: clayton.ryon[at]gmail.com
Notes for editors
1. World Carfree Day was established in 2000 as a grassroots movement by the World Carfree Network to coincide with the European Mobility Week. It has grown to involve official and unofficial participants in over 1,000 cities in 40 countries.
2. The World Carfree Network coordinates the promotion of global events of the World Carfree Day from its offices in Prague, Czech Republic. Activities of the Network include the publication of the quarterly Carbusters Magazine and other carfree-related literature, and conducting the annual Towards Carfree Cities Conference.
3. The carfree movement is a broad, emerging network of individuals and organizations brought together by a shared belief that cars are far too dominant in most modern cities. The goal of the movement is to create places where car use is greatly reduced or eliminated, and to liberate road and parking space for public use.
4. For more information, visit www.worldcarfree.net. For a list of WCD events in cities around the world, visit http://editthis.info/wcd/Main_Page
Quotes
“World Carfree Day is not only a celebration of fun ways to get around the city, but a demonstration of what is possible: unclogged streets, clean air, and city traffic participants with their usual stress levels turned down drastically.”
– Carlos Pardo, Sustainable Urban Transport Project – Bogota, Colombia
“Streets overfilled with big-engined cars and traffic jams and in need of bicycle infrastructure are the main reasons that make us act. And of course we’d like to be part of the global carfree process and make our small citizens’ contribution into the European integration of our country!”
– Viktor Zahreba, Kyiv Cyclists’ Association in Kiev, Ukraine