In Los Angeles we have a serious problem with traffic and parking. And across America we have a problem with obesity. I propose planning cities so that there is a perimeter of parking lots on the outskirts of the city. In Los Angeles this would apply to smaller subsections of the city. People would park on the outskirts of metropolitan areas. In order to get around the city they would need to either walk or take a bus.

This plan wouldn't solve the problem of incredible traffic on the freeways. However, people would be able to still use their cars to travel long distances, but would have to use other means to move within metropolitan areas.

In order to convert cities to this plan, I would suggest that money be put into converting buildings on the perimeter of the city into ones with underground parking. I imagine this being a very long term plan with changes taking place slowly over time.
-- lsteinho, Jun 29 2002

Carfree.com... http://www.carfree.com/
...the web site that goes with the book. [phoenix, Jun 30 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) A car-free city research report http://www.xs4all.nl/~rigolett/CFDOC.HTM
[phoenix, Jun 30 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) Groningen http://www.globalid...socinv/SIC-100.HTML
A car-free city. [phoenix, Jun 30 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Bremen http://www.epe.be/w.../tcui/example7.html
A car-free city. [phoenix, Jun 30 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Many places in Britain have "park and ride" facilities, with large out-of-town carparks connected by buses or sometimes trains to city centres.
-- pottedstu, Jun 29 2002


Baked.
-- phoenix, Jun 30 2002


It could work.
-- Mithras, Mar 24 2003



random, halfbakery