Towards Carfree Cities IX - Programme Summary

Schedule

Monday 28 June: Welcome
Day 1 will introduce the conference theme through presentations and workshops, and also introduce delegates to the City of York with a walking tour in the medieval city centre.

Tuesday 29 June: Open Day
All events on Tuesday will be open to entry (by voluntary donation) for members of the public.

Wednesday, 30 June: Open Space
Wednesday morning will be given over to 'open space' discussions, in which the delegates will themselves come up with twelve topics for open discussion.

Thursday, 1 July: Professionals' Day
Thursday's presentations and workshops will be accessible to all but are aimed in particular towards planners, developers, architects and professionals in fields related to transport and urban planning

Friday 2 July: World Carfree Network AGM (Annual General Meeting)
World Carfree Network members will have the chance to have their say and get involved more actively.

Saturday 3 July: Post-Conference Excursion: Tyneside
Taking the scenic Durham Coast railway, we will see the Tyne & Wear Metro light rail system and several contrasting redevelopment projects in Newcastle.

Sunday 4 July: Post-Conference Excursion: Yorkshire Coast
A trip by charter bus to three scenic former fishing villages with interesting remnants of their carfree past.

Keynote Speakers

• Dr Barbara Schmucki (Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History, University of York) - The Quick and The Dead: A History of the Pedestrian
• J.H. Crawford (author of Carfree Cities and Carfree Design Manual) - A Vision of Carfree Cities for the 21st Century
• Professor John Whitelegg (Liverpool John Moores University and Stockholm Environment Institute) - Designing a Zero-Carbon Transport System: Action Speaks Louder than Words

Programme Highlights

A rich and varied programme will cover topics as diverse as urban planning, the psychology of car dependence, cycling promotion, freight and transport activism. The conference's mix of academic, practitioner and activist perspectives is intended to promote knowledge sharing and the cross-fertilisation of ideas.

The afternoons will be focused on interactive, hands-on activities such as workshops and excursions.

We have a range of exciting workshops covering practical carfree actions and the latest research on how carfree cities could be made to work:

• From Carfree Day to Carfree Cities: campaigners and policymakers from around Europe will talk about successful carfree actions such as 'PARK(ing) Days' and street conversions, and how these have been or could be scaled up over larger districts and ultimately across a whole city.
• Putting the People into Carfree Cities: Based on the "Understanding Walking and Cycling" research project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, this workshop will investigate people’s perceptions, practices and experiences of walking and cycling, and the interventions required to make it easier for more people to organise their everyday lives around these sustainable modes.
• DIY Streets: Speakers from Sustrans, the leading British sustainable transport charity, will show what can be done to existing streets to encourage low car use. The workshop will then encourage participants to ‘design it yourself’. A key part of this task will be to introduce the practical constraints to undertaking DIY streets and how these may be overcome.
• Carfree Clinic for local authority policymakers and planning officers, hosted by World Transport Policy & Practice editor and Lancaster Councillor Professor John Whitelegg.
• The Psychology of Car Dependence. The aim of this session is to arrive at a common framework on how to implement effective strategies to achieve behaviour change at the levels of policymaking, project development and individual use of public space and modes of transport. Hosted by Carlos-Felipe Pardo.
• Building Carfree: a workshop bringing together developers with experience of or interest in designing and building carfree communities. Where do we go from here?
• Freight Transport in Carfree Cities, facilitated by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. This session will investigate the challenges of accommodating freight in carfree cities, using examples from existing carfree areas and drawing them together with some of the latest thinking on urban freight and consolidation centres. How might carfree and truck-free areas can fit into real life supply chains?
• Creating your Own Social Marketing Campaign for Cycling, with Atkins Consultancy. A hands-on walk-through of social marketing techniques. Participants will be presented with a scenario relevant to their own needs, will have the opportunity to role play, and will end the session with an outline strategy document that they can take home and use.

Excursions and evening activities

Planned excursions include:

• a guided tour of the National Railway Museum (the world's largest), including a talk on eco-trains
• a guided walking tour of York's medieval city centre, including its transport and urban form history
• a psycho-geography tour exploring alternative ways of looking at cities
• an action reclaiming the streets for pedestrians and cyclists
• a field design of a carfree neighbourhood, with Carfree Cities author J.H. Crawford
• bicycle tours of York's cycling infrastructure
• leisure cycle rides, just for fun
• a walking tour along York's medieval city walls

Evening activities will include:

• Monday: a pub crawl following the York Overground Pub Map, a pastiche of the London Underground Map
• Tuesday: a film night at a local cinema, with the year's best short films on the carfree theme
• Wednesday: an evening boat 'Cruise on the Ouse' river tour with dinner (optional), entertainment and drinks on board YorkBoat's River Palace
• Thursday: a street party community event with entertainment and music
• Friday: a closing party with live local bands and comedy

Please contact with any questions.

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