Real freedom: from the car, not with the car

Efforts to persuade people to drive less must address the personal as well as the collective benefits of reduced car use, writes John Dales

How We Live Now, UK. If we are to live differently, and we must try, we have to engage with this reality.

I’m writing this on 22 September, which is (as you may know) World Car Free Day (WCFD), an initiative I heartily support. I mention it by way of returning to the issue I raised in my last piece (LTT 23 July) concerning public messaging around the pressing need for less driving, and I start this time by reflecting on the very phrase ‘Car Free’.

A quick look at what some of those promoting WCFD say about it is quite illuminating. The Washington DC organisers say it has...

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