CarFree 2001 "Charters"

Backdrop & Strategy

Here's the Car Free Charter concept in a nutshell.

We thought it best to began simply by roughing out some possible raw materials for this idea, and then leave it to each local advocate and group who are right on top of their local scene to ponder and start to fill in with what will certainly be more varied and interesting charter content than we could ever develop by ourselves from "ECFD Centrale".

Bearing in mind that it is a very considerable undertaking for any city to go into a full-scale car free day project of the sort that we have seen of late in Bogota and Chengdu, and bearing in mind also that our bottom-line interest is not so much the car free day per se but rather the idea of using it as a tool to get a strong and prepared constituency to begin to move in the direction of a more sustainable and more just transportation system -- let us see what we can do on the occasion of this first Earth Car Free Day to get as much support as we can for this trickle-up approach to sustainability.

To accomplish this, we posit three, possibly four, key levels of society that we wish to target for information, action and support. In summary:

  • Cities and government administrations
  • Groups of many sorts (spanning not only public, private and volunteer sectors, but also including ad hoc groupings that may spring up for just these purposes.)
  • Individuals and families
  • Media? (Whether or not we will do well to try to develop as well some sort of Charter or Compact with the media, is something that we need to discuss.)
Once we have settled on our target groups, the next step is to find and refine some sort of vehicle for getting in touch with all who are concerned in any given place, and which can then help mobilize their participation in some meaningful way. Whatever it is, it will have to be an open and thoroughly flexible instrument that is capable of taking into account the very large differences that exists from one person, place or group and another, whether in terms of their situation, information, interest and/or commitment to this sort of thing. Whatever we manage needs to be simple, agreeably worded, and broadly enticing. It should somehow be logical and (relatively) easy to do -- and certainly not accusatory, contentious, and self-satisfied (a lousy way to win a war). We would ideally like to have a lot of big total victories, but failing that a whole long string of small accomplishments will do quite nicely.

As important is the means in which we draw these vehicle to their attention -- which in our case is the world-wide partner network that we have spent some years in building up, and which itself is to serve as the base for building a much larger network of people and groups who come together to collaborate on all aspects of this planetary team project. These groups and teams will work with their specific regions and geographic areas of presence and expertise, and in other cases via their own developed international networks (examples: handicapped transport, carsharing, cycle groups, Walk to School associates, etc.).

The idea in each case is to put before them something that anyone could and would want to sign: the mayor of Tokyo, Dallas, London or some small town, a neighborhood group or an individual who has decided to give this more thought and at least the first cut of concrete commitment on 19th April.

We thus need to think each of these strategic statements through from back to front and then the other way.

The final version of each should certainly all fit easily on a single uncrowded page. And maybe (or maybe not) it should offer different possibilities for commenting, tailoring or fine tuning according to each respondent's taste, possibilities and own ideas.

Common Preamble?

It is probably going to be strategic and good practice, if we try to install a common language and overall philosophic thrust which serves to bring these very different statements and commitments into a broader whole, with our common thrust to sustainability and social justice. This may take the form of a Preamble, perhaps along the lines which for now we have placed into the draft statement for the Mayors.

Working draft versions of Charters

Also see the section on Self-Organization for further ideas and inputs.

Your Suggestions/Contributions:

Okay, you can do better. That's just what we want. This is where you post your suggestions for changes, additions and comments. We all thank you in advance for your vigorous and most helpful participation.

EarthCFDpostmaster@newmobility.org

Back to top

Home @Forum Send E-mail
Last updated 15 December 2000. © 1994-2000 EcoPlan , Paris.
Best viewed with Internet Explorer 4.0 or better.
Site Map    What's New    Search