Change What?

Car Free Mile End was hatched as an idea in July of 2009. At the time the main, albeit nebulous, idea was that of a car-free section of Mile End: probably a portion of St. Viateur Ouest turned into a pedestrian zone. Once the discussion began to evolve into an actual group of people actively brainstorming about urban planning, community activism and politics, we began to realise that a simplistic model of a closed-to-traffic street was not necessarily the best objective to have in mind.

This has actually been our stance for quite some time now, and we’ve even considered changing our name to reflect that. But after considerable debate, we agreed that no better name has materialised, so we’re committed to our slightly provocative name that will forever require that we explain ourselves every time that name is uttered.

And so, it may (still) be news to many readers that turning St. Viateur into the next Prince Arthur is not our goal. I’m guessing that as this news sinks in, it will provide many of the merchants along the street with relief: Car Free Mile End is not a threat to the level of commerce that they are accustomed to. Indeed, we are committed to developing ways to enhance business in the area, and we’re convinced that exploring car-free ideas and options is the best way to achieve this.

So what do we have in mind? This is the question that we are continuing to answer as we proceed, hopefully in collaboration with all the stakeholders in the neighbourhood. It is the process by which this gets done that is what we are currently developing as a group. One key objective, for example, is to set up a workshop with as many stake-holders (especially merchants) as possible, which will allow for us all to brainstorm and troubleshoot together.

Make no mistake, we may not wish to install permanent barricades on the street, but we do wish to usher in some permanent changes to the current arrangements surrounding the public space that is the Street and how it is used. There is much in the way of precedent around the world that proves time and again that fears and assumptions we cling to when it comes to such change are often wildly unfounded. There are countless world-class car-free spaces around the world that represent the way of the future in an age where the carbon footprint of human activity is fast becoming the primary criterion by which we do business and conduct our lives.

Our job at Car Free Mile End, therefore is to explain what exactly the problem is with the way things are and the path we are on as individual consumers, as a neighbourhood and as a society. In answering this we inevitably turn to the combustion engine, and more importantly, the individual ownership and perpetual use of automobiles.

The car

We start with the premise that with respect to the car, the way things are right now is not desirable. Things could be so much better. But instead, for reasons that are too numerous and complex to go into here, we have grown to accept and celebrate the presence the car in our lives despite its great many drawbacks. Please allow me to rattle off some of the more salient negative aspects of “car culture” that typically get downplayed or lost in the sophisticated marketing campaigns and the general cultural acceptance of the car’s seductive qualities.

Most obvious is its horrific safety record, and ongoing potency as a lethal force, physically as well as a source of toxic pollution. But it is also on the record as the destroyer of communities by the sheer physical dominance of its presence and speed. It is the culprit behind sprawl and population flight from the classic downtown neighbourhoods, leaving ghettos, and ghost towns behind. It is that which commuter bottleneck traffic jams are made of, adding enormously each and every day, to carbon emissions and all the consequences of that.

The car is the symbol of independent consumer expression, and is a huge part of a driver’s identity and status. It has been the mode by which consumerism largely unfolds, and as an industry has been one of the pillars of the entire economy. This may seem like a positive attribute, until you consider the predicament of being over-dependent on the non-renewable fuel that cars run on. If indeed the extraction of petroleum is running up against the hard limits of geology these days, then it may well prove that the automobile represents an over-investment in a way of life that has no future.

To be fair, the Mile End is not a suburb, and it probably still has more non-car households than car owners (not actually sure about that). But one thing is for sure – even if just anecdotally, the Mile End is far more over-run by cars now, than ever before in its history. Indeed, it was originally built as a neighbourhood served well by an extensive tramway system that linked the residents and workers to the downtown and the rest of Montreal.

Before the car, yes there were things we could not do, and yes, the car is a fantastically liberating tool. But there are other ways –through progressive business models and new methods ownership and of sharing – in short, by better design and planning we could model our community and living arrangement as an expression of knowing better: having a better idea of what to do given the circumstances.

Obviously no-one can hope to eradicate all cars in the world overnight, nor would we want to, but we can work to provide incentives – moral and otherwise – to do without, or to do a lot less with a car and much more without one. Hopefully, eventually it will be enough for some to rid themselves of their car entirely.

Looking back, looking forward

This past summer was punctuated by three events that took place last summer under the banner of Journées des bons Voisins. They stand as Car Free Mile End’s main achievement to date. Each date was planned as a street-closure that we affectionately referred to as “street-openings, and were designed to get a sense of the public space in the absence of cars. We believe we successfully fostered good old-fashioned neighbourhood activity without resorting to cheap commercial activity (as seen during other street closures elsewhere in the city), and without staging a full-blown party or festival. Yes there was music, and there was an artists’ market, but in general, there was (hopefully) a sense of normal neighbourhood living – sans automobiles.

Some of the most enticing design concepts that inspires us is to take this car free type of space (and attitude), and only allow the presence of cars into it on a whole new set of terms where the pedestrian sets the pace and rhythm of the Street, which is an extension of the sidewalks. Drivers who do enter must do so with patience and respect, and may find that they’d rather be walking.

This simple description conveys our basic impression of existing models that work in places like the Netherlands where they use the term woonerf. It’s a name that we’ve adopted, even if the specifics to the Dutch version are not necessarily part of our vision. In fact, as suggested earlier, our vision has yet to be fully defined, and should be fleshed out with your help.

Help us to define woonerf on our own terms.

P.S.

I am back at my post of writing weekly entries here. Next week we'll discuss the outrage expressed about the proposed changes to parking in the Plateau.