|
22 September marks this year’s World Car-free Day, the ninth time this international event has been organised. Established in 2000 by the World Car-free Network to coincide with European Mobility Week, the day marks cooperation between official and unofficial partners in more than 1,000 cities in 40 countries. The underlying philosophy of World Car-free Day is simple: cars are too dominant in modern cities. The aim is to celebrate cities and public life without the noise and pollution resulting from much of today’s modern transport.
The car-free movement has been gaining momentum over the years. The organisation argues that worldwide economic difficulties and the dire financial situation faced by many car manufacturers have led many people to re-evaluate their relationship with their autos. Rising petrol prices have also affected transport considerations. The car-free network is grounded on the view that for social and environmental reasons, attempts to provide high quality housing areas should not attempt to accommodate the car.
|
Capital city air no danger to residents
The quality of air in cities is affected most strongly by traffic, since exhaust fumes are spewed into the air from the city’s roads, gradually floating upwards. Urban traffic produces both direct (exhaust fume particles) and indirect (road dust) particle emissions. Diesel engines produce a greater amount of exhaust fume particles than do petrol engines. Diesel-fuelled freight traffic produces just over half of all direct emissions, while buses produce around 15 per cent. Individual cars account for just under 20 per cent.
Air quality in the capital region is typically satisfactory and does not currently constitute a health threat to healthy people living or working in the area. In terms of the impact of poor-quality air on health, the essential factor is how long a person spends breathing in the air. Impurities in the outside air also make their way into buildings, either through ventilation or other air leaks.
Air quality has improved in recent years. A slight further improvement is also predicted, despite a simultaneous steep increase in traffic. This is because new cars will produce fewer emissions than the vehicles currently plying Finnish roads.Source: Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV)
|
Although called a car-free day, the movement discourages all types of motorised transport from motorbikes to tuk-tuks. Their charter explains that not only have cars become one of the leading causes of death and injury in almost every nation, they also distort our urban environment. As the charter puts it, cars ‘replace lively, pleasant, walkable, human-scaled communities with low-density, sprawled-out environments designed for getting elsewhere as fast as possible. Space for social interaction and cultural exchange is diluted and dispersed, inhibiting the informal social contacts that bind societies together. Life is pushed indoors, separated and compartmentalised.’ The aim is to reduce these effects.
The occasion is being marked in Finland by activities throughout the country. The car-free day is just the culmination of a series of events that began on 16 September in conjunction with the aforementioned European Mobility Week. Car-free events will be organised in city centres on the day itself, in Kotka, Tampere, Turku, Lohja, Lahti, Oulu, and Jyväskylä, amongst other places.
Leaving the car at home and travelling with public transport remains an economical choice. Adults' single tickets and 'value' tickets within Helsinki, Espoo, Kerava and Kirkkonummi cost one euro, while children and other discount groups travel for just 50 cents.
www.worldcarfree.net
www.autotonpaiva.fi (in Finnish)
Nick Barlow - HT
Lehtikuva - Kimmo Mäntylä
|
