Build a new form of development, the MarketTown, that eliminates the need to drive, with a sufficient critical mass to support a local economy where all day-to-day destinations are within walking distance. 

EV’s are not the answer. Road charges are not the answer.  MarketTowns are.

Eliminate the need for transport for 10,000 people at a time

While car ads pitch the joy of driving the open road, the reality is we drive or ride because our destinations are separated by roads, rail tracks or ferry routes.

If we are serious about the climate footprint of transport, begin by understanding why people need daily transport to accomplish the mundane chores of daily life.

The biggest reason is zoning, the separation of destination. We live in a residential zone, shop in a commercial zone, attend school on a remote campus that segregates children from adult role models, work in an office, commercial or industrial zone. We play in a recreation zone with parks, sports fields, restaurants and places of conviviality. We even segregate our old people into retirement villages when they no longer drive, isolating them from young people and breaking the cultural threads of elder to child.

To eliminate the need for this transportation, one needs a critical mass of people to support the businesses and services those people visit on a daily basis. That number is 10,000 people.

If those 10,000 people live in a MarketTown that has an intentionally-structured local economy that intentionally discourages outbound commuters, 10,000 people shift from vehicles to walking, cycling or NEVs (neighbourhood electric vehicles).

And it’s not just fossil fuels that are eliminated. The second largest particulate pollution in the oceans is rubber dust from tyres. EV’s contribute more because they are heavier.

The 10,000 people in a MarketTown opt out of contributing to climate change and other forms of planetary pollution. They do so painlessly, and their cost of living drops by about 12% – the average a family spends on transport.