Freiburg

Our visit to Freiburg made me reconsider a city’s relationship to transportation because of its high bike density and lack of cars. Immediately after arriving in Freiburg I noticed the hundreds of bikes along the sidewalks and the lack of car traffic in the streets. As we learned more about the city through guided tours and lectures, I learned about the intentional decisions made by city planners to discourage the use of personal cars and encourage the use of public transportation and bikes.

During the green industry park tour with Hans, we learned about how the construction of Freiburg’s city hall intentionally discouraged the use of personal cars with deliberate architectural planning. With nearly one thousand employees, a parking lot several times the size of the city hall itself would be necessary to house the vehicles of each employee. Instead, the city has taken measures to encourage other forms of transporting to work. The parking lot itself is a small paid parking lot that does not have enough space for each employee. As an alternative, city hall has a large free bike lot for employees to park their bikes after biking to work. There are also showers within the building as well as a child care center to further support non-car transport. The location of the building is intentionally located next to several train and bus stations, allowing workers to easily commute by public transportation. Additionally, the city hall offers reduced prices for rail/bus tickets, further encouraging its use.

These decisions made by the city hall support a sustainable workplace and keeps in line with Freiburg’s attitude towards sustainable development. By making it difficult to drive a personal car to work, the city hall has effectively encouraged more sustainable ways of commuting daily to work. Decisions like these contribute to sustainable cities and environmentally conscious lifestyles. Though structurally different from Los Angeles, this visit made me think about how employers in Los Angeles could encourage sustainable transportation. Providing resources such as showers and childcare, as well as reduced transportation fare could help promote sustainable lifestyles and reduce the high amount car traffic of everyday commutes to work.