the only car I ever owned was a
Mitsubishi Colt it was 13 years old when
I bought it I had little experience
buying cars driving or about cars in
general I bought this car because I was
moving from the Netherlands to the south
of Spain and I knew that in my new
hometown I would depend on a car to go
just about anywhere so I took the
journey down south in three days on my
own with my car full of stuff the first
two days were overwhelming terrifying I
hated driving especially on the Paris
Ring Road my car would start shaking if
I would try to get anything close to
hundred kilometres an hour and I needed
to check and refill the oil multiple
times a day but on the third day I
started enjoying my road trip I felt
free
I felt liberation on the open road the
sun was shining
I had my window open the music on my
hair in the wind I felt a little bit
like Thelma and Louise just without
Louise and in a very ugly car I felt
like my life as an adult had now really
started and that’s where my car
addiction kicked in freedom has since
the very beginning been the promise of
the automobile freedom adventure
independence and this has also been the
main message of car commercial since
about 1920 and marketing worked well
because today almost 100 years later we
still view the car as a symbol of
freedom and this message also helped us
to shape the relationship that we have
with our cars and we all know that the
bond we have with our car is much deeper
and much more emotional than with other
things that we own and that are just
functional like our washing machine some
of us would even rather ditch our
partner than this our car
and who of you has never talked to their
car or even given their car a name would
you also name your TV or your fridge but
this freedom we gained comes at a price
because the feeling of being free
quickly disappears when we’re stuck in
the almost inevitable traffic jam cars
are polluting and they have a big impact
on the environment and the car took over
our public space to space it should be
available to all of us like parks plazas
and streets it’s quite common that cars
occupy about 50% of public space in
towns and all of that for free often or
at least at a price that non car owners
would gladly pay for 14 square meters of
extra house garden storage or even a
picnic table we shaped our cities around
a car and its ever-growing hunger for
infrastructure and what is really
worrying is that today we still buy cars
in great numbers and population is
growing imagine people living in
countries with low car ownership making
different choices because of growing
economical welfare what if we would all
own a car or even two or three which is
not uncommon
where would we park them you don’t need
to be a rocket scientist to calculate
that 7 billion cars and Counting
would not fit and that the car would no
longer represent freedom the car is a
very practical way to get around and
sometimes even the only way what if you
need to move your sofa or if you need to
carry your plumbing tools with you all
day long or if you live in a very rural
area or depend on your car for your
daily commute but on a larger scale the
car is a very inefficient way to move
people because a car stand sparked 95%
of its time
that’s 23 out of 24 hours and this 5% of
time that the car is in use it carries
only 1.2 21.5 persons that is a lot of
wasted space and energy what is
different today is that we no longer
need to own a car to use one there are
plenty of available cars around in
theory 95% of all cars alternatives are
becoming widely available smart and
shared new transportation solutions come
to life in vast speed a lot of cities
are investing in cycling infrastructure
the automated vehicle is within sight
and smart algorithms are starting to
bring all the transportation options
together in one app so the tendency is
to think that the end of car ownership
is near because technology is here but
it’s not technology it’s us we overlook
our idea of freedom and our love affair
with the car we are addicted when I
moved back from Spain to the Netherlands
I faced a dilemma hold or let go I
decided to take the leap and let go of
my car because the car was a burden to
me it was very expensive it needed a lot
of maintenance I never knew if I could
rely on it I would spend a lot of time
finding a parking space because it was
never the fastest way to move around and
over time re-evaluated my need to own a
car again and again when my commute to
work at longer when all the people
around me started owning cars and when I
became a family of four but the burden
was always bigger than a benefit so with
the money I saved
I bought a good bike as my preferred
mode of transport I use public transport
whenever possible and I rent a car often
enough when convenient or just
and I can even afford the luxury of
being driven by a taxi sometimes I
choose whatever suits me or my family
best and still save money I realized
that the only reason why I even
considered owning a car was the fear of
the exception because we can’t stream
cars like we can music or films so what
if one day I would really need that car
and there wouldn’t be any available like
in case of rain or on a popular holiday
weekend but do we really want to live in
fear of the exception it’s time to
rethink and reframe our idea on freedom
to move what are you afraid of do you
want to lose or gain freedom because
it’s not technology that’s gonna save
everything and solve everything
it’s our fixed ideas our routines our
current frames and what is real freedom
mean actually is that using your car as
a default way to travel just because you
paid for it is that cities built to
facilitate cars what if we could really
be free and have the freedom of choice
then we could decide to travel
differently every day or every trip
depending on the purpose of the travel
the weather our travel companions your
need for exercise or your need for
carrying things with you or your desire
to read or work or app while you’re
traveling imagine having all of these
options at your disposal walking cycling
scootering ride hailing car sharing
buses trains and much more without the
massive costs of owning a car and our
public space would become free to
imagine we could all share our cars and
reduce the amount of cars parks on the
streets we could transform that space to
pleasant space for social interaction
for green or for our kids to play I want
to invite you to rethink what freedom to
move means free
and if you really really need that car
second or third car and because it’s
sometimes hard to imagine what we’re not
used to let’s make it into a challenge
like me tree Monday or an alcohol free
month let’s have a car free month in
which you change your habits you try new
ways and you keep track of your expenses
and you will see it’s probably much
easier than you imagine the options are
here the revolution is already happening
we just need to imagine that we can all
reshape transportation and our cities by
reframing
the idea of freedom to move thank you [Applause]
Mitsubishi Colt it was 13 years old when
I bought it I had little experience
buying cars driving or about cars in
general I bought this car because I was
moving from the Netherlands to the south
of Spain and I knew that in my new
hometown I would depend on a car to go
just about anywhere so I took the
journey down south in three days on my
own with my car full of stuff the first
two days were overwhelming terrifying I
hated driving especially on the Paris
Ring Road my car would start shaking if
I would try to get anything close to
hundred kilometres an hour and I needed
to check and refill the oil multiple
times a day but on the third day I
started enjoying my road trip I felt
free
I felt liberation on the open road the
sun was shining
I had my window open the music on my
hair in the wind I felt a little bit
like Thelma and Louise just without
Louise and in a very ugly car I felt
like my life as an adult had now really
started and that’s where my car
addiction kicked in freedom has since
the very beginning been the promise of
the automobile freedom adventure
independence and this has also been the
main message of car commercial since
about 1920 and marketing worked well
because today almost 100 years later we
still view the car as a symbol of
freedom and this message also helped us
to shape the relationship that we have
with our cars and we all know that the
bond we have with our car is much deeper
and much more emotional than with other
things that we own and that are just
functional like our washing machine some
of us would even rather ditch our
partner than this our car
and who of you has never talked to their
car or even given their car a name would
you also name your TV or your fridge but
this freedom we gained comes at a price
because the feeling of being free
quickly disappears when we’re stuck in
the almost inevitable traffic jam cars
are polluting and they have a big impact
on the environment and the car took over
our public space to space it should be
available to all of us like parks plazas
and streets it’s quite common that cars
occupy about 50% of public space in
towns and all of that for free often or
at least at a price that non car owners
would gladly pay for 14 square meters of
extra house garden storage or even a
picnic table we shaped our cities around
a car and its ever-growing hunger for
infrastructure and what is really
worrying is that today we still buy cars
in great numbers and population is
growing imagine people living in
countries with low car ownership making
different choices because of growing
economical welfare what if we would all
own a car or even two or three which is
not uncommon
where would we park them you don’t need
to be a rocket scientist to calculate
that 7 billion cars and Counting
would not fit and that the car would no
longer represent freedom the car is a
very practical way to get around and
sometimes even the only way what if you
need to move your sofa or if you need to
carry your plumbing tools with you all
day long or if you live in a very rural
area or depend on your car for your
daily commute but on a larger scale the
car is a very inefficient way to move
people because a car stand sparked 95%
of its time
that’s 23 out of 24 hours and this 5% of
time that the car is in use it carries
only 1.2 21.5 persons that is a lot of
wasted space and energy what is
different today is that we no longer
need to own a car to use one there are
plenty of available cars around in
theory 95% of all cars alternatives are
becoming widely available smart and
shared new transportation solutions come
to life in vast speed a lot of cities
are investing in cycling infrastructure
the automated vehicle is within sight
and smart algorithms are starting to
bring all the transportation options
together in one app so the tendency is
to think that the end of car ownership
is near because technology is here but
it’s not technology it’s us we overlook
our idea of freedom and our love affair
with the car we are addicted when I
moved back from Spain to the Netherlands
I faced a dilemma hold or let go I
decided to take the leap and let go of
my car because the car was a burden to
me it was very expensive it needed a lot
of maintenance I never knew if I could
rely on it I would spend a lot of time
finding a parking space because it was
never the fastest way to move around and
over time re-evaluated my need to own a
car again and again when my commute to
work at longer when all the people
around me started owning cars and when I
became a family of four but the burden
was always bigger than a benefit so with
the money I saved
I bought a good bike as my preferred
mode of transport I use public transport
whenever possible and I rent a car often
enough when convenient or just
and I can even afford the luxury of
being driven by a taxi sometimes I
choose whatever suits me or my family
best and still save money I realized
that the only reason why I even
considered owning a car was the fear of
the exception because we can’t stream
cars like we can music or films so what
if one day I would really need that car
and there wouldn’t be any available like
in case of rain or on a popular holiday
weekend but do we really want to live in
fear of the exception it’s time to
rethink and reframe our idea on freedom
to move what are you afraid of do you
want to lose or gain freedom because
it’s not technology that’s gonna save
everything and solve everything
it’s our fixed ideas our routines our
current frames and what is real freedom
mean actually is that using your car as
a default way to travel just because you
paid for it is that cities built to
facilitate cars what if we could really
be free and have the freedom of choice
then we could decide to travel
differently every day or every trip
depending on the purpose of the travel
the weather our travel companions your
need for exercise or your need for
carrying things with you or your desire
to read or work or app while you’re
traveling imagine having all of these
options at your disposal walking cycling
scootering ride hailing car sharing
buses trains and much more without the
massive costs of owning a car and our
public space would become free to
imagine we could all share our cars and
reduce the amount of cars parks on the
streets we could transform that space to
pleasant space for social interaction
for green or for our kids to play I want
to invite you to rethink what freedom to
move means free
and if you really really need that car
second or third car and because it’s
sometimes hard to imagine what we’re not
used to let’s make it into a challenge
like me tree Monday or an alcohol free
month let’s have a car free month in
which you change your habits you try new
ways and you keep track of your expenses
and you will see it’s probably much
easier than you imagine the options are
here the revolution is already happening
we just need to imagine that we can all
reshape transportation and our cities by
reframing
the idea of freedom to move thank you [Applause]
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