Carfree or Car-light Places

[danbrotherston]

What are the biggest car-free or biggest, most car-light places in Canada you can think of?

I mean, I'd include places like Old Montreal, which is not car-free at all, but is very pedestrian focused and car-limited.

I think it is so sad a large pedestrianized/car-free area doesn't exist here. So many places have that as a norm, and whether it's for tourism purposes, heritage purposes, city age (although I can tell you it's not only old cities with pedestrian only areas), or night markets/shopping, they're still generally the places to be at in a city. Communal spaces seem common in most cultures and settlement histories, and here they're mostly relegated to parks, sidewalks and our backyards. A shame really. Glad you asked this question.

It's embarrassing to me that in Toronto, Kensington Market isn't car free - or even car-free during 'business hours'.

The only places I can think of - remote places up north - but probably not what you're thinking, Toronto's waterfront area, or some small town 'downtown' like Elora. Isn't Dundas St in London kinda pedestrian only (haven't been there in a while, just heard a rumor)

Yeah, this more or less reflects my thoughts.  Dundas St. in London, being my original hometown, is rather...controversial. They intended it to be a flex street, but sadly the policies have failed and the street is still dominated by cars--even worse in some ways, they are parked all over the sidewalk. That being said, apparently council just voted to actually physically limit vehicles, so maybe it will improve.

[Chris]

What are the biggest car-free or biggest, most car-light places in Canada you can think of?

I mean, I'd include places like Old Montreal, which is not car-free at all, but is very pedestrian focused and car-limited.

I think it is so sad a large pedestrianized/car-free area doesn't exist here. So many places have that as a norm, and whether it's for tourism purposes, heritage purposes, city age (although I can tell you it's not only old cities with pedestrian only areas), or night markets/shopping, they're still generally the places to be at in a city. Communal spaces seem common in most cultures and settlement histories, and here they're mostly relegated to parks, sidewalks and our backyards. A shame really. Glad you asked this question.

It's embarrassing to me that in Toronto, Kensington Market isn't car free - or even car-free during 'business hours'.

The only places I can think of - remote places up north - but probably not what you're thinking, Toronto's waterfront area, or some small town 'downtown' like Elora. Isn't Dundas St in London kinda pedestrian only (haven't been there in a while, just heard a rumor)

When this topic comes up I always dream that we can have a 16th Street Mall here from Downtown to Uptown. That's a little long but it would be pretty cool.

King St from Cedar to Wellington in Kitchener would be the same length as 16th Street. Add a car-free trunk on Gaukel to Victoria Park.

[tomh009]

The only places I can think of - remote places up north - but probably not what you're thinking, Toronto's waterfront area, or some small town 'downtown' like Elora. Isn't Dundas St in London kinda pedestrian only (haven't been there in a while, just heard a rumor)

Even Elora isn't particularly car-light: like most Ontario small towns, such as St Jacobs, the road runs through the town and pedestrian/bicycle traffic really is secondary. And then there are few amenities in the downtown, so you need to leave the relatively comfortable area far more often.

[jamincan]

Last summer much of the downtown area in Elora was closed off to cars and it was pretty amazing. I think it was a Covid "slow streets" thing, but I hope it sticks around.

[plam]

The only places I can think of - remote places up north - but probably not what you're thinking, Toronto's waterfront area, or some small town 'downtown' like Elora. Isn't Dundas St in London kinda pedestrian only (haven't been there in a while, just heard a rumor)

Even Elora isn't particularly car-light: like most Ontario small towns, such as St Jacobs, the road runs through the town and pedestrian/bicycle traffic really is secondary. And then there are few amenities in the downtown, so you need to leave the relatively comfortable area far more often.

That's why I was thinking about Canmore. It's a bit bigger than Elora so it's not a one-road town (has a bit of a grid) and it has enough amenities that you don't actually quite need to leave. Though the grocery stores are across some urban highways so that's a minus. But the cars are primary as they pretty much are everywhere in Canada I think.