What was CCA's Message at WUF?

CCA was present at the World Urban Forum (WUF) in Baku, Azerbaijan, May 17-22, 2026. The main topic of the event was housing, which is close to CCA's heart, when it comes to our mission and vision. Accordingly, an interactive networking session was organized by CCA, titled "The future of new housing: Shifting from car-centric to a carfree design".

This is a two-piece article. First, you can read an introduction to the topic by Debra Efroymson. Second, you can read the position paper which was distributed at WUF, and which served as a conversation-starter for the event.

Housing for People, not Cars

-- by Debra Efroymson

Every two years, people from around the world gather at the World Urban Forum (WUF) to discuss urbanization issues. This May, WUF will focus on how to provide housing to growing urban populations.

If we wish to provide sufficient, decent, affordable housing to people, we must recognize that providing housing for cars directly limits our ability to do so. The space and money needed to provide car parking facilities and infrastructure takes away from what we invest in housing people. The loss is significant. For example, a study calculated that the space that currently goes to park cars in Dhaka could provide housing to 5.3 million people.

When car parking is mandated for apartment buildings, every unit in that building is paying for car parking, whether the residents own a car or not. A European study finds that mandating car parking in social housing adds 125-180 Euros to the cost of rent per month, or an estimated 12.5-25% of housing cost.

To quote Michael Johansson, a researcher at Lund University, the question is not “how much parking do we need” but rather “how much housing, public space, and climate resilience are we willing to sacrifice for parking?”

Why do people seem more concerned about where to put all of our cars, while not extending that concern to housing our neighbors? The simple answer is the lobbying and communication power of the three-headed monster: the fuel, car, and road-building corporations that lobby our governments and promote their idea of “development” through direct and indirect advertisement. The three-headed monster has billions of dollars at its command; consider the budget of the typical NGO promoting affordable housing.

And so we land up with parking minimums, which specify how much parking must be provided for each apartment and other urban land use, rather than parking maximums, which limit the amount and thus encourage governments to focus on providing better infrastructure for walking, cycling, and public transit, rather than ever-more roads and parking spaces for cars.

For everyone who is working on affordable housing, please do not ignore the contribution that car parking makes to the price of housing. We are faced with a simple choice: provide affordable housing to cars, or provide it to people. May the WUF delegates join their voices to demand, loudly and clearly, that it be people who we prioritize, not cars.

The Carfree Housing Model

-- by team CCA

What if the housing crisis and the ecological crisis shared a single solution — one that made cities greener, quieter, and more affordable?

As cities expand and populations grow, available land is at a premium. The housing models of the past — wide streets, abundant parking, car-scaled neighbourhoods — have reached their limits. New developments bring new congestion, consume open land, and often come at the expense of those who already live there, or tear into nature. All of this costs an enormous amount of money, while eliminating available natural resources and burning more fuel.

It doesn't have to be this way.

THE CARFREE ADVANTAGE

Carfree housing eliminates the most expensive element of urban development: car infrastructure. No vast parking structures. No oversized roads. Those savings flow back to residents as lower housing costs, and the reclaimed space becomes parks, playgrounds, and shared public life for children and families. And of course, a greater supply of affordable housing.

Consider the opportunity cost of parking alone. If even half of the parking in a typical city were converted to housing or green space, the gain in livable area — and in affordability — would be transformative.

THE DEMAND IS ALREADY THERE

58% of American car owners are open to carfree living — 18% strongly so.

A major 2025 study by Corcoran et al. surveyed American attitudes toward carfree living. If the demand is this strong in one of the world's most car-dependent cultures, the potential elsewhere is enormous. The infrastructure just needs to be built.

IT'S ALREADY WORKING — WORLDWIDE

• Vauban · Freiburg A largely carfree district, decades old — consistently cited as one of Europe's most livable neighbourhoods.

• Utrecht · Netherlands A new carfree district in central Merwede is currently under construction.

• Plaines du Loup · Lausanne A large eco-quarter with abundant public space and playgrounds.

• Bandipur · Nepal A small carfree hill town in central Nepal.

• Cul-de-Sac · Tempe, USA Carfree living quarters in car-dominated America.

JOIN US

We believe carfree housing can be scaled far beyond these early examples. It only requires more stakeholders — developers, planners, municipalities, and citizens — to put their weight behind it.

Concurrently with the event, CCA also launched: the Guild of Carfree Builders — a global community of developers, planners, and advocates.

For interest or questions, please get in touch with CCA at downtown@carfreealliance.org.