I friend just sent me this great link from Melbourne, Australia. The notice on the toy car reads “DO NOT REMOVE – This is the property of unit 1. We pay are rent for this parking place and shall therefore use it for whatever vehicle we want to“.
It’s my spot, and I’ll park what I want to!
"In contrast to the changes made to every town and city to ease motor transport, walking has been made ever more unpleasant. Pedestrians have been treated with contempt. In a myriad of ways when we walk we are treated with less respect than when we drive". (quote for a cross-party parliamentary select committee report on walking in towns from 2001).
This blog documents how this discrimination works, what laws underpin it and what people are doing to counter it. Please take action and share your experiences in the comments section, on twitter or join our facebook group. Add photos to the Flickr pool. All photographs cc-by-sa 3.0 unless otherwise stated or obvious from the source.
Pedestrian Liberation
I realise that in the case highlighted by this post, the space is Private, but as the link below shows, cars on Public land or on Public roads enclose Public Space making it ‘private’. It’s the ‘tragedy of the commons’ all over again.
Just imagine the outrage of drivers if cyclists and pedestrians were to go around with a typical car-sized framework with signs saying ‘Private Keep Out’ on them. Well cars do essentially that. Just try and get into a car at a stop sign, in-order to use the Public Space that it encloses and tell us the response you got, if you live.
http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/tragedy-of-the-commons-the-car-as-enclosure/
Oops!
In the above comment, the first sentence “I realise that in the case highlighted by this post, the space is Public,” should have read: “I realise that in the case highlighted by this post, the space is Private,”
Apologies for any confusion caused.
I have corrected you comment, and thanks for participating in the debate.
People might also like to read my post on on the subject of the highway as common land and of regulatory capture.
https://pedestrianliberation.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/the-tragedy-of-the-commons-regulatory-capture-and-negative-externalities/
Peter,
I did wonder whether you had written thoughtfully concerning the tragedy of the commons, but for some reason, when I looked, I failed to find it.
My apologies, but thanks.