Talk:Vauban, Freiburg

Name
Vauban is named after the illustrious 18th century French military engineer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.22.201.130 (talk) 23:34, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Is it Affordable
If garages cost $40,000 US, how much do the houses cost -- both as units and per square meter?

Actually, $40,000 is not so much more expensive than the construction cost for a single parking space in a garage like the ones in Vauban (here in Southern California, it is between $20,000 and $30,000 per space), so $40k might be slightly punitive pricing, but depending on the cost of construction in Germany, I could see it actually being quite close to the true price. Zaneselvans (talk) 21:47, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

To make price comparisons more accurate with "normal" houses, how much savings in heating costs occurs over the life of the house where it meets the Passive House Standard, and how much of this (using a reasonable discounted cash flow) might be deducted from the price of the house for evaluation purposes.

Are the 600 jobs planned in the subdivision 1.) filled by locals and 2. do they pay enough that they would enable one to afford living in the district? This does not look like a place a $10/hour clerk at a charming local grocery store could easily afford.


 * This story from the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/23/freiburg.germany.greenest.city seems to suggest you are on to something. Moheroy (talk) 02:20, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Winter Conditions
Bicycling seems to be the norm in Vauban from existing photos, but these are all taken in the warmer part of the year. What happens to cycling in winter? What is winter like? What is cycling like if one wantes to ride one's cycle outside the area; is Freiburg very bicycle-friendly facilitating this?

Cycling in winter in Canada (of which I used to be a practitioner -- one of very few I might add)and the northern tier of US states is far more possible than most locals imagine, but something of an acquired taste. It is also dangerous, even in the absence of cars, because of the tendency to slip on the icy roads.

Copenhagen Denmark doesn't seem to have any problems with winter cycling. Something like 80% as many people ride in the winter there as in the summer (roughly 400,000 in the winter). With appropriate infrastructure (keeping bikes and cars separate) and maintenance (bike path snow ploughs and salters), it is only marginally more hazardous. See e.g. the Copenhagenize blog for more examples. Zaneselvans (talk) 21:54, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Hawthorne Effects?
Car free developments with underground common parking have been tried in Toronto, for example the large St. Jamestown complex downtown around Parliament and Wellesley and other highrise- tower-apartments-in-parkland areas, and with townhouses at Bayview Mews (at Bayview Avenue and Bayview Mews for those interested to find it on Google Maps)and elsewhere. The quality of life is not spectacularly better than in conventional "car areas" in the case of the townhouses, and arguably can be worse in the highrise compounds. Is there perhaps a critical local subculture and Hawthorne effect that gives rise to a particularly pleasant, vivid, community life in Vauban that is not actually intrinsic to the car free concept, and that might not be present elsewhere? Or could people be or romanticizing Vauban.

Just for the record, these questions do not reflect a negative view of Vauban on my part. In fact, I am just trying to discipline myself from impulsively buying a plane ticket to Freiburg and moving in ...it all reminds me so much of the ideal of hippie communes of the 60's when I grew up -- crummy housing but great society-- that the nostalgic pull is almost irrestible....then the hippie dream eventually went somewhat sour and ....

Any developers want to try Passive House Standard retirement villages for former 60s hippies and cycle commuters?FurnaldHall (talk) 19:36, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Accessibility?
I'm all for sustainable development, but as a wheelchair user it strikes me I probably couldn't live in Vauban, and that the community may well be unconsciously selecting against people with mobility impairments living there. Pedestrian access is mostly usable for chair users, as long as there are ramps rather than steps, but practicalities like carrying shopping, or even just limited personal endurance, mean that leaving your car on the outskirts of the district really isn't practical for a lot of disabled people, and ideas like car-clubs don't work if you need an adapted vehicle. It's unfortunately not the first green project I've come across where no one seems to have thought about accessibility.

92.238.224.101 (talk) 21:28, 15 October 2015 (UTC)