Eco-Friendly, Nearly Car-Free Town a Hit in Germany

PASSAU, Germany, June 1, 2007 — -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has placed global warming high on the agenda for the upcoming G-8 summit, due to begin in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, early next week.

If Merkel, who currently holds the rotating G-8 chair, has her way, the leaders of the world's leading industrial nations will agree on a binding commitment to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The United States, among other countries, has so far resisted any such commitment and has refused to agree to concrete emissions reduction goals, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for Merkel to reach a joint G-8 position on that subject.

But while tensions between the United States and Germany are rising rapidly because of fundamental disagreement on how to tackle global warming, how to protect the climate and how to save energy, one small town in the Black Forest is way ahead of the curve.

Welcome to Quartier Vauban -- a new 2,000-home development on a piece of land formerly used by French military in the medieval town of Freiburg, Germany. It has been the country's ecological capital since the first anti-nuclear, pro-environment movements in the early 1970s.

"The old town offers no space for growth whatsoever, so when 38 hectares of a former military area became available in 1998, the city management instantly decided to buy it and use it for this future-oriented pilot project -- a low-energy standard housing area with perfect infrastructure for young families with kids, which nowadays houses some 4,700 residents," explained Petra Zinthaefner, a Freiburg city spokesperson.

Ever since the first buildings were planned, Vauban has been promoting a car-free lifestyle that is pretty unique for Germany, a country that produces some of the finest cars in the world. The residents at Quartier Vauban have managed to turn the neighborhood into a model for modern, urban, ecological living.

"We'd like to call it a car-free community, though some of our neighbors are somewhat dependent on their cars. But if that is the case, they try and reduce the use of their cars as much as possible. After all, what we're aiming for is a healthier air and a solid infrastructure for young families," Hannes Link, one of the residents, told ABCNEWS.com.

Link, his wife and his two teenage kids moved in eight years ago and are very happy there, he said.