[ Calls for Papers ]

Sarcasm? This year's Towards Carfree Cities conference will take place in Istanbul, August 27-31, 2007. This year's conference theme "Building a Livable Future in a Changing Climate" emphasises the positive potential and urgency of addressing global climate change through the creation of high-quality, carfree human habitats. The conference will be held at Istanbul's Mimar Sinan University, in the Findikli-Kabatas area, which, since a major inner city bus hub has been moved there to connect with the funicular to Taksim and the tramway through the historical peninsula, ranks probably among the Top10 worst traffic points in Istanbul (for me it ranks only second after the Bosphorus bridge, followed by Maslak). If you want to proceed to nearby Besiktas, forget the buses, walk! (...and also forget about the conference, unless you want to pay up to $260 for registration.)