Oh Freiburg, oh Freiburg

Oh Freiburg, oh Frieburg, your photovoltaics enslave me... One of our profs on this trip is really in love with the sustainability of a German city called Freiburg. It's oh-so-sustainable. From their treatment of stormwater, policies for dense development, extensive tram network, and walkable streets, its no wonder that nearly 80% of the children walk to school, and 30% of the transportation in the city occurs by bicycle. I nearly got hit by several bicyclists while I was there. The city is just over 200,000 people and the main employer is the university there. Can you imagine what Saskatoon would look like if 30% of the people biked, 30% took the tram/walked, and 30% drove? Wow. The black forest creeps straight into the middle of town like green/black fingers reaching into the dense urban centre.

Day one in Frieburg: 11am... prof took us to a beer garden in the black forest.

Freiburg streets. They're so sustainable.

Day one in Freiburg: 2pm... prof took us to another beer garden in the downtown. I like Germany..

One of the two suburbs we studied while we were there. Vauban was constructed in the early 00's and was partly designed (in a charette process) by the residents themselves. The demographic is similar to Calgary suburbs, but the housing types are quite different: apartment/flat dwellings looking onto shared common spaces/streets for children to play in. Each building is no higher than 4 storeys so that Moms and Dads can yell at their kids playing in the streets. Pictured in the image is Dr. Byron Miller: Freiburg's (and our) Champion. (note the photovoltaics)

I really enjoyed Freiburg, but it felt almost like a utopia. I defeinetly wouldn't mind living there. My hike in the black forest was amazing, and our rave/disco/party in the forest was also amazing. We really were in Germany, though.. I miss not being able to speak the language anymore.