We had a lot of ideas for Carfree Day in Curitiba. But it was impos- sible to promote a big event with- out municipal support to help spread the word, close streets, hire performers etc. We soon re- alised that we would have to do everything by ourselves, so we decided to make a Carfree Month full of small events instead of a Carfree Day with only a big one. The principle was simple: who- ever came up with an idea would be responsible to execute it.

During the month we organ- ised four street music shows and four open discussion groups with themes ranging from Ivan Illich’s revolutionary ideas to the cy- clists’ situation in Brazil. We also organised activities such as a walk in the city’s gardens, a photo ex- hibition entitled “Less Gasoline, More Adrenaline”, a bike tour to the city dump to raise aware- ness about garbage disposal and a Cycle Day featuring a fes- tive bike ride through the city, filled with prizes and surprises, musical shows and a bike fair.

World Carfree Day itself start- ed with a morning Park(ing). At noon, local sustainability groups planted flowers inside public gar- bage cans and painted bikes on the asphalt. A talk with mayoral candidates was later held to de- mand urgent measures to revert all the investments to motorised traffic. And finally we began our Bike March: 300 cyclists swept the streets of the city. The feeling of freedom and happiness was so intense that a few riders couldn’t resist, and took off their clothes. bicicletadacuritiba.wordpress.com