Come Sunday, 29 July, participants can indulge in fun and sports activities, when the Civic District and Telok Ayer Conservation Area transform once again into a car-free city that is abuzz with activities, organised for all ages and interests. Beyond regular activities by the partner agencies, several community partners have also come together to organise various initiatives and programming to promote Singapore’s car-lite vision and support the idea of more vibrant public spaces with fewer cars. These range from sports initiatives and cycling activities to storytelling performance and art jamming, and even a special Car-Free Sunday SG on-campus roadshow put together by the students of Singapore Polytechnic (SP) as they step forward to push out the car-lite message to their peers.

Get active at Car-Free Sunday SG on 29 July
The July edition of Car-Free Sunday SG will again see the launch of the annual GetActive! Singapore, a week-long sporting bash. The launch will take place alongside the Team Singapore Flag Presentation for the upcoming 2018 Asian Games and Asian Para Games. The event will begin at 8am, and members of public can meet and show their support for our Team Singapore athletes. After the flag presentation, Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, will flag off a 5km Nila Walk/Run through the car-free streets, which will kick-start a series of sporting activities for the whole family – including sports initiatives from local communities and interest groups under the Active Enabler Programme.

Bike your way to better health
Making its debut at Car-Free Sunday SG is the Move Happy Cycling Festival, organised by the Land Transport Authority with community partners such as LoveCycling SG and Strider. To be held at the Esplanade Park, the festival promotes cycling as part of active living for better health. Promising fun for everyone, the festival will include exciting activities such as Move Happy Cycling Carnival and Move Happy-Strider Kids Race. The carnival also includes family-friendly cycling games and tryouts. Find out more at https://facebook.com/MoveHappySG.

Enjoy a morning with books as stories come alive
Also taking place at Car-Free Sunday SG for the first time is the storytelling performance organised by the National Library Board in conjunction with the National Reading Month. Celebrate the joy of reading with story-tellers such as Vivienne Wong, Roger Jenkins, and Gopi Nathan at the Esplanade Park.

Explore Telok Ayer Conservation Area
Besides the Civic District, participants can also take a leisurely walk or ride to the Telok Ayer area to experience and explore our conservation area. Over there, kids and adults can hop onto pedal go-karts and have fun steering around the car-free streets. Those looking to express their creativity can have a go at creating their art pieces at the Doodle Art and Art Jam Corner. Storytelling will also come alive at the Chong Wen Ge pavilion, where participants can interact with Mrs Lee Gek Kim, a veteran educator, who will launch her new book and share her experience and reflections on 50 years of teaching. There will also be guided tours around the Thian Hock Keng Temple, and the Singapore Yu Huang Gong and Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre will be open for visits. Those who simply want to chill out on Sunday morning can check out the cafés that will open earlier specially for Car-Free Sunday SG participants.

SP students join in the efforts to promote car-lite message
Playing a leading role in promoting this forthcoming edition of Car-Free Sunday SG is a team of third-year Media and Communication students from the SP who has designed the social media campaign currently being run on the Car-Free Sunday SG Facebook page. The campaign is part of their collaboration with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to raise public awareness about the active mobility and car-lite movement. Complementing their public campaign, the SP team is also taking the message directly to their peers. In conjunction with the July edition of Car-Free Sunday SG, they will also be organising a roadshow in their school to reach out to their peers by presenting the vision of a car-free city where the community can enjoy more vibrant and recreation spaces.

On the motivation behind the initiative, 19 year-old SP student Eileen Kang shared, "We wanted to reach out to our peers and raise greater awareness of Car-Free Sunday SG among the youths. Car-Free Sunday SG is more than just offering a car-free experience. We hope that by organising the roadshow in our school, we can showcase the fun side of the initiative and encourage more of our peers to participate in the event. The July edition is particularly sports-centric, and we are hoping to get youths to engage in outdoor activities for a healthier lifestyle. It also provides a great opportunity to have a good time bonding with their families.”

In line with the fun and sports theme for the July edition of Car-Free Sunday SG, the students have put together activities such as tyre flipping challenge, Bushido Fight Academy, face painting and chalk art on the road on Wednesday, 25 July from 3pm to 6pm at SP’s Eleven2 (five minutes’ walk from Dover MRT station). Participants can even spot the trishaw by Cycling Without Age, a popular and regular feature at Car-Free Sunday SG that enables the less mobile, in particular the elderly, to experience and take in the sights of our car-free Civic District.

For a detailed listing of all activities lined up for this Sunday, please refer to Annex A [PDF, 900kb], For the road closure map and hours, please refer to Annex B [PDF, 376kb]. Members of the public are encouraged to take public transport or cycle to the venue. Please refer to Annex C [PDF, 1MB] for cycling access points to the Padang.

Friends of Car-Free Sunday SG Network
The Friends of Car-Free Sunday SG Network, comprising community and corporate partners, was formed to acknowledge their contributions to Car-Free Sunday SG. It is also a platform for more individuals as well as community and corporate groups to join and support the movement to activate the streets and create a vibrant car-lite experience for everyone to enjoy. For more information on how to join the Friends of Car-Free Sunday SG Network, please visit http://ura.sg/carfreesundaysg.

Car-Free Sunday SG is a community initiative by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Land Transport Authority (LTA), National Parks Board (NParks), National Arts Council (NAC), Health Promotion Board (HPB), Sport Singapore (SportSG) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA), supported by a host of community and interest groups to promote the car-lite message and enliven the streets.

Get updates on Car-Free Sunday SG activities and details at https://www.facebook.com/carfreesundaysg/. If you are a participant at the event, do share your photos with us. Find out more here.

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