Out of Town
Streetsblog Basics
Congressman Ridicules Bikes as “19th Century Solution”
Congressman Patrick McHenry standing with an automobile, which, as it happens, was also invented in the 19th century.
August 9, 2007
Grist: NYC is Not One of the World’s Greenest Cities
Grist recently produced a list of the world's 15 greenest cities. Streetsblog favorites Copenhagen, Curitiba, London, and Bogotá all made the grade. StreetFilms' posterchild Portland captured the number two spot right behind geothermal-powered Reykjavik, Iceland. San Francisco and Austin were the only other U.S. cities to make the list with Chicago meriting runner-up status.
August 3, 2007
Melbourne, Australia After a Decade of Focus on Public Spaces
With apologies for my carbon footprint, I recently returned from a working tour of eight cities Down Under. The trip included an invitation to Melbourne to work with the staff of the city's successful new public space development, Federation Square, and to help lead a Placemaking training course that included many city staff, local developers and "place managers." In the process, I had the opportunity to learn a few things relevant to my hometown, New York City.
August 2, 2007
Famed Danish Urbanist Jan Gehl in Town to Consult on PlaNYC
The Urbanist Musketeers: Alex Garvin, Jan Gehl and Fred Kent in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 30, 2006.
August 2, 2007
Congestion Pricing Returns to Stockholm
Sweden re-launched its congestion pricing system today following a 6-month trial and voter referendum last September,
in which Stockholm residents approved the traffic control measure by a margin of 52 to 45. The referendum was a definitive victory for a system that reduced Stockholm's traffic congestion by as much as 50 percent and decreased noxious air pollution by 14 percent (you can see some stats here). Notably, prior to the 6-month trial run, polls showed that as many as 80 percent of Stockholm residents were against the idea congestion pricing.
August 1, 2007
Bike Parking on Steroids
"Cyclists are so used to doing with scraps and they've been that way for so long that they are shocked when they get anything that satisfies their needs."
July 27, 2007
Effective Traffic Calming Device: The Frisbee
From Sean Roche at the Newton Streets and Sidewalks blog:
July 27, 2007
French Revolution
Two lanes in the middle of this Parisian avenue have been set aside for the exclusive use of buses, bikes and taxis. Private automobiles have been squeezed into the margins.
July 26, 2007
Accidents Halved As Street is Stripped of ‘Safety’ Features
The results are in on one of urban designer and "shared space" proponent Ben Hamilton-Baillie's London projects. Kensington High Street is twice as safe now that all of the traffic engineering "safety features" are gone. The Standard reports:
July 25, 2007
Welcome to Davis, California: A Bicycle Friendly Town
StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson has been in Davis, California the last few days, filming one of the premier bicycling cities in the United States. Clarence has a preliminary report and some photos up on the web site with a StreetFilm yet to come. It's worth a quick look.
July 25, 2007