Out of Town
Streetsblog Basics
Streetfilms Portland Week: Bicycle Boulevards
Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson has been spending a lot of time in Portland learning about the politics, planning, engineering and culture behind that city's phenomenal bike network. Working closely with Greg Raisman from Portland's Dept. of Transportation Clarence produced a half hour documentary called "A Celebration of Portland Transportation." On Saturday, the film was shown on the big screen at Portland's Bagdad Theater.
October 31, 2006
Foreign Correspondent: Bogotá’s Lack of “Vibrancy”
Before Enrique Peñalosa took over as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, this thriving downtown plaza was a decrepit, crime-ridden, traffic-congested slum. Peñalosa cleared out the old shacks, banned private motor vehicles, launched the Transmilenio bus service, created the plaza, and returned this public space to his city's people. Granted, the neighborhood pictured above clearly lacks the First World "vibrancy" that we boast of here in New York City, but it seems pleasant enough, no?
October 27, 2006
Rumor Confirmed
A couple of different sources tell me that Bob Kiley is moving back to New York City to take a position with Parsons Brinckerhoff, the global engineering firm with a lead role in Partnership for New York City's secretive, long-delayed congestion pricing study.
October 20, 2006
Eyes on the Street: Amsterdam
After Copenhagen, I visited Holland for a few days as a part of my German Marshall Fellowship. I will be writing more about some of the people I met and spoke with there, but for now I just wanted to share these photos from Amsterdam:
October 6, 2006
International Walk and Bike to School Day: Portland
By way of Clarence Eckerson, who is always keeping an eye on Portland, BikePortland has coverage of International Walk and Bike to School Day.
October 6, 2006
Eyes on the Street: German Bike Parking
Copenhagen is getting all the attention lately, but it's not the only livable European city with great cycling facilities.
October 5, 2006
Notes on Bicycling in Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark is not a natural bicycling city. In the early 1960's it was very much of a car town. In 1962 the city created its first pedestrian street, the Stroget, and every year since then Copenhagen has allocated more and more of its public space to bicycles, pedestrians and people who just want to sit and take a load off. The result is a remarkably pleasant city. Danish urban designer Jan Gehl says that the single biggest key to the change has been the development of the city's extensive bicycle network and that the Copenhagen of great public spaces that we see today would not be possible without bicycles.
October 4, 2006
Copenhagen: Texture
Eyes on the street in Copenhagen, Denmark -- literally. Evidence that a city is more than just a skyline:
October 3, 2006