August 2012
75 posts
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How to Slow Traffic: Put S#!t in the Way →
a shared street in Germany.
…could include center islands to provide refuge, crosswalk signage, perhaps curb bump-outs. I’m in favor of any/all of those and more; planters, benches, trees, bushes, grass, bamboo — bring it on! Putting s#!t in the way will be the single best way to slow traffic. Slowing the traffic makes the street more pleasant to cross and to cycle on, and the more bikes...
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Guidebooks to the City of the Future →
Europe is exporting not only transit hardware and management to America but also vaguely utopian concepts, notably that of a bicycle-centric city. Mr. Grescoe toddles around Copenhagen happily on a bicycle, marveling at the bike infrastructure. It gives the lie, he suggests, to the notion that biking won’t work in northern climes. Indeed, American bicyclists may grow wistful reading...
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Weapons of Mass Urban Destruction →
China’s love affair with the car has blossomed into a torrid romance. In April, nearly a million people poured into the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition to coo over the latest Audis, BMWs, and Toyotas. But China is in danger of making the same mistakes the United States made on its way to superpower status — mistakes that have left Americans reliant on foreign oil from...
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Get on this train →
This 高铁 (gaotie), or high speed train, travels at 350km/h. 06.2010.
When will Americans realize we’re losing the infrastructure race to China?
Right now, there is zero prospect of significantly raising infrastructure spending. As part of the 2009 stimulus package, Congress authorized $10.1 billion for the U.S. High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program, which would provide grants to...
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"open" streets →
Several times I heard and read reference to the street being “closed,” and at 1:00 I heard repeated announcements that they were going to “open it up again.”
To someone like me, who rarely takes taxis and drives even less, when cars are allowed it doesn’t feel “open” to me. It’s open to me for three mornings a year, and pretty unavailable the rest of the time. Repeating over and over again...
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groupon deal for car2go in san diego (new members... →
$17 for Car-Sharing Registration and 60 Minutes of Driving (Up to $56 Value)
maaang i already have car2go. though i did get free registration and some free minutes, too..
but yeah, San Diegans! You can live without owning a car! get this deal for a car2go membership. just be sure you know where the parking boundaries are. (so you won’t make a mistake like i did, and try to park in city...
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Media images wrong about city of Oakland
My apology to the city of Oakland. I apologize for my preconceived notions. Television shows riots or shootings, one after another. I let the media influence my decision not to travel there, except to go to the airport. I hear how awful the city is. Not true. I apologize that I didn’t see your diverse culture.
One recent Friday, I finally decided to walk downtown and see what’s up. I...
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red cup protected bike lanes! →
The other day, Doug Gordon decided to try a little bike lane experiment. Gordon, author of the Brooklyn Spoke blog, placed red plastic Solo cups (yes, the ones you use when drinking from a keg) along the edge of a painted bike lane that is often blocked by parked livery cars and other drivers.
The conditions were hardly scientific, but these small plastic delineators, stuck to the roadway with...
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10-year-old’s petition convinces Jamba Juice to... →
Mia says, “Thank you all so much for signing my petition to get rid of Styrofoam at Jamba Juice and for your meaningful comments. Your words made me feel so good. It made me feel like anyone of any age in any country can really make a difference in the world. Jamba Juice responded to me within three weeks of starting this petition! I spoke with them on the phone and they just sent me a...
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San Jose’s New Buffered Bike Lanes Benefit... →
San Jose has just done something unheard of in Silicon Valley—the city converted car lanes on several blocks of 3th, 4th, 10th, and 11th streets in downtown, all busy one-way streets with 3 lanes in each direction—a total of 8 miles—to extra wide bike lanes separated by painted buffers from the remaining two lanes of vehicle traffic. What’s going on?
San Jose’s new wide buffered bike lanes...
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1,000+ cyclists turn out for East Bay Bike Party →
More than 1,000 cyclists turned out for one of the most popular East Bay Bike Parties to date. On Friday, the lower lot at Rockridge BART was overflowing with cyclists of all ages from throughout the East Bay. People were on all types of bikes: road and mountain bikes, tall bikes, track bikes, custom “Burning Man-style” bikes and even a tricycle outfitted with a canvas frame that...
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The Creative Underclass in the City →
citybreaths:
Creative underclass? ©Keltie Colleen
The Journal of Urban Affairs just published a really interesting special issue on the creative underclass.
The creative class has been hailed extensively by urban scholars, planners and policy makers over the past decade, particularly for its supposed ability to have a positive effect on urban development. The almost mythical creatives are...
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Bay Bridge's east span Big Lift begins →
A cross-section of a suspension cable shows how it is made up of bundles of individual cables. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez
As state lawmakers contemplate an independent inspection of the new Bay Bridge tower foundation, construction crews are beginning what might be called the Big Lift — a major step in building the $6.3 billion east span, scheduled to open by Labor Day 2013.
Workers on...
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"For the vast majority of people who don't bike...
We cannot accommodate the population and job growth we’re expecting in the Bay Area by moving everyone around in single-occupancy vehicles. And that’s probably not the city we want to live in, either.
For those people who do need to drive, every person on a bike means it opens up a parking space on the other end of your route. It’s making a little more room on transit. As...
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going to ride across the golden gate bridge today
and also need to go to a coffee shop tomorrow or friday and buy a flickr account (finally) and upload photos and moar photo posts here! (i am always a week—two months behind on photo uploading -___-;;)
also PEDALFEST @jack london square in oakland on saturday! kids’ bike parade, stunts and other performances, family fun, and beer!
catch me helping out the EBBC tryna get people to vote YES...
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TAKE ACTION: Support protected bike lanes in the... →
thegreenurbanist:
“Mayor Emanuel’s announcement that the first protected bike lane will be coming to the Loop later this year is cause for celebration!”
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“But with the anti-bike crowd calling protected bike lanes “bunk” and a “giant waste of money,” we need your support now. Please sign the petition below asking decision-makers to follow through on plans to build protected bike lanes in the...
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Watch
Bicycle Film Festival, Helsinki. “It was a smooth and fun ride to Bicycle Film Festival Helsinki and back.”
includes a few seconds of footage of the new Baana bicycle corridor.
i have yet to visit helsinki when it’s not snowing.
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Why Gated Communities are Becoming a Global... →
thiscitylife:
Photo Credit: Dean Terry
The issue of gated communities in North America is rearing its ugly head again. It started earlier this year with the death of Trevon Martin, the young man visiting family in a gated community who ended up being accused of trespassing and shot dead in an altercation…
