ReThinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking by Eran Ben-Joseph. (2012).
saw this in a museum bookstore. pretty interesting.
added to my wishlist.
It’s really funny seeing photos of things like this. but sad at the same time. :T
in North San Diego County. Carlsbad or Cardiff by the Sea. some wealthy beach community.
lol I’ll have a fun collection of photos under my “fail” tag
In one such situation, a group of guys in their early twenties laughed when we were leaving a bar on our bicycles, and made a comment in Chinese which roughly translates to:
“haha, those foreigners have to rely on their bicycles to get to the bar”.
..the part that bothers me is the fact that people’s first instinct here when they see someone on a bicycle is to presume that they are too poor to afford any other mode of transportation.
If the perception that “people who use bicycles are poor” prevails in China, bicycling will become extinct as a mode of transportation as China’s wealth increases.
There are two things that can save bicycles as a viable mode of transportation in China. The first, ironically, is car culture itself. Increased traffic congestion — in a country with more than 160 cities with populations exceeding 1 million people — will give people a reason to start using bicycles again (or electric scooters as is the case here in Haikou).
The second thing that can save bicycles is changing the perception that bicycles are just a mode of transportation for the poor. This is much harder to do, as I have found…
urbancountry, 12.02.12.
This is really sad.
and not just Chinese in China, but Chinese people everywhere who are still deep in Chinese culture. There’s this big preoccupation about wealth and status.
ex. I have relatives who’ve immigrated here not too long ago (not so americanized or willing to be). and they and their friends are living out the American dream. big house in the suburbs. multiple cars. Mercedes, Porche. … x____x;;;
while my mom (and I) live in a small apartment right in the city, ride bikes, etc.
we’ve got different (and I would say better) values!
It takes time to get back up on the J-curve.
(the environmental Kuznets curve, but for people and not a whole country
err.. but it’s a bell curve.. never mind. You know what I mean.)
Hopefully it won’t peak—get so bad and cause very costly damage soon—at a high point and start going down sooner.
You just gotta make bikes cool again. EXPENSIVE and cool.
Bring on the european imports to China.
Those fancy Dutch bikes, those super slick Danish bikes, the FIXIES.
Make Chinese bike culture cool.
Maybe have the FGGT (fixed gear girl taiwan) girls tour China.
shanghai.
James D. Schwartz of The Urban Country recently calculated that Americans work on average two hours out of every day to pay for their cars. Now he’s figured out that a bicycle costs only 3.84 minutes. And that’s being conservative, assuming you’ll drop $1,500 on a new commuter bike every five years, after which it will have zero value.
the urban country, 23.05.11.
via grist.org, 15.02.12.
$1,500??!! I’m not willing to pay more than $200 for a complete working bike.
*student budget*
“As the first regional government in California to develop a land use plan under the State’s strict new climate change laws, SANDAG has a responsibility to set a path toward a sustainable future,” said Tony L. Hale, Chair of the Environmental Caucus of the California Democratic Party. “Instead, SANDAG’s plan calls for more of the same: sprawl, air pollution, and an increase in dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.”
The major issue in the lawsuit is is that while the SANDAG plan does outline a major growth in the region’s transit network, most of the transit planning is in the last years of the project. The early years call for a rapid increase in the area’s highway network through a new high occupancy/toll lane system (HOT Lanes). SANDAG spokespeople claim that because the lanes can be used free by transit, they should be considered transit projects. Not everyone agrees.
la.streetsblog, 21.02.12.
Transparency: The Cities Where Sprawl Makes the Commute the Worst
good.is, 30.09.10.
Cabrillo Bridge closed to auto traffic—and crowded with people—at Balboa Park’s December Nights, 03.12.2011.
The Uptown Community Planning group is holding a Special Meeting this Thursday, February 16th, 6-8pm at St. Paul’s Cathedral “Great Hall”, 2750 Fifth Ave. The important topic at hand is the Plaza de Panama project in Balboa Park—traffic circulation, parking structure project, and review/comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).
Project elements include:
The project has drawn many critics, especially against construction of a parking structure in the middle of Balboa Park and a bypass bridge stemming from Cabrillo Bridge. If proposed plans follow through, critics and the State Office of Historic Preservation (SHPO) have asserted that Balboa Park’s status as a National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) may be at risk, as mentioned in Elizabeth’s last article.
State Historian Wayne Donaldson wrote in a letter (PDF) that “This massive project composed of unnecessary, intrusive, and incompatible new construction severely impairs the public’s ability to appreciate and understand the National Historic Landmark. Millions of visitors annually visit Balboa Park. Their experience and understanding of a remarkable historic setting would be impaired.”
Uptown Planners‘ Feb. 16 Agenda.
crossposted on sandiego.urbdezine.
I’m gonna be at this meeting. Anyone else coming out?
For 7000 years cities and their streets were places where citizens gathered, moved and played. The automobile industry were forced to use marketing techniques to win the battle for space for cars. They’ve never looked back.
The cartoon at the top is the very first reference to another marketing tactic adopted by the automobile industry - jaywalking. A ‘jay’ was a synonym for a “country bumpkin” and pedestrians who dared to challenge 7000 years of city life were labelled as such. Crosswalks were invented to funnel pedestrians into controlled zones that would allow cars dominance over the streets.
Traffic fatalities were a major problem when cars started to muscle onto the streets. Most traffic safety campaigns placed the responsibility firmly on the motorists and the protests against them were massive.
The automobile industry needed to change this perception, and quick. They were successful.
(via thegreenurbanist)
Richard J. Jackson, professor and chairman of environmental health sciences at UCLA, and author of “Designing Healthy Communities”.
via What Is Car Culture Doing to Our Children? nytimes blog, 31.01.12.
