Reports
Design Manual for Living Streets
Active Transportation beyond Urban Centers
Business and economic development
- Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Plazas Good for Businesses. Wall Street Journal, October, 2012.
- “The bike racks outside our shop increase our visibility and bring us more customers. People on bikes stop at places they haven’t visited before because they don’t have to try to find parking.” Article here
- Great places are in high demand, people and businesses are moving there. People want a place that’s beautiful and where there are places to be outside, to gather and be a part of their community. Video: Ilana Preuss – The Economic Power of Great Places
What it looks like
- Infrastructure Matters. “71 percent spike in cycling from 2006-2011 – The increase in San Francisco cyclists since 2008 came after … 23 miles of new bicycle lanes stretching from the bay to the Pacific Ocean.” Safety on the roadway drives this increase, gas prices and other things provide additional incentives. Article here
- Back to the Future, when streets belonged to everyone. “Where once we railed against the car’s invasion of our public space, we now rebuff nearly all attempts to re-allocate even a modicum of roadway to truly public use. …we have legislated other modes of transportation into a thin sliver of grudgingly reserved leftover space: pedestrians may cross the street at the occasional crosswalk; bicyclists, while technically allowed to operate in the same space and under the same restrictions and protections as cars, are mostly just in the way (and liable to be harassed) if they don’t yield space…” Article here
- Green Lane Project. Video – what it looks like.
- Planning for People: Livable and Walkable Communities. How some communities are collaborating to improve their towns and cities.
- Space: The Social Change Frontier. Article in the Social Innovation Review, describing how as a society, we are remembering the fundamental power of place to meet human and community needs, and we are beginning to put this knowledge into action once again.
Bicycles are the Key to Better Cities
- The Real Reason Why Bicycles are the Key to Better Cities. “Invite a motorist for a bike ride through your city and you’ll be cycling with an urbanist by the end of the day. Even the most eloquent of lectures about livable cities and sustainable design can’t compete with the experience from atop a bicycle saddle.”
- On urban cycling – Mikael Colville-Andersen. Bicycles as a useful tool for modern life are transforming our culture — did you know the first time that happened was in 1869? Bicycle Culture 2.0 is what we are experiencing today, about 150 years after the first time.
- 8-80 Cities: Our goal is to contribute to the creation of vibrant cities and healthy communities, where residents live happier and enjoy great public places. Gil Penalosa – Creating 8-80 Cities
- Why does it matter if women ride bikes? Women In Cycling: why we matter.
Progress around the world
- 50 Keys to Inspiring People and Transforming Communities, One Pedal Stroke at a Time, Joyride Tour Wrap-Up.
- Minneapolis Contines to Build Bike- and Walk-ability
- How the Dutch got their bike on. Article here
- Record Low Set in Deaths From Traffic. Making streets safer and more inviting for pedestrians and citizen cyclists has dramatic results: 300 people are alive because of the work being done in New York.
Safety
- Look! For Cyclists. The best protection a cyclist has is our attention. Video here
- Share The Road – What does it really mean? Discussion by readers on the ubiquitous use of Share the Road signs by municipalities. The message can be confusing, and confusion can cause conflict: does this mean share the lane laterally or longitudinally? “Bikes May Use Full Lane” is more accurate than “Share the Road”.
Other sites and organizations