Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In my experience, there is nothing in the human-built environment that can compete with the beauty and wonder of natural landscapes, but if I were to hold one thing in the anthro-environment sacred, it would be the cycling infrastructure.
One way to reduce transport emissions relatively quickly, and potentially globally, is to swap cars for cycling, e-biking and walking – active travel, as it’s called.
Since the first lockdown, Paris has become the test site for an ambitious cycling project, rolling out new infrastructure and remapping its transport routes.
The film closes with an image that will tug at the heart-strings of all parents, but particularly those in bicycling families: her twins, who first explored their world from the open-air box of a cargo bike, now pedal away on their own bikes, under their own power, down their own road.
Just as the Dutch stood up and ultimately created some of the most cycling friendly streets on the planet, so too can New Yorkers, Londoners and others around the world. The people are asking, now it’s up to our representatives to answer the call.
Car use may have risen enormously in the last 30 years in most countries, but some places have managed to get people out of motorised transport and on their bikes in huge numbers, reducing carbon emissions and increasing health and wellbeing.
Alternative transportation is becoming a topic of huge importance as climate scientists tell us the Earth will not be able to withstand current levels of emissions and human impact.
Although our geographic and political situations vary a great deal, nearly all cities in industrial civilization have been dominated by car culture for a few generations, and we face many common challenges as we work back towards cities that are safe for everyone who could and should be moving about our streets.
How would you describe the process in which a small country builds a 35,000 kilometer network of fully separated bike infrastructure – and traffic-calms 75 per cent of their urban streets to a speeds of 30 km/h (19 mph) or less?
Numerous medical leaders have also shown that Placemaking can play a huge role in promoting better health for all Americans.
Campaigns to reduce pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist deaths to zero are now taking shape around the country from Philadelphia to Chicago to Oregon.
