As a daily bicycle commuter, I was immediately drawn to Klaus' article. Bicycle riding is such a win-win-win proposition: transport, exercise, and fun! For me, it takes about 40 minutes door-to-door to: 1. drive to work and park the car at $17 per day; 2. ride the Metro ($3.20 one-way fare) and make the ten minute walk on each end; or, 3. ride my bike. (In the summer months, it takes another 15 minutes for showering or else my co-workers don't like it.) Most days, it's an easy choice to make.
I agree with Klaus' observation that attitudes are changing about bicycling. Ten years ago, many people thought cyclists were freaks. That has certainly changed in Washington DC. With ready access to public transportation, CarsToGo, ZipCars, etc., car ownership is optional. Owning a car is a very substantial, and largely unnecessary, expense. Bicycle use figures into this equation.
A quick survey of our staff reveals this as a fundamental life-style decision. About half under 40 live in close-in suburbs with yards and cars and half live in the city center, most with neither yards nor cars. There are seven of us, across all ages and demographics, who routinely ride bicycles to work; about one in five.
This said, the points that Allen raise are important. It's not only a matter of the inherent qualities of bicycles and the attitudes of people about them; urban form can support bicycles or make their use frustrating, unpleasant, and dangerous. Perhaps the best up-to-the-minute illustration is New York's Citi Bikes program. With access to millions of potential users and all the life-style arrows pointing in the right direction, after its first year Citi Bikes is struggling. By comparison, DC's Capital Bike Share program is thriving and expanding.
I know something about New York, but, won't pretend to know what's happening with Citi Bikes. I can say, that DC's Metro is no match for New York's extensive subway system. In DC, bikes fill a notable empty niche. I can also say as a bike rider, that very few of Manhattan's street entice me to hop on my bike.
In the last five years, DC has become much, much more bike friendly. Bike lanes have proliferated. DC even has its first bicycle traffic lights! Most importantly, these bike lanes, quiet residential streets with little traffic, and dedicated bike ways are beginning to coalesce into a somewhat cohesive network, like New York's subway system.
Architects have an important role to play in making our communities healthier, more livable and affordable, have a smaller environmental footprint, and support a greater spectrum of life-style choices. Klaus has reminded us that simple things, like accommodating bicycles, can be powerful and have affects that multiply.
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Carl Elefante FAIA
Quinn Evans Architects- DC
Washington DC
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-15-2014 09:41
From: Allen E Neyman
Subject: The Machine that Transformed Societies, Transportation and People
Not clear if the historical lessons are applicable to, or just sentimental about, what urban life could be. I remember a favorite vacation on Hilton Head island - a refreshing change of pace, weather permitting, to get around on a bike, but not exactly transformational. In older cities where bicycles are popular, it could be that adaptation to the car never fully "transformed" the place. Our suburban places, perhaps striking yet another blow at their support system, cannot safely accommodate bikes. Even school kids seem to have traded their bikes for skateboards, not for safety, but by preference. Maybe the two wheel technology just doesn't appeal anymore.
But it's about finding niches along the way. As we piece together city plans, keeping open and accommodating a diversity of choices, the bicycle needs inclusion. It is a mostly painless option, perhaps less so the further out. The biggest challenge planners face is in making it safe to ride, anywhere, where streets and roads are dominated by high horsepower and speed. The city of London has relegated bicycles to side streets, a common sense solution to consider here. Bike lanes are great, but a bolder action is to make some streets dedicated bikeways. There, motor vehicles would be restricted, not by regulation, but by practical reality of the bicyles' humane scale.
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Allen E Neyman
Rockville, MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-11-2014 16:48
From: Nikolaus Philipsen
Subject: The Machine that Transformed Societies, Transportation and People
This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee on the Environment and Regional and Urban Design Committee .
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The Machine that Transformed Societies, Transportation and People
It has transformed societies, liberated women, empowered youth and can even help Parkinson's patients. It inspired inventors like the Wright brothers and Henry Ford and spawned industrial production. About 100 million US citizens and a billion people around the world have it. It can be mastered by 3 year as well as ninety year old people as well as some circus monkeys. Once you mastered it you never forget. It allows humans to outrun even the fastest land animals. It is simple to fix but its physics are so involved that it took the industrial age to invent it. It can carry 18 times its own weight, doesn't have emissions, is whisper quiet, super energy efficient, can transport one or several people as well as cargo, can pull trailers and move through snow, water and run on smooth or rugged terrain including steep hills. It precedes the automobile and even today remains a transformational force in many parts of the world. In 24 of 27 European countries it outnumbered cars in sales in 2012. In Copenhagen 40% of all commuters use it to get to work.
Read all:
http://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-machine-that-transformed-societies.html?m=1
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Klaus Philipsen FAIA
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
Baltimore MD
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