Dreams for the City

thisbigcity:

Want more studies and data on bike lanes improving local economies? You got it.

9 hours ago · 100 notes · Reblogged from thisbigcity

condenasttraveler:

Scenes from Chile: Santiago and Valparaiso’s Street Art

5 days ago · 165 notes · Reblogged from condenasttraveler

smartercities:

A revolutionary new traffic system without traffic lights

So cool. Rethinking the “normal.”

5 days ago · 121 notes · Reblogged from smartercities

nationalgeographicdaily:

Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
Photo: Romain Jacquet-Lagreze

5 days ago · 414 notes · Reblogged from nationalgeographicdaily

wnyc:

nycgov:

It’s official! New York City’s CitiBike is launching with Annual Members preview week beginning May 27th.

For more visit http://citibikenyc.com

Why isn’t the torrential rain pictured? —A.P.

You’re only a year behind schedule and 3 years behind DC, but I’m excited to find out how this goes.

1 week ago · 106 notes · Source · Reblogged from wnyc

#chicago

My favorite skyline!

1 week ago · 41 notes · Source · Reblogged from urbanenvi

Even if more Americans wanted to cycle to work, the infrastructure isn’t there for them. In the U.S., planners and engineers are “incredibly stuck in the last century paradigm of ‘cars are the only transport form that we plan for,’” Colville-Andersen said. “We’ve forgotten that the bicycle used to be a form of transportation.

—

What Americans Don’t Get About Cycling - Business Insider (via zacharyelgart)

I love biking to work/school. I got hooked when I lived in DC which has great biking infrastructure/culture. Now I live in a college town and it’s still pretty easy to bike to campus even though I live 3.5 miles away. Unfortunately there’s no way I’d ever bike to the shopping area since it’s across the interstate, a solid 7 miles from my house and developed in a completely un-bike friendly manner.

Next year I’m moving to a mid-size city that is the example of middle America. However, biking was important enough to me that I looked for places close to school/hospitals/gym/coffee. The infrastructure isn’t great, but I think I can do it. Must keep it up.

1 week ago · 3 notes · Reblogged from zacharyelgart

$1600 later (and $400 in travel rewards)

All my plane tickets for the summer are purchased. Now I’ve got to book my hostel for the first couple days and the one day trip to the Elephant Nature Park that I most definitely want to visit. Everything else I’m ok with winging, but I like to know where I will be sleeping upon arrival and I’ve heard that it is a good idea to book the Elephant Nature Park in advance. There are also a few things that I think I need to buy in preparation for my trip, predominantly to help make sure that I am traveling light and can fit everything in a carry on.

Current shopping list includes:
- travel towel
- Nook. I’m going to be living out of a suitcase for 2 months, one abroad and one in California. Given how much I read, I think investing in ultraportable reading material is probably a good idea.
- shampoo/conditioner bars to get around the liquid restrictions
- a new camera. My last one got dropped in the Amazon river (that’s not a joke) and now that I’m traveling again I think it’s time for a new one. Suggestions?
- Maybe a long skirt for visiting temples. I haven’t decided, but I’m tempted to just get a sarong or something when I’m in Thailand. Long skirts aren’t really my style, but either is wearing pants when it’s 90 out.

What are your “must have” travel items?

2 weeks ago · 2 notes

$irishboyinlondon: Momentum Mag: How Bicycles Bring Business Interesting read! In the minds of many business owners, though, there’s still a direct correlation between cars and customers. Too often, the opposition to bicycle infrastructure is led by retailers who believe ample car parking space is critical to their customer base. But that belief could be depriving businesses of their best potential patrons: cyclists. Just this summer, the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives did a travel study in Birchard’s neighborhood, the Lower East Side. They found that only a tiny fraction – just four percent – of customers arrived by car. In contrast, 23 percent arrived by bike. A study of travel patterns in the city center of Utrecht in the Netherlands showed similar results: customers on bikes significantly outnumbered those in cars (26 versus 17 percent). Even individual businesses are taking stock of how customers get to their door. The East End Food Co-Op in Vancouver, BC, conducted a survey that showed that 24 percent of its patrons usually pedaled to the store – more than the number of people who drove. That’s good news, because a growing body of research shows that people who arrive on two wheels have a bigger impact on the bottom line, too. Recent research out of Portland, OR, showed that cycling customers spent more per month ($75.66) than their car-driving counterparts ($68.56) at bars, restaurants and convenience stores. A 2009 study of Bloor Street in Toronto, ON, found that customers who arrive by foot and bicycle visit the most often and spend the most money per month. So true. When I lived in DC I’d make stops all over town because it was easy.$

irishboyinlondon:

Momentum Mag: How Bicycles Bring Business

Interesting read!

In the minds of many business owners, though, there’s still a direct correlation between cars and customers. Too often, the opposition to bicycle infrastructure is led by retailers who believe ample car parking space is critical to their customer base. But that belief could be depriving businesses of their best potential patrons: cyclists.

Just this summer, the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives did a travel study in Birchard’s neighborhood, the Lower East Side. They found that only a tiny fraction – just four percent – of customers arrived by car. In contrast, 23 percent arrived by bike. A study of travel patterns in the city center of Utrecht in the Netherlands showed similar results: customers on bikes significantly outnumbered those in cars (26 versus 17 percent). Even individual businesses are taking stock of how customers get to their door. The East End Food Co-Op in Vancouver, BC, conducted a survey that showed that 24 percent of its patrons usually pedaled to the store – more than the number of people who drove.

That’s good news, because a growing body of research shows that people who arrive on two wheels have a bigger impact on the bottom line, too. Recent research out of Portland, OR, showed that cycling customers spent more per month ($75.66) than their car-driving counterparts ($68.56) at bars, restaurants and convenience stores. A 2009 study of Bloor Street in Toronto, ON, found that customers who arrive by foot and bicycle visit the most often and spend the most money per month.

So true. When I lived in DC I’d make stops all over town because it was easy.

2 weeks ago · 23 notes · Reblogged from irishboyinlondon

delightfulcycles:

polka dot dress (via We Heart It)

2 weeks ago · 16 notes · Reblogged from delightfulcycles

#Bogota

urbnist:

Cyclovia in Bogota

I visited Bogota about 2 years ago and while it’s not a city that has a lot of tourist-y stuff, I enjoyed the couple days we spent there and thought it would be a really great city to live in.

3 weeks ago · 18 notes · Reblogged from urbnist

delightfulcycles:

green (by 105mm)

3 weeks ago · 2 notes · Reblogged from delightfulcycles

humanscalecities:

DETROIT, Mich. — The most segregated city in America, Detroit’s inner city is almost exclusively black, except for a small Hispanic corner in the southwest called “Mexicantown.” The suburbs like Grosse Pointe, Dearborn, and Ferndale are heavily white.

The red dots show white people, blue is black, orange is Hispanic, green is Asian, and yellow is other, according to maps of 2010 Census data by Eric Fischer.

Read more

Almost all American cities are segregated but this is pretty pronounced.

3 weeks ago · 93 notes · Source · Reblogged from urbnist

There’s a limit to the amount of physical change one person can initiate in a city, but what if hundreds of citizens united on the same day? That’s the goal of 100en1día – a social movement from Bogotá which aims to inspire citizen driven change on a significant scale, transforming cities over a 24 hour period.

— Joe Peach on the transformative movement being launched in cities across the globe. (via thisbigcity)

3 weeks ago · 46 notes · Reblogged from thisbigcity

ilovecharts:

Inequality and New York’s Subway [article]

3 weeks ago · 961 notes · Source · Reblogged from motherjones