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Category Archives: 2.2 – cycling
The future of automobile infrastructure: Antonio Segni Bridge, Rome
Usually, a highway is a mono-functional road, designed to carry cars from one place to another at a maximum speed. But, sometimes highways don’t carry so many cars as expected, and other uses start to appear.
An example of the re-use of highways was the Antonio Segni Bridge in Northern Rome, the east-west road in the photo here below.
(image: microsoft virtual earth)
Designed to be part of the Milan-Naples highway, the Antonio Segni Bridge has survived as an isolated stretch when the motorway was re-routed on a more external path. Closed to traffic for almost ten years, it has become the favorite place for pedestrians and cyclists’ sunday strolls. When it was opened to motorized traffic, few cars passed on the Bridge, and pedestrian and cyclists still continued to use its sidewalks as a shortcut to reach otherwise far neighborhoods.
Some improvement could be made in order to make the bridge a more interesting place:
- wider sidewalks and zebra crossings.
- more pedestrian connections to nearby neighborhood.
- a landscaped median.
Here is a similar example, from Minneapolis:
video: streetsblog.org
Posted in 1 - spaces, 1.4 - public spaces, 2 - transports, 2.2 - cycling, 2.4 - cars, B - Trends, D - reflections
Tagged highways, pedestrians, reflections, rome, streets, trends
Tysons Corner turns into a downtown
“From ancient times, what made a city a city was how it functioned, not how it looked. And this is especially true today, for we have not built a single old-style downtown from raw dirt in seventy-five years.”
(Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier, Chapter 2)
This is how Joel Garreau described in 1991 the trend in urban planning in USA and in most developped countries. Downtowns were a thing of the past, office parks, shopping centers, single-family houses and motorways were the future. One of the symbols of this “Life on the New Frontier” was Tysons Corner, an area capable to attract offices and retail, but lacking public space. (the description of Tysons Corner by Joel Garreau, is here).
A typical Tysons Corner road (image: Microsoft Virtual Earth)
18 ans later, Tysons Corner has become one of the symbol of post-war urbanism’s excesses: the lack of public spaces forces dwellers and workers to go everywhere by car, and traffic jams occur every day.
In order to solve the problem, Fairfax county approved a master plan which will thansform Tysons Corner in an “old-style downtown”:
- A new metro line to Washington,
- a new series of pedestrian spaces,
- smaller blocks and more through roads.
(image: Tysons Tomorrow)
After Brasilia, another 20th century city reinvents itself.
further readings:
First we kill the architects…
(source: new york times)
Posted in 1 - spaces, 1.4 - public spaces, 2 - transports, 2.2 - cycling, B - Trends, D - reflections
Tagged New York, reflections, trends
David Byrne’s bike racks
(source: creative class)
bikes for all needs
(video: conference bike)
As car sales dop and bike sales skyrocket, more and more bike models are launched. After the conference bike and the pedal pub, it’s time for family bikes! Here’s a list of the most interesting ones (tips on other models are always welcome):
(sources: carectomy, copenhagenize, springwise)
bike sharing grows more and more
Some days ago I was wariting about bike sharing in Lausanne. Now, things are evolving fastly, and more and more cities are implementing a bike sharing program.
so, let’s make a list of bike sharing services all over the world:
Tulsa (Oklahoma)
informations about other cities are more than welcome!
updates will appear on the dedicated page.
(sources: roma pedala, streetsblog)
Posted in 2 - transports, 2.2 - cycling, B - Trends
Tagged bikes, geneva, lausanne, New York, paris, rome, trends
A short history of America
Some posts ago, we saw the first steps that gave birth to a road.
Here is the rest of the story (by R. Crumb)
(source: carfree)
Posted in 2 - transports, 2.1 - walking, 2.2 - cycling, 2.3 - public transports, 2.4 - cars, D - reflections
Tagged cars, reflections, streets, trains, tram
Sunday street in Bogotà: la Ciclovia
Once famous just for its internal wars, Colombia is experiencing big changes in its architectural and social life. In its capital, Bogotà, quality of life has improved dramatically in the last years: one of the examples of this improvements is Bogotà’s sunday street, the famous “Ciclovia”.
(source: streetfilms)
Posted in 2.1 - walking, 2.2 - cycling, 2.3 - public transports, 3 - events, B - Trends
Tagged bikes, bogota, colombia, events, streets, traffic, trends
