A new study has collected data from more than 7000 neighbourhoods to find the most bikeable streets in America. Six of the top 10 neighbourhoods scored a perfect 100, and three of those perfect scores come from the college town of Davis, California.

According to their webpage, “it is the goal of the City of Davis to create and maintain an integrated system of bikeways. The City recognizes the need to encourage bicycle travel for both transportation & recreation and works to promote bicycle use as a viable, attractive, non-polluting form of transportation and assure safe and convenient access to all areas of the city.” There is even a bicycle incorporated into the town’s logo.

The Bike Score – which is similar to Walk Score – took into account bike lanes, hills, and road connectivity to score bikeability.

More than 50% of American neighbourhoods studied scored lower than 50 out of 100.

Incidentally, Toronto has a Bike Score of 56 and Calgary – one of the most bikeable cities in Canada – scored 91.

Via Atlantic Cities. Photo via Wikicommons.

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

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Sitting like a mirage in the desert, Masdar City might just be on the frontier of a new – environmental friendly – urban life.

The city is an $18 billion  project in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and is scheduled to be completed by 2015. It will be home to 40,000 residents within a two square mile radius, where cars are simply not allowed. Each building in the city being toted as carbon-neutral and residents are transported about via PRTs (Personal Rapid Transit) pods.

A 148-foot tower draws cool air down to create a perpetual breeze in the courtyard of the Masdar Institute.

Via Popsci

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

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Believe it or not there’s a ton of fat in the sewers of London, England and it’s a real problem. In what might just be the worst job ever, city workers have to manually unclog sewers and remove the excess fat.

A new power plant – to be built by 2015 – looks to take all this excess fat, oil and grease (FOG) and use it to generate enough electricity for 39,000 homes. Used greased from restaurant deep-fryers will also be used.

London sewers have 80,000 blockages annually. More than 30,000 tonnes of fat will be delivered to the new plant everyday.

Via Treehugger.

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

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How do you get around your city? Do you cycle? Would you like to cycle? What influences your decision?

There have been numerous attempts to encourage a shift towards active transportation and cycling. The most high profile of these have focused on the construction of physical infrastructure such as separated bicycle lanes, bike parking and destination amenities such as change-rooms and showering facilities. Due to tight city budgets and the slow pace of infrastructure development, cities like Toronto have lagged behind other urban centres which have fast-tracked their cycling infrastructure. In spite of this, Toronto has greatly increased its cycling population. A recent Toronto study estimates the increase in the number of cyclists, from 2001 to 2006, to be as much as 30%. While this increase shows positive signs, there is still significant room to grow.

Researchers from the Toronto Cycling Think & Do Tank have been working on the development of A Toolkit to Accelerate the Adoption of Cycling for Transportation. This toolkit takes an original approach: linking behaviour change theory and cycling promotion. The toolkit is based on a thorough review of existing scholarly literature and builds on the practical components of successful cycling programs from around the world. The result is an evidence-based, adaptable model, providing a guideline for a cycling promotion program design.

The Toronto Cycling Think & Do Tank will be using this toolkit in a pilot project in 2013. The idea is to move beyond “traditional” cycling campaigns – which often strive to raise awareness, promote the benefits of cycling and provide information. While these initiatives do play a role, many studies have concluded that knowledge and information campaigns alone do not lead to actual behaviour change. The Toolkit to Accelerate the Adoption of Cycling for Transportation recommends a more supported, targeted and “give it a try” approach to cycling encouragement, including these general steps:

1> Segment Target Population

2> Identify & Remove Barriers

3> Implement Commitment Strategies

4> Sustain Behaviour Change

+ Ongoing social support through modeling, local hubs & periodic events

An important additional factor, and one that must be ongoing, is the use of various techniques to draw people in and inspire widespread participation. Techniques such as pledges, small incentives to encourage initial involvement, the creation of social support networks or local cycling hubs, the presence of an enthusiastic cycling “champion” to model the desired behaviour, and periodic, large-scale community events to keep new, as well as experienced, cyclists motivated are some examples of engagement tools. These elements involve the target audience, instill a sense of ownership in the program and help sustain the behaviour change.

The first step, in the process, is to identify and understand the target audience. This could be a particular demographic group: school children, female non-cyclists or senior occasional cyclists, as examples. Ideally the group is one that will, for a variety of reasons, be amenable to cycling. We know, for example, that populations making big changes in their lives are often open to additional new behaviours. Once the group is identified, a more individualized, targeted intervention can be developed and applied.

While education, awareness and information can affect and shape attitudes and intention; barriers ultimately mediate whether they are expressed through behaviour. Common barriers to cycling include fear, perception of safety, perceived lack of comfort, distance, negative stereotypes related to the “image” of a cyclist and the power of habit as a determinant of travel behaviour. Ultimately, it is when barriers, both internally and externally, are low that behaviour change programs are effective.

It is fascinating to see the success of countless cycle encouragement programs in Toronto and around the world. Many incorporate one or more of the steps and tactics presented in the toolkit. Our research suggests the combination of these steps will be more powerful than single interventions. The wheel does not need to be developed from scratch – rather the programs that already exist can be supplemented and looped into a larger framework, in partnership with local community groups. Our work is about expanding, enhancing and connecting communities and activities that support cycling.

For more information, please visit www.torontocycling.org

Or email info@torontocycling.org

Emma Cohlmeyer recently completed her Masters in Urban Planning at the University of Toronto. She has always been intrigued by urban life, cities and the built environment. She is fascinated by the dynamic and diverse ways that people are able to shape and influence their city, while at the same time how urban form is able to shape its population.

Photo by Daniel Gueorguiev

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Written by James L. Sipes—a landscape architect and environmental planner—and Mathew L. Sipes—a civil engineer—the book benefits from both authors professional experience as it brings together the disciplines of architecture, planning and engineering—all of which are indispensible when creating roadways—and presents them as a single integrated perspective. This approach makes the book more accessible without skimping on technical details.

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As it stands, the Miami Beach Convention Center is nowhere near being the standard for green sustainable architecture, but that’s about to change.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has unveiled plans to transform the 52-acre site, creating the Miami Beach Square, a pedestrian-friendly space in front of the center. The renovations of the existing building will include an ambitious green roof which will also support art exhibitions.

The entire project is meant to revitalize the area: the new Miami Beach Square will act as a front door to the Convention Center.

Via Inhabitat

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

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Is there a set of stairs on your way to work that you always trip on?

In New York, Dean Peterson decided to explore why everyone trips on a certain set of stairs. It turns out that the stair is a fraction of an inch higher than all the rest, sending nearly every stair-climber toppling.

As you can see in this short video, it’s no laughing matter.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/44807536#[/vimeo]

Via ManMade

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

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Last week, the City of Hamilton hosted a talk on tactical urbanism by Mike Lydon, a principal at New York’s Street Plans Collaborative. It’s the principle that citizens can undertake direct, low-cost, high-reward actions that immediately improve some aspect of a community’s public life and demonstrate to city leaders that there are opportunities for easy, successful changes to the status quo.

The purpose of tactical urbanism is to cut through the “analysis paralysis” that often grips municipal governments. Instead of spending years studying and planning without actually doing anything, tactical urbanism emphasizes short-term action that precipitates long-term change.

It’s informed by a vision of change and an understanding of local context. It emphasizes agility and value, and builds social capital and organizational capacity in the community.

In cities across North America, local community groups have undertaken a variety of immediate, direct actions that have kick-started the process of transformation, including: decorating intersections; installing DIY crosswalks and bike lanes; turning pavement into parks and plazas; guerrilla gardening; installing street seating and building excitement about proposed plans (“future-tising”).

Lydon’s talk drew a large audience who immediately went out and began applying the lessons to Hamilton: a friendly demonstration to promote turning a suburban intersection into shared space; a painted crosswalk adjacent to a pedestrian-unfriendly four-lane arterial; and DIY bumpouts at a busy intersection next to a school (see photo above from Raise the Hammer).

Last Friday, I asked the long-time crossing guard at the intersection with the “guerrilla bumpouts” what she thought. She immediately replied, “I like it!” The guard did not know who had installed the cones or what they were for, but she recognized that they made the corner a lot safer for kids walking to school.

The traffic calming “really controls the traffic. It was getting scary,” she said, noting that it forced the cars to slow down.

Other cities embrace citizen engagement and work with activists to legitimize their projects.

Not Hamilton.

The campaign drew an aggressive response from the City’s general manager of Public Works, Gerry Davis, who reported the incidents to the police and issued a memo to Council calling the actions “illegal, potentially unsafe” and “vandalism”. City workers removed the installations.

Left unmentioned in Davis’ memo is the ongoing danger and liability from

Hamilton’s status quo of pedestrian- and cyclist-unfriendly automobile oriented streets, a legacy that has persisted for decades despite an official policy to promote walkable streets.

Notwithstanding the city’s stated vision, the traffic department actively opposes any changes that might disrupt the smooth, fast flow of automobile traffic.

In the face of decades of plans, mountains of evidence and literally dozens of urban planning experts, our leaders remain implacably opposed to the most basic transformations that would make our streets tamer, safer, more equitable and more successful for everyone.

If citizens are finally taking street design into their own hands, it is out of extreme frustration with the failure of city leadership, year after year, to make the necessary changes themselves.

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 photo by Sam Javanrouh

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After the flame of the games moves on to its next city, life returns to normal. Massive construction projects, signs, trinkets, and mascots all combined to showcase the host nation, but once the crowds move on what happens to those Olympic venues?

Photographers Jon Pack and Gary Hustwit went out around the world to examine host cities post-Olympics. The images include abandoned swimming pools, rusted buildings, worn out tracks, and discarded mascots. This is all part of their photo project The Olympic City.

Beijing games in 2008 cost between $40 and $44-billion making them the most expensive games ever.

Via CNN.

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These days, Toronto isn’t widely known as a cycling-friendly city. What other modern urban metropolis is removing bike lanes, instead of creating them? But a new project, the Toronto Cycling Think & Do Tank at University of Toronto’s School of the Environment aims to change this image. In spite of our woeful lack of infrastructure, Toronto’s cycling population is growing: Between 2001 and 2006, the percentage of Torontonians cycling grew by more than 30% (Toronto Public Health (2012) Road to Health: Improving Walking and Cycling in Toronto PDF) and a recent planning department report suggests further growth since 2006 (City of Toronto Planning Department. (2012). Living in Downtown and the Centres PDF). We think there are effective tools to help it grow further.  Tools that will be piloted and researched in Toronto, but that we are confident will be useful in communities across Canada and around the world.

Taking a leaf from books written by social psychologists, we are using proven tools for behaviour change, integrating a suite of complementary interventions shown to work in other fields. We will research, develop and pilot test a made to measure recipe for cycling adoption, including ingredients such as pledges, free tune ups and equipment, group rides, lots of peer modeling and social support, local hubs to catalyze change and provide advice like route planning. We’ll throw in a generous dose of fun and celebration for good measure.

We’re working in a terrific team of brilliant and enthusiastic students and faculty at the U of T, along with a host of creative and savvy partners off campus – groups like 4^th Floor and Curbside, Toronto Centre for Active Transportation, 8-80 Cities, Evergreen, BikeChain, dandyhorse, and Shawn Micallef at Spacing.

Our first job has been to map the city – charting the intensity of cycling ward by ward, and learning about the detailed demographics of each part of our city. We hope to figure out why people in some wards cycle much more than those in neighbouring wards, and identify the specific barriers that keep people off bikes in parts of the city where cycling is the quickest way to get around. We’ll evaluate how population make-up, cycling resources and infrastructure appear to influence cycling patterns on a ward by ward basis. Next we’ll study the variety of tools for encouraging cycling tested in other communities, and, using the well-developed literature in social psychology, put these tried and true ingredients together into our integrated recipe. Finally, we’ll try out our recipe, adapting it to the different tastes of a couple of carefully chosen communities, where the benefits of cycling would be considerable.

We’re also looking at how cycling affects our economy, and how for profit and not for profit cycling hubs can both benefit from the boom in urban cycling and contribute to it. We know that cycling costs less than travelling by motorized vehicles, but we’ll try to figure out exactly how much less it costs, and what the economic benefits are for both local businesses and the community at large of having more cyclists on the road.

Happy pedaling and continued reading

Beth Savan is based at the Cities Centre and School of the Environment, University of Toronto, and is the Principal Investigator at the Toronto Cycling Think And Do Tank. She’s also an avid city cyclist

Photo by Mary Crandall

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