World Wide Wednesday: By Taxi, Bus or Bike

Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

• Detroit  has had its fair share of hurdles over the past few years but Time says the winds of change are blowing and they are coming from Mayor Dave Bing’s office. In a city that has lost half of its population in the past half-century as well as its key industry, it may be time to cut losses on abandoned neighbourhoods and crumbling infrastructure to focus efforts on the city’s core assets. As the prestigious Kresge Foundation fronts a massive planning effort for Detroit’s future, Time offers a prescription of density, contiguity, naturalization, urban homesteading and ethnic diversity for Motown.

• While American bikesharing systems generally trail their European counterparts in terms of station density and overall ridership, Streetsblog reports good news out of Minneapolis. The city’s Nice Ride system, which launched this summer, topped 100,000 trips in its first five months. Even more hopeful – of the 680 users surveyed, nearly 20 percent used the system instead of driving.

• “An icon of [New York City’s] urban landscape, the humble yellow cab is set to undergo an unprecedented face-lift — perhaps the biggest change to the city’s street aesthetic since licensed cabs were required to be painted yellow in 1970,” reports the New York Times. The three competing designs offered up by Ford, Nissan and Turkish manufacturer Karsan,  are more minivan than sedan.

• Not to be outdone in the iconic vehicle department, the prototype for London’s new double decker bus design was unveiled this week. According to The Star, the lightweight, fuel-efficient design harkens back to the round edges and charm of the Routemaster, a version replaced in 2005 after nearly a century of service. The new double deckers won’t start rolling until 2012.

• On Sunday, November 21st, the Vancouver Public Space Network is teaming up with 350.org to “take public art to a whole new (atmospheric) level.” A massive public art installation will take shape in Vancouver as well as 19 other cities around the world to raise awareness about global climate change.

Photo from The Star

Do you have a World Wide Wednesday worthy article you’d like to share? Send the link to www@spacing.ca