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.
• In Malmo, Sweden, a witty cycling campaign is getting real results. Now four-years old, “No Ridiculous Car Trips” capitalized on the unfortunate reality that 50% of all trips under 5 km in the city were taken by car. Recognizing this ridiculous waste (and enormous potential), a group of dedicated citizens combined installation art, story telling and incentives to get people to re-consider their modal choices. Copenhagenize has a delightful short film profiling the campaign.
• In London, England, the choice to take transit is now back on the table as Underground employees are returning to work following a 24-hour strike. According to the BBC, the strike was prompted by job cuts and several more disruptions are planned for November if the dispute remains unresolved.
• Say hello to Shweeb — the New Zealand company looking to revolutionize urban transportation with its human-powered monorail. Backed by a $1 million investment from Google, Shweeb will move forward with their prototype of person-sized glass capsules pictured above, reports the Atlantic Wire.
• Brand Avenue has a fascinating compendium of films related to outdoor advertising. Contrast the 1940s film “To Market, To Market” which explains how to use outdoor advertising can harness the consumer power of daily commuters to Logorama, a film about Los Angeles optimized for advertising.
Photo from The Atlantic Wire
Do you have a World Wide Wednesday worthy article you’d like to share? Send the link to www@spacing.ca
5 comments
Bliss in London is being a cycle commuter on the day of a tube strike. All it means to me are more fellow cyclists on the road (many of them wearing suit & tie).
Ha! Love the title-and-picture combination:
No ridiculous car trips. Ridiculous individual cycle-powered monorail pod trips accepted.
(But then, maybe I’m just stuck in the industrial era…)
Laura, I thought the same thing. I wear skirts all the time which would preclude that ridiculous position for the monorail! Beyond the position looking uncomfortable, it limits the device to able-bodied people of a certain size range. And I can imagine crud falling off of people’s shoes and accumulating on the bottom, which is where you sit!
I agree with the other commentors that this particular implementation of the bicycle monorail won’t work. It is just to uncomfortable, and frankly embarrassing for daily use. As an amusement park ride for the young and fit, it would be great.
But is there something in the concept? For downtown city cyclists the big hold up is the same as for car drivers – traffic, stop signs, red lights. If you could travel over all that on an elevated path, you could bypass all that and just zoom along. But I think a grade separated bike path makes a lot more sense than the monorail. For one thing, faster travels can pass slower ones, and for another, once you get off the elevated path you have your bike with you to finish the trip. The West Toronto Rail Path, if it ever gets extended to downtown would be a good example of such a route.
The Shweeb article reminds me a bit of a article a friend sent me last year about Personal Rapid Transit systems (http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22083/). I had a similar reaction to both, as expressed by the other commenters: pretty neat, but could this ever work practically? It’s hard to imagine how to fit the infrastructure for a system like this into our cities as they currently operate. I love Laurie’s idea of a grade separated bike path, though – it seems like a nice hybrid of a new transportation paradigm and current reality.
I don’t know much about personal transit systems like this though – does anyone else have insight/cool links to share?