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.
• While much has been made of the recent controversy surrounding New York City’s bike lanes, there is extensive support for this infrastructure and a record of this support from project inception. Check out the Blueprint for the Upper West Side and this film produced by Streetfilms for some inspiration.
• Tel Aviv is experiencing similar backlash to its American cousin. As the Sustainable City Blog explains, the shift towards complete streets in what has traditionally been an autocentric town has raised the ire of many motorists. In contrast to New York’s approach to the backlash, however, Tel Aviv officials are quashing resistance rather than looking for common ground: “the streets of Tel Aviv do not belong to the residents. No one owns the streets or the parking spots and the municipality does not have to conduct negotiations with the residents.”
• As former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel stepped into his new role as Mayor of Chicago this week, The Transport Politic offers a sneak peak at the tough choices he’ll face related to transportation policy. According to Emanuel’s transition plan, focus will be shifted to bus rapid transit lines, well suited to the city’s wide boulevards.
• La Matanza, a district of Buenos Aires, is one of the Argentina’s most populous and impoverished areas. But it is also the origin of a unique grassroots approach to unemployment and its complementary social problems. The Unemployed Worker’s Movement La Matanza is a cooperative which seeks to find collective solutions to collective problems. The group operates a Critical Mass community bakery, a microcredit lending program, a daycare, a school, workshops and other educational opportunities. Polis cites the group as a great example of bottom up development.
• Prague celebrates the opening of its first farmers’ market. Some 15,000 residents visited the market to purchase local produce in March. (Radio Praha)
Image from tee.kay
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