Post Carbon Cities Blog
Laurel shares two videos: In one, Santa Barbara's City Council member Das Williams talks about that city's efforts to address energy and climate uncertainty. The other is from the city of Portland's education campaign about bike boxes. Plus, seven other cities using bike boxes to protect cyclists.
Laurel shares two videos: In one, Santa Barbara's City Council member Das Williams talks about that city's efforts to address energy and climate uncertainty. The other is from the city of Portland's education campaign about bike boxes. Plus, seven other cities using bike boxes to protect cyclists.
With Daniel off in Ireland, it's both quieter and busier in the Portland office. On top of keeping Post Carbon Cities going in his absence, I've had additional part time work, filling in at Global Public Media. Those of you who are familiar with the Post Carbon Institute primarily through the Post Carbon Cities project may want to check out some of the media distributed through that site.
One way that this has changed my usual habits is that I've been watching more internet video, because it's work-related. So from all that media, today I'll share two with you.
First:
A recent episode of Peak Moment Television has a good interview with Santa Barbara, Calif. Council member Das Williams, talking about what the city is doing to address energy and climate challenges. It's available as both video and audio, so you can watch or listen to it wherever/whenever. Hear about how they're going about their emissions auditing and about excellent policies being put in place in Santa Barbara, like installing solar each time a roof is replaced on a city building.
"I believe that we do need to deal with the reality that we are dependent upon an energy source that is finite, is diminishing, is becoming more expensive..."
Second:
Last night as I was walking down the sidewalk with Joey, an out-of-town friend, he asked "What is up with those green boxes? Am I going to see one while I'm here?"
He was referring to the advertising campaign that the City of Portland has been doing to publicize its new bike boxes. Bike boxes, which have also been implemented in a number of other cities1, are added to dangerous intersections to put cyclists in front of drivers at red lights, allowing them to safely make turns. Since they're relatively new, some instruction is necessary to make sure drivers and cyclists know what they're there for! I'd say the outreach is pretty effective if even visitors are commenting on it.
And yes, part of Portland's outreach and instruction is in the form of video, featuring one "Mr. Smooth." The jury's still out among my friends which is better, this video or the one created by StreetFilms in January. Maybe you can make the call.
And to answer Joey's second question, it depends where he goes. There are only 14 bike boxes planned so far, all at scary intersections but none really in my neighborhood.
1^. About those cities: there were more than I would have guessed. I knew about Portland, New York and Vancouver, but a quick search on (of all things) flickr, got me San Francisco, Victoria, B.C., London, Delft, NL, and Amsterdam, NL. I've also seen mention of ones in Cambridge, Mass., Cambridge, England, Montreal, QC, and Victoria, Australia.
EDIT: and in Dublin!
Photo credit: Jonathan Maus 
(reporting from Dublin, Ireland)
Bike boxes have indeed been around in certain European cities for some time, particularly in the Netherlands and Germany. I've seen a few here in Dublin, although they're not as well-used as one might hope -- underlining, I feel, the need for high quality engineering in bicycle infrastructure (i.e., grade-separated paths) to successfully lure people who have a choice of travel modes on to their bikes.
As I've heard said: The Dutch have learned that you have to make your bike network safe and easy enough for a child to use; and, the Swiss have learned that you have to make your public transit system convenient, clean and timely enough for a bank president to use.