The Life-Sized City Blog

This is a photo from Hong Kong by the photographer Dian Karlina . It really is the textbook example of a very non -liveable city. A city for machines, not pedestrians and cyclists. It reminded me of these photos taken by Robert Doisneau in Paris in the 1960's. Pedestrians dashing like mad to cross the street as the car traffic roars towards them. Thank goodness Paris is changing for the better. Doisneau once said, “It is not easy to catch a pedestrian, it is like a pigeon. It jumps.” When they're running for their lives it certainly isn't any easier.

This. Is. Brilliant. Once again, once again it's the Dutch who refuse to Ignore The Bull and choose instead to place the responsibility on the motorists. There is the External Airbags on Cars to protect cyclists and pedestrians and now there is this. Look at that film. Not only are there speed bumps in place to slow cars (and provide the cyclists with an even surface), the LED lights warn cars when bicycles are crossing. At the moment there are LED pedestrian crossings at some 20 locations in the Netherlands. In Papendrecht there is now a variation on a roundabout for cyclists as well. According to local authorities this is intended to be a sustainably safe roundabout because of the elevated bicycle and pedestrian crossings and islands. But apparently these measures were insufficient to ensure the safety of cyclists, so additional striking LED lighting was installed in the road surface. The manufacturer provided software made specifically for this location, which would e...

Interesting idea that follows the desire lines of pedestrians. This Ergo Crosswalk is the brainchild of Korean designer Jae Min Lim. His idea was shortlisted at the Seoul Design Competition . He suggests designing the stripes to follow the actual routes that people walk. Jae Min Lim on his design: “When people cross roads, they tend to take the fastest shortcut. they sometimes do it intentionally, but mostly it is an unconscious act. this kind of action violates the traffic regulations and sometimes threatens the safety of the pedestrians. The ‘ergo crosswalk’ is a design that makes people follow the law, as well as consider their habits or unconscious actions. it will encourage pedestrians to follow the lines of the cross walk and protect them from any potential danger. If regulations cannot force people to follow the law, wouldn’t it be more reasonable to change the law and fulfill the main purpose of keeping the safety and convenience of the pedestrian...” The stop lines fo...

It reads "Remember. Stop for red". I've never stopped for red here, unless pedestrians are crossing. Sue me. The police in Copenhagen don't often bother cyclists. When they do, they're kind enough to announce it in advance. This week is "Go After Cyclists" week. The police will be focusing on cyclists in the traffic in the hope of filling some quotas. Funny thing is, I don't recall ever seeing a "Go After Pedestrians" week. And I certainly don't see any long-term concerted effort to "Go After Motorists", which would save lives. But hey... Here's a blogpost from a while back about a previous, symbolic 'bike raid week' in the Danish capital in 2007. So, if you're riding around the city this week, chill. Wait until next week to navigate along your " Desire Lines " and experiment with the anthropolgical mapmaking of your personal urban mobility routes. Save your rolling casually across zebra crossings, t...

A reader mentioned pedestrian flags in Berkeley, California in a comment and added "I'm serious!" so I thought I'd check out this fantastic example of victim blaming in Bubble Wrap Society. He was serious. Is that scary or funny or both? Not sure. Flags are placed near intersections and the idea is that pedestrians pick one up and hold it when they wish to foolishly exercise their human right to safe urban mobility . Most of the flags have been stolen and few use them apparently. Ironically, 48 hours after these went into [non]use, a pedestrian was hit by a car. Here's what Berkeley City Councilwoman Polly Armstrong said about it at the time: "We hope over time - when drivers are paying a little more attention than that driver was - that the flags would be helpful." She added that, "Pedestrians have to be on guard and aggressive with their flags." "After hitting the pedestrian, the driver swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with ...