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Showing posts with the label rationality is the new black

The E-bike Sceptic

Updated 22.09.2017 I often voice my scepticism about the hype surrounding e-bikes in the many interviews I give, but I realised I'd never written an article about it. So here goes. There has been an enormous amount of hype surrounding e-bikes. Rule #1: Whenever there is a thick cloud of hype, there is most often another side to the issue that is being neglected. Which is what I've been exploring. When that thick cloud of hype is generated by profit-based industry, your grain of salt just got bigger. Baseline E-bikes serve a purpose. Absolutely. They are a great niche addition to the existing armada of bicycles that have served citizens for 125 years. They have the potential of increasing the mobility radius of cycling citizens - especially the elderly. All good. Safety and Speed The first point that should be of interest to anyone working in urban mobility, active transportation or whatever they call it where you're from is the safety aspect. The average speed ...

The Copenhagenize Guide to Liveable Cities

It's simple if you want it to be. Copenhagenize Design Co.

Motorists Dismount

Buttons that pedestrians or cyclists are forced to push in order for a computer program - programmed by a car-centric engineer - to grant them authorisation to cross a street in their city have to be among the most archaeic remnants of a century of city planning that caters only to the automobile. And that was a long sentence. Sorry. I wish for their immediate demise. The only thing goofier is the pedestrian flags in some American cities . Talk about ignoring the bull . Not to mention engineering instead of designing our cities . One of the things I like most about cycling in Copenhagen is that I don't have to push any of these buttons. There have been a few but they tend to get removed and thank goodness for that. Here's one from the archives: (Although now I'll have to check if it's still there...) Still, they are a rarity here and I've only seen them at t-intersections. So why not signage like the graphic up top? If we're going to level the playi...

Reflective Material on Cars. Seriously

Out of the many articles on the subject of rationality and logic here on the blog, you may remember our proposal for health warnings on automobiles from a while back. Another logical idea that we have pitched around is forcing motorists to add reflective material to their cars in order for cyclists and pedestrians to see them better. It usually garners a chuckle and a "yeah, why don't we?!" But why don't we? It's not such a crazy idea. According to a study from Monash University Accident Research Centre in Australia (the same people who developed protective headwear for... motorists - do you have yours yet?) black cars are more likely to be involved in crashes, whilst white, gold and yellow cars are least likely to suffer the same fate. It was a 20 year study using data from more than a whopping 850,000 accidents. That's what we like. Data to back up an idea. Black cars are 47% more likely to be involved in crashes. Black cars were the bad guys, b...

Outrageous Harbour Tunnel for Copenhagen

The old-fashioned road interests are at it again and the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Frank Jensen, among others, are pandering to them. The insanity continues in The New Copenhagen. Now they want to build a tunnel for cars and trucks to connect the motorways that come from the north of Copenhagen and end in an area called Ryparken/Hans Knuds Square , to the motorway that connects the West of Zealand (the island on which Copenhagen is located) and the bridge to Sweden.  This motorway also accesses the Copenhagen airport. What is interesting is the development that this will no longer be called the "harbour tunnel", but will instead be called the "Eastern Bypass" - but that's just so that it can recieve funding from the national government. This will, however, mean that the tunnel may have to have more interchanges on its route than a pure bypass road would have, especially as it is being proposed as a "Public-Private Partnership", the investors in wh...

Best Magazine Cover Ever

If this isn't the most beautiful magazine cover in the world, I don't know what is. The Most Dangerous Invention in the World. The Car. It's the cover of Profil magazine, out of Austria . I picked it up in Vienna earlier this year. As I understand it, Profil is a business magazine. Leafing through it, it's filled with men in suits saying stuff in German. This article, however, is beautiful for its stunning rationality. It's a bold cover and the accompanying article spells out why the car is, indeed, the most dangerous invention in the world and so destructive to our societies. Unfortunately, my German is rather dodgy but that's what infographics are for! The article features an interview with Vienna's wunderkind Vice-Mayor, Maria Vassilakou . According to this website, her splendidly complicated German titles are: Vice-Mayor and Vice-Governor, Executive City Councillor for Urban Planning, Traffic & Transport, Climate Protection, Energy and ...

Playing in the Street - Smacking The Culture of Fear on the Nose

What a brilliant - and simple - idea. Playing out. Children playing in the streets. As children did, including yours truly, before the Culture of Fear (and its army of profiteers) clenched its fist around our societies. Playingout.net is the website. This is the film about it. Transforming the streetspace into playspace. "When we limit our children to organised activities and formal playspaces we reduce their opportunities for play. Particuarly the kind of free play that develops really important life skills, their physical well-being and their sense of belonging." Brilliant. WARNING! DISCLAIMER! The faint of heart and safety nannies alike should refrain from watching this. It features not only rational dialogue and sensible parents but also children playing happily in all manner of 'extremely dangerous' situations. I spotted dozens of children inhaling chalk dust, a great deal of 'irresponsibly unprotected' skateboarding, scootering and bicycle ri...