#bikeability

Read the official CNU media release here.

The US government on Tuesday released a groundbreaking Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization that fully recognizes the critical role of compact, complete communities in reducing carbon emissions and addressing the nation’s climate issues. No federal plan has made that connection, to this extent, before—opening the door for a national strategy that effectively involves states and cities, dealing with how communities are physically planned, to move the needle on climate change. 

The Blueprint has far-reaching implications for street design, zoning, transit-oriented development, and the planning of compact, connected communities.

Although the report does not say so directly, it’s goals and language tend to support policies that will enable suburban retrofit and more interconnected street networks. The nation needs to “Increase convenience by supporting community design and land-use planning at the local and regional levels that ensure that job centers, shopping, schools, entertainment, and essential services are strategically located near where people live to reduce commute burdens, improve walkability and bikeability, and improve quality of life,” the Blueprint states. In order to meet that goal, America’s spread-out, disconnected, single-use suburbs (and cities), need to be redesigned to allow for more connections, access, and diversity.

"The more space that is provided cars in cities, the greater becomes the need for use of cars." 

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail.

The impact of Jane Jacobs' observation, activism, and writing has led to a 'planning blueprint' for generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists to practice. 

Jacobs saw cities as integrated systems that had their own logic and dynamism which would change over time according to how they were used. With an eye for detail, she wrote eloquently about sidewalks, parks, retail design and self-organization. She promoted higher density in cities, short blocks, local economies and mixed uses. Jacobs helped derail the car-centred approach to urban planning in both New York and Toronto, invigorating neighborhood activism by helping stop the expansion of expressways and roads. She lived in Greenwich Village for decades, then moved to Toronto in 1968 where she continued her work and writing on urbanism, economies and social issues until her death in April 2006.

By Ülvi Gitaliyev Thanksgiving is a special time for most students at Berea College. People get to see their family again, eat good food and leave the Berea bubble, if only for a little. For international students and domestics who come from far away states, options are more limited. We can either tag along to a friend or partner’s Thanksgiving or hunker down in Berea and survive the boredom.…

not enough bike paths. had to ride on the pavement at least half the time (im not riding on the road fuck off), which was wide and smooth enough to accommodate bikes but it was mixed with pedestrians

the bike paths I did get to use are smooth and somewhat wide, but they weren't consistent or interconnected, and people kept walking on them

no bicycle parking! I didn't notice any at all throughout the whole journey! had to park at fences and traffic sign poles

Who are you and what do you do (when you’re not on the bike!)

Dom Spitzer-Wong. I live in Birmingham and I'm a Disability and Active Travel/Cycling advocate. Currently I am a full time bicycle mechanic for The Bike Project.

What drives you to get on your bike? Is it your commute, your sport, your passion… or something else?

I've been getting myself about almost exclusively on two wheels since the age of 6. When I hit my late 20's, after 11 years in the music industry, I suffered a breakdown and needed a career change. I came to reflect that the one constant in my life, and greatest benefit to my mental health, had always been cycling, both for utility and leisure.

In 2006 I was encouraged to train as a cycling instructor and since then I've been lucky to be able to share my love for cycling as my job. Over the past 16 years I've specialised in disability cycling, including being a volunteer tandem pilot for British Paracycling. I've also taught Bikeability in Primary and Secondary schools, basic maintenance classes and Safer Urban Driving to professional drivers.

By far the best part of my work has been the countless beginners, young and old, who I have helped learn to ride their bikes. It's not unfair to say my life revolves around bicycles almost exclusively, from work to holidays. So much so that I met my partner through cycling. Even at our Wedding reception we didn't have a first dance, we had a first lap.