Cycling blogs are all over this already, but Google has released a "Grab Your Bike and Go" feature to give cycling directions for all maps. Google's Shannon Guymon is the opening plenary speaker at the National Bike Summit and she's expected to announce the new feature this morning and give a demonstration.
 | | Screenshot: from Jefferson's Rotunda to the Charlottesville Downtown Mall in 8 minutes | The feature - Identifies cycling facilities (for now in "hundreds of US cities")
- Shows which routes are considered safer than others, including paths that have limited or no driving
- Uses elevation grades to estimate times and recommend routes
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From the Planning Commissioners Journal: The Alliance for Biking & Walking, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has released a remarkably useful report for anyone interested in bike, pedestrian, public health, and traffic safety issues. Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report is available to download as a pdf file; you can also separately download the Executive Summary. The Report is replete with data. In fact, there's an almost overwhelming amount of data, covering a wide range of topics. But what's most important is how well organized and designed the report is -- and how easy-to-read the charts, maps, and graphics are (several are included below with permission of the Alliance). It's a pleasure to come across a document like this. Isn't it odd, that, according to the maps below, more people walk and bike to work in northern states that experience winter and cold weather... read more >>
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Just watched a video of the new runaway Prius episode in Southern California from last night. The scene and its aftermath reminded me of the OJ Simpson Ford Bronco chase that was televised live after the former football star was accused in 1994 of murdering his wife and another man. With the Runaway Prius, according to the news reports, the car accelerated by itself to 90 miles an hour and wouldn't stop, until a California Highway Patrol (CHP) car gave the driver instructions from a loudspeaker and then got in front of the car, helping brake it to a stop. "I was on the brakes pretty healthy, it wasn't stopping or doing anything, it just kept speeding up," said the driver, James Sykes. The panicked driver called 911, and as a responding CHP pulled alongside him, he said, "I was standing on the brake pedal looking at him." The power of such a cultural meme, happening on a greater LA freeway, starring CHPs as supporting cast, has all the memorable and dramatic emotional ingredients that can do even greater damage to Toyota, its Prius hybrid, and possibly even the alternative transportation movement. Toyota has recalled eight ... read more >>
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Green Design in Sydney, Australia, defines a vertical garden as “a unique structure that holds indoor plants in a vertical and horizontal pattern in freestanding columns and walls.” They’ve taken that definition and built a freestanding wall of planters to create a vertical garden. Their type of greenwall can be used as a unique room divider since it is freestanding. They use recyclable plastic pots and the garden is resistant to mold. They also mention the living wall would be a form of advertising for your business since everyone would be talking about it… something I hadn’t thought of. 
They state that each pot can hold enough water to keep plants hydrated.. but you have to wonder how frequently they have to be watered and the work involved. If you’ve got a high green wall, you’re on a ladder each time you need to water unless you install an irrigation system. With this system, it doesn’t hide the irrigation pipes quite as nicely as a Patrick Blanc style living wall or a Woolly Pocket vertical garden… the pipes would be right out there in the open which would definitely impact the look... read more >>
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Today’s title sounds a little counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Using residential and commercial density to revitalize downtowns or bring people closer to rail transit stops makes sense. But aren’t parks and trails supposed to be bucolic, the antithesis of urbanity? Not necessarily. Writing in the City Parks Blog, Ben Welle notes that parks and people need each other, and we need to bring them together: “There is a symbiotic relationship between parks and population density. For those living in compact housing around a park’s borders, there is respite, a place to recreate, a back yard where little private outdoor space exists and an amenity that increases property values. For the park, there’s the “eyes” that make it safer, more property taxes to keep it maintained, nearby users to keep it vibrant and able to maximize its value as a public amenity.” Ben is assistant director of the Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence, so he knows a thing or two about what makes parks work best.  In his post, Ben describes an initiative in Minneapolis that would upzone areas near a popular rail-trail as a revitalization strategy... read more >>
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Yesterday, eVolo magazine announced the winners of their 2010 Skyscraper Competition, an award that aims to ‘discover young talents whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.’ The nine jurors selected 3 prizes and 27 special mentions out of 430 entries from 42 countries, and considered factors such as globalisation, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution when making their considerations. The First Prize went to Malaysian Architecture students Chow Khoon Toong, Ong Tien Yee, and Beh Ssi Cze, for their prison in the sky, pictured above. Inmates would live in a free and productive society with farming and factories supporting the world below. It’s an interesting idea that seeks to totally re-imagine the prison system, and even though the logistics of creating such a system are pretty unfavourable, the judges considered this the strongest entry. Second place went to... read more >>
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Last week, the National Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC) gave its preliminary consent for the National Park Service’s preferred alternative plan for the National Mall, a “comprehensive framework plan” that has undergone a rigorous process of public comment. According to the Park Service, the $700 million plan has received thousands of comments to date. Nancy Witherell, historic preservation lead for the NCPC, argued that the National Park Service’s plan offers “respectful rehabilitation.” While there is a rich legacy of planning that still guides future development of the National Mall, including the original L’Enfant and McMillan plans, SOM plans leading up to the bicentennial, and the recent OLIN design plans for the Washington Monument, the National Park Service’s new comprehensive framework plan creates a path for moving forward with critical, postponed maintenance work (up to $400 million worth) and future enhancements designed to make the Mall both more sustainable and accessible. Witherell outlined the major components of the Park Service’s new framework plan... read more >>
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 For the last few months, I've left my bike at home and made my way throughout town mostly on my own two feet. During this time, I've observed a clever strategy, used by countless walkers, for crossing two or three-lane streets. It's especially common among the regulars - the truckers of the pedestrian world - who have optimized their safety and efficiency by repeating the same trip over and over again. It's quite possibly the perfectly rational cross. The way it works is simple: As you're walking toward your destination, you remain constantly aware of the vehicular traffic coming from either direction. Once a clear break appears, you cross at that moment. There's no wait time, because you continue walking while you watch for the opening. It's highly safe, or at least you have maximum control over your own safety. Before "jaywalking" was stigmatized and banned through a campaign by automobile lobbies, this was a perfectly acceptable way to approach a typical dilemma. Walkers are now supposed to wait until they reach the intersection before crossing, but for obvious reasons they do not want to do this. - Vehicles could be approaching from a number of directions...
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Several weeks ago, I ran a post making the case that transit-oriented development requires more than just transit and development. As the phrase implies, it also requires orientation: the development must relate to and be convenient to the transit. There is also a body of practice and research on the closely linked subject of walkable neighborhoods, which require more than just sidewalks and places you might want to go within theoretical walking distance. This recently posted and very good presentation by the Washington, DC Office of Planning, for example, outlines (among other things) some of the elements of city fabric that make communities hospitable to walking. 
Now the northeast DC neighborhood of Edgewood is experiencing some hard lessons about both transit orientation and walkability. First, it is losing its Safeway supermarket at least partly because of the store's failure to attract business from a nearby Metro rail transit station; second, residents literally on the wrong side of the tracks are being left with a difficult walking environment to reach what will now be their closest alternative market. In ... read more >>
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A recent op-ed in the Boston Globe by the previously mentioned economist Edward Glaeser outlines the pervasive anti-urban bias in federal stimulus funding. In 2009, America’s five least dense states were awarded $1,100 per capita in federal recovery grants while the five densest states, including Massachusetts, got $561 per capita. President Obama can change the tilt toward low density. The most urban president since Teddy Roosevelt, Obama needs to fight for cities, not just as a matter of justice, but because cities, and the creativity that comes when humans connect and learn from each other in dense areas, are the best hope for the country. While Glaeser's Roosevelt assessment is mildly dubious, his summation of funding distribution has been accurate and reflects a lack of organization and coordinated voice on behalf of urban constituents. While it was once easy to overlook the stereotyped urban minorities in the age of cheap oil, in the next fifty years increasingly interrelated energy and economic constraints will increase the profile of urban areas and tilt this balance back towards urban issues. A country strapped for resources ... read more >>
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