Pedestrians, Bicycles & Cars

I think that the first cities where designed by and for pedestrians, these cities were walkable and made for being occupied. Now, these cities are a nightmare for drivers.

Bragança.

After the invention and democratisation of cars, the design of cities has been subjugated to this machine. Cities are designed and modified in order to become car-friendly; and people, meaning pedestrians or cyclists, have been relegated.

The future (or actual) energy crisis will be a great opportunity to reconquer the city and start designing for people again. We need public spaces designed to be used and reconnect communities.

Apparently, cyclists have started already in New York. This NY Times article shows how NY city has lots of problems with accidents and how car speed is directly related to deaths in streets.

Deaths in Manhattan. nytimes.com

These deaths are produced for the collision of the car-friendly city with the most ancient ways of transport in urban areas. The speed of vehicles as well as the poor education of drivers towards the priority of pedestrians and cyclist versus cars is what is causing these accidents.

Now we need our governments and councils to act in order to transform our cities in more anthropocentric ones. We need to be re-educated in the respect for the citizens and its more fragile ways of transport around the city. We need spaces to move and stay safely.

Walkable and cycleable city in Minorca

Oxford Street

Apparently Oxford Street is in decadency. In fact in almost two years that I have been living in Sydney, I have been there only once.

That happens in every city, some areas of the city loose activity and others gain it. But is it a ‘natural’ process or is it due to the actual tendency of business model?

Apparently the opening of the Westfield shopping center coincides with the closing of a huge amount of small shops and other business.

In a sustainable city we have to take into account not only energy, water or waste but the life within neighborhoods and their small economic activities that enrich the urban environment.

Cities are complex and the repercussions of economic decisions can affect in a degree as ‘killing’ an entirely neighborhood.

Retrofitting Suburbia

http://ed.ted.com/lessonhttp://ed.ted.com/lessons/ellen-dunham-jones-retrofitting-suburbias/ellen-dunham-jones-retrofitting-suburbia

About 50% of the population of Earth is living in urban areas and the forecast for 2050 grows til 70%. On the other hand lots of cities have spread out in low density models that are not sustainable any more (they never were) but, moreover, they will be unlivable when the energetic crises occur.

How to improve all the spread suburbs is going to be one of the main issues in the following years and this video presents solutions applied already in Atlanta that can be an example to follow in similar situations. Increasing the density of the areas in the suburbs close to public transport is one of the solutions to make the actual model more efficient.

Not only is needed a more dense residential but the introduction of a mixed of uses in each node. I imagine a radial structure based on the train lines supported by concentric links by, maybe, bus lines when the train is not available. The train stations would be great nodes or smaller nodes where offices, retail and social activities would take place. And these nodes would be surrounded first by a high or medium residential ring (with a commercial ground floor) and then the existing low dense residential.

This model would be a better model than the actual, for example in Sydney, but it is a model that can not be repeated until the infinite. We need to stop the urban sprawl, we need to stop the population growth, we need wild nature, space for agriculture, rural landscapes.

Goofy and the City

Curious first 1:30 minutes…

How since the ’40s the model was already creating problems.

The American model of spreaded city based on the personal transport and its individualistic lifestyle has had too much weight in this easily influenced world.

Nowadays this fruitless model is widespread and it is time to start fixing it.

 

Poo2Loo

Behind this bizarre video there is a great UNICEF campaign in India supporting poo-free streets. Here their web and Facebook. In addition, UNICEF has an international campaign to provide toilets not only in India. Here.

2.5 billion people around the world do not have access to a safe and clean toilet. In India, half of the population has to do it in streets and surroundings. This is not only a huge health issue,  but a security issue as well. Every year, thousands of girls (women and children) are raped, and sometimes murdered after, when they were going to the ´toilet´. Here one of the latest cases.

In developed countries the sustainability is now focused on how to consume or need less energy, and sometimes materials, but in other countries there are bigger issues, issues that involve health and security. Big developing countries, such as India or Brazil, where big cities are growing rapidly but where simple actions can have a life-changing result should be the main objective of international programs.

If we want a sustainable and democratic world we should start being democratic with the people living in it.

 

Image from facebook.com/poo2loo

Climate Change

Some people argue that Climate Change does not exist, they are called Climate Deniers and there are some interesting webs that list the most famous or important of them. Here and here for instance.

The problem is that these deniers are generally supported by big companies and industry lobbies that are directly related to great CO2 emissions. So it is in their convenience to misinform the general public.

Even if this influential and powerful group of people is trying to present studies and data to prove their beliefs, the reality is that all the new studies presented by the IPCC or the US Global Change Research Program, for instance, found that the Earth is warmer than before and that this will produce consequences in the global climate.

Global Change has released their findings in a report last month and some of their graphs just talk by themselves:

Global Temperatures and CO2 Concentration

Natural & Human influences on Climate Change

Past & Projected change in Global Sea Level Rise (1ft=33cm/4ft=1.20m approx)

Past & Projected Sea Ice Decline (RCP=Representative Concentration Pathways)

Acidification of Oceans

Its projected changes with a rapid emissions reduction:

Global Temperatures

Annual Precipitation

Its projected changes if the emissions increase in the actual trend:

Global Temperature

Annual Precipitation

I think that the findings are scary because I do not trust in a big change in a short-term and the consequences will transform our world, our life. We are going to live in a changing world full of challenges.

*All graphs and images from nca2014.globalchange.gov/report