A streetsfilm about bicycle corral parking from New York and some of the benefits of this type of parking. We posted earlier the success case from Portland which embraced the concept to begin with in the USA. There should be more of these in the Adelaide CBD and the Bicycle Institute has been working hard to make it a reality.

Making Streets Safer With On-Street Bike Parking from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

A great discussion from 5000+ on what to do with West Terrace. Ten lanes of traffic on West Terrace, what do we do about it into the future? Well here are some great ideas about rethinking that space of the West End.

5000+ Life on the Edge from 5000+ on Vimeo.

Henriette Vamberg of Gehl Architects giving a good summary of Adelaide which we here at the Bicycle Institute can only agree with. But the upside as she says is the great planning of Adelaide by Colonel Light which is the foundation for the city to be reinvigorated into a people city.

Henriette Vamberg of Gehl Architects 5000+ from 5000+ on Vimeo.

We find this an interesting story showing how big developments can go astray by not at their heart focussing on the well being and the activities of people. As Jan Gehl says the people scale has been not been prioritised in the development. The architects and developers got caught up in the form of the development rather than where a person wants to sit, live, cycle and what that person can see at eye level as they wander around. This lack of detail and activites at the walkable/cycling level for people sets up developments to fail.

Fred Hansen delivered his Thinkers in Residence report on growing vibrant communites through transport this year and we think his report and videos should be viewed widely. The Bicycle Institute was pleased to be able to assist Fred on bicycle matters and help him during his time here. Of course Portland Oregon where he resides is further along the path of increasing pedestrians/cycling as a transport alternative as well as trams than Adelaide and we have much to learn as a city. Please enjoy Fred's final lecture and report and the many lessons we can learn from Portland as well as the other cities who are changing the way they do things to make their cities more exciting and liveable places for people.

With the delay again in 40kph zones in the Adelaide CBD being trialed let us have a look at what is happening in Perth. The 40kph zones in Perth were recently expanded in June 2011. I'm sure that Adelaide will catch up one day to the obvious benefits that 40kph zones bring which is another topic altogether. Make no mistake - Adelaide is not a leader in Australian capital cities adopting 40kph zones but we are hopeful. Of course due respect to Unley City Council where in the 1990's many areas were defined as 40kph zones.

Here's Wendy Keech the Director of cardiovascular health with the Heart Foundation discussing the 40kph zones on Radio Adelaide recently.

An article about the recent Swanston St upgrade in Melbourne which has some shared space interventions between pedestrians and cyclists. Certainly similar interventions are possible for our North Terrace footpaths where there is high pedestrian and cyclist interaction, or maybe it is better to just have these spaces as more undefined shared spaces without the need for more signage and markings on footpaths? An interesting viewpoint from http://treadly.net/2011/12/01/swanston-st-the-upgrade/

Thanks to www.Gruntworks.com for alerting us to Jan Gehls discussion at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in October. Great thanks to Radio Adelaide for doing the podcasts of all of the sessions which can be found here http://www.radio.adelaide.edu.au/adelaidefestivalofideas2011/index.html  - just do a word search for Jan Gehl and download the MP3 file and listen.

A good video from Streetfilms introducing Chicago's first seperated bike lanes. Newly elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel seems determined to catch up to New York in encouraging cycling as a commuter option.

 

Kinzie Street: Chicago's First Protected Bike lane from Streetfilms on Vimeo.