this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Solarpunk Urbanism
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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.
- Henri Lefebvre, The Right to the City — In brief, the right to the city is the right to the production of a city. The labor of a worker is the source of most of the value of a commodity that is expropriated by the owner. The worker, therefore, has a right to benefit from that value denied to them. In the same way, the urban citizen produces and reproduces the city through their own daily actions. However, the the city is expropriated from the urbanite by the rich and the state. The right to the city is therefore the right to appropriate the city by and for those who make and remake it.
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Oh the Urbanity had a great video on how a large portion of non-commuting trips can be made by bicycle.
Depends quite a lot o the climate and time. If your in a place where ice and heat stroke aren’t common, and have a shower at work, and don’t have to travel at night, and don’t have to deal with sharing the road with fifty mile an hour traffic, and can afford to spend the extra hour or so a day, and can find a place to stash your bike where it won’t be stolen immediately, etc…
Bicycles require a lot of infrastructure and time, as well as an amenable climate. As much as i would like for the vast majority of humanity to be able commute every day by bike, the infrastructure simply isn’t there even in the places where you don’t have harsh winters. The goal of all transit, be it bike metro bus or car, is to get people from point A to B in the most effective way practical.
Build the infrastructure, and they will come. If they don’t, then figure out what you did wrong with the infrastructure.
I work 20+ miles from where I live due to what I can afford. I’m not biking that lol I’d consider taking a train if I could take the bike to the train and from the train station to work. But I’d still be biking on busy roads not safe for bikers
Part of why you have to live so far is because parking minimums create vast amounts of space that sits empty 90% of the time.
The other part is because of stringent zoning regulations that kill real housing options.
Not when the weather is shit. You're not gonna get humanity to get up for a bike ride and have to take a shower on arrival just to go get groceries, for example.
There are a lot of different things that impact this, not just weather. The point isn't about not picking one thing but to recognize it's not feasible for everyone, full stop.
If there was really solid bike infrastructure, I think covered electric tricycles capable of towing small capsule trailers could fill that gap fairly well. Something like this or this.
People do this all the time in communities that emphasize biking. Easily. And actually, it isn't that difficult to do.
Further, driving isn't feasible for everyone, but driving is emphasized in such a way that alternatives cannot thrive.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU