This is great. I just wish solving the issues I have to deal with as a cyclist were as ‘easy’ to do. Not a lot I can do when bike lanes just end and the road narrows enough to make it unreasonable to add one beyond pouring more asphalt.
this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
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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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@SuiXi3D @nix@midwest.social Agreed, we can't solve those bigger problems without city buy-in. I think it's all part if a cycle tho, guerilla projects get people talking, which gives a chance to convince more people, which hopefully gets those bigger projects done.
Actually bike lanes work best if 1. They are completely separate from the road or 2. The road feels narrow so cars naturally slow down. So go right ahead and spray paint bike lanes on the edges of narrow roads. I am sure that on 99 percent of US roads in town/city centers it will improve safety for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians.
There are plenty of things you can do as a cyclist to force change.
- Ride assertively, taking the lane early and often
- Participate in Critical Mass rides
- Stage a "just a minute" protest when you come across cars parked in the bike lane
- Paint guerilla sharrows, bike lanes, bike boxes, etc.
What is a just a minute protest? asking for a friend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDboYpYvT2o
(You can do an impromptu protest by yourself, too: when a car stopped in the bike lane blocks your path, simply pull up next to it and block the general-purpose lane while you wait for the obstruction to clear.)
Many cities have community cycling/active transportation coalitions which advocate for bike lanes and other active transport infrastructure.
Nice short article. I love the idea, and it's got be looking at a bunch of empty lots around where I live... 👀