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July 27, 2007

Rue Haxo, Marseille, France

New terms for pedestrian-only streets (2 of 2)

Ah, the power of crowdsourcing...

Realizing the need for a new generation of terms for pedestrian-only streets, what better process than to ask groups of creatives for suggestions, both virtually and in person. Here's their starting list of informal creative class market driven terms that they feel communicate a shift in how we think about streets:

Slow streets - There's the slow food movement, the anti-fast food campaign promoting taste, culture and the environment as universal social values, which inspired slow cities. So you can guess what kind of streets would they have... no cars, lots of outdoor dining with slow food (but hopefully not slow service!)

Eco/enviro/green streets - No carbon emissions, which means no cars, green buildings, renewable energy, local organic restaurants...

Street 2.0 - Ok, another buzz word, but the creatives understand. To support Business 2.0 and Web 2.0, this means wifi-enabled third places supporting throngs of day workers using the street as their informal office at all hours of the day...

Organic streets - See previous entry.

Remixed streets - You've heard of remixing songs - composing alternates based on a mix of technologies and sounds toward a certain crowd. A remixed street for creatives would take a typical street and remix it with all of the above to suit their tastes.

Now, replace 'streets' with piazzas and third places, and remix all over again.

Continue the discussion here.


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July 26, 2007

Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA

New set of terms needed for pedestrian-only streets

Pedestrian-only street. It's the primary term used to describe a street for pedestrians only. Makes sense, but it's clumsy and the acronym is even worse.

We need to reframe these terms. There's been significant cultural and economic shifts in the last ten years, and thus there are countless words in our everyday lexicon that didn't exist ten years ago (google, wiki, and increasingly crowdsourcing), and more so, words that have taken on a whole new significance, like 'organic' for instance.

Thus, from a city point of view, perhaps we should transition from defining streets and places from a car-oriented point of view (ie pedestrian-only, car-free). In the food industry, instead of pesticide free (ie car free) or naturally grown (ie pedestrian only) which implies that it's competing with/giving up another market, the industry went with organic, and it's done nothing short of significantly evolve supermarkets across the country, even Wal-Mart (and that's saying something).

Here are some suggested terms:

Promenade - A grand pedestrian street, like Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
Esplanade - A promenade along a large body of water.
Paseo - A narrower, more irregular mid-block pedestrian only street, like in Sienna.
Mews - A residential pedestrian-only street.
Piazza - A primarily pedestrian-only square fronted by buildings (ideally restaurants with outdoor dining) on all sides.

...and now some demand-side/marketing-oriented terms...

Living street - (link) Instead of pedestrian street.
Organic street - Ok, I just made this up when writing this post, but this would imply a street de-emphasizing cars, national chains (which are artificial transplants, not organically grown like people and local indie businesses), and emphasizing green buildings and of course, healther dining/food and health in general (ie yoga, fitness, spas).
Portal - Borrowing a web term, "presenting experiences from diverse sources in a unified way," a pedestrian-only town center.

What's your opinion? Comment below, or continue a threaded discussion here.

Source: Crashworks

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July 25, 2007

Ybor City, Tampa, FL

"How can I keep chains out of my neighborhood?"

It's a familiar refrain from urban creatives, such as the following one from a progressive developer, "How can you legally do this? Keep out the chains and corporate company's like Starbucks, the Gap, TGI Friday's, McDonalds, HARD ROCK CAFE'S! They are all part of the whole "Generica" movement, you could be anywhere in the country and not no where you are based on your surroundings. I want [our neighborhood] to be something you can't just get anywhere. How did other places keep out the chains?"

The answer is Formula Business Restrictions. Usually enforced by a Business Improvement District or Main Street Program, it's a ban not on chains per se, which to some would be considered a restriction of choice, but a ban on formula businesses, which are a restriction of choice. The formula laws require that incoming chains not look or operate like any other branch in the country.

Cities that restrict formula restaurant and retail businesses: San Francisco (on a neighborhood level); Fairfield, CT; Calistoga, San Juan Bautista, Sausalito and Coronado, CA; Bristol, RI; Port Townsend; Nantucket, MA; Port Townsend, WA; Portland, ME...

Cities that restrict formula restaurants only: Bainbridge Island, WA; Arcata, Carmel, Pacific Grove and Solvang, CA; Ogunquit, ME; Port Jefferson, NY; Sanibel, FL; York, ME...

See the New Rules report for the formula business restriction summaries for each of the aforementioned cities.

Thanks to Stacy Mitchell, author of Big Box Swindle, for the reference.

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July 24, 2007

Bike sharing, Paris

Paris launches largest bike sharing system to date

How popular is Paris' recently launched bike sharing program, Velib (short for velo libre, "free bike"), after one week? 45,000-trips-a-day' popular, and that's just the beginning.

The basic facts:
- 10,000 bikes, 20,000 by the end of 2007
- 300 stations, 900 by the end of 2007
- 17,000 annual passes sold after one week
- 45,000 trips/day, with a goal of 250,000 trips/day
- $40/29 euros for an annual pass
- $1.40/1 euro for a half-hour trip, and the price increases over time to encourage bike circulation.
- Stolen bikes during a rental period cost $207/150 euros to replace, but only $48/35 euros if reported to the police.

Velib is also a public-private partnership, the best kind to initiate innovation and to ensure its long-term success. Read more about it in the LA Times, where as one rider put it so well, "It's healthier and the weather is beautiful."

More bike sharing programs can be found in Barcelona, Spain; Geneva and Stockholm, Switzerland; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Lyon, France (the model for Paris' program); Vienna, Austria...

Image source: Carnotzet

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July 23, 2007

Vancity bike share, Vancouver, CA

Companies now contributing to the bike share movement

We know that companies often drive positive change much more effectively than government (especially in North America), such as what Whole Foods has done for organics. This has been just the opposite when it comes to transportation, pitting the private sector auto industry vs public sector mass transit. Is there any sign of a shift at all?

Possibly, starting with a simple, but noble gesture from a triple-bottom-line bank, Vancity, in Vancouver, Canada. After sponsoring a do-good website, aptly titled Change Everything (remember, this is a bank we're talking about), they decided to take action themselves, establishing their own bike sharing program and contributing 45 new bikes to their home city. From June 27th to September 7, people will be allowed to use the bikes for three weeks before passing it on to someone else, ultimately returning the bikes back to the bank to be distributed to low-income families.

This isn't nearly a long-term solution like that in Paris with their 10,000 bikes, but the notion of the private sector getting involved definitely is.

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