Good Urban Spaces Result In Good Biking

posted by Joe on 6/22/2006 | 0 Comments |

Great entries on the Spacing Wire today (I could write that sentence every single day...):

First off, HiMY SYeD is reporting from Vancouver and the World Urban Forum:

Imagine every person you speak to — waiting in line, in the hallways, at countless networking sessions and side events — being an evangelist for the themes, issues and ideas you read on the Spacing Wire and you begin to get a sense of what is happening in Vancouver this week.

I'm really looking forward to future posts from HiMY in Vancouver.

Secondly, the Wire reports on great resources from New York-based (but now global) Project for Public Spaces, namely Ten Principles for Creating Successful Squares and Six Parks We Can All Learn From.

I know this isn't directly biking related, although it is. Good city planning to accomodate cyclists does not exist in a vacuum. I'm very interested in environmental and urban planning initiatives because they directly influence how condusive a city/community/region is for every day cycling by the people who live and work there.

A great example would be all the urban planning discussions about the waterfront in Toronto right now. If the winning proposal by West 8 and all the plans for the Donlands, Portlands, etc. come to fruition, we'll have a huge area of new, "urban" and pedestrian and cyclist-friendly neighbourhoods and streets just southeast of the downtown core.

Contrast this to the general trend by developers given free reign these days - wide streets built for cars lined with parking lots for big box stores, and you'll probably agree that those of us biking Toronto need to pay attention to related issues.

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