Bike lines Göteborg

Was cycling one sunny autumn day through this place, when realizing what was going on around me I braked and forgot the shoes stuck into the pedals. But it was worth a small fall, look at this! Its roads for bikes! No cars allowed here! Signs only for bikes and pedestrians.

Bike have to rest some at the grass while owner take pictures at this very special junction of only bike lines!

Bikes, pedestrians and a nice feeling of nothing disturbing the sight. To find cycle paths in Göteborg you can use the cycle planner, mainly along car roads, in bad conditions and a lot of crossings. The bike road to Särö is a little like this, but that path has speed limitations and hindrance and some road crossings. And if you want to go faster, cyclist goes on roads with less traffic anyhow. But good bike lines, they are rare, and places with only bike lines are extremely rare- because planning is not like that, bikes can go along the road, on a smaller road.

If you know any place like this, tell me because this is the first -just for bikes- I ever seen here.

Something similar can be found in the post of Amersfoort. This is something more than a small path along a heavy trafficked car road. With bends and turns in angels you can't do within speed. But here, we are alone, and lines are adapted to bike conditions. This is so good for cycling that I had to stop and share those photos. Hopefully I find some more this year!

Architecture 101:7

- From 101things i learned in architectural school, Matthew Frederick

Plantagon

see more at Plantagon's homepage

Complexity of ideas

picture from here

What if technology could be used to build artificial city environments. What if people had insight in processes in forehand, and in the same time could influence with ideas. What if the users would be the ideas put in a platform like a community sort of like facebook with users able to discuss future plans. What if this platform had some elements ready and others able to upload. What if costs could be transparent from scratch and every changes could be saved and be able to watch over and over and be compared to find the best solution.

Think like a 3-d computer world, with existing buildings in place, like what we can see in the Super sustainable plan about Gothenburg from Kellberg and Kaminsky but with the slight difference that people have insight and can be able to upload their ideas to this.

What if we would understand that in some issues, it is the users and not the professionals who have the answers. Like when building Vauban (and other neighborhoods in Germany) use Baugruppen that decide the appearance of their own house. And what would happen if we would let ideas grow not in meetings but over time.

See also Visable Strategies for more information about the importance of transparency for sustainability.