Old Urbanist. Frocksonbikes.org | Join the movement… The Struggle to Define L.A.'s Transitional Moment - Design. Last January, Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne kicked off a year-long project to explore his city through its literature. He picked 24 – plus three more reader suggestions – of the “most significant books on Southern California architecture and urbanism.”
The Reading L.A. project covers the city's growth, development, design, infrastructure and culture, including well-known titles like Reyner Banham’s 1971 Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, as well as less prominent books like David Brodsly’s 1981 L.A Freeway: An Appreciative Essay. His final installment of the series was published earlier this week. “Twenty-seven is sort of a ridiculously big number of books to consider in one year,” Hawthorne says.
“It did catch up with me by the end of the year.” “This is a city that, at least in my experience, is tough to get to know. Just what that character will be is as much shaped by the transition underway as by our understanding of the city. Cycling in Auckland. Complete Streets. The streets of our cities and towns are an important part of the livability of our communities. They ought to be for everyone, whether young or old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user, bus rider or shopkeeper. But too many of our streets are designed only for speeding cars, or worse, creeping traffic jams. Now, in communities across the country, a movement is growing to complete the streets. States, cities and towns are asking their planners and engineers to build road networks that are safer, more livable, and welcoming to everyone. Instituting a Complete Streets policy ensures that transportation planners and engineers consistently design and operate the entire roadway with all users in mind – including bicyclists, public transportation vehicles and riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.
LA County Bicycle Coalition www.la-bike.org. Los Angeles Seeks Pedestrians - Neighborhoods. The automobile is undoubtedly the dominant mode of travel in Los Angeles. But to write off the city as made up entirely of car-driving, bumper-to-bumper rush hour commuters is clearly an over-generalization. A growing group of Angelenos is finding ways to make transit, cycling, and walking (and, often, a combination thereof) relevant and viable in their daily lives.
A physical example of this transition opened this weekend in the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood. On a short strip of street bordering a small triangular park within a vibrant commercial area, officials from the city’s departments of planning, transportation, and public works partnered with the county’s public health department to close the street off to car traffic and convert it into an outdoor plaza. “In L.A., 60 percent of our land area is devoted to streets and parking lots. Roschen helped spearhead the street-to-plaza project, part of an effort called Streets for People. “It’s about culture change,” Roschen says. Auckland City Rail Link. Auckland Transport Blog. How San Francisco makes parking easier, streets safer. A new parking program in San Francisco is making parking easier, and streets safer for those who don't drive.
Find out how. Parking is a headache in most cities. But San Francisco is working to make parking easier for people who drive -- though they'll pay for it -- and safer for those who use other forms of transportation. This spring the city rolled out a pilot parking program, SF park. Newly installed parking meters, along with road sensors will track where there are open parking spaces and the real-time parking data is made available on smartphones and online, reducing the amount of time spent driving around looking for parking. The goal is to create open spaces on virtually every block.
To make that possible, parking meters are priced based on demand. Watch the Streetfilms video to see how it works: Photo: SF park. Cycling and Passenger Transport. HOP - Your Ticket to Auckland. Easy Transport Auckland • Room for everyone, and everyone moving.