Danish city planner - Jan Gehl

Eminent Danish city planner Jan Gehl lectured at RIBA at the end of 2011 about creating People Friendly Cities.  He’s thoughtful, engaging, funny and passionate and the large, mainly young RIBA audience loved him. Cycling isn’t just good for cyclists, it’s good for cities.

Video part 1 People friendly cities are sustainable cities. People like seeing other people. We want lively and attractive cities. Safety and security; we hate deserted places.  A good public realm and a good public transport system are brothers.  50 happy years of  cheap petroleum are over. 1/3 of Americans will die of obesity.  Not everybody can get to the escalator that leads to the fitness centre. The car invasion in the 1960s. Traffic engineers obsessed with finding capacity for cars, as if this was the only thing that mattered.

Video part 2  Walking, cycling and public spaces.

London Cycling Campaign held their AGM on Wednesday November 16. It was a well presented and well organised meeting with over 200 members attending. Thanks to Andrew Cornwell for providing this account.

1. The proposed name change to ‘London Cyclists’ was withdrawn by the Board after something of a mess regarding postal votes: it appears that postal votes for motions aren’t actually allowed under the company articles (although they are allowed for elections to the Board, approval of accounts etc). An apology has been issued. The motion from Hackney LCC to defer consideration of any name change until after the 2012 Mayoral elections was passed.

So it will be London Cycling Campaign for another year at least it seems.

2. The ‘Go Dutch’ campaign theme for the Mayoral elections was overwhelmingly agreed. There was quite a lot of discussion in the room about what Go Dutch actually means. The ...more →]]> http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/lcc-agm/feed/ 0 http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/madras-place-safer-crossing-campaign-success/ http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/madras-place-safer-crossing-campaign-success/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:13:47 +0000 icag http://www.icag.org.uk/?p=1750 ...more →]]> http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/madras-place-safer-crossing-campaign-success/feed/ 0 http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/20-mph-in-principle/ http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/20-mph-in-principle/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:53:45 +0000 john ackers http://www.icag.org.uk/?p=1714 ...more →]]> http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/20-mph-in-principle/feed/ 0 http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/drayton-park-echelon/ http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/drayton-park-echelon/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:15:00 +0000 john ackers http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/drayton-park-echelon/ On Islington’s second most popular cycle route, cyclists pass an echelon parking bay on Drayton Park road outside shops which include a cafe and a plumbing supplies shop,  opposite the large white Arsenal sign and Drayton Park railway station. Google Maps streetview.

Drivers routinely double park outside the shops. In addition, the echelon parking spaces are too short for the commercial vehicles that regularly use them. The back ends of long cars and the vans often overhang some or all of the cycle lane. There is, however dead space on the other side of the road.

The problem was first documented officially in the TfL funded CRISP study of the route in 2005, and ignored. ICAG has raised the issue many times with officers but nothing has happened. Most recently, local residents have emailed ICAG and pointed out the danger to cyclists.

It’s extraordinary that council officers decided that ...more →]]> http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/drayton-park-echelon/feed/ 2 http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/responseisltranstrat/ http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/responseisltranstrat/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:53:28 +0000 icag http://www.icag.org.uk/?p=1620 ...more →]]> http://www.icag.org.uk/2011/responseisltranstrat/feed/ 0