World Streets 2012 Focus Programs

2012 FOCUS PROJECTS

1. World Streets 2. Safe Streets 2012 Challenge 3. Equity / Transport / System 4. 2012 Share Transport Forum 5. Nuova Mobilit 6. The Streets of India 7. Social Media Mobilization
RESOURCES/MEDIA

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Paris. Sunday, 05 February, 2012 Building 21 century institutions from the bottom up through active citizenry We have our work cut out for us in 2012. Look at the numbers. Despite the great efforts of the best and the brightest in leading cities and programs worldwide, we are still losing the sustainability wars. And we are losing them badly, whether in terms of climate, environment, resources, social justice, quality of life and, perhaps worse than the rest, in terms of those key underpinnings of efficiency and economy. Efficiency, economy and . . . equity are the indispensable pillars of a sustainability policy no matter what the sector. But more on that in a bit. Verdict: We need to be a lot smarter, more open to new ideas, scrutinize our shortcomings more closely, and find the energy and daring to come up with altogether different approaches. We have to step back and improve our understanding not only at the level of infrastructure, systems and modes, but also in terms of the politics and strategies of transport. At the level of the city, the country and in the international arena, where, to be frank, our performance to now has been no less than miserable. So it is going to be ... it must be, a big year for all of those of us who want to make a difference on the streets and in the lives of our cities. And for that we are fortunate to have the support of several thousand colleagues, contributors and readers in some seventy countries worldwide (see map). To get a feel for the foundation that has been pieced together since the New Mobility Agenda first set out to do its bit in 1988, to your left is a point by point program summary (the links work). And if that seems like a lot, please believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a great deal more where that comes from, and to get a grip on that your best port of entry is World Streets itself at www.WorldStreets.org, and New Mobility Agenda at www.newmobility.org. But now let's take a look at our work plan for 2012. And if you are reading this piece there is a good chance that you may end up being part of it. Eric Britton, Managing director and founding editor Page 1
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- - - > W/S Top 20 in 2011 - - - > W/S on Facebook - - - > W/S on Twitter - - - > W/S on Linked-In - - - > W/S on Google+ - - - > W/S Reading room - - - > W/S Photo Gallery - - - > YouTube: Selected videos
SISTER PUBLICATIONS

--> Network Dispatches --> Sustainability Seminars --> Nova Mobilidade --> Streets of Iran --> China Streets --> Las Calles de Guadalajara
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

* World Carshare 2012 Inventory * World City Modal Splits * Family Mouse in 50 languages * World Streets/Social Spaces
NEW MOBILITY PROGRAMS

* New Mobility Agenda * Land Tax/Value Capture * World Carshare Consortium * World City Bike Network * World Car Free Consortium * World Share Transport Forum * World Transport Journal

World Streets 2012 Focus Programs

An afternoon in Barcelona
2012 FOCUS PROGRAM PROFILES

1. WORLD STREETS : LOOKING AHEAD 2. NUOVA MOBILIT : SERVING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT IN ITALY 3. STREETS OF INDIA : BUILDING A CONSENSUS FOR NEW MOBILITY 4. SAFE STREETS CHALLENGE 2012 : COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM 5. EQUITYBASED TRANSPORT SYSTEMS (MOST IMPORTANT INITIATIVE WE HAVE EVER TAKEN.) 6. WORLD SHARE/TRANSPORT FORUM : TAIWAN, CHINA, INDIA??

7. NETWORK MEDIA. (DO WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING?)

8. WHAT DO OUR READERS HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT WORLD STREETS 9. SUPPORT PROJECTS

10. READERS CHOICE IN 2011 (IT SURPRISED US)

CONTACT US

Telephone: France: +331 7550 3788 USA: +1 (213) 985 3501 Email: For New Mobility Agenda: eric.britton@newmobility.org For World Streets: editor@worldstreets.org Other: admin@ecoplan.org Skype: newmobility or ericbritton Mail/Visits: The Commons/EcoPlan international Le Frne, 8 rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France Nearest metro: Vavin. Notre Dame des Champs Nearest Vlib: # 6010 - rue de Chevreuse. # 6018 - rue Michelet

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WORLD STREETS is the main communications platform for all that goes on under the New Mobility
Agenda. Our challenge for 2012 is straight-forward: First to continue to stimulate and publish outstanding articles and reports that inform, challenge, stretch the brain and inspire by example. But also to improve the manner in which we are integrating and making use of the new media as part of this greater process. But World Streets is also a program. One in which we work with collaborators in a specific country or city, putting our energy, contacts, toolset and basic organizational structure to support the sustainable mobility agenda in that place. In 2012 you can count on continuing steady flows of materials and articles to our ongoing joint programs: (a) in Italy Nuova Mobilit at http://nuovamobilita.wordpress.com/ -- and (b) in India via The Streets of India at www.IndiaStreets.org. But the main thrust of our work over the year will be on the two themes of (a) Safe Streets and (b) EquityBased Transportation Systems. More on these important cross-cutting themes just below. Our start-up projects in China, Guadalajara, Iran, and Portugal on the other hand continue to be a bit slow to get off the ground, but we are keeping them warm and adding to them as useful, awaiting the day when the critical mass is in place and it is finally time to really get to work. Likewise for our joint project on Gender, Equity & Transport which deserves active participation and support. (It may also be useful to note that we have created a sort of "anteroom" for each of these programs in Facebook. If you go to the main World Streets Facebook site at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets youi will see links to each of these.) The content of the journal is provided by members of the editorial board and our network of international collaborators, with inputs from the editor when it seems useful. All contributions, including his, are made on an unpaid volunteer basis. You may also note that World Streets is provided to anyone who needs it without charge. Nor do we accept advertising, on the grounds that it is intrusive and takes up both valuable screen and mental space. Beyond this, it is not consistent with our entire off-the-economy orientation. As the poet put it: free frees.
Readers accessing World Streets this morning.

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NUOVA MOBILIT was created in July 2009 , the first World Streets national collaborative project
aiming to provide an efficient and original independent source of networking and information for people and groups in Italy working to advance the sustainable transport agenda there, and most often against considerable odds.. It was founded as a non-profit organization, under the joint leadership of Enrico Bonfatti, editor of the new publication, and Eric Britton for World Streets. Over this period N/M has published as of this date six hundred original articles drawing from numerous and varied sources both inside and outside Italy. The journal functions as a two-way street, providing Italian readers with coverage of problems, challenges and achievements within their cites, and at the same time informing them in a compact manner and readable of what is going on at the leading edge, both in Europe and worldwide. It is here where the partnership with World Streets is proving most useful. The site is getting going on a thousand reader hits/day. Four out of five readers are Italian, with a bit more than 10% signing in from the USA. More than seventy Italian cities are represented in the readership, with the attached map showing the origins of the last eighty visitors on 3 February 2012. The new media toolkit currently in place looks as follows. We are aware that we need to become more proficient users of these important media and are feeling are way as we use them. Journal at http://nuovamobilita.wordpress.com/ Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nuova-Mobilit%C3%A0/376792709013216?v=wall Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/NuovaMobilita Skype - nuova.mobilita

In 2012, we will seek proper funding to support this effort, which to now has been entirely funded out of pocket and supported by volunteers. After all it is Italy's only independent journal devote exclusively to the issues of transport in cities, and more importantly to all that is sustainable. This is an uphill struggle because the automobile is still deeply entrenched in the Italian mind and in the mental space of those who decide about policy and investments in the field. Nuova Mobilit is today still very much serving an embattled minority when it comes to transport policy and practice. But it is a beginning, and one we believe is well worth supporting. So if you have any thoughts or ideas on this, well now you know where to turn. A good starting point will be to get in touch with the Editor, Enrico Bonfatti, which you can do via Skype at nuova.mobilita, email at nuovamobilita@gmail.com or phone: +39 3402744826. Enrico answers his mail. Page 4

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INDIA STREETS got underway in September 2010 following up on the first World Share/Transport Forum
held in Kaohsiung Taiwan. The idea of a joint project was launched as a result of the enthusiasm expressed by the Indian delegation, most of whom still at the PhD or early career stage. The idea was that we would work together over the next two years to lay the base for organizing the third World Forum in India The second conference took place in Sept. 2011 in Changzhi China. And 2012? In India as we had hoped? Today India Streets consists of a collaborative blog which you will find at www.IndiaStreets.org, supported by a Facebook group page at http://www.facebook.com/groups/indiastreets/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/indiastreets. The blog is being read, but not widely (an average of about 50 consultations a day). Only about 40% of the readers check in from India, with high levels of readership from the US, UK, Pakistan and Nepal. Readership within India is concentrated in 20 of the largest cities, with Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune leading the way. The result thus far? Well, on a scale of ten (World Streets being 9), we can thus far give it no better than a 5, possibly a 4. So we have our work cut out for us. It is impossible to think of turning our backs on the world's largest and most raucous democracy. There are a couple of thousand people in India who have a clear idea of how to improve on current public policy and investments decisions, and if we can help them make their voices heard, that is what we should try to do.

Here are four collaborative project initiatives that we should like to try to help along in 2012: 1. Make those needed improvements in the Streets of India program to strengthen its voice. 2. Do what we can to encourage discussions and eventually preparations for a major world conference on Share Transport in India in 2012 as targeted from the beginning. 3. See if the Safe Streets program can make a contribution in cooperation with local partners and sponsors. Most of India walks, and all too often walks badly. When the streets are made safe, the two most important transport modes are freed to take their full place: walking and cycling. 4. Finally, if we can somehow inject the Equity-Based Transport program into the mainstream over the year. Got right, this program has a no less than perfect fit with the real needs of the transportation majority. Page 5

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THE SAFE STREETS CHALLENGE has been chosen as a primary focus activity over 2012. But there is
safe, and safe. So the project turns out to be a lot more challenging than it may look at first glance. Our first step in getting this new program underway has been to stand back from all that we ourselves may think is true and important and there is, we must admit, a lot of that -- and see what happens if we start from a wide open neutral perspective , while making sure we keep the fundamental priorities firmly in view. That is to say sustainable development and social justice. (Now that is an easy enough phrase to piously mouth, but a devilishly hard one to come to grips with in the real, complex, complicated and conflicted world. But that is exactly what we are trying to do over the course of 2012 with this program.) The main objective for the first quarter of the year to seek out ideas and approaches from many different angles and points of view. We call this our Big House approach. Our ultimate Mission is to inform and hopefully to influence government policy, companies and individual decisions and actions that can in some way help to make our streets safer. But there is a lot of work to be done before we can get to that. Safety in general, and safe streets in particular, are challenging concepts. In our context an important distinction has to be made is between safe streets and safe roads. The two represent almost polar opposites in terms of many of their realities requirements. But if we give attention to both, it is quite likely that we are going to learn valuable lessons from the other half. So, we are looking at both. In the context of a program like World Streets, it would be reasonable to assume that we will focus on risks that are the results of the dangers caused by vehicles: excessive speed, distracted drivers, and the like. And yes we shall, but there is more to it than that. In the 2012 program we shall be looking at all three of the key dynamics: yes those vehicles, but also people and infrastructure . Likewise there will be careful attention given to the concepts of both active and passive safety. Similarly plenty of attention is being given to what can be accomplished with technology, and while this is surely an important vector it is only one of many and one we shall keep it in its place to ensure that it does not overshadow the rest. The program is supported by the main web site at http://Safe.worldstreets.org , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SafeStreetStrategies and Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/safestreets2012. After just one month of activity in laying the base, we can see that the site has already attracted 1,068 followers. This strikes us as a promising beginning.

CITIES FOR MOBILITY. One of the principle targets of the project is to provide background and support
the 2012 Cities for Mobility Conference in Stuttgart from 1-3 July, which this year is being organized around the theme of safe streets. Our intention is to build on and integrate the considerable mass of material being generated in the next months, and via this website put it at the disposal of those attending the meeting, giving them perhaps a running start for the July morning that the doors open in Stuttgart. Full background on the conference will shortly be available at http://www.cities-for-mobility.net Page 6

World Streets 2012 Focus Programs

After years of struggling with what seemed each time like promising concepts to inspire and orient public policy and private practices words such as sustainable, green , smart, healthy, active, low-carbon or what have you transport or mobility -- we have peeked outside the box and been inspired by the upsetting events of Arab Spring, Occupy and behind them the paralyzing and oh so unsustainable influences of massive income differences, North and South, East and West, to see if we can come up with the key to a truly sustainable transport policy. Which brought us to the concept equity. (Not quite equality, mind, you, but more on that as the project advances.) This has led to the most promising collaborative program ever to be launched over the 24 years of hard work and accomplishment under the New Mobility Agenda. The concept of creating a high-efficiency, economically viable, equity-based transport system for your city offers, if we may say so, an amazingly straight-forward , consistent, effective and checkable approach to transport policy and practice, in that once you understand and accept the basic principle a huge number of other good things follow, many of which surely at relatively low cost and rapid implementation. Here is the ultimate key of an equity-based transport system: it combines cause and effect and in an interesting behavioral manner what makes it different from every other such concept. It is, as we say, thoroughly checkable . This means that you have only to look at one indicator in one place to see if you have achieved it and that is on the streets of your city. To summarize: If the mayor, if all public servants, and if , en passant most of the top economic 10% of your community travel by the same means as the other 90%, you have an equitable mobility system. If not, well then not! (Let me invite you to run through your mind cities where you think this may be the case. Interesting, eh?) This is not a matter of polemic, it is direct and pragmatic. Namely that if the leaders of your city are ready to commit on the record and in person to put aside their car for all day-to-day travel to and in the city, they will in the process come to develop a vivid first hand understanding of the problems that everyone else faces. And this in turn will in short order lead to solutions and improvements. Pain hurts. It's that simple But of course once you have queried, understood and established the basic principle, the real work begins. The creation of a competitive ex-solo-car transport system remember, we are taking about a better-thancar mobility system that offers choices is possible, but it requires effort, brains and fire in your belly to get there. But the final result equity efficiency economy will well be worth all that hard work it takes to get there. To know more about how this project is shaping up, let us point you to work in progress at http://Equity.WorldStreets.org, and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/EquityTransport For the first quarter of 2012 the emphasis is on gathering information and ideas from many sources. And also to benefit from comments and critiques from a wide range of source, negative and perhaps positive. We also are working with a leading European city to organize a month long collaborative probe, to test this idea in real world terms. It is going to be exciting and you should see the first results starting in April. Page 7

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This program dates back to 1998 when we decided to take a closer look at carsharing as a viable new mobility option, starting with the creations of, once more, a collaborative international website, the World Carshare Consortium, including organizing of the first of a cycle of quasi-annual conferences and brainstorming sessions, which was held at the OECD with no more than three handfuls of participants, almost all of whom French. I will try to briefly update you on the present status of our carshare work, but first let's have a quick look at the broader and we think more powerful program, our joint work on "share/transport". As the new century moved ahead, we started seeing a lot more transport/sharing projects, carsharing of course but also bicycle, ridesharing, shared Introduction Links http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/?cat=48609120 2012 - India - OECD region Metnil rich past endin gwith momo, autopartage, and Korea with links Kaohsiung China 2011 Where in 2012 India? Europe Cobmie with the ASuprring Future of Carsharing sub-set meeting for 2012

http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldcarshare/ www.worldcarshare.com http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/category/sharetransport/carshare/ (156 items)

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World Streets 2012 Focus Programs

NETWORK MEDIA. (DO WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING?)

If that's a question, then the answer is a resounding . . . kind of. The truth is that we are not embarrassed to say that when it comes to the new network media we are entirely improvising. On the net today there are no straight lines: everything changes so fast that what may look pretty good at one point may suddenly become absolutely vital to our operations -- or ,at the other end of the spectrum, deceive, or worse yet offer certain dangers. It is, in a phrase, a real existential drama, but since we are trying to communicate on a world wide scale, we really have no chance but to try to take all these bits and pieces in hand and do with them the best we can. E pur si muove! 2011 was a year in which we made some progress, and we can be quite certain that 2012 is going to pose its fair share of challenges, and surprises. We feel about these media much like we do about downhill skiing on ice on a foggy day. Not all that sure of ourselves. But we need to get to the bottom of the hill, so off we go.

Group blogs:

This is the foundation for all of our peer programs. For now we are working with WordPress. While we would like to have more flexibility, that comes with a two-edged price: more time and more money. So for now we shall continue with this platform for the dozen-plus peer programs we are maintaining, while keeping a sharp eye out for improvements and new functionality which we can build in.

Twitter: This is the first layer of outreach for our programs. The Twitter connections seem to be serving
some purpose, but to exploit it fully we are going to have to ask for counsel from our readers.

Facebook: Our facebook sites of which there are now close to a dozen do seem to be doing a fair job
of providing a second level of information and networking for quite a large group of people, which we are hoping in the year ahead to integrate more efficiently with our main media. It's not that we particularly trust the Facebook people, but we appreciate what we are managing to do with them thus far. We'll see how this works out in the year ahead. http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets

LinkedIn: At level three this In principle looks quite promising and should evolve quickly over the year
into a solid tool for discussions and exchanges at a great range of detail than either of the above. Until now we have not made more than basic use of this toolset, but we will be giving it more attention now.

Reading Room:

This takes the form of an open free library which we use as a shared depository for papers, articles, and documents which we think can be useful to our readers. It is not enormously sophisticated, but it works.

YahooGroups: We have been using these fora extensively as shared libraries and discussion platforms
since the mid-1990s. And while they have been steadily upgraded they are starting to look a little long in the tooth. For now we will hold on to them, but their future is anything but sure.

YouTube:

Until now we have made use of this capacity consistently for sharing videos that illustrate or elucidate specific tools, principles, or events. And while we have made simple videos to support distance presentation for international conferences, we have to become more skillful and productive. Our partnership with the StreetFilms team in New York city has been exemplary. More please. And miles to go before we sleep.

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SUPPORT PROJECTS

. Book how to ?? Conferences conrouses, presentations Come argue with me series Anything on finance? Things they could do to help? Join tprs ? Page on carsharing/sharing projects and conference next step?? Surprising Future Helsinki say it discretely also "retreat" in ?? What can you do for us - Make a donation if your situation permits it - Write a short letter of support of the 2012 program that we can present to the foundations and other eventual sources of financial support as proof that we are doing something that that it is being used - Get involved with, support one of our ongoing programs - Invitations - Book - Mentoring - Course - Master classes - Teaching - External examiner for thesis defenses Can we improve More input Echcinal improvements (incuding reading) iPad/Tablet interface Better integration with other best sources Retain lightness of touch, mind stretching as opposed to news More creative interaction with projects, progras, cities, and groups
-

Find a way to get into public, private and university libraries(??)

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WHAT DO OUR READERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT WORLD STREETS

We asked our readers to tell us what they thought about the contributions of World Streets and was it worth continuing. 101 wrote back and you can see their signed comments here. Below is a selection

Ahmadabad: World Streets has given me the most important exposure about sustainable transport initiatives across the world. It is good to know that there are so many people from different corners of the world who believe in a different paradigm of urban development. Amsterdam: A great initiative, because its so necessary and relevant, but also because its well run and uses a minimum of resources. There is much to learn from different experiences around the world to change our habits in the interest of sustainability. There is much to gain by applying the power of imagination to solving problems we are facing. Streets does a great job helping us to learn and imagine. I encourage all policy makers and city managers to put World Streets at the top of their reading list Barcelona: An invaluable resource. When I look at World Streets I wonder why it wasnt done before, because its so obvious that we need an international platform like this! Even the name World Streets captures the intensely local nature of these issues that nonetheless have an obviously global impact. Bilbao: World Streets and its worldwide mobility, urbanism, innovation, ecological and new way of philosophers think tank virtual library is important for us, and I wonder what it would be like without having this magnificent working source to help us in our daily working tasks. Birmingham: A portal, blog and website capturing the idea of thinking globally, acting locally, sharing, via the internet, practical ways, after a century of distortion, to restore through research, education, lobbying and debate a balance between access by proximity and access by mobility. Boston: A fantastic distillation of global information covering some of the most exciting cutting-edge advancements and/or concepts in the arena of sustainability. A perfect source for busy individuals bombarded with information-overload in this era of communication saturation. Bristol: One of those invaluable resources that just keeps coming up with the goods. Cambridge UK: Two boys were playing football in my street earlier this week. What a wonderful sight. Time to reclaim our World Streets! Capetown: What would I do without World Streets? Its always a great read, a source of inspiration, information, a sense of community. And gives us a sense of hope and gathering momentum for change. Cardiff: New Mobility is not simply the solution to the problems of the car system, it is a better system, and World Streets is the place to find out more. Thanks to all the contributors for all their input and to those who read, discuss and implement the knowledge and ideas found here. Page 11

World Streets 2012 Focus Programs

Dorset Without your support originally I have no doubt that the walk to school initiative would never have reached all corners of the globe as it clearly has. A while ago we asked a mixed group of adults how many of them had heard of the walk to school campaign. Everyone of them raised their hand. Not bad eh? Islamabad, Pakistan: World Streets creates the context to integrate the efforts of so many individuals and institutions. Indeed, it is the perfect platform to carry out research, advocacy and the like. Kassel Germany: World Streets is a fantastic tool! WE NEED international networks to share experiences, avoid faults and wrong strategies and to give us news from successes all over the world! Montreal: World Streets serves as a tireless promoter of the realistic application of sustainable transportation schemes. The knowledge and creativity of the group are an inspiration for transport reformers world-wide. New Delhi: A large number of people around the world are able to keep track of interesting moves because of World Streets. We need the solidarity and mutual backslapping even more to keep away the wolves. New York : Does the world NEED more and better sustainable transport planning? Absolutely. Has World Streets added an invaluable resource to the sustainable transport debate and movement? Absolutely. Is the chance for a successful global transition to sustainable transport significantly enhanced by the existence of World Streets? Absolutely. So support it with enthusiasm and passion and hard work, we must absolutely. Reykjavik: World Streets is a great source for making new knowledge about transport in towns and cities more visible and available to the interested politician, planner, engineer, professional, activist and citizen. Rio de Janeiro: . An invaluable resource for sustainable mobility professionals, interested laypeople, and decision makers. It helps keep this small but dedicated community abreast of global developments and encourage peers that are in adverse circumstances. Santiago: World Streets offers an excellent information and exchange service to busy professionals and citizens organizations. We follow its postings closely and translate those most relevant into Spanish, for circulation on our Latin American network of sustainable transport professionals and activists, with excellent results. This is an extremely important initiative, with a truly global impact, well worth supporting. Singapore: World Streets is playing an excellent role in fostering and expanding the international community around the cause of liveable streets and new mobility. This is incredibly important. The diversity and geographic range of the sources and the readers is impressive with enormous potential for mutual learning across borders. The information shared is of high quality and well focused. Washington DC, U.S.A.: The key to effective positive change is in assembling an enthusiastic community of people committed to investing in that change, locally. World Streets provides such a forum, allowing each of these local communities to share resources and inspire one another. And finally a few words shared with us on this about a year ago from our dear friend and colleague Lee Schipper (in memory): We desperately need this kind of AGORA where we can gather, fight, disagree, and finally agree on sensible transport solutions. particularly important is that people from the developing world are chiming in as well.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Financial support Read Comment and suggest topics - events Authors, articlews, top[co

Foudnatoins Parners for joint projects

Check past wrding and references

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World Streets 2012 Focus Programs

READERS CHOICE IN 2011

From an editorial perspective it is close to impossible to know in advance which of our postings are gong to be most widely read. So to give you a feel for what our readers think is important, here are the most read articles for 2011 (if you click the reference you will be taken directly to the article.). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Going down? Newman and Kenworthy on Peak Car Use UK High Speed Rail: Going very fast in the wrong direction What can we learn from the murderous attack on cyclists in Porto Alegre on Friday? PRT proposal for Delhi convinces Minister (But does it convince you? See poll results) Honk! City of the Future? (Have a stupid weekend) Cycling as the catalyst for more human and sustainable transport Best transport research database we have ever seen. Weekend reading: How do the Dutch get out of a car? Locked in Suburbia: Is there life after Autopia?

10. Bike-Sharing: 2011 State of the European Union report 11. Delhi Metro A Transport Planners Perspective 12. Hangzhou View from the saddle of one of Chinas most liveable cities. 13. Towards Carfree Cities X: What happened in Guadalajara from 3 to 10 September 2011? 14. Seize the moment: A Street Code for Porto Alegre 15. In homage to Lee Schipper 16. Tragedy of the Commons: The car as enclosure
THE SOCIAL SPACE FORMAT

Its clear by now that we are going to need a lot more than endless walls of words, ever thicker reports and endless expert conferences to turn the world toward sustainability. To get this job done we need to make intelligent use of every tool we can find. We need to use our eyes and brains in other ways as well. We believe that subliminal messages are part of communication, and in this spirit we have developed with the help of friends in different cities around the world collections of several hundred photographs of streets the good, the bad and the ugly which meet you at the top of every page on every site. Each photo is presented in our challenging 990 x 180 pixels format. Why? Well, in our minds eye most of us tend to envisage, to think of many things out there in front of our noses in terms of squares or rectangles, and naturally enough this is how most of us end up taking our pictures. But this elongated frame takes us beyond a single individual subject, letting the eye travel quite further than usual and in the process brings us to see and ponder, yes, more social spaces. For more on how we see this working click here.

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