Posts Tagged ‘biking’

September 11, 2014

It’s Official – More Bike Infrastructure Equals Healthier People

by: Lucky Sharma

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Lucky Sharma: I always thought that the better a city’s bike infrastructure is, the higher the number of people who bike and the healthier the general population is compared to its counterparts. I hypothesized this based on the innumerable observations I had gathered in my head while biking for hundreds of miles in cities within and outside the US. My intent was to confirm the hypothesis that establishes the correlation (if not causality) between the bike-ability or ease of biking in a city and the fitness of its citizens. Based on data from…

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May 21, 2013

A City with a Variety of Modes of Transportation is a City with Better Public Health

by: Phil Allsopp

Tweet Today’s post is by guest writer Phil Allsopp. Phil is a writer, activist and speaker about reshaping human habitat to restore the unmet needs of people and community, supporting vibrant economies and responding more effectively to the climatic conditions where people live. By re-thinking design and the policies that shape the form and the performance of the places we inhabit, he believes that it is possible to create a future in which everyone can live healthier and more abundant lives without plundering and polluting the planet on which we depend. Phil’s diverse career in design, public policy and business…

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February 23, 2011

The Importance of Place at the Castaway House

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In this update: I. Claire talks about the outdoor lifestyle in Phoenix II. The urban context of the Castaway House III. A quick survey on modes of transportation Outdoor Lifestyle:   Urban Context: We’re designing for a sustainable lifestyle at Castaway House.  A huge part of leading a sustainable lifestyle is where you live.  Nowadays, big home builders are building new subdivisions way out in the outer suburbs, but are claiming to be green.  Here at Blooming Rock and The Ranch Mine, we believe that location and place are fundamental to sustainability. Those “green” homes way out in the…

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February 02, 2011

Valley Metro’s 25th Annual Rideshare Month

by: Suzanne Day

Tweet Today’s post is by Suzanne Day about the upcoming program for Rideshare Month put on by Valley Metro. Suzanne is a Business Service Representative of Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority in Phoenix, Arizona.  Suzanne has worked in Transportation Demand Management since 1990.  Prior to working for Valley Metro, she was the Executive Director of the Central Avenue Transportation Management Association in Phoenix. Suzanne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communication from Arizona State University.  A lifelong Phoenix resident, Suzanne enjoys hiking, cooking, and a relaxing commute on the bus.  She served on the Maricopa Association of…

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December 28, 2010

Car Free Stories: An Old Bird and a New Bird on the Canal

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This is the first post in a new series called Car Free Stories which will document my various experiences riding my bike, taking transit and walking in Central Phoenix. Today I’d like to share two stories about my daily bike commute on the Grand Canal.  One is about an old bird named Bob and another about a new bird on the scene. An Old Bird Named Bob There is an old gentleman dressed in a track suit that walks for exercise on the canal.  I see him almost every day.  Once we realized we were regulars on the canal,…

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November 30, 2010

Hedonistic Travel: The Pleasures of Carlessness

by: Sarah Davies

Tweet Today’s post is by Sarah Davies, who’s visiting Phoenix for about a year or so from the UK as a researcher at ASU.  I first met Sarah at Critical Mass and we exchanged a few friendly words while trying to ride two abreast and to avoid the nearby speeding vehicles and falling in the gutter.  During our short and understandably distracted conversation, I found out Sarah doesn’t have a car, she lives in Downtown and works at the ASU Main Campus.  Intrigued, we followed up our brief riding encounter with a coffee at Lux a few weeks later.  It…

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November 02, 2010

ASU and the City

by: J Seth Anderson

Tweet Today’s post is by J Seth Anderson, a fantastic writer, journalist and fellow urban advocate for the Valley. Seth (first name is John, but he has always gone by Seth) is not a Phoenix native but dang close! His favorite time of year is summer in Phoenix. Seth lives in a mid-century house in downtown Tempe although he lives and breathes downtown Phoenix historic preservation and development. He writes about downtown Phoenix, historic preservation, politics, and LGBT issues on his own blog Boy Meets Blog. Seth also writes for the new Downtown Phoenix Journal magazine debuting this Thursday, November…

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November 01, 2010

Cultivating Direct Experiences and Propinquity in Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet According to Carol Venolia in her article Real Time in Natural Home Magazine, modern day society is moving away from direct experiences, such as actually spending time with our friends, and moving more towards indirect experiences such as chatting online instead.  This distancing from real experiences, the author argues, creates a less satisfying and perhaps somewhat of a distorted life. The idea of direct versus indirect experiences is very much tied into the concept of propinquity which was first introduced to me by Kevin Kellogg.  Propinquity, if you’re unfamiliar with the word, “refers to the physical or psychological proximity…

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