Alternative to cars are not necessarily more bikes

Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Jennifer in Community by bike

I just finished reading a great book called “Natural Capitalism“; the main point of the book is the reshaping of our economy to account for the impact, both negative and positive, we have on the environment. You’ll have to read the book to find out more about their ideas around carbon taxes, renewables, etc. For me there were a number of very interesting ideas and one that stood out was this sentence paragraph:

“Most people believe the alternative to cars is better transit – in truth, it’s better neighborhoods. That is the key to making the car “an accessory of life rather than its central organizing principle.”

And I thought, “yes, that’s it”. The only way to better incorporate different ways of getting around is to build communities that are designed for that type of transit. Currently, we design our communities (suburbs, bedroom communities) around the premise that people will use their cars to get around: to get to the grocery store, drop their kids off at school, etc. Our newer communities are not designed in scale or ease to for pedestrians and, in some ways, we are trying to retrofit them for cyclist and pedestrians and therein lies the rub. We still need to focus our attention on making it easier for people to get around by bike or walking or bus. But wouldn’t it be so much easier to build communities to support that type of mobility?

There’s a new condo development out where I live, just off of HWY 36 near Broomfield, Colorado. It’s called the Townes at Vantage Point and it’s no more a town than Boulder is a big city and, to me, it represent the epitome of building without community. Currently, there’s nothing out there but these enormous condo blocks. Granted the mall is across the highway but you couldn’t get there walking or cycling. You would need to drive and you would need to crawl over 36 to get to it.  Promoting cycling is important, promoting better community development is critical.

13 Responses to “Alternative to cars are not necessarily more bikes”

  1. Cassi

    07. Apr, 2010

    Excellent post – agree that we have created auto-centric communities, which is very sad. As a sprawling country, we seem to be averse to density in development – which is critical to walkable/bikeable communities. Better urban planning, combined with re-use/restoration of *existing* building/infrastructure is necessary, in my mind, to get us to that ‘better place’. Think I will have to check out “Natural Capitalism” – sounds interesting! ;)

  2. Tweets that mention Alternative to cars are not necessarily more bikes | Ride Boulder Co -- Topsy.com

    07. Apr, 2010

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cassi, Ride Boulder Co. Ride Boulder Co said: We need bikes but we need to build better communities first http://tinyurl.com/y9b9fcu [...]

  3. Colleen

    09. Apr, 2010

    Hey, I’m trying to do a story on Ghost Bikes here in Colorado. Do you know anyone who’s done one? I can be reached at coconnor@denverpost.com

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  5. Jennifer

    14. Apr, 2010

    Hi Colleen,

    I don’t know anyone however I looked up their site for Boulder and two names were listed:
    http://www.ghostbikes.org/boulder

    -Jennifer

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  9. TomPier

    07. May, 2010

    great post as usual!

  10. Richard Masoner

    09. May, 2010

    Isn’t there a bike / ped tunnel underneath US36 right by Storage Tek that connects to Flatirons somewhere? I seem to remember something like that.

  11. Jennifer

    09. May, 2010

    Yes, there is but I think it may be a little farther up and is for access to the park-n-ride. At least, that’s where I think I have seen it.

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    11. May, 2010

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