#ClimateDiary spent a lot of time thinking about this trip beforehand. I could list all the ‘good’ reasons - family overseas, work, tying everything into one slow trip. But what does it matter? A little bit lower than standard upper-class Australian hypermobility is not really changing anything. It would be unsustainable if everyone in the world flew overseas every two years. Ofc most of the world’s population never will. So, why me?
Anyway, trying to put things aside and enjoy it now I’m here.
#choralmusic in #Sydney: I'm going to be away for my choir's next performance, but I'm still going to rehearsals because it's one of the best parts of my life... the reasons for living, the ends and not the means.
If you like old, very old music and also very new music, check it out.
It might look like Edinburgh was full of “cyclists” demanding their rights today, but I don’t think that’s right. I see people who want to say that the way we’ve been running things for the last 70 years is wrong.
We decided in Britain that we’d make everyone happy by creating places that everyone could get around by car, shelterered, warm, with no physical effort. It’s an attractive idea, but it’s not worked like we hoped.
There’s simply no way to make the cars all fit...
(short thread)
‘Don’t think “if I don’t do it, they’ll just get someone else to do it.” Remember instead that the power, and the trap, of neoliberal thinking is that it divides and conquers and makes us feel that there is no way out of the current system, when there is.’ - Mar Hicks @histoftech
Not sure where I'm going with this, just wandering. Maybe a flourishing and diverse micromobility sector actually needs less emphasis on regulating vehicles and more on behaviour, as for cars. Nothing about your vehicle stops you from driving 150km/hr through a pedestrian crossing. Only legal enforcement and social norms, which are currently lagging behind in cities without a cycling history.
Sometimes I feel very out of love with ebikes. That using an #ebike to feel safer in traffic or travel long distances in sprawling suburbs is a necessary but ugly temporary accommodation to poor cycling conditions and car-oriented design.
But hills exist even in a carless state of grace, and are the 'killer app' for ebike-as-bike-but-better, for me. So ebikes really need to be able to handle hills well. And cargo, and cargo on hills.
for example, acceleration limits (with reference to the ground), not power limits. The same power output that can get me up a long steep hill at a moderate speed (like 20km/hr) without sweating, gives acceleration from 0 on the flat that is dangerous in shared spaces with pedestrians. Torque sensing helps with the latter situation but not so much the former (I think, haven't ridden them much).
I change power settings while riding to get the balance I want, but new riders often don't.
Sometimes I go on r/ebikes and get stuck into various #ebike culture wars... Strange as it is to get good ideas on bicycling from the USA, the class system for ebikes makes a lot of sense. Not the specific classes they've chosen (IMO) but understanding that ebikes can have very different characteristics to serve different needs, and they should have different requirements and privileges.
Think we need some technical innovation in controls... (cont)
For #Sydney people, this is a quick and fun (reportedly) way to help with some #walkability research
Anyone else get really curious about where each individual car on the road is going? I mean not during peak hour, then you can fit them into the societal narrative of workdays, I mean like 10am on a Friday in a random suburb, 6am on a Sunday, where is everyone going?
Same when I go past a café in a residential area on a weekday that's full of people. What are your stories? What are you all up to?
The world is so complex, and what I know is so limited.
Here are my slides "The Science of Growing Urban Bicycle Networks" from yesterday's workshop on sustainable mobility [pdf]: http://michael.szell.net/downloads/talk_szell2023sgu.pdf
UNSW Study - Perceptions of Walkability in Sydney
Clover Moore, City of Sydney Lord Mayor is requesting the incoming roads minister John Graham considers:
- Removing the toll on the Cross City Tunnel
- Introducing a CBD congestion charge
https://twitter.com/CloverMoore/status/1645989100439363584
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8154280/fantastic-opportunity-to-fix-sydneys-toll-road-mess/
#clovermoore #cityofsydney #cos #tollroads #tolls #nsw #auspol #congestioncharge #congestionzone #planning #sydney #transurban
PhD student at UNSW City Futures Research Centre. Committee member of WalkSydney (https://walksydney.org/). Interested in access, walkability, sustainable transport in general, open source urban analytics. Transport cyclist, climber, plant based.