Josephine Roper @jroper@transportation.social

Paris day was baby’s first train trip - yet another advantage of the train over the car is feeding him. Time saving and no sadness 👌

Paris today: the appropriate width for a one-way bike lane, and where to put the parking if you don't want bikes on the footpath. Not like anything we're building in Sydney!

Redid my website: https://josephineroper.com/ feedback welcome.

The maps which were the main purpose are still a work in progress but happy with the rest for now. Had fun doing it 'from scratch' where I'd used a website building tool before.

Also just got 'minor corrections' back for my thesis so will need to change it from 'PhD candidate' soon!

Been very quiet here as hanging out with my new baby. Taking lots of walks around the French village where we’re living with our in-laws (only another month thankfully).

It's picturesque but reminds me how we are, generally, doing a better job with basic walking infrastructure in Australia!

Although traffic volumes are low, speed limits here are 50k in the village and 90k outside, and most drivers are trying to speed most of the time. So it's hard to relax while walking without footpaths.

This morning in Paris, busy bike lane outside my great-aunt’s place 😍🚴

I really like these bike lanes that are level with the footpath. Don’t quite get why we’re so intent on building awkward little channels in Sydney. The cyclists weren’t encroaching on the footpath even when they were backed up, just queuing politely (though it seemed like the more impatient types use the road here instead).

📢 New paper: A participatory mapping approach to capturing perceived walkability
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2024.104133

🖌️ Perceived walkability in Sydney collected by 'spraypainting', because who needs polygons?

🚶 Compared results to a previously published walkability index

🗺️ Method, with comments, can capture rich knowledge about walkable areas and streets, and reveal gaps in walkability models

Last paper out from my PhD, very happy to see it in print.
#geospatial #urbanism #walkability

My university's sustainability report contains several acknowledgements that the post-COVID return to high levels of business travel is a problem, but absolutely 0 plans to do anything about it. Inspiring stuff.

https://www.sustainability.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/Environmental%20Sustainability%20Report%202023.pdf

Because thinking about Broadway: every time I use the underpass at Railway Square I feel like some sort of distance contraction is at play.

Arrows for non-Sydney people to show where the ramp leading up to Railway Square is located in the tunnel, and roughly where it emerges.

I find my brain can't quite reconcile how short the tunnel seems vs how wide the road.

I think it shows how the brain (correctly) perceives the 8 lanes of traffic like a dangerous gulf to avoid crossing at all costs.

It's a bit anti-climactic, the modern thesis submission - no 300 page book all printed out - but on the plus side one can do it from France :)

Now for a few days off!

I've been a bit quiet here lately so general life update: recently moved to France where I'm aiming to finish my thesis, have a baby, and find a postdoc, hopefully in that order.

Here enjoying the European luxury: trains with power points! on the way to Brittany to visit some of my French in-laws.

"The moves must appear in the right order or sequence to become a dance. If you start with your hands down to your hips instead of out in front of you, you ARE dancing, but it’s NOT the Macarena.

So it is with the Macarena as it is with writing the discussion section of your thesis"

- thank you @thesiswhisperer, this bit of lightness is exactly what I needed right now!

Impressive commitment from someone so young. Shame this kind of thing doesn't make the mainstream news. https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/01/27/innes-fitzgerald-runner-greta-thunberg-australia/

Why is it so common for postdoc job ads to just be titled "Postdoctoral Fellow" or similar?? Give us a topic, field, faculty... anything

Had a week off showing the in-laws (over from France for the first time) around Sydney and environs. Here's me having my morning coffee in 'bed' at Little Beach, Bouddi National Park :)

The sort of break that takes your mind off work effectively... but also makes you quite happy that it's over!