INTELLIGENCE AND PAINTING.
Eduardo Cadaval
Today there are many cities that claim to be bicycle friendly, but very few have actually made a real commitment to non-motorized mobility. There are many mayors who like to take photos while riding a bicycle – an image that in municipal politics has become an advertising claim almost as important for any candidate as taking a photo kissing a child – but there are very few politicians who understand the true potential of a more sustainable mobility and the necessary requirements to make it possible.
Betting on the bicycle as a means of urban transport does not mean that the mayors go to their offices by bicycle once a month (always escorted and protected from the daily problems suffered by the rest of the cyclists), nor does promoting cyclotons or cycling Sundays (in which at some point in the weekend a primary road is closed for a few hours to be able to take a bike ride); Nor is it only to provide certain areas of the city with public bicycle rental systems such as ecobici, bicing or velib -depending on the city we are talking about. All of the above helps to promote the use of bicycles, but if we really want to promote a different form of mobility, what is needed is to build the necessary infrastructure so that anyone who wants to use the bicycle as a primary means of transport can carry out their tasks. displacements properly and safely.
There have undoubtedly been great advances in recent years in many cities around the world; But in most cases the daily use of the bicycle as a means of transport is still restricted to certain population groups, or to be more precise, to people with certain physical qualities: if one is semi-young, semi-athletic and is willing to semi-risk his skin by adding a little body, he can survive and reach his destination; but this should not be so. An appropriate network of urban bicycle lanes allows a wider spectrum of the population to use the bicycle in an efficient and safe way. Even older people or children can use the system with a certain autonomy, which has enormous social benefits.
Why not think of a system where, for example, a parent can ride their bicycle and be followed by their children on their respective bikes to take them to school, as is the case in Amsterdam or Copenhagen? Why does it seem innocent to dream that this is possible if it is something socially and economically desirable, and that it already happens in other parts of the world?
Cities today are almost by definition speed-controlled areas; In many urban areas there is a strict road policy that limits the speed of traffic to a maximum of 30 or 50 kilometers per hour. However, road hierarchies continue to give priority to those vehicles that move faster. Why should a cyclist give way to the car that pressures him from behind when in most cases both transport the same number of people -that is, one- and one does it in a much more sustainable way than the other ? Why don’t cities really prioritize those transports that are more ecological over those that are not so much? If we stop giving priority to the one who has to get there quickly to give priority to the one who does it in the most sustainable way, we will have mobility and urban dynamics very different from those of today.
The first bicycles were invented at the beginning of the 19th century, and paradoxically, and to the disappointment of many futuristic projections, today it is presented as one of the most suitable means of urban transport to face the 21st century. The only rule to achieve this is that you have to build the system that allows its development and evolution: well-planned bike lanes that respond strategically to flows of daily use and to the city’s points of interest; well defined, illuminated, with an adequate treatment in its line and unevenness, and even, with an adequate management team. In the current economic situation, many cities justify their immobility due to the lack of resources. In the case of bike lanes, money is not the important thing: you just need a little imagination, a lot of intelligence and a little more paint.
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