Creative design promotes cycling

A researcher gathered bike-related innovations in a document, in order to increase awareness of progress and encourage new improvements

A researcher gathered bike-related innovations in a document, in order to increase awareness of progress and encourage new improvements

Biking is on the rise, as more and more people use it every day in order to avoid traffic congestions, to easily park, to exercise or even due to environmental awareness. Especially in the US, bike trips increased by 105% in bike-friendly cities between 2000-2013, according to the League of American Bicyclists. But despite this growth, experts say more can be done to encourage more people to ride.

Anne Lusk, research scientist in Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, compiled a report titled ‘Promoting Bicycling Through Creative Design: Innovations for Bicycles and Cycling Facilities’. It lists almost all innovations addressed to bicyclists, in order to point out the progress that has been made towards including biking in our everyday lives and encourage further improvements. “The hope is that these innovations will move the needle faster in getting people to take up cycling,” said Lusk. ‘There are lots of good reasons for doing so: bicycling is good for people’s health and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It may also boost local economies.’

The glowing bike path inspired by Van Gogh, a bicycle escalator in Norway that that works like a ski lift, multi-level cycle facilities where bike paths overpass or underpass roads and junctions, are some of the innovations included in the report, out of which some have already been implemented, while others are still on the drawing board.

Lusk would also like to see wider cycle tracks (currently they are about 6ft wide) to enable cyclists to ride side-by-side and talk, which would also be convenient for cyclists with children. “We still don’t value and design for bicyclists in the U.S.,” she concludes. “For instance, architectural renderings of new buildings for U.S. cities still depict only pedestrians and vehicles—not cyclists.”

Source: Harvard News