Archive for ‘Livable Streets’:
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10/13/2008
Wikis Take Manhattan
Last Saturday, TOPP played host to Wikis Take Manhattan, a city-wide scavenger hunt and free media contest.
The idea:One part streets -- more than thirty teams of scavengers spent Saturday afternoon taking pictures of curb cuts and separated bike lanes, all the while admiring the beauty of the city by foot, bike, and train.
One part copyleft -- all photos are Creative Commons-licensed, so they can be freely shared and remixed.This event generated gigabytes of freely-licensed content for StreetsWiki and Wikipedia.
And many, many parts fun -- everyone came back to to the TOPP office for pizza, beer, and mayhem. OK, well the mayhem was had mostly by the uploaders, who spent much of the evening frantically trying to upload and score thousands of pictures from dozens cameras.
The results? Well, the final tally isn't in yet (we're still uploading!), but we had dozens of participants, thousands of photos, and smiles all around. But don't trust us, check out the great Streetfilm.Stay tuned for links to the final photo galleries.
The event was organized by TOPP, Free Culture @ Columbia, Free Culture @ NYU, the NYC Wikimedia meetup, and Creative Commons. Further sponsorship was provided by Pure Food & Wine, The Camera Club of New York, Brooklyn Brewery, Bicycle Habitat, B's Bikes, Birdbath Bakery, The LimeWire Store, and O'Reilly Media.
Thanks to all who helped make this event possible! A special thanks to Emile from the Camera Club of NY for judging Best Photo.
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8/13/2008
Thousands enjoy ‘Summer Streets’
In just two days, more than 10,000 people have watched Streetfilms' great Summer Streets video!
New York took an historic step this Saturday, opening up 7 miles of streets to pedestrians, cyclists, and a host of community uses. The car-free boulevard stretched from Central Park all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge.Streetfilms was there to capture the fun. Sounds like the video is a hit with the Livable Streets community:
- "We came into Manhattan via the F Train at Lex / 63rd and walked over to Park Ave. For the first time ever I was not worried about my kids running onto Park Avenue." - Eric
- "I signed up to volunteer at a summer streets event not really know what summer street was. It was the best time! i can't wait to experience the next 2 Saturdays. You will find me running, learning to bike and just dancing in the streets! Between the traffic and bike rental costs, I've never been motivated to learn but can't pass up free open road!" - Betty
- "The best news is that any and all cities can copy and follow NYC’s
example, regardless of size and location. Portland did Sunday Parkways
on June 22, in October Chicago, April 2009 Baltimore...Clarence's
videos will help others get moving. It’s not rocket science...just do
it!" - Gil Peñalosa (former Bogotá Commissioner of Parks, Sport, and Recreation).
This weekend's event was an amazing success, and we're looking forward to two more days of Summer Streets: this Saturday 8/16 and next Saturday 8/23.
Summer Streets is NYC's version of Ciclovia, a celebrated institution in Bogotá, Colombia. Every Sunday and holiday, Bogotá opens dozens of miles to roads to pedestrians, cyclists, runners, dancers, musicians, and everyone else. The event provides the physical space that makes for healthy, safe communities.
The Summer Streets video adds to Streetfilms' cache of fun and inspiring vignettes that can be used for Livable Streets advocacy around the world. Streetfilms like Ciclovia: Bogotá, Colombia have already helped inspire cities like Baltimore build critical support that opens their streets to the public.
For more great snapshots, check out Streetsblog's Summer Streets Photo Tour.
Photo courtesy of doddnyc/Flickr.
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6/18/2008
Bike Portland Profiles LSN
The Livable Streets team was in Portland this week for the CarFree Cities Conference. Bike Portland has a great post about our presentation. We collected lots of great feedback on the new tools and new look, and LivableStreets.com will see some small (but important changes) based on thoughts gathered from our users. -
6/11/2008
Welcome to the Livable Streets Network
After months of hard work by the outstanding tech team here at The Open Planning Project, we're proud to launch the Livable Streets Network, including fully redesigned versions of Streetsblog and Streetfilms. Here's a quick tour:
The first thing you may want to do is sign up and become a member to take advantage of all the features of the Livable Streets Network. The log-in box is there in the upper right corner. Contribute an article to StreetsWiki and help us build a comprehensive, community-created, online encyclopedia on sustainable transportation, urban planning, smart growth and the issues important to Livable Streets activists around the world.
Interested in starting up a Livable Streets project in your own neighborhood? Create a group and use our online tools to get organized, connect with other activists and find the resources you need. Or join an existing group and get involved with a project that's already underway, like the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance in Manhattan.
Contribute photos, videos and notable web links to Streetsblog and Streetfilms and check out other people's contributions as well.
Meet other members of the network and add to our growing list of Livable Streets blogs in cities around the world.
And, of course, please let us know if you find any bugs, glitches or typos. If you find something that doesn't seem to be working as it should, send a report to tips@streetsblog.org or leave a note here in the comments section. We really appreciate your help in this.
So, go now and transform your city. We'll be drinking cocktails on the deck for the rest of the day. See you tomorrow.
