Tuesday, May 24, 2011

"The Real Reason Why Bicycles are the Key to Better Cities."

In Europe, senior citizens are out on bicycles in force.

In New Albany, it is argued by some that the Ohio River Greenway could not possibly be non-vehicular because senior citizens would not use it.

Curiously, the bicycle itself stipulates almost no age restrictions. Once you're big enough to hop on and learn to ride, you're able to continue riding for a very long time. You just must want to do it, that's all.

This article aptly captures the epiphany I experienced a decade ago, when I began to see New Albany (and outlying areas) from the saddle, not the driver's side. The view is tremendous, indeed.

This Big City: The Real Reason Why Bicycles are the Key to Better Cities, by Kasey Klimes (This Big City blog).

... The most vital element for the future of our cities is that the bicycle is an instrument of experiential understanding.

On a bicycle, citizens experience their city with deep intimacy, often for the first time. For a regular motorist to take that two or three mile trip by bicycle instead is to decimate an enormous wall between them and their communities.