Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

Henri Lefebvre, The Right to the City — In brief, the right to the city is the right to the production of a city. The labor of a worker is the source of most of the value of a commodity that is expropriated by the owner. The worker, therefore, has a right to benefit from that value denied to them. In the same way, the urban citizen produces and reproduces the city through their own daily actions. However, the the city is expropriated from the urbanite by the rich and the state. The right to the city is therefore the right to appropriate the city by and for those who make and remake it.

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What if bikes had been invented earlier? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 6 months ago by Nyssa@slrpnk.net to c/urbanism@slrpnk.net

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Why do alt-history people never focus on infrastructure or innovation? What would have happened had bikes been invented centuries before cars instead of around the same time? How different would the built environment and our culture have looked?

Personally, I think centuries of more established bike use would have created an infrastructure that limits how well cars take off. Cities would have entrenched themselves in a cheap, dense manner of transit.

I could be wrong, lots of dense cities were wrecked by the car when it was commercialized. I'd love to hear any thoughts :)

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[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Something that blew my mind is that for a while bike were the fastest means of transportation !

[–] lobsterofrevenge@mastodon.social 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

@BastingChemina Biking is still faster than driving for many short trips, since you avoid congestion, routes can be more direct and you can park closer to your destination. Under one mile it is probably quicker to bike than drive. Under two miles if you live where cars clog the streets.

#TheWarOnCars

[–] stark@mastodon.mit.edu 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

@lobsterofrevenge @BastingChemina under one mile wouldn't you just walk?

[–] lobsterofrevenge@mastodon.social 2 points 6 months ago

@stark @BastingChemina depends on physical ability and how much you might need to carry home from the store. One mile bike ride takes me a few minutes—say 10 minutes including locking up, but one mile walking takes me about 20 minutes at least. That said I usually walk the half mile to the store if I’m just getting a few things. Less trouble than getting the bike out.