OpenIDEO - How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline? - Inspiration

The Challenge

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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?

Inspiration 894 inspirations

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Mission #1

Explore Vibrancy

Share your definition of what vibrancy looks like where you live. Find out more...

Mission #2

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Tell us about the cities and communities you know are currently struggling or in the process of revitalising.

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Take some time to get active and explore your own community – then report back what you learned. Find out more...

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Interview someone living in a struggling city or region to learn more. Find out more...

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Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

Paint Your Own Bike Lane!

Community in Mexico City painted their own bike lane for less than $1000

Back in 2007, Mexico City’s government pledged to construct 300 km (appx. 186 miles) of bike lanes by 2012. However, the city still only has 22.2 km because most money is allocated to car infrastructure, leaving little fiunding available for mass transit. In response, Tthe Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and the National Network for Urban Cycling (BiciRed) launched a campaign called ’5% for bicycles and pedestrians’, which asks national legislators to assign at least that percentage of the transportation budget to non-motorized infrastructure.

On Oct 20th, cycling and pedestrian advocate groups decided to paint a bike lane in front of Congress to show that it does not require a lot of money to have quality infrastructure. The bike lane was painted over shortly after it's creation and the collective groups decided they were going to do it again on Nov. 6th! 80 some people, paint, stencils and a tricycle later, the bike lane was completed in ONE day and for less than $1000 (US) dollars.

The benefits to a community using this idea are limitless! Communities would know best where a bike lane is needed and could act right away to get things started without waiting several months for government action. The work to complete and maintain bike lanes gives people jobs and allows the community to directly give back. The placement of this bike lane adjacent to mass transit is important - improving mobility in any city grants people access to jobs and services.

The original post from Jimena Veloz @ This Big City: http://bit.ly/tJh0ai

(also another great source for community building ideas in our cities!)

Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

Comments

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Jarred Myers

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November 17, 2011, 10:17AM

Great initiative, there's a similar initiative in Johannesburg where an Insurer has created a "pothole brigade" to repair roads in stead of waiting for the official channels to crank into action.

It's a double smart initiative in that it creates a solution to an infrastructural problem but its doubly smart in that the Insurer gets great media exposure and returns from its CSI budget.

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Jarred Myers's reply to Jarred Myers's comment

Jarred Myers

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November 17, 2011, 10:18AM

oh, here's the link http://www.potholebrigade.co.za/about.aspx

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Kimberly Powell's reply to Jarred Myers's comment

Kimberly Powell

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November 17, 2011, 03:41PM

NYC Dept. of Transportation has a similar program, but I can say with some confidence that the turn-around time to fix them falls short in comparison to this 'Pothole Bigrade'!

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/pothole.shtml

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Jarred Myers's reply to Jarred Myers's comment

Jarred Myers

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November 17, 2011, 04:37PM

It's a great idea unfortunately the novelty factor is relatively short lived and therefore the ROI for the media coverage diminishes as the public grows accustomed to the service, as you can see from the pothole brigade website, they're already moving out of Johannesburg and into a neighbouring municipality, Ekhureleni, I'm confident the reason isn't because there are no potholes left to fix in Jo'burg.

Such is the double edged sword of corporate philanthropy, its goals aren't aligned with the public good rather with the public's perception of its good

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Meena Kadri

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November 14, 2011, 01:07AM

So fab to be getting all these global Inspirations! Tip: to activate the links in your post, hit the Update Entry button up there on the right, then follow the instructions here: http://bit.ly/oi_link

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Olivier Thereaux

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November 13, 2011, 03:32PM

I thought of posting this too. Good find! And a great example of a community taking their needs into their own hands.

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Anne-Laure Fayard

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November 11, 2011, 07:25PM

Great insight! I particularly like the point you make about how not only communities can make things happen, but also have the knowledge of their needs and practices (where to put the bike lane). This is also a great example of prototyping to prove a concept: it's possible to do a bike lane and with minimum costs. thanks for sharing!

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LaTeisha 's reply to Jarred Myers's comment

LaTeisha

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November 11, 2011, 08:08PM

To add to your response, it's also a great example of how quickly change can happen when a group of citizens decide not to wait for government (or anyone else) to act.

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