Rush Hour in Toronto At –11 Celsius 19
Toronto commuters – March 29th, 2011 – by James Schwartz / The Urban Country I snapped the above photo on my phone during my morning commute to a client office yesterday morning. It wasn’t the shot I was looking for, but I love it no less. The shot I was looking for showed 18 bicyclists ...
The Bicycle City Film – Lifting People out of Poverty
Photo by Greg Sucharew / The Bicycle City What happens to an impoverished developing nation town when you flood it with 20,000 bicycles? You lift three times that number of people out of poverty. That is the premise of The Bicycle City – a feature length documentary film by Director/Producer Greg Sucharew. From the Bicycle ...
Journey Through Black America 3
Photo of Baron Hilliard on his journey across America – photo by Baron Hilliard Black communities across America still face significant challenges – more than 40 years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. The country has made significant progress since the dark days of slavery – or the pre-MLK days of segregation – but institutional ...
Bicycle Culture Sells Condos 8
All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country Despite everything that has happened with the economy and real estate market with our neighbours in the United States, Toronto has continued developing new condominiums across the city without pause. Everywhere you look, you can find construction cranes in Toronto – it’s actually a bit ...
A Celebration of People on Bicycles in New York City 6
While down in New York City last weekend I managed to take some video footage of everyday New Yorkers who choose bicycles as their mode of transportation. I put this short film together that celebrates these New Yorkers who are contributing to making New York a better place. Although my hometown Toronto seems to have ...
One Wheel All You Need in China 1
Ever had a wheel stolen off your bicycle and had to push your bicycle home with just one wheel? I know I have. It’s not a good feeling – but it would have been no match for this Chinese bicyclist. This video was picked up by our China correspondent Mark Green after it was posted ...
Bicycle Infrastructure Pessimism in North America 8
Separated bike lane in China (2010). Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country Only in countries without an established bicycle culture would you have bicycling advocates who would lobby *against* bicycle infrastructure because they feel our culture is so dismissive of bicycles as a legitimate means of transportation that it’s impossible for the ...
Online Guide For Safe Bicycle Facilities 4
Last week at the National Bike Summit in Washington DC, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) released its new online Urban Bikeway Design Guide. The bikeway design guide is an online resource providing cities with solutions to create complete streets that provide enhanced safety for bicyclists. The design guide was unveiled by NYC ...
Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: Role of the Bicycle 10
Photo courtesy of Toshifuni Kitamura, Getty Images / March 11, 2011 In the aftermath of the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan on Friday afternoon, millions of people were left stranded at their workplace and tens of thousands displaced from their homes with few options to transport themselves to safety. Those who were ...
Snow Traffic-Calming Measures 6
Photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country Sometimes the best traffic engineering ideas are the ones that appear naturally. While visiting a client yesterday, I encountered this pile of snow that was blocking the entire right lane of this street (as you can see in the photo above). The only traffic calming measure ...