Bicycling
Auto-centric "imprinting" and our consumer products
Richard Layman pens a defense of parking reform in the usually anti-change themail@dcwatch. Explaining the anti-urban views of many city dwellers, he writes, "Most of us who live in the city came from other places where the car was dominant. So we don’t understand that we are imprinted with a particular paradigm, and that this paradigm is inappropriate for the city."
The Zigo.
One reason we're locked into an auto-oriented way of thinking about life is that our consumer economy is primarily designed for households with a car. For example, instead of corner grocery stores like they have in Europe, where people walk down the block to buy what they need for the day, Americans buy a week's worth of groceries all together. Thus, corner stores mostly just sell liquor and supermarkets grow ever huger to compete. And of course, it's extremely difficult to transport that many groceries without a car.
This doesn't doom us to a society of mandatory car ownership; car sharing makes it eminently reasonable for carless households to shop this way. But it's also not the only way. In New York City, small portable shopping carts are a common sight, and teenagers to grandmothers easily transport a few bags of groceries home from the store without ever driving.
I had one of these carts, but it was in storage; consequently, I ended up driving to a big supermarket with parking (usually the Georgetown Safeway or the Van Ness Giant) every few weeks, making smaller trips to the Dupont Safeway in between. But now I have the cart back, and it's easy as pie to wheel heavy groceries home from Safeway. The biggest obstacle: while almost all NYC grocery carts have hooks to easily hang a portable cart while shopping, Safeway's carts have no good place to attach one. Since too few people use portable carts, I'll need to get some hooks of my own.
The technology problem becomes especially acute for families, which some argue have too difficult a time living in the city. As more families choose to do just that, we'll see more products that make their lives easier. For example, Layman points us to the Zigo, a combination bicycle and baby stroller. A parent can ride with one or two children in the pod in front, detach the bike to create a traditional stroller, connect bigger wheels for jogging, or use the bike without children attached at all.
I expect future products of this type (if they don't already exist) will also contain cargo space, allowing a parent to ride to the grocery with children, park and lock the bicycle while shopping, then load groceries into another compartment. It's almost like a car, only it takes up less space, burns no fossil fuel, and is much less likely to kill pedestrians.
 | David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.   |
Comments
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by Dave Murphy on Jul 21, 2008 7:21 pm • link • report
by Bianchi on Jul 21, 2008 8:05 pm • link • report
The talk of making driving and parking more difficult to me is kind of putting the cart before the horse. I do not see evidence yet of a massively improved public transportation system. This must be strongly in place first. They are cutting bus lines, so I am not encouraged.
We must have a massively - MASSIVELY - improved bus service.
by Fbase on Jul 21, 2008 10:15 pm • link • report
http://www.bakfiets.nl/eng/models_cargo_bike_long.php
Two kids and groceries, no problem, on two wheels.
by Aaron on Jul 21, 2008 10:30 pm • link • report
I was walking down Ontario Rd. NW between Columbia Rd. and Lanier Pl., just approaching the alley, when the driver of a commercial garbage truck, exiting the alley, saw me about to cross in front of him, began to honk, and sped up. In order to make a point about pedestrian rights, I refused to yield and, in fact, had to stand in the garbage truck's way to make the driver stop.
Two observations:
1) The driver, who was a Latin American immigrant, couldn't have been more "imprinted" with autocentricity. As a Latino, I was able to confront him about this, in Spanish, and explain that unlike the suburbs of VA or rural areas in Latin America, dense cities can only work toward the greater good if pedestrians and cyclists have the right of way, always. The driver listened to me, appearing to take it in, no doubt, because I related to him culturally/linguistically. What was initially a hostile encounter ended, at worst, on a neutral note. And I should note that the driver didn't seem like a bad guy. Just a mystified one--mystified, that is, by a culture that puts cars first, over everything else.
2) Is there anything to gain by agitating/negotiating with the local carting companies on how they train their drivers to deal with urban street life? Would a campaign to get such companies to de-imprint their drivers of autocentricity, through training sessions, etc., yield results? Needless to say, I was thinking of Alice Swanson during this whole encounter.
by Tony on Jul 21, 2008 11:39 pm • link • report
I think your example of someone NOT from the culture acting in a manner that some theory claims to blame on this culture, works to discredit and not support the theory of "autocentricity". People move out of the way of garbage trucks for a simple reason. It's common sense that a many-ton vehicle should and must be given the right of way. The driver of that vehicle knows this and the pedestrian walking the street knows this. The "pedestrians always have the right of way" laws are meant to temper this natural law. And that they can do by making people more aware of the difficulties a pedestrian (or a bicyclist) has at being at a natural disadavantage. Just don't expect the natural law to be upended or superceded by a man made law. That's just self delusional. And can lead to serious consequences. Keep stepping out in front of garbage trucks careening through the streets, and I guarantee you that that one time the driver decides to assert his rights under the natural law, will stop short all you future efforts to assert your rights under a man made law. And then there's Darwin's Law ... (for another discussion).
by Lance on Jul 22, 2008 8:22 am • link • report
Hey, generalizing and exaggerating ARE fun!
by Frankie on Jul 22, 2008 10:47 am • link • report
Yes, pedestrians should take care and be aware of their vulnerability. At the same time, drivers need to realize they are in a city and act accordingly, and sometimes pedestrians need to assert their rights (carefully) to make that clear. We can't and shouldn't armchair quarterback Tony's situation and pass judgment on his judgment.
by David Alpert on Jul 22, 2008 11:07 am • link • report
by Eric on Jul 22, 2008 11:50 am • link • report
what i did, however, was to stretch common sense in the interest of lodging an impromptu complaint against the truck driver, and that stretching of common sense is what we typically call risk--a risk i feel was warranted.
the one thing i will press you on is your use of the word/concept of the "natural." there is nothing natural about drivers of giant, dangerous vehicles presuming that they have the right of way in dense, urban zones. such behavior, in fact, is a learned phenomenon, and it is something that this blog, the many others like it, and the policies they stand for are trying to change.
by tony on Jul 22, 2008 1:10 pm • link • report
At the Giant at Columbia Heights, I just fold up the granny pushcart and put it handle-down in the grocery cart's push bar. The big wheels keep it from going all the way through, and it works fairly well for keeping the granny cart out of the way until you're ready to load it up again for the walk home.
by Melissa on Jul 22, 2008 2:53 pm • link • report
I understand that we need to spend on bike parking at all before we worry about secure bike parking... but it's entirely possible to design a bike locker or bike garage in a dense area that puts your bike under lock and key & out of reach of grabby hands, or even pay someone to operate one manually.
It will happen when there is demand for it to happen.
by Squalish on Jul 22, 2008 11:36 pm • link • report
http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2007/02/union_station_b.html
by Squalish on Jul 22, 2008 11:57 pm • link • report
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