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Photo (cc) Dave Fayram

News & Notes Safety Keeps Pittsburgh Cyclists from Becoming Bike Commuters [Transportation Nation]

There is a bit of a catch 22 to increasing cyclist numbers though. Until cycling is widely considered safe, new cyclists won’t start riding to work. The solution, Pucher argues, is infrastructure. Pucher says the absence of bike lanes means only a small segment of the population is willing to ride to work.


Why small cities are poised for success in an oil-starved future [Grist]

So how do these small cities, long derided as provincial and irrelevant, prepare for the future that Tumber sees coming? She focuses on several broad topics: controlling sprawl and redeveloping the suburban fringe, developing agriculture in and around the city, reviving small-scale manufacturing, and redesigning economic networks and school systems. All of these topics involve interlocking policy conundrums that may be more easily navigated in small cities, where relationships are closer and bureaucracy less entangling.


San Francisco’s Temporary Beer Garden Takes Off [The Atlantic Cities]

Technically, it’s a stalled development site, but a small plot of land in San Francisco has been transformed into a new collection of pop-up businesses operating on a temporary basis out of metal shipping containers. Retailers, including an ice cream shop and a coffee roaster, began moving in earlier this year.

And just a few weeks ago, local German-style restaurant Suppenküche opened Biergarten, a 99-seat outdoor beer and food spot in the city’s Hayes Valley neighborhood.


London Company to Reward Employees Who Walk and Bike [The City Fix]

A partnership between Recyclebank and the City of London aims to change travel habits of Londoners over the next year. To stimulate the discussion on walking and other non-polluting modes of transport, the company developed an application for smartphones capable of measuring the use of alternative means of mobility for each person and reward them for adopting sustainable modes.

The more trips on foot or by bike an employee takes, the more points they earn. This score is converted into awards that can be redeemed in the form of discounts in shops and movie theaters.


Rural officials criticize state’s anti-sprawl plan [The Baltimore Sun]

A panel of experts on environmental and growth issues offered harsh criticism Monday of [Maryland] Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed statewide smart-growth strategy at a forum attended by more than 100 people from some of the most rural parts of the state.

State officials say PlanMaryland, which limits state funds for development that does not fall within the guidelines for preventing sprawl, will save about $1.5 billion annually in infrastructure costs.

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