TED’s big annual event, TED2011, is just around the corner from February 28th–March 4th. This year’s theme is The Rediscovery of Wonder, and as usual, they have a remarkable line up of speakers that range from Data Artists to Dinosaur Diggers.

Back in 2006, I was honored to give a TED Talk. At that time, TED was really only accessible to an exclusive group of attendees with connections and $5,000 to spend on a conference. No longer true. Anyone, who can get online, can see and hear all of the talks and performances. If you have not visited the TED website yet, just do it. The talks are presented in such a way that you can select a topic or theme of interest such as informative, courageous, design, or global issues. Try Inspiring for a start. Here are two very different and provocative talks related to Livable Cities that give you some idea of the quality and diversity that TED continues to deliver.

Mikael Colville-Andersen
Why We Shouldn’t Bike with a Helmet, Copenhagen, 2010

Bill Strickland (with Herbie Hancock)
Rebuilding America, One Slide Show at a Time, Monterey, California, 2002

PUBLIC is a tight knit group of bike advocates working out of our South Park studio. We are also a loose knit group of design junkies and friends around the world. Our art director for example is Erik Spiekermann who works mostly from Berlin. Erik just received the most prestigious design recognition, the German Design Prize 2011 for Lifetime Achievements. We need to congratulate him.

Erik is a longtime pal and someone known for strong opinions, curiosity, and a relentless commitment to modern design. He is also fun and funny to have as a companion biking through Berlin and San Francisco, as we have done often. When you look at our logo and many of our design details that’s Eric’s work. We are honored to have him on our team, and you can follow him with over 100,000 other people on Twitter for a daily – sometimes hourly – dose of his fine design mind. Or read his witty blog, Spiekerblog. Aside from staying tapped into social media, Erik runs a renowned design, strategy, and communication firm called Edenspiekermann. He’s almost as fond of bikes as he is of fonts. He has been a major supporter of PUBLIC since our inception, and a mentor to me in the esoteric world of typography and graphic design. We are especially honored to have him as part of our PUBLIC team. Congratulations Professor Spiekermann.

We’re excited to announce that starting on February 10th you’ll be able to see a PUBLIC bike in the windows of 24 top Gap stores around the US and Canada as part of Gap’s Khaki promotion.

You’ll also see our green PUBLIC A7 intricately laid out in a visual display in the Men’s department of every Gap around the country.

Rest assured when you order a PUBLIC bike using our Ready to Ride assembly and delivery option, your bike will arrive at your door 99% assembled – not in pieces as depicted in the Gap display. The cool, useful PUBLIC orange tools come with every Ready to Ride box to help with the final touches of your bike assembly.

We’re really proud of our growing partnership with Gap, which started with a pop-up shop in Gap’s flagship store in San Francisco. Over time if we become a nationally recognized brand based in San Francisco, like Gap has done, we will have achieved our mission to increase the number of people who get around by bicycle in the United States.

You’ll see our bikes in the following Gap locations. If you happen to visit one of these Gap stores, please email us a photo to messages@publicbikes.com or post a photo to our PUBLIC Facebook page.

• Valley Fair in Santa Clara, CA
• Flood Building in San Francisco, CA
• Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA
• Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles, CA
• Houston Galleria in Houston, TX
• Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL
• Rosevelt Field Center in Garden City, NJ
• Short Hills in Short Hills, NJ
• 34th & Broadway, NY
• 17th & 5th Avenue, NY
• Northpark Center in Dallas, TX
• Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, FL
• Mall at Millenia in Orlando, FL
• 59th & Lexington in New York City, NY
• 42nd & Broadway in New York City, NY
• 85th & 3rd in New York City, NY
• 48th & 6th Avenue in New York City, NY
• 42nd & 3rd in New York City, NY
• Lincoln Square in New York City, NY
• 54th & 5th in New York City, NY
• Chinook in Calgary
• Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto
• Bloor Street in Toronto
• Montreal Eaton Centre in Montreal

Few people realize that the United States is the recognized world leader in handmade bikes. There are pockets of tradition and expertise of this craft in New England and in the Pacific Northwest. But there are skilled independent makers in almost every urban area around the US.  Viewing these bikes all in one place is a real challenge, but this is changing.  There are terrific events coming up this year that you should know about: the North American Handmade Bike Show (NAHBS) in Austin on Feb 25-27, and the Oregon Manifest in Portland on September 23-24. Each of these events will help to elevate this craft to its rightful status.

North American Handmade Bicycle Show Austin, February 23-24
The annual NAHBS show travels to different locations around the country every year. This year it will take place in Austin, Texas. We attended our first one in Portland back in 2008.  Our past Men in Pink blog post highlights the experience. You will see the finest contemporary handmade bikes in the world. The show is small enough that you can talk and hang out with the makers.  While in Austin, stop by the amazing Mellow Johnny’s, one of the greatest bike shops in the US where you can check out and test ride PUBLIC bikes. Just riding around this bike centric town is fun.

Oregon Manifest, Utility Bikes Meet Design, Portland, September 23-24
Back in 2009 we participated in the first ever Oregon Manifest as a juror, so we know it well. In its second year the show has grown to such a level where they have even invited three internationally recognized design firms – IDEO, Fuseproject, and ZIBA – to collaborate with bike builders. The challenge is to create the ideal transportation bike (further testimony to the fact that utility bikes are coming of age).  Credit Portland for being a Mecca for bikes and such a driving force for bike culture in America.   Bring a bike and explore a great American city where 10% of the population and the Mayor ride daily. Here are the guidelines and more on this show.

Malcolm Galdwell, photo by Brooke Williams

Public Grand Central Station, NYC

Public Beer Garden, Berlin

Public Park, Amsterdam

Public Sidewalk, Amsterdam

Place Matters. The kind of environment you create for yourself makes a real and tangible difference in your level of happiness, health, and satisfaction. – MG

A friend tipped me off to a speech that Malcolm Gladwell gave in Baltimore on November 17, 2010 at the Myerhoff Symphony Hall.  Whenever Gladwell comes on the radar I pay attention. He wrote my all time favorite “business” book, The Tipping Point – a NY Times bestseller for ten years for good reason.  His other books and articles always contain profound and extraordinary insights. In his November speech he made a powerful case for public space and other societal goods. Read the transcribed speech. It may be the best piece I have read on the subject.  Although approached from a unique, Gladwellian angle, his analysis ultimately leads to the same place as the “livable cities” initiatives.  These initiatives underlie our core mission at PUBLIC.

In our society the notion that “the kind of environment you create for yourself makes a real and tangible difference in your level of happiness, health, and satisfaction” – would generally be taken to mean that we should more intentionally organize our desks, mow our lawns, or feng shui the living room. Often the environments we aim to control are those within our insular worlds – our personal stuff. We’ve spent a lot of time and money acquiring and arranging belongings in pursuit of personal and private lives.

But when Gladwell says, “The kind of environment you create for yourself”, he isn’t referring to personal environments; he is talking about the very shared public world. The idea of improving that environment – the one we all share – has somehow become a radical one in our society.  Let Mr. Gladwell make the case. He riffs on public goods, which include just about everything you experience when you step outside your car, home, or office. In the tangible world, public goods include bridges, parks, street corners, bike racks, urban refuges like the Highline sidewalks, train stations, beaches, drinking fountains, mailboxes, gutters, public transportation, streets, and a lot more. In the social world, they include health, education, safety, law enforcement, and other things that pretty much define civilization.

So why do we not value public goods more?  One reason is that we tend to zoom right by them in our cars. We don’t walk, bike, or commute by public transportation as much as other modern western cultures. We believe that a bike is one tool to help us see and value our public goods.  We call ourselves PUBLIC for a reason.

Get a signed hardback copy of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I sent a note to Malcolm Gladwell complimenting him on the speech.  I also asked him if he would autograph copies of The Tipping Point for our customers. He said yes. So if you’d like a signed copy for $25, drop me a note here and we will follow up with you directly.