Our culture greatly values ‘space.’ We nest in our remodeled homes on our porches and decks, relax in our landscaped gardens, and work in our organized offices.  We enjoy public spaces too ­– parks, promenades, squares, stadiums, beaches. Our National Parks are cultural treasures. We care about these ‘spaces’ and take pride in their condition and appearance.

But when it comes to our street spaces ­– where we all spend so much of our time ­– we share a collective blind spot. Our aesthetics break down completely. Why do we settle for ugly, car-impacted streets as our means to get from our well-tended homes to our well-tended offices?  Every time we drive into town and park our car (SUV or Prius) on the street, we are perpetuating a situation that one would think we would all find intolerable. Why does this persist?

Here are some of the usual explanations:

• Most modern cities were designed and laid out to serve the needs of cars, not people.
• Gas and parking are cheap.
• Our love for convenience trumps all else.
• Many of us are stuck without other options.
• We are creatures of habit and changing behavior is painful.

What can get us to think and behave differently?
We posted the photo above on Facebook and it generated a lot of feedback. We’d like more. To keep the conversation going, we’re soliciting more comments and offering a $100 merchandise credit for the best response. You are welcome to respond either on Facebook or on our blog.

Elect Visionary Leaders
One way to get us to think and behave differently is to elect visionary leaders in our cities who have the courage to oppose short sighted urban developments.  Mayors have been shown to have significant effect on public space, both here and abroad.  Our heroes range from Enrique Peñalosa (Bogota) to Kramer Mikkelsen (Copenhagen) and Joe Riley (Charleston). We send a special shout out to former San Francisco mayor, Art Agnos who opposed the rebuilding of the Embarcadero Freeway in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake.  Thus our popular Ferry Plaza and waterfront were reborn, and Agnos lost his re-election bid at least in part for his courage.

Public space is the one place where all members of society are welcome and equal. It is the essence of democracy. Below are a few “street space” shots taken from a recent trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The city was built before the advent of the car and is now preserved by UNESCO decree. The life of the city is all in the streets – day and night – and it feels right.  There is some space for cars, but always subordinated to humans.

A free celebration of bikes, cycling, food, family and fun. Pedalfest is for everyone – from the recreational rider and casual observer to the seasoned cyclist – to share in the joy of riding. Saturday, October 22, 2011 from 10 am – 5 pm at Jack London Square in Oakland.

Driving through a city is great if your goal is to get to the other side. If, on the other hand, you want to learn about, notice, savor, discover what’s actually there, a slower pace is recommended. Detail and interest emerge when we give our senses a little time to take things in. That’s why we sip whiskey, lick ice cream, and kiss slowly. That’s why we read the book, not just the outline. And that’s why a walk or a bike ride through a city is so much more compelling and pleasurable than a car ride.

Take Cartagena, Colombia for example. To be appreciated, this steamy, walled port city demands attention. The occasional distracted glance through a car window just won’t get it done. That’s probably part of the reason its been designated a UNESCO site – to preserve the pedestrian friendly historic streets and allow visitors and locals to drink in the color and detail, like these windows we found in two days of wandering around on bike and on foot last week.

Cartagena is no longer about drugs and muggings. It’s about a diverse Caribbean culture and history. You can bike there, but Bogota is the most bike friendly Colombian city with its Ciclovia program – now respected and widely imitated around the world.

Like many people, I’ve been thinking and talking about Steve Jobs and Apple a lot this past week. There are too many ideas for one newsletter, so I’ll likely write more in the near future. Everyone who takes design seriously owes him, myself included. Most of my professional career in business has relied on Apple’s products, devotees, attitude, and inspiration. Apple was instrumental in creating a broad consumer market for good design.

Artek Alvar Aalto, Stool

If there were a silver lining to Steve Jobs’ passing, it would be the numerous discussions about the value (spiritual and financial) of good design in our culture. Jobs did something that no one else had ever done: he made great design mainstream. This will be his legacy. I have been reading comparisons of Jobs to Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, but neither of them (nor any of the industrialists) kept design and aesthetics right at the core of their businesses.

None of the current tech geniuses at Google, Facebook or Twitter have design and aesthetics as integrated into their missions. Or if they do (or think they do), it is relegated to stepchild status – cleaning up after technology, function, and speed. All lack the caliber of design elegance that is part of Apple DNA. For many of us, there is no such thing as civilization without elegance, and Steve Jobs provided plenty.

DWR

“Design,” as a respected business discipline, is a very recent phenomenon. Even ten years ago “design” was not part of the business vocabulary. I know this well because I was trying to raise money for Design Within Reach about that time. In my meetings with nearly a dozen venture capital firms, nobody seemed to understand what I was talking about when I said that good design meant good business and that the US market would embrace it if it were made accessible. Design and aesthetics did not have a meaning to most business leaders beyond visual appearance – it was associated only with creative work, decorators, fashionistas, business card graphics, and hairdos. Certainly not with business success and profit.

Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990’s and led the most successful turnaround of any modern company, all based on design. Apple is now worth more than Microsoft and Intel combined. Credit also goes to Steve Jobs for making the business world a safe and welcome place for designers, creatives, and visually oriented people. The value of this may be unquantifiable, but it is hugely significant to a lot of us.

Paul Rand, IBM Logo

PUBLIC was founded on the principles of good design and with the belief that design is now a mainstream value. Jobs and Apple did not create this alone. He appropriated much from others such as Dieter Rams, Paul Rand, Charles and Ray Eames, and other significant modern designers. One of his lasting legacies will be as the person who brought good design to more people than anyone else.

I hope the myriad discussions and articles on Jobs, Apple, and design persist as relentlessly as Apple’s products come to the market.

Rob is the Chief PUBLIC Servant. He founded PUBLIC because of his belief that well-designed PUBLIC spaces are the bedrock of civilization.

Join us on October 15th from 6-9:00 at Incline Gallery for the Papergirl SF gallery show. Papergirl SF is an annual art project that collects artwork from all over the world and, in the style of American paperboys, distributes the art by bicycle to people in the streets of San Francisco. The gallery show is a chance to see the art before it gets distributed. You can RSVP on Facebook for this gallery opening.

Last week I wrote about the inspiring handmade bike design contest held in Portland: the Oregon Manifest Design Challenge. Portland leads the nation in the percentage of people who commute or ride a bike everyday. What is less known is the fact that Portland might be the most progressive public transit city in the US. You almost feel that you are in Europe. It forces some unfavorable comparisons with our transit system in San Francisco.

TriMet, Portland, OR

TriMet, Portland, OR

BART, San Francisco, CA

Pacific Electric Railway, CA

Food Trucks, Portland, OR

Parklet, San Francisco, CA

When you arrive at the airport in Portland you are greeted by the Light Rail, which is part of the TriMet system. It delivers you into the city for about $3.00 – an average price for many European trains. The price is kept low to encourage people not to drive to the airport. BART, San Francisco’s public transportation to the airport, costs about $8.00.

Aside from the cost, productive comparisons can be drawn from the design. Portland’s rail cars are colorful and modern on the interior and exterior, with places to store bikes, ramps to make it easy to enter, and a generally cheerful ambience. The seating is an easy to clean, modern vinyl. Our BART cars have an aging institutional feel, with scary signage. The upholstery is unhygienic to such a degree that it got written up in the New York Times. Apparently help is on the way and San Francisco will be spending $2 Million for a remake.

When you get to Portland’s city center you find more modern streetcars and it feels very much like the trams in Zurich or Amsterdam. It’s easy to get almost anywhere in the city as the transit systems are connected. For most of us in SF, when we arrive downtown from BART, getting home or to work is often complicated, time consuming, or expensive.

Portland is billed as the “first modern streetcar system in the US,” but this may be an exaggeration. There were many modern electric streetcar systems throughout the US in the early 20^th century. These rail lines were torn and replaced by buses and cars – often billed as a conspiracy led by GM. We believe more rails, more bikes, and less cars will beautify our cities and attract healthier lifestyles. That’s why we support efforts to reduce private auto trips along Market Street, one of San Francisco’s major thoroughfares.

Although there are still plenty of cars in downtown Portland, the city has done some clever things to keep them at bay. For example, there is an unsightly central parking lot that has now been surrounded by a perimeter of colorful and friendly food trucks that offer a great selection of affordable ethnic foods. These food trucks lend a vibrant touch to the city and turn an asphalt parking lot into a community asset and destination.

Converting asphalt into food courts is one area where San Francisco holds its own. Our numerous parklets, food trucks, farmers markets, and street vendors are world class and growing in number. An SF based organization, Off the Grid, brings together the eclectic community of local food trucks. SF Pavement to Parks makes it accessible for small businesses to transform the parking spaces outside of their business into mini parks. The best part is that our local government generally supports these efforts. We’d like to see more government-subsidized projects that directly benefit environment and community.

PUBLIC is pleased to host author Sue Macy who will share tales of female bike racers, reformers, and reactionaries from the bicycle boom of the 1890s.

PUBLIC Book Talk: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom
Monday, October 17
6:00pm – 8:00pm
PUBLIC HQ in 123 South Park
San Francisco, CA

Sue Macy’s talk is inspired by her new book Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way), published by National Geographic.

Today, the bicycle is an ecological, economical, enjoyable way to get some exercise, get to work, and generally get where you need to go while leaving a minimal carbon footprint. In the 1890s, the bicycle was all that and more, especially for women.

At a time when women were confined by constrictive clothing and restrictive social mores, the bicycle presented them with the chance to break free. They tossed aside their corsets and crinolines, waved goodbye to parental chaperones, and hit the road as they quite literally pedaled to freedom.

LIGHT SNACKS & DRINKS WILL BE SERVED.

EVENT IS FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. BUT PLEASE RSVP ON FACEBOOK OR TO RSVP@PUBLICBIKES.COM SO WE CAN PROVIDE ENOUGH SEATING, SNACKS, & DRINKS.

AUTHOR-SIGNED BOOKS WILL BE FOR SALE.

You can read a review in The Atlantic or watch the trailer below:

Dan is our PUBLIC Citizen. Dessert is his middle name & bicycles are his game.