We were touring Italy last month checking out the urban biking scene in a range of cities. This makes for some interesting comparisons to the United States and leads us to this quiz:

What is the biggest difference in urban biking in Italy compared with the US?

1. Many Italian cities have retrofitted separate bike lanes in their cities.

2. Bicyclists can ride in bus lanes and on sidewalks without irritating pedestrians.

3. Bicyclists are not intimidated by cobblestone streets, streetcar tracks or rush hour traffic.

4. There are more older people than younger people riding bikes.

5. Helmets are rarely seen except on tourists.

6. Taxis, busses, trucks, and trams all seem to respect cyclists.

7. Bike Share programs are common even in smaller cities.

8. Lycra is not the prevalent dress code.

9. E-bikes are everywhere, and some are quite elegant.

10. There are more nuns riding bikes.

Ok, that was a fake quiz. All of the above are true. The biggest difference is that you see a lot more women riding than men. Mothers texting while riding, older women with groceries, younger women headed to work. They all seem to ride confidently making left hand turns in traffic and riding over rail lines, without looking stressed out. Perhaps this is what accounts for the seeming lack of road rage, the lower levels of testosterone on the streets?

What makes this all the more interesting is that the Italians love their cars (and speed) like almost no other nation on Earth. They have an illustrious tradition that ranges from common Fiats and Alfa Romeos to fancy Ferraris, Maseratis, Bugattis, and many other iconic cars. Car ownership per capita is much higher than any other major European country, despite the fact that they pay more for gas than any other European country (~ $10 a gallon). But they seem to get along on their city roads. Italians taught us to respect and enjoy pizza and pasta. Perhaps they can teach us how to respect and enjoy each other on the streets?

We celebrated the launch of PUBLIC WORKS with a photo contest. We asked contestants to explore the same theme we asked of our PUBLIC WORKS designers – interpret the concept of "public" with a vision to reclaim urban streets, sidewalks and spaces for walking, biking and other social purposes. Many excellent and provocative photos came in and our team selected favorites. Thanks to all the participants.

 PUBLIC Choice and People's Choice winners won a new PUBLIC bike. We gave out several second place prizes and highlighted honorable mentions. Read on to hear why we selected them with comments from our staff.

PUBLIC Choice Grand Prize Winner
Photo credit: Manuel Acosta



”This is a unique composition that lends itself to a variety of provocative interpretations. Bikes can lead us to unknown destinations like Alice going down the rabbit hole. This photo also makes us think differently about our built environment, and it’s a very elegant black and white study in form and texture.” – Rob from PUBLIC

PUBLIC Choice Second Prize Winner
Photo credit: Ian Tuttle

“Wow. There is so much about this photo that we love. The perspective. The contrast of shadow and hazy yellowish light. The silhouettes of people sharing this public space together, especially the adult holding a child’s hand. And the crack leading to somewhere seemingly far into the distance, but perhaps close by. The crack reminds us of Andy Goldsworthy’s art, like the continuous crack in front of San Francisco’s deYoung Museum.” – Dan from PUBLIC

PUBLIC Choice Second Prize Winner
Photo credit: John Keller

“I did think it interesting the bicyclist had a rooster rather than a bell… It gives a whole new meaning to playing chicken!” – John Keller

“Everyday urban life gets interesting when you throw a rooster on a bike. It reminds us to stay open and playful about the possibilities of how we reclaim our concrete cities. Bikes, chickens, sidewalk cafes, murals, parks and guerilla gardens all contribute to more livable cities that enliven community connections. Keller’s composition sensibilities remind us of Norman Rockwell with a 21st century twist. Ride on rooster.” – Sally from PUBLIC

PUBLIC Choice Second Prize Winner
Photo credit: Erin Scheopner

“Albert Einstein on his bicycle is a recognizable image for bicycle enthusiasts. You can see joy in his smile underneath his famous moustache. It’s common lore that Einstein came up with the theory of relativity while riding a bike. His famous statement, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep balance, you must keep moving” is often quoted. But when you place a familiar image of Einstein on a bright red telephone booth, you instantly have to stop and take notice. Public art enhances our civic life and this particular image makes us think: Albert’s hint: Riding a bike + Telephone Booth = Teletransportation.” – Noelle from PUBLIC

People’s Choice Winner
Photo credit: Ana K. Gracia

PUBLIC Choice Honorable Mention
Photo credit: Eric Fernandez

PUBLIC Choice Honorable Mention
Photo credit: Dustin Goodwin

PUBLIC Choice Honorable Mention
Photo credit: Patrick Beyer

PUBLIC Choice Honorable Mention
Photo credit: Carlo Pellegrini

PUBLIC Choice Honorable Mention
Photo credit: Gareth

Clet Abraham

I was walking through a small town in Tuscany recently and did a double take on this road sign that someone had modified into a witty graphic statement. Two things struck me about it beyond its cleverness. First, that the town was comfortable leaving this road sign in place, rather than freaking out about its mildly subversive nature. Secondly, that humor, while essential to our psychic well-being is rarely designed into our human-made world. Try to find examples of humor in any form of design, products, architecture, landscape, etc. and this becomes obvious.  You might find a witty bumper sticker or billboard, but examples of humor on our streets are quite rare.

This is only logical. When it comes to the design of streets and public spaces in general we must first concern ourselves with issues of safety, no laughing matter. And we sometimes use design to make the urban environment friendlier by lining freeways or streets with trees, creating parks and fountains and public spaces that give us relief from the severe concrete character of the cities. But we stop short of injecting humor. Humor almost always pokes fun at some constituency, so it’s by definition not politically correct thus unlikely to get civic approval. So if we want to find humor we have to create it on our own as French artist Clet Abraham did with this piece.

Abraham has been performing these interventions around Europe, much to the displeasure of many city councils. Abraham does intend a serious message with his art – asking us to think twice about following instructions blindly. He believes that much public signage is done with sensitivity to the urban landscape. This may well be true, but I think the underlying humor far outweighs the didactic message of his work.

How refreshing and optimistic it would be if cyclists and motorists alike made their way through the streets with a sense of humor and with smiles instead of resentment on our faces. Imagine a Critical Mass of Comedy or a city bus with witty messages on its interior and exterior. It might be the antidote to aggression and road rage, or at least one way at coming at this problem.

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

A few years ago, I participated in a National Quarterly Forum called the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, where designers and urbanists get together and share insights. I learned a lot there. In fact it was one of the events that inspired me to start PUBLIC.  At that time, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design was run by Jeff Speck, an architect, planner, author, and speaker.  We became friends. That’s the disclosure part of this newsletter.  So if I’m going to tout a book by a personal friend, there better be some pretty good reasons to recommend it. There are many.

First of all, it is quite simply one of the best books about our cities that I’ve ever come across. Secondly, Walkable City could just as easily be called Bikeable City as the same issues pertain.

If you take a copy of Jeff’s book to your local downtown area, situate yourself in a café or (weather permitting) on a bench somewhere and read the first 50 pages while periodically looking up and noticing what’s going on around you ­– the width of the sidewalks, the number of lanes in the street, the parking, the mix of stores and cafés, how fast the cars are going, how many people are on foot or bike – you’ll receive a unique and invaluable urbanist education. You will also be entertained. Jeff is witty, provocative, and appropriately irreverent.

There are many other excellent books that deal with urban issues from Lewis Mumford’s The City in History to Jane Jacobs to Donald Shoup’s The High Cost of Free Parking. These are all excellent and readable but they are lengthy tomes, and likely too much information for many people. Walkable City is a good, quick read. It’s fast-paced, clever, and alarming in parts. Jeff’s overall thesis is that improving our downtowns is as key to our society’s health and well-being as any other action we might embark upon. His insights will challenge liberals and conservatives alike. This is not a doomsday book, as Jeff has as many examples of positive developments as he does critiques. For instance, there is a provocative section on why much of suburbia might become the next slums, and why “white flight” to the suburbs is now turning into “bright flight” back to the cities by young, educated people.

There are thirty substantive reviews on Amazon where Jeff’s book has a 5 star rating (and a current price of $15.88). Here are a few snippets I have culled from the book.

“The real problem with cars is not that they do not get enough miles per gallon, it’s that they make it too easy for us to spread out (sprawl) and encourage forms of development that are inherently wasteful.” Hybrids are not the solution.

“The average American family spends $14K a year driving multiple cars, about 20% of its income. (This figure was 10% in the 1960’s).” For many working class families more money is spent on cars than on housing.

“In these cities, and in most of our nation, the car is no longer an instrument of freedom, but rather a bulky, expensive, and dangerous prosthetic device, a prerequisite to viable citizenship.”

“It would seem that only one thing is more destructive to the health of our downtowns than welcoming cars unconditionally and that is getting rid of them entirely.  The proper response to obesity is not to stop eating, and most stores need car traffic to survive.”

Most of us like driving but hate commuting. Some polls that show that “a 23-minute commute had the same effect on happiness as a 19 percent reduction in income” and another poll where “5 percent of respondents said that they would be willing to divorce their spouse if that meant they could stop commuting and work from home instead”.

We are the least active generation of Americans in history. “Increasingly, it is becoming clear that the American health-care crisis is largely an urban-design crisis, with walkability at the heart of the cure.”  We are fat because we sit in cars rather than walk.

Car crashes have killed 3.2 million Americans, considerably more than all of our wars combined.  It is the leading cause of death for all Americans between the ages of 1 and 34.

If you are book phobic, listen to Jeff on NPR Weekend Edition.

His website is also a Speck of Brilliance.

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

“We can live without it, we may live longer without it, and the doggie bag will survive just fine.”
-Mayor Bloomberg comparing plastic foam containers to lead paint.

We show love in many ways. This Valentines week, it’s mostly personal, private, and driven by commercial interests (like PUBLIC putting polka dot bikes on SALE!).  When I read in the New York Times that NYC Mayor Bloomberg was taking on the plastic-foam container industry, it reminded me of the exceptional civic love he’s shown for his city, especially for the health and well being of its residents and culture. He does truly embody the “I heart NY“ spirit that Milton Glaser so elegantly gave form to in this iconic logo.

Bloomberg’s other crusades of love have been in the news this past week, and predictably where he has been opposed by strong forces in political battles, many of which he may not win or that may be overturned when he departs office. His bike lanes initiatives made the news this week along with his smart taxi programs. Some of his courageous positions often contrast what we see in Washington, where love seems to be more easily purchased by lobbyists and where acts of genuine civic leadership take a backseat to personal interests.

It might be a stretch to think of any billionaire as a Cupid, but we hope that he can be a realistic role model for other politicians. And some his programs such as stop and frisk are controversial. But we hope that his heartfelt and genuine commitment can be a realistic role model for other politicians.

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

I received an email out of the blue last week from a childhood friend whom I had not heard from since 8th grade. The year was 1967.  We were mid-century modern kids growing up in suburban South Pasadena, right along the Pasadena Freeway (ostensibly the first freeway in the world). His note to me said: “Will never forget going to the beach with your mom in her Volvo.”

I don’t remember that specific beach trip, but I sure remember my Mom’s car: a 1967 Volvo P1800, a sexy red sports car that hauled ass with a “high tech” flip switch overdrive, an elegant dashboard, and a body shaped like a cute rocket. There were not a lot of Swedish cars on the road then, so it probably stood out like a yellow Tesla or Ferrari would today. My mom was a way-left Irish feminist college teacher, hardly a car buff, and had no interest in design or mechanics. To her, the Volvo was a statement of identity and freedom.

My response to Kent was: “I remember riding on the back of your Dad’s Matchless.”

The Matchless was a classic British motorcycle, and Kent’s Dad was a true car and motorcycle buff.  He was a middle class husband and father – not a collector – but the guy had a Jaguar XJ12, a 52 Ford and his wife drove a 58 Thunderbird. He also had several motorcycles.  I remember riding his Honda 50 on his front lawn, going dirt bike riding and flying down the Pasadena Freeway on the back of his Matchless. I don’t think we had even the concept of a helmet then. He gave Kent a 1962 Austin Mini 850 when he turned fifteen. These vehicles are all beloved classic mid century design on a par with Eames chairs or Schindler architecture.  The modern movement was in its infancy and Southern California was the epicenter. Gas was $0.31 a gallon. It was on.

Back then cars were about sex, freedom, style, and independence. They were also about mobility and access. They were our social networking devices. They provided us with what teenagers and youth of today get from their Smartphones and the Web: connectivity.  But you can travel a lot farther, see more, and meet more people, with digital technology than you can with a car, and for a lot less money.

Fast-forward fifty years. Volvos are now about Safety, not Sex.  And we are faced with the problems and challenges that the car’s usurpation of much of our public space (and co-option of our lifestyle) has created.  In the 50’s suburban sprawl had not yet cast its spell all over America. Parking lots surrounded by chain link fences were not common in the hearts of cities.  Streetcar lines had not yet been ripped up by automobile companies. Regional shopping malls had not yet been created to lure people away from Main Street.  Traffic jams were the exception not the rule. We did not know anything about climate change or that cars would become (and still are) the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 1 and 34 and responsible for more deaths than all of our wars combined. And, to add insult to injury, cars would eventually all look about the same, getting big and boxy in shades of silver and black. We were asleep at the wheel while all this was going on.

It has not all been a one-way slide downwards since the 1960’s. When Kent and I were kids there was so much smog in LA that we were wheezing all through the summer. Lead was later removed from gas and the air quality improved dramatically. The environmental movement took shape.  A few mass transit systems, e.g. BART in the Bay Area, were funded. But it took decades before it occurred to us that we should try to make our cities amenable to us, not our cars.

Today, the “white flight” to the suburbs has been reversed with “bright flight” back to cities. Many Millennials and the youth are choosing to live without a dependence on cars and are exhibiting a true passion and connection for their communities.* Cities all round the world have radically improved their pedestrian infrastructure in the last few decades. Riding a bike has become mainstream in many cities.  The most recent email I’ve received from Kent is very hopeful:  “My daughter lives in downtown LA and rides her bike everywhere she needs to go.”

You are part of this change.  Thanks.

We have not come full circle, but we are making headway in many of our cities. And you are part of this progressive change. You have helped to make our cities more livable. You have also made us (PUBLIC) more livable – you have kept us in business into what is now our third year.  We feel lucky to be in a business that is predicated on positive social change and improved urban living and one that puts smiles on people’s faces. We hope that our bikes will bring you independence, connectivity, and some of the same sexiness and style that cars did half a century ago.

Thanks,

Rob

* To learn about this subject in detail from an expert, get Jeff Speck’s latest book Walkable City. Jeff is a leading spokesperson for more enlightened urban planning, the co-author of Suburban Nation, and witty and brilliant. We will have a review of this book next week.

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

Every time I go to New York I find further examples of how a city can find new bold ways to improve the streets for residents. The bike lane programs instituted under Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation Janette Sadik-Khan are steadily being expanded and have received international attention. And I find new examples of taking back streets for civilian uses like these concrete cones creating an urban walkway.

The challenge of protecting our streets and communities from excess noise and traffic has been with us as far back as we can see. Here’s a shot I took in Pompeii showing traffic calming technology dating back to 79 AD (when Vesuvius erupted and covered the city with ashes). Large stones kept oversized horse drawn carts or speeding chariots from rolling through residential areas where pedestrians deserved the right of way.

I found another creative use of traffic obstruction in Havana a few years ago. Canons were appropriated from the prior military regime and repurposed – quite elegantly and comically towards car control. Bringing a little humor to the urban environment might help to cure road rage.

In our back yard in San Francisco parklets are popping up all over the city. We had fun with one temporary take over of car parking space a month ago. Balloons waved in the wind putting smiles on the faces of passer-bys and made our street corner festive, at least for a day.

Our friends at Rapha celebrate the launch their parklet this Friday from 4:00-9:00 pm in San Francisco (Filbert St. @ Filmore St.) with a party. This will be a permanent parklet and, like everything for Rapha, is done with panache and style. Please join us if you are in the Bay Area this week.

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

Every now and then some super special deal comes along in the world of transportation.

For cars it might have been the VW Beetle in the 1950’s. In airplanes it might have been Southwest Airlines flights for 49 bucks. For motorcycles it was the popular Honda Super Cub, the most produced motor vehicle in history. In mass transit it was a New York subway fare ride for a nickel until 1948. In Europe it’s probably the unlimited travel Eurorail passes. At PUBLIC it’s our new PUBLIC S7 and PUBLIC T7 that we’re launching this week.

We designed these to be as economical as possible and to meet the needs of so many customers who have pleaded with us to come up with a bike that would sell for under $450. We listened. For a limited time, we’re offering these beauties at a price of $399 (reg. $449) while quantities last. At this price, these might be considered our most PUBLIC and democratic bike.

The PUBLIC S7 and PUBLIC T7 come in a limited range of colors. Although they are without some of the styling details of our PUBLIC C7 and PUBLIC V7 bikes they still maintain the PUBLIC aesthetic with matching fenders and other details. The tires and cable housing are black. While we do not carry matching colored racks, you can select the simple metallic finish or any other complimentary color. The S7 and T7 both come with a 7-speed derailleur.

They ride like butter and are up to our PUBLIC standards. We don’t think you’ll  find a comparable multi-speed, steel-frame city bike with matching fenders, chain guard, and kickstand at this affordable price. It truly is Mass Transit for One.

They are available online now, or in our stores by October 18.

PUBLIC WORKS will exhibit at San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) from October 23rd – November 1 (extended date). Bike over and join us.

PUBLIC, a San Francisco based bicycle company with a mission to improve the quality and character of our cities and public places announces PUBLIC WORKS. We invited a group of world-renowned designers to interpret the concept of “public” in their own voice and style, to play with the word itself if they desired, and to design large scale posters around these ideas.

When: October 23rd from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

How: Please RSVP for SPUR Exhibition Opening Party

Where: SPUR, 654 Mission Street, San Francisco

What: Design Exhibition & Refreshments.

PUBLIC WORKS posters (20×30 and 40×60) a booklet, and t-shirts will be available for sale at the show. A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to SPUR, along with a raffle.

More information here.

We’ve just introduced a series of twenty-seven original posters by a stunning group of designers.  These posters are exceptional for a number of reasons, and worth viewing in person if you can in San Francisco from October 9-11 and in New York on October 18-25. The large-scale 40 x 60 prints on canvas (Michael Mabry’s shown above) are commanding in presence and also in detail. Each poster tells a special story.  I’ll highlight two contrasting works from Bay Area designers who will be in hand for our October 9th launch at CCA next week: Michael Schwab and Jeremy Mende.

Michael Schwab is a well-known Bay Area designer. His works for the Golden Gate National Recreational area have become iconic. He enjoys working with saturated colors and plays on positive and negative space, often reducing the imagery to simple dramatic abstractions. He’s also a bike aficionado who lives and rides in the “public” hills and spaces of Marin County. He adores the bike as an object, and approaches it from a personal perspective in his piece, capturing the bike from an angle of worship, putting it on a pedestal aesthetically, reducing it to its essence, but asking us to look differently at the form. When was the last time you saw a monochromatic blue bike in a sea of black? Good designers play tricks on us.

Jeremy Mende takes another approach to his notion of “public”, an entirely different aesthetic perspective. Maybe the only element he shares with Schwab is his use of blue.  But Mende lives and works in urban San Francisco, and his influences come from bike scenes on the streets of his city. He has depicted five typical local urban scenarios, a romantic park scene, and a bicyclist getting smacked by a car door, a mom riding with her child, a bike accident and a ghost bike. Much of the imagery is quite violent actually, but Mende had disguised this in a decorative sweet blue and white palette like something you might find on Victorian china or wallpaper at the Ritz.  Good designers can be cleverly subversive.  You have to see this piece in its oversized version and up close in-detail to appreciate it fully.

Several other Bay Area designers will be on hand at our opening event next week, each with works as unique and personal and Schwab’s and Mende. Kit Hinrichs, Michael Mabry, Jennifer Morla, Jason Munn, Jason Schulte, Michael Vanderbyl. Each designer has created a piece as unique and personal as Schwab’s and Mende, and we’ll doing features on each designer later. But look at these closely at these works, you will certainly find something that resonates with your sensibility. If you need a major wake up call or inspiration in your home or office, consider a 40 x 60 version for $350.  For more modest budgets and spaces, we have 20 x 30 sizes available for $50 (unframed) and $250 (framed).  And we’ll be offering t-shirts and other PUBLIC WORKS products in the near future.

And RSVP here for our event next week.

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