Robin Urban Smith
Recent Posts
Shifting Into High Gear at Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2012
| | No Comments
Nearly 1,000 transportation professionals, advocates and place-makers gathered in beautiful Long Beach, California for the Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference last week. Streetfilms caught up with attendees to find out what some of the hot topics were. Of course, we couldn’t talk to everyone, so let us know what we missed in the comments section.
My NYC Biking Story: Dr. Jen Petersen
| | No Comments
Riding a bike is a big part of Dr. Jen Petersen’s daily routine, and it also plays a significant role in her academic and professional careers. Her 2011 dissertation toward a Ph.D. in Sociology, “Whose Streets? Paving the Right to the City,” was largely influenced by riding her bike on the changing streets of NYC. Jen now […]
Active Living For All Ages: Creating Neighborhoods Around Transit
| | No Comments
Streetfilms teamed up with the Public Policy Institute at AARP to bring you a look at how Arlington, Virginia plans for its senior population using transit-oriented development (TOD). Arlington has been practicing TOD since the late 1970s, when Washington’s Metrorail first began service there, and it’s proved very effective in accommodating the population growth of […]
Build a Better Bridge: The Hudson Valley Wants Transit on the Tappan Zee
| | No Comments
New York State is on the verge of undertaking one of the largest transportation projects in the nation: the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Over the course of 10 years and 280 public meetings, Hudson Valley residents, business owners, elected officials and environmental advocates built a consensus that transit was a vital component of the Tappan […]
Gaining Momentum: The 2012 Youth Bike Summit
| | No Comments
More than 275 people from 20 states and three countries came to the second annual Youth Bike Summit over the weekend of January 13. Organized by pioneering NYC community bike shop Recycle-A-Bicycle, the three day conference was a chance for young bike advocates to share strategies and draw inspiration from the keynote speakers, Congresswoman Nydia […]
My NYC Biking Story: Gabri Christa
| | No Comments
Choreographer and filmmaker Gabri Christa commutes to work on her trusty Dutch bike from her home in Staten Island to her office in Rockefeller Center, and to rehearsals and performances all over the city. On her morning commute, she catches the free Staten Island Ferry, meets up with friends, and then hops on the Hudson River […]
My NYC Biking Story: Kimberly White
| | No Comments
Brooklyn’s Kimberly White is just finishing her freshman year of college, and she took some time away from studying for exams and writing papers to star in the second installment of Streetfilms’ “My NYC Biking Story” series. Kimberly loves riding her red folding bike in Prospect Park, and she’s also got the skills to fix […]
Moving Beyond the Automobile: Traffic Calming
| | No Comments
What’s the most effective way to make city streets safer? As Chicago Alderman Mary Ann Smith told Streetfilms, “Signs don’t do the job, even having police officers on the corner does not do the job.” To prevent traffic injuries and deaths, you need to change how the street functions and make it feel slower for […]
Moving Beyond the Automobile: Car-Sharing
| | No Comments
In the third episode of our Moving Beyond the Automobile series, Streetfilms takes a look at a more efficient way to use cars. Unlike owning a car, which involves a large upfront purchase and low costs per trip, car-sharing allows people to evaluate the full cost of each car trip. When car-share members choose whether […]
The First Annual Youth Bike Summit
| | No Comments
The first ever Youth Bike Summit brought bicycle advocates of all ages together last weekend in New York City. Organizations from Tucson to Boston participated in the three day summit, attending workshops, presentations, and finding inspiration in their peers. Event organizer and Executive Director of Recycle-A-Bicycle, Pasqualina Azzarello, said that she hopes this summit will […]
The Slowest Bus in New York City
| | No Comments
New York City has some of the slowest bus service in the country. The 9th annual Pokey and Shleppie Awards, given by NYPIRG’s Straphanger Campaign and Transportation Alternatives, shine a spotlight on this unfortunate fact by recognizing the slowest and most unreliable buses in the Big Apple. Tune in above to see which routes earn […]
The Taming and Reclaiming of Prospect Park West
| | No Comments
Up until this summer, speeding was the norm on Brooklyn’s Prospect Park West. With three wide lanes inviting motorists to hit the accelerator, it was a street monopolized by car traffic. That changed in a big way in June, when NYC DOT converted one vehicle lane to a two-way bikeway separated from traffic by the […]