[sustran] Re: A very short list of very bad practices

[Chris Bradshaw]

The reference to "enclosure" (as per the special Ecologist issue of 1993) is 
apt.  The spaces between properties has always been "public" in the sense 
that anyone can use it for truly public purposes, on the assumption that 
their use is relatively frugal, space- and time-wise.

Yes, some "commons-sharing" works in long-time resource sharing situations, 
as Nobel Economics-prize winner, Elinor Ostrom (in Governing the Commons, 
1995, and elsewhere) has proven.  B ut the city is a much different place; 
too many people, too anonymously related.  We can't expect a committee to 
form in each block to protect the common resources of public space.

The introduction of cars has created this crisis.  The car, itself, is an 
enclosure, but of about 20 times the space a pedestrian needs for fairly 
free movement.  Driver locks his enclosure when he leaves his car, denying 
any passersby access to 4-6 seats that pedestrians never can find when they 
need it.  Drivers also assume they have privacy in their cars, and will use 
tinted glass to get it, also masking their identity in cases in which their 
driving has injured or endangered vulnerable road users.  If a passerby even 
leans against the car's exterior, it is seen as a major social faux pas.

In Canada, we are settling land claims with aboriginal people, as process 
that is well over a hundred years old.  This is somewhat ironic, since 
aboriginals' system of wisdom doesn't provide for the European model of 
private ownership (enclosure).  I live in downtown Ottawa, on lands which 
are still being negotiated over.

But what about the public places, as the European system has created: the 
spaces that form the public-access system that all properties front on? 
People on foot, and those who own common conveyances for hire (e.g., 
rickshaws) of fairly frugal dimensions, are being pushed off their land by 
vehicles that are far larger, faster, heavier, and less frugally utilized, 
all to provide a private space for its own owner while in the public domain. 
Cars are an invention that has no use except to be used in public spaces. 
Because of private ownership, the car is much larger/heavier than urban use 
dictates, its versatility being our bane.

We should initiate land claims in the name of aboriginal trnsportation modes 
and their users to get back these places.  The provision of sidewalks, which 
are meant to display a kind of sharing of this space, fails badly when those 
on foot want to get across the street to the other side.  As was pointed 
out, crossing at places where it is approved, is often more dangerous than 
doing it mid-block where is is supposedly more dangerous.  When did 
pedestrians give up our right to cross the street freely and safely?  The 
problem arises because the motor-traffic portion has been improved to appear 
to be a singular conduit channeling vehicles from far and wide along that 
stretch of space, while the thousands of different walking routes that 
transcect are formalized ('enclosed').

Ottawa has just put in separated bike lanes along the sidewalk edge along a 
10-block section of a downtown street.  A number of parking spaces were 
removed to make room for it, but also it has become more of a problem for 
pedestrians to cross the street, with these stand-alone curbs creating a 
barrier that is more problematic than the sidewalk's curb (since there is a 
drop-off on both sides).  At corners, crosswalks have been shifted further 
from the sidewalk alignment to make way for a bike 'island' to be used by 
cyclists turning left.  When I questioned the proposal, I was told this will 
increase the modal share for cycling, which is what happened when Copenhagen 
installed them thoughout the downtown.  But I  now realize that they are 
intended to keep the cyclists out of the motorists' way, more than the 
reverse. Copenhagen already had achieved its legendary cycling modal share; 
it was motorists who found the 'going' tough downtown, who probably demanded 
some separation.

Chris Bradshaw