Category: Uncategorized

WorldChanging.com posted a nice article on traffic calming in Bohmte, Germany.

It sounds wrong but, “On one section of a major thoroughfare through the city, Bohmte officials have erased lane markers, torn up sidewalks, and bulldozed curbs in a radical effort to force people to use common sense and courtesy when driving rather than relying on lane markers. The only traffic rules that remain are a speed limit of 30 mph, and a requirement that everyone who uses the road yield to the right.”

Shared space transportation planning works because, “people pay more attention when they’re not distracted by ‘highway clutter.'”

Full Story: “Shared Space” Traffic Calming: Counterintuitive, But It Works

Engineers at MIT are finishing up their City Car design. The City Car is, according to CNet, “envisioned as a two-seater electric vehicle powered by lithium-ion batteries. It would weigh between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds and could collapse, then stack like a shopping cart with six to eight fitting into a typical parking space. It isn’t just a car, but is designed as a system of shared cars with kiosks at locations around a city or small community.”

Source: MIT offers City Car for the masses

This week’s episode of This American Life was about mapping. While people normally only use maps to get directions, the subjects of this episode map sounds, tastes, and smells.

You’ll find a map of houses with Halloween pumpkins shows more about income than you might think.

Link: Mapping