On our final day together as a group, we had rented out a private room in a restaurant to give presentations on our final project and share a final dinner together. Although the presentations only lasted three minutes per student, by the end of them all it was evident we had all learned a lot, so much that literally none of our final projects were on the same topics. It was really cool to see what everyone pulled from this trip with their different perspectives. As a person whos studying landscape architecture I focused on rethinking the street as a public space rather than just pavement for transportation and how the location infrastructure is in can encourage or discourage bicycle use. So many people had ideas that weren't completely centered around planning... even the planners. But, all of our ideas were still based around the idea of using the bicycle as the main form of transportation.
As this is, unfortunately, my last blog post about my study abroad experience I thought it is a good time to touch on some of my biggest takeaways from the trip.
It's possible to make a change back home... but that doesn't mean it'll look the same as it does out here:
I have faith that enough people can stand up and make a change back home in the states, I'll even be one of those people. But we are going to have to be ok with slow progress and new ideas. Even Amsterdam and Copenhagen have very different systems, so when you think about putting something together in the expansive cities that fill the U.S. it's going to be different.
Infrastructure is very important, but building a culture and community around biking is arguably more important:
These things go hand in hand, but from what I've learned all of these countries really focus on teaching people from a very young age about using the bike as a form of transportation. This normalizes it. In the states, it's often looked at as taboo if you use a bike as your main form of transportation... especially outside of the northwest. So if we were able to teach people from a young age and build an overall community around it, it'd be a big step in the right direction.
Think about human behavior while designing
This is a win-win situation. Not only are you making the public's life easier because you're designing for what they already do. Your life can often be made easier once you find out what the behavior is. Once you have that information the solution usually comes easily.
Once again, this is my last post, so I just wanted to give my thanks to Marc and Rebecca for putting this amazing experience together. I couldn't really think of anything that could have made this trip better, and a large part of that is because of them... so THANK YOU!
As this is, unfortunately, my last blog post about my study abroad experience I thought it is a good time to touch on some of my biggest takeaways from the trip.
It's possible to make a change back home... but that doesn't mean it'll look the same as it does out here:
I have faith that enough people can stand up and make a change back home in the states, I'll even be one of those people. But we are going to have to be ok with slow progress and new ideas. Even Amsterdam and Copenhagen have very different systems, so when you think about putting something together in the expansive cities that fill the U.S. it's going to be different.
Infrastructure is very important, but building a culture and community around biking is arguably more important:
These things go hand in hand, but from what I've learned all of these countries really focus on teaching people from a very young age about using the bike as a form of transportation. This normalizes it. In the states, it's often looked at as taboo if you use a bike as your main form of transportation... especially outside of the northwest. So if we were able to teach people from a young age and build an overall community around it, it'd be a big step in the right direction.
Think about human behavior while designing
This is a win-win situation. Not only are you making the public's life easier because you're designing for what they already do. Your life can often be made easier once you find out what the behavior is. Once you have that information the solution usually comes easily.
Once again, this is my last post, so I just wanted to give my thanks to Marc and Rebecca for putting this amazing experience together. I couldn't really think of anything that could have made this trip better, and a large part of that is because of them... so THANK YOU!
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