After a successful participation in Vancouver, BC in 2016, Mobycon was pleased to attend the recent Walk/Bike/Places conference in New Orleans, LA last month. Two of our staff, Mary Elbech from our US office and Lennart Nout from our Dutch office, presented in breakout sessions, and led a workshop on Advanced Topics in Shared Street Design.
The Dutch are well known for their pioneering work in Shared Space theory. During our workshop Lennart used local examples in New Orleans to explore various short-term solutions to transform a street into an attractive shared space. Participants discussed ideas such as closing a street and adding food trucks or even adding a piano! Longer term solutions involved reconfiguration of car lanes as well as ways to combine bus and tram platforms for single transit lane operations.
Workshop participants later discussed the balance of place and flow in street design concepts during a site visit to Elks Place in New Orleans. Participants used Mobycon’s online street design tool Streetsketch to illustrate their shared space ideas.
Together with the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Miami, FL Mobycon organised a screening of the Dutch cycling documentary ‘Why we Cycle’ for an excited audience in a sold out ‘Le Petit Theatre’. Lennart was pleased to represent Mobycon on the panel along with Director Gertjan Hulster, Executive Director of Bike Easy Dan Favre and Director of the Dutch Cyclists’ Union Saskia Kluit.
We’re looking forward to Walk/Bike/Places in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2020!
If you are interested in a local screening of “Why We Cycle”, a film about Dutch bicycle culture, contact Elizabeth Allingham at e.allingham@mobycon.com
‘North American cities are building momentum to address mobility challenges. But there is so much left to do! I’m excited to support cities in Canada and the United States using practical and innovative ideas from the Netherlands to create local solutions.’