another intellectual icon passes

Last week's passing of famed and beloved urbanist Jane Jacobs, whose words and actions will continue to reverberate for many years to come, has been widely discussed. This weekend, we lost another of the 20th century's great writers and thinkers, Berkeley-trained Harvard University economist John Kenneth Galbraith. Professor Galbraith was a gifted and prolific writer and books of his that are decades old remain very worthwhile to read today. For me personally, I began my higher education as an Econ major, not a geographer. There is a very good chance that had the field of Economics remained more "Galbraithian" with a qualitative, historical interest in broad issues of social-political economy, rather than the super-quantified, abstract world of calculus, econometrics, and timeless/placeless "models", I would have remained in Econ. Anyways, the New York Times today contains a pretty good obituary.

globalization and the two chinas

From the perspective of the United States, circa 2006, the central storyline of the 21st century involves the confrontation between a (mostly) Judeo-Christian, secular-leaning "West", and a less-secular, (mostly) Muslim "Middle East". Keep in mind that this is not a simple "clash of civilizations" but rather a multi-layered and very complicated collection of issues and relationships. Obviously, terrorism/security and oil/energy/environment are at the top of the list. From a less U.S.-centric point of view, however, I'm inclined to believe that an even bigger storyline will unfold this century: the globalization and urbanization and modernization of China. Already the world's biggest country demographically, its rapid economic growth the last quarter century is fast making it the world's biggest country economically as well. While much of this very old and proud civilization remains quite traditional (which also means rural and not "developed"), and will remain so for a pretty long time, there is another China--mostly urban and on/near the coast--that already belongs firmly to the modern, global world, so much so that it already is largely indistinguishable from the likes of Europe, Japan, or the United States. For a glimpse of this "new" China, check out the following pop-culture, Internet-age phenomenon: the "Back Dorm Boys", who in the last year have become true international celebrities. Wikipedia Entry Video #1 Video #2 One final comment: while they initially rose to fame on the strength of the Back Street Boys, thus suggesting that globalization is basically "westernization", their subsequent videos have covered the work of East Asian pop stars. This says to me that in the long run, there will be no single "hearth" of global culture that the rest of the world simply marches behind--not Europe, not the USA. Instead, people all over the globe, as long as they are willing and able to participate, will be both leading and following us in all sorts of new directions. If you're open to diversity and change, this promises to be a very exciting future; if you're more into things staying the same, you're going to have a harder and harder time finding a place of comfort and refuge.

bike-friendly amsterdam?

It's a common theme among bike advocates in the U.S. to celebrate Amsterdam, and the Netherlands more generally, as an especially bike-friendly place. If Davis, California, sets the official "platinum" standard here in the states, then Amsterdam--or so the conventional wisdom goes--must be at least double platinum. Amsterdam, after all, is famously home to double-tiered bike racks, a "white bikes" program for borrowing public bicycles a la books in a library, and Velo Mondial, a global organization devoted to promoting a more "bicycle friendly" world. More importantly, it seems--at least to visiting Americans--that everyone rides a bike there, everywhere, and they do so not all kitted out for a weekend club ride but just as a part of their daily routine. The following links are but two recent examples of American visitors enamored with Amsterdam's ubiquitous bike culture:

• an American photographer discussing her new album of everyday Amsterdam on bikes
• an article detailing a Portland, Oregon, delegation's visit last year (and an accompanying blog report)

This Amsterdam love-fest has recently appeared on an urban-geography e-mail list to which I subscribe. The discussion continues as I write, but it has basically boiled down to Americans claiming that Amsterdam is the most livable city ever--especially for bicyclists--while Dutch commentators respond by raining some "truth" on their parade. As Marco Bontje of the Universiteit van Amsterdam wrote: "Once again I am stunned about the indestructible tendency among foreign urbanists to see my country and my city as heaven on earth!". Dr. Bontje went on to dispel a number of common myths. To summarize, while comparing favorably perhaps to the United States, Amsterdam and the Netherlands are not fundamentally different: the Dutch love their cars, they drive their cars wherever/whenever practical, they get fatter and fatter with each passing year, and politically they demand ever more parking with each new development. In short, as Bontje writes, "Car-free cities do not exist here, at least not that I'm aware of. We only have pedestrian zones that usually are not bigger than a few streets, and one 'car-free Sunday'’ a year, a grassroots initiative which unfortunately only a few cities really take seriously." In a parallel discussion now occurring on the H-URBAN e-mail list, a Dutch urban historian Frank Suurenbroek has recently responded with a similar corrective. So what are to make of this trans-Atlantic disconnect? I suspect there are two things working. First, there undoubtedly are real differences between the conditions for bicyclists in Dutch vs. American cities--differences that are particularly visible to American eyes. What the Dutch take for granted, Americans see as an attractive and very salient difference. Second, I also suspect that Americans are guilty of a rather rose-tinted view. As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence (ocean), and while Dutch commentators are understandably focused on the problems their cities have, an outsider will often only see the good stuff because problems, after all, only exist back home. Travel can be a tremendous mind-opener, but only if we let it be. We need to be willing to see the good and the bad both in the places we visit, and upon reflection, the places back home as well.

are you kidding me?

Imagine a super-freeway, an interstate highway wider than a football field is long (end zones included), boasting as many as 23 lanes! Sounds like science fiction, I know, but it's an actual plan for the expansion of I-75 on the northwest periphery of Atlanta--a highway that, at 15 lanes, is already ranked as the widest in the country. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details; you can also read more about the project from the authorities themselves. I don't suppose that any one of those 23 lanes will be reserved for bicycles? Might make an interesting stage for the Ford (formerly Dodge) Tour "de" Georgia. By the way, what is an auto maker doing sponsoring a bike race anyway? At least the Tour of California keeps it in the family by going with EPO-producer Amgen. And Tour de Georgia? Now, Tour de Louisiana or Tour de Quebec, I would understand. Even Tour du Pont was pretty clever. But Georgia was named after British King George II, from the Germanic House of Hanover. Somehow the French "de" just doesn't fit, in the same way that, say, a Tour de Deutschland, Giro di England, or Vuelta a New Hampshire wouldn't work either. Thank you, Tour of California organizers, for having the courage and the common sense to just stick with English.

crash!

No, this is not a post about the recently crowned "best picture of the year". Instead, much for painfully, it's about my bike race on Sunday. Nothing quite like a good crash to begin the new season. Due to luck, conservative riding, and I'd like to think skillful riding, I've avoided racing crashes entirely since my partial return to the sport a few years ago. But that string came to a rude end yesterday morning on Westchester Parkway overlooking the north runways of LAX. Fortunately, the damage to my bike, my clothes, and most importantly, my body were minor. I actually rode home from the bike race! Some 24 hours later, though, I'm still upset about the incident--both at myself and my fellow crash victims. This particular race is run on a flat, boring 4-mile circuit where the wind and lack of hills almost guarantees a big group finish. Since this was my first race of the year, and I really only wanted to test my legs and refind that elusive racing rhythm--combined with the fact that I'm just not very good, especially in a sprint--I had zero ambition for a high placing. All I wanted to do was finish safely with the group and perhaps help out a teammate or two along the way. Everything went to plan for almost the entire race, but on the last lap, with an antsy pack still chaotically bunched together, it became clear that finish was going to be hairy. Rather than an agressive move, I was trying to stay safe and look for any openings that presented themselves. One such opening kind of emerged on the back straight, and I was able to move up to the middle of the pack rounding the final U-turn. Safely through that, I again cautiously looked for openings, neither sitting up nor truly gearing up a sprint. The pack was spread wide across all three lanes, from curb to curb. Guys were bunching up dangerously on both sides, so I moved to the middle and found a nice cushion of open space. Then the carnage began. A big crash on the left, and I happily pedalled away from perhaps the worst sound anyone will ever hear short of a true battlefield: aluminum, carbon, lycra, flesh, and pavement, all coming together in a very unsymphonic way. Shortly thereafter, I saw a teammate in my peripheral vision shoved into and over the curb on the right and take a very nasty tumble. With much of the field caught up in the mess or simply choosing to pull up, and no teammates nearby to assist, I decided to continue to ride hard but safely to the finish to perhaps grab a top-20 placing, which by my unambitious standards would be pretty good. No more than 150 meters from the line, though, my "safe" ride came to end. Maybe 5 or 10 meters in front of me, a guy goes down suddenly and hard. I didn't see what happened, but he must have been bumped and just lost control. I only had a split second to react--one of those slow-motion split seconds that you only experience in a time of danger; there was nowhere to go the right, and I sensed (perhaps wrongly) that there was nowhere on the left. Instead, I grabbed the brakes, scrubbed off some speed, and instinctively began my tuck as I plowed into the fallen rider. Then it's just another extended slow-motion moment in my head that is strangely blank and peaceful--no sound, no sight, and despite slamming into the ground, no feeling either--until sitting on the pavement, a couple of feet from my fallen bicycle and at least one other rider also taken down by the same guy, or perhaps by me, reality began to sank in all too quickly. After a brief check of my body (thankfully nothing broken or truly bleeding) and then my bike--only minor damage--anger set in and I start cussing in a brief angry rage that few who know me would ever think was possible. I mean: 150 frickin' meters from the finish, and we're "racing" for at best 20th place. And you let a little bump take you down?! Then again, what was I thinking? While not racing hard, I certainly could have sat up and truly ridden in safely. Here's the really stupid part: I can't wait to race again. Maybe not next week, or even the week after. But not too much later than that, I know I'll be itchin' to go--hopefully a little wiser for the experience.