AlSo: Presentations et al

Rick was off from work but was still up ahead of us on his daily walk or run. We headed to the Urban Center for presentations by the keynote speakers. The most stand-out presentations had to be by Halik and Ole Thorson. Halik talked about the urban planning history of Istanbul and was quite open about the city’s lack of planning for bike and ped master plans. I accosted him after the presentation to compliment and ask about how he would suggest dealing with challenges of changing traffic infrastructure in such an ancient city. Ole lives in Barcelona and has created an extensive ped master plan. He is adamant that all cities should develop a ped plan and decried that almost none do. Corey and Zeren had a lenghy chat with him just after the presentation, and I spoke with him later in the day. What a fascinating fellow, and such a marvelous presentation! After these presentations we were invited to go outside where there was a PARK-ing demonstration where the parking lot had previously been. Astroturf, benches, bike parking, a 4-tandem, bean bag chairs, art exhibition and yoga. Good times, good time. After lunch came time for our presentation on “Changing Car-Oriented Attitudes”. Meghan had put together a lovely powerpoint (though next time we should focus more on ped and calm down on bikes), and Corey, Meghan and I had been up late the night before tweaking it some and forming an outline. The presentation went well, I thought (although, to be honest, I am rather senSitive about being contradicted and interrupted during formal-ish presentations). We broke up the discussion into 4 groups and then came back at the end for general feedback which seemed pretty popular. Meghan typed up comments that each group had made based on our notes. Daniel then presented on Rails to Trails and Greenways with an interesting discussion about the evolution of master plans. A few people in the room had actually been involved with the inception or development of master plans and building networks. I believe Eduardo, Daniel and Thiago have all been involved with this process. Unfortunately we missed the presentations on carfree housing which had occurred the same time as ours, but we got a rundown from Ralph, Markus and Ed on the topic. The evening was all about a wonderful boat tour with lots of wine (that sadly ran out before the boat docked. Bikers can drink!). talked with Corey, Sylvia, Maura, Jason the Great Facilitator, Ben and Pippa. Pippa works with BankWatch, a largeish NGO that monitors WTO, European Bank, etc. Maura discussed how she decided to go into Urban Design and how their teacher decided to put Istanbul’s bid in for 2007 TCC. Maura and three of the other coordinators are working together on a baseline study and urban design project, so it was a natural extension to work on this Conference. They are all such good company. And good dancers! I try to remember what Sylvia, Corey and I talk about, but it’s hard because we seem to talk about . . . everything. Jason talked about his background in international activism and the G8 Conference. He has previously been involved in World Carfree Network and is acting as their facilitator for the AGM this year. When the boat docked, everyone spilled out. Corey and I, aged and wizened as we are, went back to Rick’s while Elly and Meghan headed out on the town with some others.

AlSo: Carfree Islands!

Rick laid out yet another wonderful Turkish breakfast complete with tomatoes, olives, fresh bread and cheese. Yumm! Thank you, Rick! Thus satiated, we took a ferry to Buyukada, a carfree island near Istanbul proper. We waited for the others to join us and found Bas, Justin and Sarap, who has the coolest hairstyle, sipping tea. When the others finally deigned to show up, we walked along horse- and bike-filled streets to the municipal building for welcome and questions. Markus asked a really good one about why there were sidewalks cut on a carfree island. Answer: codes. A group of us got bikes and roamed around the island with Milan, Corey, Joerie, Joroen, Sylvia, Kostos, Thiago, Andre, Eduardo and a few others. we had formally met Joroen and Joerie at lunch who told Corey that he should turn his cap around lest he be confused for an American. Titter. Around the top we spotted a restaurant near a cliff that happened to sell beer. Well, of course with two Belgians present we just had to stop. We headed back down, dropped off the bikes and headed to the rocks for more beer. It felt like a Portland ride!

AlSo: TCC07 Conference

Elly, Corey and I flummoxed across the ferry to Karakoy (by now an old friend) and walked across the Galata Bridge, through the hardware peddling section of town and wended our way up to Istiklal Cadde and TCC07s headquarters. There were opening comments and introductions, including our 15 minute presentation on next year’s Conference, and then a split for some short workshops. We heard Ralph from Cologne talk about map making, Joroen and Joerie about the anti-SUV campaign from GreenPeace and Friends of the Earth, and Karen and Lena about leisure-focused transport and density (almost 50% of car trips in Sweden are for the purpose of leisure!). Panel discussion in the afternoon was about “Car Culture v. Public Space”. I had thought this would focus on infrastructure, but the overriding themes turned out to be fear, identity and isolation. We met Zeren and Sebel from World Resources Institute with some great conversation. There was a walking tour throughout the European side, but I honestly spent more time talking to other Conference-goers to the detriment of sightseeing. Oh well! Spoke with Milan, Thiago and Karl at some length. The evening was in Ortakoy for a movie night which we had to skip out on early in order to walk to a bus home. Then it was back to Rick’s and a talk about the basics of Turkish linguistics.

Oddyssei: to Arcadia, a Craigslist adventure

as the first real vacation in almost 2 years, i decided that the trip to Turkey via California and Belgium should be a good one filled with transportational questionmarks and as many random experiences as possible.

and what better way to begin than a rideshare to LA through Craigslist, melting pot of all that is random and strange? all the more ironic to begin a journey to a carfree conference in a car.

i had started looking a couple of weeks beforehand and responded to two ads before getting a response from one fellow traveling from Seattle to LA. as soon as he said his name was Brian, i knew it was all going to be okay; my dad, brother, and former roommate are all named Brian, and all of them are luminous fellas.

Brian picked me up from work in Portland, and we started south. i was wondering how a Long Drive with a new acquaintance would be. how was it, you may well ask? a 15-hour conversation blitz! topics: what is it about our fellow Americans that promulgates celebrities and reality TV shows? have we as a society obliterated cohesion in favor of individualism? what IS scary, and how does one depict, say, a monster, in makeup? how is it that one can point to something in China, ask about it in Chinese, and not be understood? what does one do for fun in Mozambique?

and not only was the company sparkling, but it was, remarkably, a great prologue to the Carfree Conference. when one's primary transportation is a bicycle, one forgets certain conventions such as, say, the highway clover leaf. hypnotic, unyielding, monomodal clover leafs. the ballet of cars and trucks between lanes. lack of turn signal use in California. the complete absence of bikes or peds along stretches of road. drive-thrus. i TOTALLY forgot about drive-thrus. gas stations with adjacent motels. we have a long way to go, people.

so at the end of a long drive, we wound up on Jan, Ed and Kevin's doorstep. thanks for driving, Brian! you're fabulous.