The “Do Good Bus” inspires community and volunteers to do good deeds accross North America. The bus tour conducts mystery volunteer activites with the good samaritans who sign up ahead in time to take part in the “Do Good Bus” ride. Missions can be anything from feeding the homeless, to organizing a carnival at camps for kids, handing out books to kids from the lower income strata and much more …
Could you imagine organizing something like that in your community?
A speedometer is one of those items you look at thousands of times, without ever really noticing. What matters is the speed, not the meter or its design. Christain Annyas shows the evolution of Chevrolet’s speedometer design from 1941 to 2011 and offers a great analysis of the typefaces and usability concerns.
In 2010, London launched its first two cycle superhighways. Joe Peach tested CS3 which links Barking in the east to London’s famous Tower Bridge and gives an overview on the pros and cons.
Traffic can be a nightmare – especially in big cities. A visual arts student filmed a 3-way intersection in NYC to show why 74 per cent of accidents happen in intersections: pedestrians jaywalking, cyclists running red lights, and motorists plowing through crosswalks.
But there are other places in this world where traffic is even less organized and looks more dangerous but still works – for example in India. Every one who owns a vehicle, whether a two wheeler, 3 wheeler or four wheeler has just learnt to manover the vehicle on the road, not in respect to the rules but in respect to the movement of other vehicles around.
Some European countries have adopted this form of traffic regulation, to minimise fatal accidents within city limits. It’s called “Shared Space”.
Ukraine has the highest percentage of pedestrian collisions in Eastern Europe. How to slow down reckless drivers? Shell tries to shock them with “pedestrian ghosts”.
A radar reacts to a speeding car. Then the device inflates the “pedestrian ghost” balloon. At night the device was placed at a pedestrian crossing in an Ukranian city. During one night 7 cars slowed down.
San Francisco has experienced a cycling boom in recent year: 58 percent more people are biking today than just four years ago. This means bicycle safety becomes a big issue. For “Light Up the Night” the city transit authority purchased 2,000 bike lights which will be given to bikers traveling without lights.
By swiping the Oyster card in London’s subway you can be part of “Chromaroma”. The app combines traveling and location based gaming. The Chromaroma player earns points for every access to the city’s underground, all journeys are visualized in technicolor. The tasks vary: Users can join a team to help “capture” a station, complete missions by checking in at special places or just spice up their daily commute.
Juri Zaech designed a collection of typographic bikes – very personal ones. At the moment it’s only a concept, but there are rumours that Juri is already working on a real prototype.
“My Dad’s Car” is the story about two brothers who found the 1965 Chevy Impala SS their father Herb Younger owned 30 years ago. Herb Younger was forced to sell his beloved ’65 Impala to pay for his sons’ education. After 5 years searching for that car, they found a way to pay him back.
You might think the savest areas for pedestrians are pavements and sidewalks but this urban street design concept will prove you wrong: Studies show that drivers in “Shared Space” streets are 14 times more likely to give way to pedestrians.
“Shared Spaces” is a dutch design concept for urban areas which removes lane markers, curbs and pavements. Cars, cyclists and pedestrians are using the same street level. It makes the streets riskier and therefore safer – because it forces everyone to slow down and be aware of other people on the road.
Some European cities already adopted this design concept: You can find “Shared Space” streets in London (Exhibition road), Brighton New Road and even Graz (Austria).
Skateboarding was a huge buzz in the late 90s but we bet some of you ended their career quite a while ago – and still have their old boards somewhere in the garage. How could you use something that is useless now: Recycle. Use your old skateboards as shelves.
The BMX (Bicycle Moto Cross) sport has its roots in the 1960s in the USA. Sportsmen used that bike, a 20″ bike (20 inch), to do some stunts and tricks. This video shows Fred Crosset taking his trials bike for a spin through the city centre of Liege, Belgium by night.
When Google Earth came up many people spent hours exploring the world from their desktops. Some of them still use it for virtual short trips. Is traveling virtually a real alternative to avoid traffic jams and delays? Probably. Just have a look at “Address is Approximate” – a nice stop motion short about the story of a desk toy escaping the office by exploring the world in Google Street View.
Crazy Motobike racing through the city rush hour traffic. The practitioner starts with so called “Gaswheelie”, means the front wheel lifts off. The speed indicator stands at more than 180 mph. The driver bombs down the street through the stop-and-go traffic. Everthing counting seems to be speed and adrenaline. Most peolpe commented that as crazy and scary…..
Every year the USA counts between 3.000 and 5.000 deaths of motorcycle riders. Most accidents occur at night. During rush hour traffic especially other peolple are at risk if motorcycle riders dash through the traffic.
4 minutes worth watching: “Manhattan in Motion” is a excellent time-lapse by Mindrelic (with a hint of tiltshift I guess). No surprise that it’s called the city that never sleeps.
At the moment trains remain probably the last unconnected space in NYC – but they don’t have to anymore. The “L Train Notwork”, a digital experiment/stunt/art project from the creative agency WeMakeCoolSh.it, launched on New York’s subways Monday, allows commuters to chat and flirt via their devices.
In certain cars on the L Train, the favored line of hip New Yorkers zipping between some of the city’s hippest neighborhoods WeMakeCoolSh.it established something looking quite like a www connection at first sight. But users are linked to fellow riders in a chat room instead. To keep the conversations going the digital agency also provides the users with webby-looking visual and literary content.
David Zax says in his Fast Company report: “If the World Wide Web is a Borgesian, universal library, then the L Train Notwork is an intimate art gallery.”
We think it could make a daily commute at least more enjoyable.
Street artists not only use public spaces to represent their work, they even paint “in the street”.
“Street artists” work with some media like LED art or mosaic tiling for example. It’s not painted freestyle like graffiti artists do. Some “street artists” use their work presented on public places to raise awareness of social and political problems. Others see public spaces just as a challenge, because of the interaction of the artwork itself, the weather and people going over and over the work of art.
This video shows the making of a special 3D artwork.
About 500 years after Da Vinci’s first drafts his dream came true: Men are able to fly – if wearing wingsuits. Special jumpsuits developed in the 1990s make people glide through the air. Therefore the wingsuit is also called birdman suit. The suit also has a parachute to ensure a save landing. Check out this impressive video by Jeb Corliss!
Simple yet brilliant: If your are in a hurry, ring a bicycle bell. People seem to be trained on making way if they hear this sound. We’re impressed that it even works in the subway – at least in Japan.
Do you think this would work in your country just as well?
We invite you to show us a part of your “identity” by sharing thoughts, experiences, photographs etc. to respond to the question “What means of transportation do you use to get from A to B? And which one is your favorite?” Our aim is to publish a very personal online-map full of people’s “favorite transportations” from different cities and countries.
TASK:
Send us a description from your means of transport (photograph, text, drawing etc.)
Insert a headline: Name of means of transport + place (city/state)
Answer following questions:
Which means of transport do you use usually?
Why do you use it?
Which is your favorite means of transport?
Why?
We look forward to receiving your contribution. In case you have any questions please don’t hesitate to write me an e-mail to info@worldidentitylab.net
If you already are a mighty World Identity Lab contributor you know how to submit your work. If not, please follow the instructions at “how to contribute“ .
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