Urban Planning

We Have Moved to Evanston!

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We’ve moved to Evanston! At the end of last year, we left Libertyville to be closer to the city and are now settling in on the North Shore in beautiful Evanston. Chicago is just a block to the south and the Lake Michigan beaches are a 15 minute walk to the east. It’s amazingly walkable and bikeable with frequent public transportation just around the corner. We can’t wait for spring, so we can explore in more pleasant temperatures.

Welcome to the City of Evanston sign
Welcome to the City of Evanston!

The city of Evanston is technically a suburb, but has a very urban feel due to its density. With the lake on one side, Chicago to the south and Skokie and Wilmette west and north, there is no room for suburban sprawl and oversized roads. On top of that, Evanston was ahead of the crowd and embraced transit-oriented development, TOD, already in the 80’s. This means increased density around transit hubs paired with decreased need for cars. This Politico Article from 2015 explains it quite thoroughly. For more background info on why this was a good move, check out Strongtowns or “Not Just Bikes“.

According the the census bureau, Evanston has a population of 78,000 on 7.8 square miles. We are looking forward to connect with our new neighbors and local businesses once the pandemic has calmed down and warmer weather makes it easier to hang out outdoors.

Impressions from the South End of Evanston

Biking on the Evanston side of Howard Street.
Biking on the Evanston side of Howard Street (before the snow arrived). On the other side is Chicago. Traffic is moving slowly enough that it feels ok to bike although we would of course prefer protected bike lanes. Needless to say: A large stash of safety reflectors came in handy!

The other day, we took a walk in the very south end of Evanston. The vintage houses are relatively small and mixed with 3-story apartment buildings which gives the neighborhood a down-to-earth and intimate feel. Below are some highlights from a cold but sunny afternoon earlier this week.

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We Have Moved to Evanston!Read More »

We Have Moved to Evanston! Read More »

Streets Alive!

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We can’t wait for Sunday and the Streets Alive Festival in Evanston IL! Last year, we had a great time at the Green Living Festival in Evanston, but the idea of combining the two festivals is totally awesome!

We’ll be there with America’s premier reflectors for walking, running and bicycling and with information on how you can use reflectors for marketing your brand to touch hearts and save lives 🙂

The Streets Alive + Green Living Festival takes place on Main Street in Evanston, IL this coming Sunday, September 13th, 1-6 PM. A map of all the activities can be found on the festival’s website.  Please look for the black funflector canopy  in the Green Living Festival section between Ridge and Ashbury and stop by for some treats!

The funflector booth at the Evanston Green Living Festival 2014.
The funflector booth at the Evanston Green Living Festival 2014. This year we’ll have space for our full booth 🙂

We believe that making “green choices” is important for all people on earth, and having the choice of walking/biking instead of driving is part of that. However, walkable neighborhoods do a lot of good to people in terms of general health and building a sense of community. The philosophy of the Streets Alive is right up our alley: “Streets Alive also encourages the community to collectively reimagine and repurpose our precious public spaces. Although car-free streets are temporary, they help us visualize different ways to use these spaces, and they demonstrate the pent-up demand for permanently safe, complete streets and vibrant, people-oriented open spaces.”

Looking forward seeing you there!

The funflector team

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New Rides in the Old World

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Did you know that Walt Disney modeled the Magic Kingdom after the century old Tivoli in Copenhagen? In the space of a couple of city blocks, old fashion carousels are layered with modern and stomach turning roller coasters and rides. They are interleaved with parks, a concert hall, an aquarium, an amazing variety of quality food places and ice cream parlors. As  we spent last summer in southern Sweden, my kids insisted our replacing our annual trip to Six Flags Great America with a trip to Tivoli. With “Puls Pakke” tickets (entrance, rides and one meal) for 329 DKR ($60) bought online, we set out to enjoy ourselves for the day (and night). As an extra bonus, Friday rock concerts are included in the ticket price and 30 Seconds to Mars did a great concert that June night.

Rides

The rides are layered and interleaved. It saves on endless walking and makes it easier to manage kids who want to go on different rides. But it does make it hard to find a place to shoot interesting photos. Here are some of the fun rides we tried.

Tivoli Odin Express is not as innocent as it might look. It's fast paste and surprising turns are beyond the expected.
Tivoli Odin Express is not as innocent as it might look. It’s fast paste and surprising turns are beyond the expected. The back seat is the best (worst).

Star Flier at Tivoli, 80 meter (260ft) tall gives you a great view of Copenhagen at 70 km/h (45 mph). Decoration on top is a nod to Tycho Brahe, a Danish astronomer in the 16th century.
Star Flier at Tivoli, 80 meter (260ft) tall gives you a great view of Copenhagen at 70 km/h (45 mph). Decoration on top is a nod to Tycho Brahe, a Danish astronomer in the 16th century.

Bumper cars are always fun and when the cars are this richly decorated it is even fun to watch the kids go a second round.
Bumper cars are always fun and when the cars are this richly decorated it is even fun to watch the kids go a second round.

Architecture

Buildings are carefully designed to fit in and although the space is tight, they have managed to create an airy feel. Both old and modern ones have interesting details, reminiscent of their time. The stylized green and yellow leaves decorating the wall of the Tivoli Concert Hall give away that it was build in the 1950’s. The railing carries the tune of the popular Champagne Gallop by Hans Christian Lumbye, the first music director and widely popular in-house composer for Tivoli.

The Tivoli Concert Hall is decorated with Lumbye's Champagne Gallop.
The Tivoli Concert Hall is decorated with Lumbye’s Champagne Gallop.

Detail of Tivoli Glass Hall
Detail of Tivoli Glass Hall

The Woodhouse built in 1997 for the Valhalla Castle ride, today used for a restaurant. Designed by architect Søren Robert Lund.
The Woodhouse built in 1997 for the Valhalla Castle ride, today used for a restaurant. Designed by architect Søren Robert Lund.

Copenhagen sky is still bright past 10 pm on midsummer eve.
Copenhagen sky is still bright past 10 pm on midsummer eve.

OMG, the blog post quickly got very long, so let’s save some yummy food, music and everything else we wanted to show you for another time.
So long & hav en dejlig dag!
Elisabeth

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Sharing Bikes

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Divvy Bikeshare in Chicago photo by the funflector BlogThe first web browser I ever used, had no clickable links. Instead the user had to type in the link that was displayed in the text. It was at CERN (where the world wide web was invented) in the early 1990’s and although it wasn’t super practical, we saw the potential and jumped right into it with excitement. Five years later, I found myself working on the 3G Mobile Network standards and had to explain to friends why it would be handy to have internet access on a cell phone. “Can’t people wait until they get home?!?” was a common comment by most, who only saw Internet as entertainment. Fast forward almost 20 years …

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Sharing Bikes Read More »

Walking

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Every day, more people discover walking as an easy way to get moving. Did you know that
– 30 minutes of daily walking lowers the risk for diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, cancer and much more.
– Kids walking to school perform better than when getting rides.
– Home prices in walkable neighborhoods increase faster than others.
– Commerce flourish where people walk.
There are an overwhelming amount of information on the benefits of walking for you as an individual and for society.  The two videos below condense the information very well and explain why you need to walk and how it all is interlaced:
“The benefits of walking are so good, they are hard to believe”. Listen to Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO George C. Halvorson explain the benefits of walking in a 6 minute video.

Urbanist Jeff Speck explains in his TED talk “how America can be more economically resilient, how America can be healthier and how America can be more environmentally sustainable”. You’ll be surprised about how a walkable infrastructure improves health, quality of life and the local economy and how it is all correlated!

Jeff mentions that Portland, Oregon is far ahead of other cities in the US on planning around people, but there is activities in many places. Learn about what’s going on in  Oklahoma City, New York, Dallas and Chicago and more generally with redevelopment of urban centers.
As mentioned in the intro, kids who walk to school perform better than when getting rides. Here are the results of some studies:
– Let kids walk to school by University of Buffalo medical school and
– Exercise before school improves concentration in the class room, a joint study by researchers at the universities in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, also reported by the Atlantic Cities.
– Check out these fascinating MRI scans by the University of Illinois of kids’ brains after sitting still and walking for 20 minutes respectively!
If your kid’s school doesn’t have a walk-to-school program, consider organizing one!
Walking is good, however, when dusk comes around, the risk of fatal pedestrian-vehicle accidents increases significantly. In the Scandinavian countries, pedestrian reflectors have saved lives for over 40 year. If you are looking for thoughtful and useful giveaways, check out our American-made logo reflectors! Together we can make a difference and we hope you want to join us.
The funflector team

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Urban Planning for Healthier Living

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We’d like to share some great examples of how quality of life improves when public health workers and the urban planning and transportation offices work together and keep pedestrians and bicyclists in mind.

The North Shore Bike Path through Libertyville, IL has gone from passive to active transportation. It was once a local railroad, now used by bicyclists, runners and dog walkers.
The North Shore Bike Path through Libertyville, IL has gone from passive to active transportation. It was once a local railroad, now used by bicyclists, runners and dog walkers.


The American Public Health Association and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership has put together a new report (16 MB pdf) with a lot of interesting findings.
“Luckily, a small but passionate movement in the United States is happening to create healthier, more connected communities — where there are safe places to walk, bicycle and play, and public transit is within walking distance of home or work. This movement is aiming to ensure that the healthy choice is also the easiest one. …With the growing rate of obesity, the high cost of gas and climate change, we must rethink and reshape our transportation systems and networks to promote active transportation.”
Promoting Actice Transportation: An Opportunity for Public Health. Read it for inspiration on how you can influence your community to improve active transporation.

Case studies of Southern California, Columbus (OH) and Houghton (MI)

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Urban Planning for Healthier Living Read More »

Walk to School

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Kids benefit so much from walking to school, but fewer and fewer do it on a daily basis. A local walk to school program is a great way to get kids into the habit. Parents at Vienna Elementary (VA) organize “Walking Wednesdays” and here they share their story:

Vienna Elementary, a school with just under 400 students, has been participating in the October International Walk to School Day and a local spring Walk/Bike to School Challenge for several years. Almost all of our students live within 1/2 mile of the school, but about 3/4 are bussed because of  two heavily traveled roads near the school. Bussed students are allowed to walk if accompanied by their parents. Our turnouts for these walk and bike to school days was as high as 120 walkers during nice weather.

Safety reflectors for kids walking to school
The bright orange hand was one of the pedestrian reflectors that Vienna Elementary students could get in their walk-to-school program.

This year we received a grant from Prevention Connections to implement a “Walking Wednesdays” program that was launched on this year’s International Walk to School Day (October 9th). Every Wednesday that a student walks, they are given a small foot charm to put on a chain. A local coffee shop, Cafe Amouri, has donated free coffee for the parents. The program has been an overwhelming success. We are regularly seeing over 150 students from all over town walking on Wednesdays and the charm and coffee table has become a small social scene.
As part of the grant, we purchased several hundred funflector reflective charms to give away on a few special days each year. We gave them out this year on December 7th and 14th and let the kids know there would be a special surprise for walking. Now that it is getting dark early, we wanted to help keep the children be safe when they walk in the dawn and dusk hours or on rainy or overcast days. Turnout was high and the children were very excited to see the reflectors which were in the Paw and Peace Hand designs. Now, almost all of our walkers have one on their backpacks to help make them more visible. Kids like the designs and proudly display them on their backpacks. Because it is not obvious that the funflector tags are highly reflective, we are sending out followup information to the parents about the pedestrian reflectors. Close to St Patrick’s day, we’ll have another funflector day with the shamrock design so that students will have one for their front (typically jacket zipper pull) and one for their backpack if they choose.

Sean McCall, a father of two Vienna Elementary students, is engaged in the PTO walk to school committee and contributed this post. Thanks for sharing your project and experience with our readers!

Elisabeth

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Bicycle Season :)

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Bicycle season is in full swing! We use our bikes almost every day, and we hope you do the same. It improves air quality, your health and your wallet. “1 World, 2 Wheels” is mainly targeting the many short trips we make with cars. With the right attitude, many can replace car trips under two miles with a bike ride. Not all, but many! I’ve pledged 28 miles a week, which is about one errand a day –  to the coffee shop, the library, the bank, the UPS-store or the Little League baseball field. How many of your car rides could you replace with bike rides? Once you’ve got used to biking, getting into the car is no fun!

The go by bike challenge 2011
The go by bike challenge 2011

We’ve been pouring over web sites and accident statistics about bicyclist and pedestrian issues during the last week and are amazed how many initiatives are out there to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. And improvements are very much needed! According to Transportation for America, the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed from 2000 through 2009, “is the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of passengers crashing roughly every month”. Additionally, a pedestrian gets injured every 7 minutes. Those are scary numbers!

Bicycle season is in full swing on the North Shore Bicycle Path in Lake County IL
Bicycle season is in full swing on the North Shore Bicycle Path in Lake County IL

But there is good news too! It helps to wear a helmet while cycling!!! The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute states that during 2008, 98% (!!) of 714 bicyclists in fatal accidents where not wearing helmets.  (And yet, only every other (50%) bicyclist wears a helmet for at least some trips and 35 % use them for all or most trips).  The National Safety Council has declared June to be National Safety Month. This week is focused on “Summer Safety“. And guess what? Whether you are skateboarding, inline skating or biking: Wear a helmet! It really reduces the severity of injuries if you happen to end up in an accident. Amazed by the numbers, we talked to George at George Garner Cyclery in Northbrook, IL to learn what to think about when choosing safety gear. We got a lot of information, that we’ll share with you in a separate  blog post.
There are two parts to bicycle safety. One is the personal responsibility on safety gear and safe biking. The second is of course a lot of improvements that need to be made to policies, infrastructure planning, and education as well.

The Pededestrian and Bicycle Information Center has plenty of information on all of these topics. If you live in the Chicago area, you can join the Active Transportation Alliance. It is very active in all aspects of making bicycling, walking and public transit safe, convenient and fun.
Enjoy your bike ride but stay safe!
Elisabeth

Bicycle Season :) Read More »

Pedestrian Friendly School Street

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The architect Sarah Susanka, well known for her concept, the “Not So Big House” is involved in the School Street project in Libertyville. Today, she unveiled the plans for her Not So Big Showhouse. It will be built with other new homes right next to the vibrant Libertyville downtown. As a big fan of her ideas I was there with many others to listen to her explanations on how she integrates her ideas in a very livable house on a 29 foot wide lot. The neat thing with this project is that it also integrates the ideas for The Not So Big Community.

Sarah Susanka at an event for School Street and her Not So Big Showhouse, Libertyville IL February 2011
Sara Susanka took some time to sign books after her presentation of the Not So Big Showhouse

There will be many inviting porches along School Street, which is a stone’s throw from Libertyville Main Street.
The not so big showhouse by Sarah Susanka planned for School Street in Libertyville IL
A  street view of the Not So Big Showhouse (from schoolstreetlibertyville.com)

Walking distance to restaurants, small stores, a wonderful public library and a stop on the Chicago commuter train is an important part of the concept. Continuously smiling, Sarah seemed genuinely excited about building her first public showhouse here in Libertyville. She told us that the downtown atmosphere was one of the things that really sold her on this project. 🙂
Elisabeth

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Sustainable Neighborhood?

/ thoughts, traffic safety /

Earlier today, I took a short walk to shoot some pictures for the next blog post. Normally, the walk takes about 5 minutes and I looked forward to getting away from my computer and getting moving, so taking the car was not even considered. Little did I think about all the unshoveled sidewalks along the busy highway. Not only were the sidewalks not shoveled, but they were also used to pile up the snow from the thoroughly cleaned driveways.

Cross walk to nowhere (actually to unshoveled sidewalks)
Cross walk to nowhere

The footsteps I followed on the bumpy path told me I wasn’t the only one attempting to walk there.

Sidewalk for happy pedestrians.

We often read and hear about the need for building a more sustainable society. This isn’t something that just “others” need to do in big bold moves. Everyone can contribute by adding one little habit at a time. Reuse, reduce, recycle are the obvious pillars, but the connection between shoveled sidewalks and a sustainable society might be less obvious. If you build a house according to the LEED standard, you get quite some bonus points for a location that makes it easy to walk or bike to stores, restaurants, libraries, churches etc. What’s the point of that if the sidewalks are full of snow and ice?
Next time you shovel your driveway, please add a few minutes for a cleaner sidewalk. It would be a very appreciated thank-you gift to the pedestrians who are not polluting the air we all breathe!
Elisabeth

Sustainable Neighborhood? Read More »

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