LIGHT | NIGHT this Saturday November 3rd at 6:30

Hope you all can make it out!

Here is the press release in case you haven’t heard about the event (you can also check out the facebook event page here):

16-Month Long UT Safe Cycling Campaign Culminates in LIGHT | NIGHT, the Bike Light Dance Project

November 3 // 6:30p // LBJ Library Plaza

LIGHT | NIGHT, the culminating event of the UT Safe Cycling Campaign, will take place on November 3rd on the LBJ Library Plaza. A cross-disciplinary effort between School of Architecture graduate student and campaign coordinator Kate Bedford, design students in the Department of Art and Art History, and performers and costume designers from the Department of Theatre and Dance, LIGHT | NIGHT aims to raise awareness about bike safety at night by involving the campus community in an exciting choreographed dance performance and bike light giveaway.

Beginning at dusk during a time of the year when darkness tends to sneak up on students, LIGHT | NIGHT will feature an 45 minute student dance performance choreographed by Andrea Beckham, senior lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Dance, with costumes designed by students of Susan Mickey, professor of Theatre and Dance. During this performance, lights will illuminate the movement of student dancers, and as day turns to night, those dancers will be visible by the lights on their bodies—a poetic reminder to the campus community of the importance of being lit at night. As part of the event, 270 bike lights will be distributed free of charge to any member of The University of Texas at Austin with a valid ID as part of the UT Safe Cycling Campaign’s initiative to improve the state of bicycling as a safe, viable means of transit on campus. Come early and bring your ID to receive a light for your bike!

Conceived by design students of Professor of Art and Art History Gloria Lee, LIGHT | NIGHT is the final event of the UT Safe Cycling Campaign. This comprehensive and cross-disciplinary campaign, which began in August of 2011, is an effort to improve bicycle transit as a safe and widely used means of commuting through analysis and improvement to the built environment, safety education and public awareness, and service and bicycle advocacy projects. It is funded by the University of Texas at Austin’s Student Green Fee and the Snell Endowment for the School of Architecture.

In the event of inclement weather, LIGHT | NIGHT will be moved to November 4, keeping with the same location and time. For more information about LIGHT | NIGHT, please email youyouxia@austin.utexas.edu.

Student Designed Video: ‘How to Double-Lock a Bike’

The ‘double lock’ is the suggested method of bicycle security on the University of Texas campus.  Locks can be purchased at:

Ozone, Clown Dog, Freewheeling Bicycles, Waterloo Cycles, Mellow Johnny’s, as well as a number of other locations around Austin.

 

Double-Lock Your Bike!

“A four-year college student has a 53% chance of having his or her bicycle stolen”

Learn How to Double-Lock your Bike!

Check out the Stop-Motion Video shown on campus screens and Blue and Red Bike Installations at campus bicycle racks:

Tuesday August 21st thru Friday August 31st

To help counteract the historically high theft rate at the University of Texas, How to Double Lock A Bike is a project that aims to inform the UT Community of the most effective way to lock a bike at a rack on the University of Texas campus.  A student created stop-motion video will be shown on screens across campus and three installations of ‘Red & Blue Bikes’ will be placed in racks in areas of statistically high bicycle theft.  Take a moment to watch the video on the UT PD or UT PTS website, and learn the University of Texas Police Department’s suggested method to lock your bike to minimize your chance of being the target of a thief!

Brought to you by the UT Safe Cycling Campaign 2011-2012. 

Funded by UT Austin Student Green Fee and the Snell Endowment for the UT SOA.

How-to-Double-Lock-Your Bike video by Chris Davis, Lance Green, Nicole De Palma, Lauren Griffin, Kirsten Schroder and Kyle Scallon for Professor Gloria Lee’s Spring 2012 DES 342 Design and Persuasion class. 

Give your input! UT-Austin Masterplan Update

The University of Texas is asking the UT Community to help update the campus masterplan!!!  See the message below, and follow the link to give your input in the digital interface.

Faculty, staff, and students:

University Operations, the School of Architecture, and other campus stakeholders invite you to become part of the process for updating our main campus master plan. The master plan is our guide for creating the future campus addressing buildings, mobility and transportation, landscapes, water and power conservation, and many other aspects necessary to maintain a sustainable campus environment.

Your feedback at this stage of the process is highly desired.  We’re especially interested in feedback from our graduating seniors as this is your opportunity to impact our campus’ future. Please visit the campus master plan Web site (http://www.utaustinmasterplan.com) created by our internationally recognized campus planning firm, Sasaki Associates, to learn more.

On the GET INVOLVED: My Campus page (http://utaustin.sasakistrategies.com/get-involved-mycampus/) you may provide information that will help direct future plans for everything from bike paths to new buildings.

Your feedback is important to us, so thank you in advance for participating.

Go!  Tell them what you think!

Daily Texan: Bicyclist hit-and-run raises safety concerns

Take a look at the Daily Texan Article addressing the recent bicyclist hit-and-run accident on Guadalupe.

UT Mobility Space Project UPDATE Apr 2012

With the semester nearing its end, the Mobility Space Project researchers are now working on compiling their work.  Since our last update:

• We sent in an application for future funding through the Knight News Challenge.  You can read about is on this blog post, or go to the tumblr page here.
• We identified devices we decided would be productive to test for this period of research.  Unfortunately, two of the devices we were interested in came from a company in France, and the lead time was too long for us to make use of them in this semester’s time.
• We’ve been testing one type of device (a heart rate monitor in conjunction with a GPS tracking device) on two different subjects.  Below are a couple screen shots of the information we can pull from this device.
• We also met with UT Parking and Transportation Services to share with them our ideas, and gauge their interest in employing a digital data collection system.  To attempt to wrap up our work in a just a few words, we have been looking for a tool (digital) that compiles information (both existing and newly acquired) into an easily digestible format from which we can learn about how to more safely negotiate and craft our physical transportation environment (our mobility space).  We think that this tool could combine various static & dynamic layers like those shown in this diagram,And could end up looking something like this (please note, the information show here is not real data):For a group like PTS:  we understand that it is an extremely difficult thing to consider all the different things going on in the transportation space – we want this tool to aid sourcing that knowledge, and to help support decisions being made.  Jeri Baker, Blanca Juarez, and Sam Cortez attended this meeting, and kindly gave us feedback.  Jeri and Blanca mentioned ways that they could see the system being useful: Jeri talked about it being a tool for future long-term campus planning (where to site future buildings, roadways, sidewalks, etc.); Blanca though it could help to determine where to place crosswalks, how to craft bus routes, and how to mediate city construction projects that effect commuter paths to the University.  Sam mentioned that the more live information this system could hold, the better.  Jeri mentioned housing this system within the University; Blanca mentioned perhaps the Texas Transportation Institute.

We’re expecting the final report to come out by the end of May – this time is really exciting to us, because we’re able to take all of our had work from this semester and last, and finally be able to share concrete ideas about the possibilites that we see with this project!

Balloon Bike

Graduate design student Carolyn Aler recently completed this video, which shows the progression of her Balloon Bike exhibit installed at the VAC on the University of Texas Campus earlier this month.  The exhibit was designed to help one visualize the 3′ zone around a bicyclist (or pedestrian) which Austin’s Safe Passing ordinance sets out to protect.  If you happen to know where to read more about the ordinance, please share the link!

Campus on Two Wheels | Conflict Areas

Below are the results of the conflict area mapping event held at the end of March at the University of Texas.  Respondents (bicyclists & pedestrians) were asked to locate the area on campus that is most difficult for them to navigate.  The three highest-rated conflict areas were then discussed in the Campus on Two Wheels event held last Friday, April 13th.  Thanks to everyone who came out to give their input!

Posters detailing each of the conflict areas further discussed:

Campus on Two Wheels THIS FRIDAY

Come join us this Friday for Campus on Two Wheels, an afternoon of informative discussion, followed by open-house style dialogue to gather your opinions about how to make the UT campus better for bicycling!

During the Panel Discussion (noon-1:30), local experts in bicycle and pedestrian friendly planning will share insights and perspectives on how to accommodate bikes, making for safer mobility spaces for all users.

During the Open Dialogue (2:00-4:30), the results of last week’s Mapping Bicycle & Pedestrian Conflicts on Campus event will be presented, focusing on the three most difficult places on campus to negotiate by bicycle or foot, according to participants. Additionally, bicycle infrastructure ideas will be presented and discussed as possible design solutions. Moderators will listen and discuss your ideas: how do you see resolving campus’s most problematic spaces?

Fare & refreshments provided.

When:  Friday, April 13^th

Time:  Noon- 4:30

Location: University of Texas-Austin, Sutton Hall, Room 2.114 (Ground Floor)

Mapping Conflict Areas : Article in the Daily Texan

On Thursday, the Daily Texan ran this article about the Mapping Conflict Areas event held by Campaign researcher, Beth Rosenbarger last week.  It sounds like the two-day event had a great turnout (thanks to all those who helped to publicize!).  Alot of information was collected at the event, and there were also a few comments posted on the blog as well.  Thanks to everyone who participated!