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artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

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11 August 2013

Delegations from major american cities went to the NL to see how they could approach biking in the US.
For me it's strange to see people study what I pass through everyday without noticing. The documentary contains a lot of street scenes that a Dutchman would cut out because "there's nothing to see".
We do get around on bikes a lot. But it's so very unglamorous. Our local bikes are dorky scions of suburbia or beaten up clunkers. Where in the US people have created cool bikes; fixies, a cult of 80s randonneurs etc.
And the biking infrastructure is the result of city council efforts. Which we tend to associate with "Parks and Recreations" level of coolness. But I guess my faint feelings of disdain for local government were misguided; consistent policy over decades, involving thousands of little steps, really can change society sometimes.
Unlike the US with its horror of "big government" we used to have a widely held ideal of the "makeable society" where all wrongs were righted and no injustice remained. Which easily results in an unwieldy governmental sprawl of regulations and subsidies that aren't alway effective or sustainable. But it seems that in this respect we were able to "make" our society.

posted by jouke 11 August | 03:04
Very cool. Thanks!
posted by bearwife 13 August | 18:03
Glad you liked it.
posted by jouke 14 August | 02:19
Ye Shall Not Pass || Bunny! OMG!

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