I have long felt that bicycle commuting during the evening rush hour was more stressful and perilous than my morning ride. While motorists tend to be more wary in the morning due to the presence of school children and buses, the evening commute tends to feel a bit like a free-for-all, as if all motorists were trying to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 at the exact same time. Well…now I have definitive data to back my up my intuition. It turns out that 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m IS the most dangerous time period of the day to be a bicyclist out on the roadways.

My definition of bipolar urban areas are those that have two principal cities at their core, but they have each taken nearly opposite paths socioeconomically. The two cities posses an almost Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like qualities – one being quite healthy and prosperous while the other may suffer from poverty, economic distress, or environmental degradation. While every significant urban area has its areas of poverty, distress, and degradation, a bipolar region varies in the fact that one of two primary core communities is the site of concentrated problems.

According to a June 6, 2012, story by Richard Florida published by The Atlantic Cities, a recent analysis by Lumosity shows that more than half of the 25 smartest cities in the United States are situated in the Rust Belt. In order to calculate the smartest metropolitan areas, the article indicates the following research methodology was utilized:

“…scientists at Lumosity tracked the cognitive performance of more than one million users in the United States on their games, mapping them across U.S. metros using IP geolocation software.

At the conclusion of this post is a list of Rust Belt metropolitan areas where clusters of bicycle-friendly organizations (communities, colleges, and businesses) have agglomerated. The numbers are based on those organizations which have been recognized as “bicycle-friendly” by the League of American Bicyclists. These clusters are important for several reasons:

The data shows that more places are “getting it,” not just “progressive” enclaves.
They show that coordinated efforts are taking place in a variety of metropolitan areas, and broadly within each metropolitan area, not just in lone islands of bike friendliness.
They …

Cleveland is seeing stars over the opening of its Downtown Casino. Word is Sinbad came by. So last Friday I went to check it out. I didn’t gamble, had a few Bud Light drafts. But I observed. Here is what stuck out.

A lot of gaudy decorations: chandeliers, gold blinds, patterned carpeting that would make you dizzy if you let it suck you in. The Casino was placed in Cleveland’s historic Higbee Building. This history is covered up with faceless textiles and décor designed in a soulless spirit that would make even Liberace mope.

At the end of this post is a list of those communities in the Rust Belt that have been designated by the League of American Bicyclists as a “Bicycle Friendly Community” on its 2012 list. A total of 210 communities have received this honor nationwide, including 47 (22.4%) here in the Rust Belt.
Nine communities that are shown in italics were added to the list in the past year.  Another 11 communities in the Rust Belt where named honorable mentions. Please note the list does not include several communities in the Boston, New York …

Monday evening I had the honor to join approximately 100 fellow participants, planners, partners, and stakeholders from throughout Greater Lansing at a kick-off meeting for the Mid-Michigan Program for Greater Sustainability at East Lansing’s Hannah Community Center. Partners in the program include the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, Lansing Area Economic Partnership, Michigan State University Land Policy Institute, Michigan Energy Options, the Michigan Fitness Foundation, Greater Lansing Housing Coalition, the Mid-Michigan Environmental Action Council, and CAM-TV.
The four-hour event showcased the nine sustainability projects that will be part of the three-year effort …

Founded in 1994, Share-a-Bike is an East Lansing, Michigan-based charity that receives old, unused, discarded, and donated bicycles. Whenever practical, these bicycles are completely refurbished and then donated to the underprivileged in the community, including the homeless, new immigrants, and the poor. Last Saturday, I had the honor to work with them collecting bicycles at a local spring recycling event in the community.
For many of the recipients, the gift of an operable bicycle may be their lifeline of last resort. Either they cannot afford to purchase or maintain an automobile, may …

This post originally appeared in Reader Area Development. It speaks to the evolution and eventual de-evolution of place in a commercial area of suburban Peoria, Illinois.

Do jobs follow people or do people follow jobs? Is the answer to a city’s economic problems as simple as attracting new people and growing your population? Is this a case of “If you build it, they will come” or does it get a little more complex than this. The New England states and rustbelt region have been hurting from next to stagnant population growth. Rhode Island and Michigan even have negative population growth. Reversing a trend like this takes a multiplicity of extraneous factors that encompass all aspects of sociology and economics.

People Need Jobs, Jobs Need People