CUNY visits the Island to reflect on urban sustainability
Jun 13, 2008 7:22 pm
As both global temperatures and gas prices creep ever higher, The Institute for Sustainable Cities at CUNY is giving a lecture series on Governors Island about urban sustainability. The summer program, entitled Governors Island Science, Art Exhibition, and Lecture Series, will resume this Saturday with a talk called Beyond Bike Lanes: Retrofitting the 21st Century Metropolis for Bicycles and Pedestrians, given by Tom Angotti of Hunter College. By being able to step out of the city, and explore this car-free/bike-friendly island, will hopefully allow visitors to understand the what needs to be done to make our city, and other cities around the world, more accessible to alternative means of transportation. Bike-share programs have been cropping up in other cities, and even in New York, many are experimenting with the idea. Out here on the Island, every Friday, patrons are free to use a bike for up to an hour at no cost (bikes are available to rent for five dollars on weekends). Even on Manhattan, Storefront, a center for art and architecture, and Forum for Urban Design, are exhibiting a similar bike-share program later this summer. And downtown, Bike Around Downtown, launched by the Downtown Alliance, is starting a free bike-share program, which started today, June 13th. With all the buzz surrounding and bike and pedestrian centered metropolis, CUNY’s lecture tomorrow will demonstrate, from an urban-planning point of view, what needs to be done to redesign the city around sustainable form of transportation, and cure us of our oil-addiction. If you can’t join us this week, check out our up-coming events site for future lectures and exhibits. On June 21st, Steve Greenbaum, also of Hunter College, will be speaking about New Materials for Renewable Energy Technologies, so definitely come check it out!