A resume about mobility on bicycle infrastructure planning, the story on how the Mexico City Bicycle Strategy was builted directed by Antonio Suarez, Manuel Suarez and Pedro Camarena from UNAM along with Gehl Architects.

1. Title:
From Mobility to Proximity Landscapes, Presenting Bicycle Mobilty
Strategy for Mexico City
Authors:
Antonio Suarez
Pedro Camarena
More information:
http://mexicobiketour.com.mx/?src=tours&tour=3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/febobalam/4111135636/in/set-
72157622819627862/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxPsLpSJIHg
www.mexicobiketour.com
How we did it and why?
The modern society living in cities enforces the right of mobility, this
single fact is turning huge territories into an endless travel landscape.
While the epicenter of this phenomena is expected to happen mainly in
the heart of urban areas, the panorama for mega cities is more
complex, the vanishing of physical boundaries for urbanization and a
rapidly urban sprawl, lead us to rethink about proximity in stead of
unlimited mobility.
What is the role that bicycle infrastructure should play in these social
and ecological context?
This was the reflexion from which we started the mobility strategy
contracted by the city government willing to increase bicycle trips from
existing 1% to 5 %
Which are the kind of trips and bicycle infrastructures we must plan in a
city of cities to enforce proximity while solving mobility?
The social building of landscape through bike use: Designing Bicycle infrastructure goes farther beyond
mobility, while studying the physical and social landscape in which 20 million trips occur every day
expending each one an average of 120 minutes, we came up to the conclusion that bicycle infrastructure
could help in many ways to optimize travel time, energy, health, traffic but over all, a carefully planned
infrastructure can create a democratic landscape built by people in which bicycle communities offer proximity
as an step for high quality of life.
The strategy: It´s about proximity models allowing transportation and social interaction inside community,
while planning bicycle infrastructure for Mexico city we realized that we were planning for a dynamic
metropolitan scale and if we really wanted bicycle to become a main actor in the XXI century city, we must
first envision the future society while consolidating a series of existing mobility transects and environmental
services to place the bicycle infrastructure at the center of planning, including: Social interaction, future
economic - labor dynamics, people´s integrated landscape.
The experience proposed goes through scientific, social, administrative and holistic issues where bicycle
infrastructure is design and placed to link people making community while moving.
Other issues to share learning: Coordination of a international team of experts. Who does what? The
outcomes, papers, manuals and initiatives.
• Proponed poster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46017992@N08/