This group’s task will be a little bit different from other groups. Your task will be to develop a report, an “audit” on the state of biking in Raleigh as a whole. Imagine you are trying to explain what role biking has in the city of Raleigh to someone from a European country where biking is much more common. (I am working to make this a reality.)
Some relevant aspects of this:
–History
What is the history of how Raleigh has been structured? How did automobiles shape the history of Raleigh?
In the 1970s there was a movement to make Raleigh more bike friendly. What happened to it?
Has the environment for biking in Raleigh improved in the last 10 (20) years? In what ways?
-The City of Raleigh and biking
–What is the bike plan for the city of Raleigh?
–are there political factors that constrain the development of biking in Raleigh?
(see for example, this article.)
–what funding sources are or are not available for biking in Raleigh?
–how and why does bike infrastructure in Raleigh prioritize recreation versus transportation?
(Explain the greenway system and the role that it plays in Raleigh)
Bicycle Advocacy in Raleigh
–Raleigh has a bike advocacy group, Oaks and Spokes. What role do they play in the city? What vision do they have?
Getting Around By Bike
–What usage of biking is made among school children? How many students are in Wake County Schools? How many bike to school?
–What are the main “destinations” in the city of Raleigh and what is the bike infrastructure to these destinations? (One way to do this would be to take a “typical” Raleigh family–maybe someone from this class–and point out how they travel to work, to shop, to school, indicating the way that biking may or may not be an option.
–Could you imagine a different future for biking in Raleigh?
I hope to be able to put you in touch with some students from the Netherlands. They may have further questions that they wish you to answer.
Your final product should be a 10 minute video, but I expect you to develop a series of reports that will be the basis for this video. (You should have more material than you show.) I would like you to research these items or other items that you deem important and then decide how to integrate them into your video.