The New School Hosts Youth Bicycle Summit

Dozens of people filled Wollman Hall last weekend for the Third Annual Youth Bike Summit. The national conference is held annually to discuss and inform those interested in learning more about the dynamic lifestyle that surrounds cycling.

The conference hosted workshops, a showcase of Parsons’ urbanBIKE initiative project, and a free bike helmet fitting session organized by the New York City department of transportation.

Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, and alternative transportation advocate, delivered the keynote address, explaining how bicycle advocacy is about creating a healthier environment.

“We need to know what kind of city we want, in order to know how we want to live,” he said.

He also noted that cities should be organized by safer and healthier models.

“A new vision is needed, the cities we have today are totally wrong because humans live in fear of getting killed by a car,” Penalosa said. “Even though we love Manhattan, this isn’t the kind of city we want either. We need a totally new design that is dense yet offers safety.”

He also criticized the lack of political and economic support for urban bicycle riders.

“There isn’t enough political cost or support for bike ways,” Penalosa said.

Matthew Willse, an MFA Design & Technology Design student, whose app Cyclee appeared at the showcase, wants to create a community where cyclists can network with like-minded people.

“My primary focus is to make connections with people and socialize through a common interest,” Willse said.

Willse hopes Cyclee will create a peer network, complete with tips, for both new and experienced riders. Willse is anticipating the launch of Cyclee to go public in May, which coincides with Bike Month.

Senior Parsons Product Design student Will Fu created a safety feature developed during a semester theme project, Products for Service. The design consists of a handlebar with built in LED turn signals and headlights.

Kelly Hanson of the Community Cycling Center in Portland, Oregon, said that there’s a sense of pride among people that take a risk, in cities where bike safety isn’t as top notch as needed. She said that the biking community goes beyond mere advocacy for alternative transportation.

“There’s a sense of community where we have a lot of human interaction,” Hanson said.

Gemma Richardson a senior at Lang and co-chair of the New School Bikes believes that the “bike culture” has grown in New York City in recent years mainly because of its importance in the sociopolitical climate and design of the urban city.

“The growing presence of the bicycle in numbers and its support from both bottom-up and top-down efforts alike demonstrate not only its popularity,” she said, “but indeed its necessity for a more sustainable future.”