City Atlas, a digital platform developed by the City University of New York (CUNY) Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College and Artist As Citizen, launches this Thursday at www.thecityatlas.org. Generously supported by a 2010 Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation award, City Atlas guides and inspires New Yorkers to participate in building a more sustainable future. An optimistic, relevant, and accessible hub of daily resources and ideas, the Atlas creates new and larger audiences for sustainability by mapping the important work being done by members of New York’s rich cultural, scientific, political and grassroots communities. City Atlas consists of the following components:

Explore | A collection of interactive maps tracing New York’s changing present and possible future

Lifestyle | A daily feed of events, tips, new ideas, and  ‘     NY Back’ volunteer opportunities

People | We ask New Yorkers–everyday people and experts alike–to share their thoughts on the city’s present and future.

Lab | Our very own micro funding initiative supporting innovative, participatory, and on the ground sustainability work in NYC

Archive | A collection of recent creative projects about the city

The weekly ‘Atlas Beat,’ which is pictured above, will feature a map of our top listings for the week, including current events,  new ideas, and fun facts.

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From his blog: At www.mta.me, Conductor turns the New York subway system into an interactive string instrument. Using the MTA’s actual subway schedule, the piece begins in realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute, then continues accelerating through a 24 hour loop. The visuals are based on Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 diagram.

The current phase of the project will connect “the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) Main and Port Washington lines in Queens to a new LIRR terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan”. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) that began its journey in 2007 on 63^rd Street, reached its destination at Grand Central recently. While a lot of work still needs to be completed in Queens, the new LIRR concourse is beginning to taking shape under Grand Central. According to an MTA press release, the concourse will provide LIRR commuters with 91,000 square feet of public space, including shops and pathways to Grand Central Terminal, the subway system and the street above. The project is set to be completed in September 2016. Here is a photo tour of the process.

An interesting tidbit about this project – which is bound to enter NYC lore like sewer alligators, the original City Hall station and the South 4th Station – is the ceremonial burial of one of the TBMs. The 200-ton machine will be left 14-stories below Park Avenue. According to the New York Times, the TBM “will be sealed off by a concrete wall; the chamber will then be filled with concrete, encasing the cutter in a solid cast, Han Solo-style, so that it can serve as a support structure for the tunnel.” The ceremony accompanying the pouring of the concrete is expected to take place on Wednesday.

It is cheaper to leave the 6-8 million dollar machine underground than to pull it out. In New York, TBMs are generally excavated and sold for scrap. While it is generally a money-losing process, the New York underground is extremely crowded: buried wires, sewage pipes, pneumonic tubes, current and future subway tunnels take up a lot of space. Park Avenue and 37^th Street, the final resting places for one of the East side TBM, is a unique spot because it does not interfere with any major infrastructure project, yet. Once the commemorative plaque on Park Avenue disappears, the TBM will inevitably be forgotten and re-discovered by engineers, planners or subterranean explorers sometime in the future.

Images courtesy of New York Times and Streetsblog

But the near half million residents of Murcia, Spain got to ponder this offer quite recently. Congestion and parking woes had gotten so out of hand in the city that public officials decided that if people were willing to trade in their cars by the end of June, they would get free tram passes for life. This was step 1 in a 3 part campaign to get people thinking outside their cars. Step 2 included public displays of the dismantling of cars that were turned in and step 3 included automobile installations such as the one featured here, that highlighted just how hard it was to park.  They also created some fun PSAs to get the word out.

I haven’t found any numbers on how many people actually took advantage of the trade-in. Will keep on the hunt for that. But one thing is clear to me: In the age of marketing, they used an innovative, provocative and fun campaign to get people thinking about this personal decision with a collective impact. Image via Fast Company.

Large international sporting events are often an impetus for massive urban redevelopment projects. The 2014 World Cup is scattered among 12 cities in Brazil, which is roughly the size of the continental U.S. To prepare for the nationwide event, Brazil is upgrading its transportation infrastructure, from its airports to its subway lines. Sao Paulo, which will host both World Cup games and the soccer competition in the 2016 Olympics, just awarded a contract for $862 million to build the city’s first elevated monorail between the airport and its existing subway system. The need for public transportation updates are keenly felt in Sao Paulo. Subway service is limited, and the city is in a state of perpetual gridlock, making buses and more informal forms of public transit, like private vans, slow and inefficient.

Sweeping infrastructural improvements can, in theory, have a lasting positive effect on an urban area. When built to serve a temporary purpose, these projects are often a mixed blessing, at best, for urban inhabitants. China’s questionable urban renewal practices during the Olympics in 2008 and Montreal’s 1976 Olympic Stadium, which took Montreal’s taxpayers 30-years to pay off, are particularly infamous.

Infrastructure projects, especially in the developing world, need to be flexible and adaptable. They also need to benefit the whole population, hence the term public. Intermodal transit linkages are important. However, focusing on one expensive line, which will serve a narrow segment of the population once the World Cup and the Olympics are over, seems short sighted. The city needs holistic public transit upgrades and extensions, that will benefit a broader segment of the population. Sao Paulo- a city that is infamous for its broad class divide – will come under international scrutiny in both 2014 and 2016. It should seek to fund transit projects that will weave favelas into the fabric of Sao Paulo, rather than those that will reinforce their separation.

 Images courtesy of Rio Times Online and Smart Planet

Two routes were mapped in 1982: U.S. Bicycle Route 1 and U.S. Bicycle Route 76. U.S. Bicycle Route 1 runs from North Carolina to Virginia. U.S. Bicycle Route 76 runs from Illinois through Kentucky to Virginia. Unfortunately, funding and federal enthusiasm for the USBRS dried up shortly after 1982, and a comprehensive national network of bike routes exists only on paper.

According to Good Magazine, Americans made 4 billion biking trips in 2009, compared with just 3.3 billion in 2001. The idea that cycling is a viable form of transport is becoming more and more normalized in the U.S. What role does the forgotten U.S. Bicycle Route System play in this? U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently announced on his blog that AASHTO has approved the first new routes in the national bike system in more than 30 years. The new routes include the expansion of USBR 1 to Maine and New Hampshire, USBR 20 in Michigan, and USBRs 8, 95, 97, and 87 in Alaska.

The routes are nominated for numbered designation by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and are cataloged by AASHTO.  While a number of states are interested in implementing U.S. Bicycle Routes, State DOTs primarily focus on highway, bridge (and to a lesser extent) railroad operation. With looming budget problems in many states, USBRs are simply not a priority. A lot of the effort towards the realization of a USBRS  has been taken on by volunteers working with non-profits like Adventure Cycling Association. Check out their weekly updates about the expansion of the U.S. Bicycle Route System here.

Images courtesy of Adventure Cycling Association and Wikipedia

In full disclosure, I did not ride to work today. But my bike is definitely my preferred method of movement to and from and she gets used more days than not. I think I can likely say the same for Lucette Gilbert, who you can see in this wonderful short on Streetfilms today.  Besides wanting to go ride my bike next to her, she speaks to the timelessness of cycling. She has memories of needing her bike as a child in France to go visit her friends, in her pre-phone world. And she loves the new infrastructure of New York City that has allowed her to witness more and more people riding.

If you ever get to encounter Lucette, don’t tell her you are impressed by her still riding. She finds it offensive, which while it makes for a great sound-byte that speaks to her sweet and sassy character (I hope to be such a strong 70 + year old, still on my bike of course), it is actually just a reminder that bikes can be for everyone. As my good friend Kelly has said, (and perhaps it came from some other cycling friends she has met on her bike travels) All for bikes and bikes for all!

Descriptions of open positions, including requirements and application instructions, are available below. The deadline for all applications is May 15th.

Atlas Content Curator Internship

Atlas Social Media Internship

Food System Assessment Internship

Invasive Species Research Internship

Urban Sustainability Extension Service Internship

Video Media Internship

You can read more about the program on the CISC Summer Internship Program webpage.

The EPA will be loosing $1.6 billion. This is about half of what was proposed by Republicans initially, but still accounts for a cut of about 16% of their annual operating budget. (About the same amount of money is being cut from the defense budget that the Republicans had initially asked for.  That budget is now set at $513 billion instead of $515 billion.) This blog is not a place for discourse on our defense and military budget, but I figured I would add that in there as a point of reference. Just sayin.

High-speed rail investment is also losing a significant chunk of change. The original stimulus package of 2009 had about $8 billion dedicated to high speed rail and the current level of funding was at $2.5 billion per year. That budget is now being cut by at least $1.5 billion–the final numbers have yet to be worked out. Funnily enough, in February, Transportation Secretary Ray LeHood was asking for $53 billion in such investments. I say funnily there in more of a “he was way off,” tone. There is nothing funny about this. Reminds me that I was witness to one of the most compelling presentations I have ever by the director of transportation for the MTA a few months ago.  He talked about mass transit and trains as the linchpin of solving green-house gas emissions.  (More on that soon when we launch City Atlas.) Oh well. Maybe next time America!

In the time that this was written, news has been roaming around the internet that the deal to stave off the shut down will actually not go through…just sayin. Again.

Trash Talk: Options for Converting Our Solid Waste to Energy

Thursday, April 7, 2011 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

We produce 250 million tons of trash a year, more than half of which goes to landfills. As landfills reach capacity, alternative waste-management strategies – including the conversion of waste into energy – are being enhanced and expanded. “Trash Talk: Options for Converting Our Solid Waste to Energy”, on Thursday, April 7, will feature Nickolas J. Themelis from the Earth Engineering Center at Columbia University and other technology experts, who will cover new waste-to-energy technologies and whether they represent a more sustainable option.

Click here to download the PDF event flyer

Fare and Toll Payment Technologies’ Potential Benefits for Sustainability and Society

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Transportation agencies are now developing and piloting the next generation payment systems with cash-less tolls and contact-less fare cards. “Fare and Toll Payment Technologies’ Potential Benefits for Sustainability and Society”, on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 will feature Amy Linden from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and other leading experts, who will explore the implications of developments in how we price and pay for transportation.

Click here to download the PDF event flyer