7.19.2012

Portland: What have you got, Toulouse?

South of Copenhagen's blustery winters and rolling plains, in the foothills of the Pyrénées, lies temperate Toulouse, France's 4th largest metropolitan area. Last week, a high level delegation from Copenhagen captured Portland's attention, while another First Stop Portland visitor went largely unnoticed. 

Phillipe Goirand is an elected representative overseeing development of the bicycle network for the City of Toulouse. He also serves as the Transportation Secretary for the regional government, Communauté Urbaine du Grand Toulouse (trans. Urban Community of Greater Toulouse). Fresh off the Velo-City Global 2012 conference in Vancouver, BC, Goirand arrived in Portland eager to discuss Portland's bicycle efforts and share insights from his North American tour.

He started off his visit getting background from Bureau of Planning and Sustainability program manager Michele Crim, who went over how bicycling fits into Portland's Climate Action Plan. She explained that, while we're doing pretty well by American standards, we need to significantly increase both bicycle and transit ridership in order to meet our 2030 CAP goals. An important point in the bicycle as transportation strategy, she emphasized, is seeing the bicycle as a local economic driver in addition to a transportation option.


Michele Crim, Sustainability Manager, BPS, goes over Portland's Climate Action Plan with Phillippe Goirand, from Toulouse, France.


This was followed by a discussion with Metro Councilor (and BTA co-founder) Rex Burkholder and a tour of the South Waterfront and Pearl districts with Julie Gustafson, assistant community relations manager for Portland Streetcar. Afterward, Goirand expressed appreciation for many of Portland's innovative sustainability strategies (especially storm water mitigation strategies like bioswales). Then, without skipping a beat, he encouraged Portland's leaders to distinguish between "must haves" and "nice to haves" in their planning efforts.

Goirand visits one of Portland's premier recreation spaces, Jamsion Square in Portland's Pearl District
 
So what are the current transportation planning "must haves" in Toulouse?
  • The same refrain rings out in cities around the globe: bicyclist and pedestrian safety is a primary transportation issue.
  • Putting bike lanes on all neighborhood streets is necessary so bikes have equitable access to city streets.
  • Where there's no space to do it, create the space to do it. Goirand noted the Eastbank Esplanade as a premier example of making space for bikes and pedestrians where none previously existed.
  • Thinking about streets as shared space where people and their transportation modes peacefully coexist.  Call them Complete Streets (Geneva), Woonerfs (Amsterdam), or Zone de Rencontrer (Toulouse), but considering streets as "pacified zones" rather than war zones is the way to go.
  • Good signage is important. Portland has really good signage, Goirand observed, and Toulouse should follow suit.
And the "nice to haves" Portland should be considering?
  • Narrowing streets, making more room for bikes, less room for automobiles. In Goirand's terms, Portland could "create friction" for automobiles in urban space. "They move too fluidly here," he lamented.
  • Architectural achievements can be incorporated in transportation projects.
  • Pro-bicycle policies like Toulouse's E-Bike subsidy program, which helped offset the costs of purchasing electric bicycles. (Although 65% percent of the people they subsidized adopted the bike as their primary form of commuting, the city found the program  too costly and it's is now on the chopping block.)
  • What's so crazy about a car-free cultural district downtown? What if Portland didn't allow autos on streets with cultural attractions? And then, it made admission to the attractions free? It'd be like Sunday Parkways all week long. Imagine a car-free Park Blocks running the length of the city. 
Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder (left) with Goirand

"In France, we have no planners..."
Goirand reiterated his appreciation for Portland's integrated transportation and land use planning efforts, especially efforts to incorporate green house gas emissions into all regional land-use planning models, as Burkholder explained to him.. Goirand said a lack of similar integration is really hurting his region, where many large projects are built without any consideration for the impacts on nearby land-uses or transportation. However, he observed, Portland can do better. The city has so many plans that they need to be integrated somehow. (This isn't the first time we've heard this.) This complexity might be resolved by making sure that each of the plans refers directly to other existing plans. Furthermore, while Portland's plans are admirable with respect to civic engagement, Goirand wondered where government accountability and plan evaluation enter the picture. Finally, he exhorted Portland's leaders to focus on creating safer streets by increasing pedestrian and bicyclist facilities while limiting the automobile : "You have the space to do it. You just have to be willing to use it that way."

7.12.2012

First Stop Portland hosts Copenhagen Leadership

Copenhagen Mayor Ayfer Bakal brought a powerhouse delegation of 15 leaders from her Technical and Environmental Committee to Portland last week. While both cities were eager to share ideas, at the top of Mayor Bakal’s list was learning more about Portland’s experience in collaborations, both with the private and the non-profit (NPO) sector. "We don’t need to visit Portland to learn about bikes, but public-private partnerships - now that we need to learn about,” explained Mayor Bakal, when asked repeatedly why Copenhagen chose to visit Portland. (Copenhagen already a global leader in the bicycle world.) She affirmed her city’s growing economy, its challenge with public funding, and its need to build better relationships with less government. She shared Copenhagen's commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2025, and.explained that to accomplish such a lofty goal her government will need to be a better partner with its people. 

Lessons for Copenhagen - Effective use of NPO’s

The delegation was particularly taken with NPO’s that advanced both pubic policy and advocacy goals - such as Friends of Trees, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Bike Transportation Alliance, Portland Farmer’s Market, neighborhood coalitions, and others.  Saturday’s brief walk through the South Park Blocks with Portland Farmers Market Director Trudy Toliver helped answer their specific questions: how does this work, how do you get people to engage, what do the relationships with the city look like, who’s in charge...?

Copenhagen’s Parks Director Jon Pape was bullish about the partnership Portland has with NPO Friends of Trees. He hopes to bring the idea back to Copenhagen. He shared a disheartening story about Copenhagen's recent efforts to increase their tree canopy: the city had bought trees for citizens to plant on their own, “but no one took the trees,” he lamented. “We needed a citizen organization like Friends of Trees to help us be successful.”

Copenhagen delegates press Portland Farmers Market ED Trudy Toliver for details about how her organization functions

Lessons for Portland:

Pay attention to framing

Copenhagen was candid about our bike program. Several delegates told us to pay attention to what they call “framing.”

“The most important thing your bike program should do for its people is be safe, convenient and easy. And if, in the process, you save the world (i.e. meet carbon goals) it's merely a bonus,” said Copenhagen City Councilor Jakob Vester Hougaard.  “Your job is to combine green technology with clever planning to make people’s everyday lives better. That’s the goal.” And the message is consistent citywide. Copenhagen's health department even promotes the message, "You're safer on a bicycle than on the sofa."

ISS rep Fletcher Beaudoin explains the partnership between Portland State University and City of Portland in the "Green Bike Box" research project on SW Broadway.
 
"Create space" for bicycles rather than "take space"

While several delegates acknowledged both cities use of shared streets,  they encouraged more efforts to 'create space' just for bicycles. They noted Portland's efforts to delineate bikeways such as the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade; the cantilevered ped/bikeway on the Steel Bridge; and they loved the green painted bike lanes and boxes. "That’s created space, not taken space," they said (ironically, very similar to the comment made by Philippe Giorand, from Toulouse).  Drivers don’t feel they are giving up as much when space is created, not taken. So maybe a little more green paint could help reduce some conflict?

Copenhagen traffic guru Niels Tørsløv (center) documents his experience on the Eastbank Esplanade.

Conversational cycling (beyond Spandex and into street clothes - yes!)

Copenhagen is expanding 80% of its bike lane widths from 1.7 meters to 3 meters, allowing several riders to cycle next to each other. They feel this is particularly important for parents and school children to share their commute together, safely. They encouraged Portland to think beyond just the efficiency of the commute, the Copenhagen officials argued, we should also think about the joy of the ride itself.. Conversational cycling might not be possible everywhere, but on targeted neighborhood streets, it could be a great complement to our safe routes to school program.  

Cycling advocate, Copenhagen City Councilor  Signe Goldmann, talks with neighbors at City Repair's innovative Sunnyside Piazza


Below, a slideshow of our favorite scenes from the Copenhagen study tour.
 

Finally, First Stop Portland wouldn't work without the support of Portland's experts.
Special thanks to everyone who helped with this study tour: MetroCouncilor Carlotta Collette, Metro Director of Planning and Development Robin McArthur,  City of Portland Director of International Affairs Noah Siegel, City of Portland Transportation Director Catherine Ciarlo, City of Portland Transportation Policy Manager Katja Dillmann, City of Portland Director of Parks andRecreation Mike Abbate, City of Portland Planning and Sustainability Director Lisa Libby, Portland Development Commission Executive Director Patrick Quinton, PortlandFarmer’s Market Executive Director Trudy Toliver, POSI Executive Director RobBennett, Institute for Sustainable Solutions Partnership Coordinator Fletcher Beaudoin, Gerding Theater Concierge Frank Saenz , Alta Planning + Design Principal Steve Durrant (and his wife Chris Carlson and son Peter Durrant), City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services Outreach Coordinator Anne Nelson, City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services Eco-roofProgram Administrator Amy Chomowicz, City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services Eco-roof Specialist Tom Liptan, andBicycle Transportation Alliance Executive Director Rob Sadowsky.