Urban Bikescapes in New York - Outline of a New Urban Typology

Abstract

With an explorative analysis of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway as point of departure, the focus is partly on the role of the new cycle environment as a mobility space, which can be experienced via movement and in transit, and partly on the architectonic and spatial qualities of the design as a framework for urban life and cultural interaction.

The paper begins with a presentation of New York Citys intentions with the new bikescape on Manhattan. As a continuation of this, the results and the theoretical and methodological approach to the analyses are presented, from four perspectives:

• Urban bikescapes as a strategy to open the city and connect it in new ways

• Urban bikescapes as part of the historical and cultural identity of New York

• Urban bikescapes as a socially constructed place with emphasis on the social and mental meaning of the place and on the programs

• Urban bikescapes as an architectonic place

Finally, the analyses are summarized and the concept urban bikescapes is presented as a new urban typology and defined more precisely, as a concept.