Urbanism Is Not Climate Masochism

We once heard a story from a driver in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia who was annoyed that a cyclist was slowing him down. Do you know what he said? “You’re not saving the environment, buddy.” This was interesting. The assumption was that if you’re on a bike trying to get somewhere you must be doing it for environmental reasons, probably in an annoyingly self-righteous way. But what if it was just a convenient way to get to work without having to worry about parking? What if it was how he spends time with his kids? What if he just enjoys the fresh air and activity? What if he sold a car in order to save money for other priorities? What if he just finds driving unpleasant? None of this occurred to the driver. The assumption was that the cyclist was there on a bike slowing them down for environmental reasons, probably climate change in particular.

Keep Urbanity rolling:

Join our Patreon for early releases, credit at the end of each video, and bonus content:   / ohtheurbanity  
Contact form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1NeAL...
Subscribe on YouTube:    / @ohtheurbanity  
Instagram:   / ohurbanity  
Twitter:   / ohurbanity  

For professional inquiries, please fill out the following contact form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1NeAL...

References:

"Eat your vegetables" urbanism: https://thedeletedscenes.substack.com...
BBC 15-minute cities:    • How ’15-minute cities’ became a lockd...