Vandals of the Commons

Roads soaked in fossil fuel leaks, toxic surface runoff and throwaway junk will now become safe from young criminals that vandalise the hot cooking bitumen and footpaths with their chalk.

Since the 17th century children who 'go and play outside' have been engaging together with equals in the game of 'scotch-hop'.

Proposed new anti-graffiti laws in New South Wales will make it an offence to intentionally mark any premises...That means it will technically outlaw things like chalk hopscotch squares or handball courts drawn on footpaths or bitumen...Unless the kids get the consent of the local council they're committing an offence" abc.

Obese and attention deficient young people have to navigate a visual cacophony of solid state spam (advertising) on walls or all the other surfaces in their ever shrinking public spaces.

Are they really the 'criminal vandals' that deprive all living beings of a habitable planet?
Their guardians would do well to provide Intergenerational Justice and Intergenerational Equity for their offspring or the writing will be on the wall...


Related:
Investing in public art and young people in Manly 2007
Power and Attention Hogs in Social Spaces, 2008

Hindering the physical and neurological development of children

As reported before: Extended time, flat on the back, lacking sensual interaction is a form of deprivation for developing human beings. The average child might now spend extended time in a 'convenient' capsule. “Parents are not picking up their infants when the infants are awake... you get a stroller and car seat combo. And because the car seat snaps in and out of the stroller and the vehicle, often the baby simply stays put after reaching a destination.” These “mobility” gadgets might appear as a convenient “life saver” for parents in their 4x4s/cars.

For the capsule-bound and interaction-deprived infant it often means:

• motor delays
• “.. developmental, cognitive, and organizational skills delays, eye-tracking problems, and behavioral issues”
• the flattening of the baby's skull, occurs “in infants who spend too much time on their backs while awake.”
• This syndrome is also termed 'Flat-head syndrome' or plagiocephaly.

“In recent years, craniofacial centers and primary care providers reported a dramatic increase of up to 600 percent in referrals for misshapen heads.” Various service industries and products (eg cranial helmets) have sprung up, promising 'corrections' of the unintentional cranial modification. The hindered development of the neurological network will most likely be a life-long handicap.

Experts are urging “parents and caregivers to ensure that babies get enough "tummy time" throughout the day while they are awake and supervised”. Quality interaction is needed to produce a human being through interactive behaviour. "Increasing the amount of time your baby lies on his or her tummy promotes muscle development in the neck and shoulders; helps prevent tight neck muscles and the development of flat areas on the back of the baby's head; and helps build the muscles baby needs to roll, sit and crawl" "It's important to get our infants out of devices that constrain mobility and onto their tummies so they can focus on neck muscle balance as they interact with their caregivers," “We're going to have to be more actively involved with them” - beyond a 'rotate daily'.

Have a look at the Manly poodle & pram parade, check out the adults' active interaction with their mobile or the dog/s. In the eateries, do the kids stare at the wall, while the grown-ups are interacting with each other and the environment?

Some cafes/eateries in Europe have introduced pram parking at the front door, fold it up and into a slot. The baby/or multiples are then carried or walked to the area where the group wishes to engage with one another.

Experts urge parents/caregivers to facilitate mobility for their infants and not constrain mobility. Craniofacial deformities and a deficient neurological network can be prevented. 'Activities to Help You Position, Carry, Hold and Play with Your Baby' advises on basic interaction.

Images:
1. Heinrich Zille, Children practicing handstand via Zeno
2 Edward James Muggeridge, Healthy child crawling via Zeno.
3 Edward James Muggeridge, Healthy child crawling via Zeno
4 Heinrich Zille, Children practicing handstand via Zeno

Links:
-Child Development: Lack Of Time On Tummy Shown To Hinder Achievement, American Physical -Therapy Association (070808)
-Intentional head molding, head flattening or headshaping and other body hacks
- More on the child's development guided by interpersonal communication (language development and though) and culture via Lev Vygotsky

Update:
New study possibly links cognitive and motor delays with 'flat head syndrome' in young babies 15022010

Sustainable mobility as core value

New citizens to this place must answer such essential questions such as: Who is the Queen's representative in Australia? To merge into the dominant norms and values they have to do it in the local lingo (Professor Michael Clyne, Danger! Monolingual Australians in global job market: MP3) of course. (SMH)

In Denmark they are going beyond "fundamental norms and values“ and are teaching new-comers how to use the dominant mode of transport: the bicycle.

Maybe Australia should deliver 4x4 classes for immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees for free.

Attracting more motorised vehicles to Manly beach

Some cities aiming for sustainability introduce 'pay as you drive' schemes. Transportation in Sydney is 'going nowhere', killing many, endangering health and hotting up the Earth for all to come.

But Manly is going the other way, parking out the beach will become even cheaper. Beachfront parking already increases traffic and the associated noise and air pollution. Foul smells and deafening noises enter the eateries and cafes at the beach and the CBD. Hot bombs fly along unrestricted. Even on the beach promenade the negative impacts can be heard and smelled. Sometimes even there are motorised vehicles on the pedestrian path. The stated goal of 'maximise (car) parking' seems contrary to any proclaimed goals of sustainability.

Just one look at the many parked bikes and walkers and one can see that residents and visitors want bikeability and walkability in a unique place. Yes they do shop too and spend money in restaurants. But in the absence of 'a chambre of non-motorised residents and visitors', no one seems to consult these stakeholders. Lets not consume the uniqueness of Manly beach in one gulp.
Consider a car-free beach, even a walkable, cyclable town.
A world for cars

Bikes in Manly - towards sustainable mobility

Due to the insuffiencient number of bike racks in Manly, many cyclists have to resort to use the Corso palm trunks as posts. Unless the palm is not a dead stump, this will not be appropriate parking when going shopping. Some palms have introduced Mondo grass planted at their base which seems to keep most people off as it is such a hardy weed. Pity no indigenous alternative plant could be found.

But now there is a 24/7 “Guantanamo Bay for bikes'' in the Whistler St. CAR park.
There are also more bike paths in Manly now. Often people in motorised urban tanks hogg these paths. Outside the C.B.D., motorists show clear signs that they are not willing to share the road with non-motorised mobile people. The risk to health and life of not having physically-separated bicycle paths is a reality. Sustainable mobility must start with an urban concept.

Automobile apartheid & sacrifice

In a world resembling a giant car-park with a mash-up of roads, personal freedom to mobility, especially of the young, the not so young, specific groups and any non automobile users is severely limited.
As David Roberts from Grist puts it:

"Automobile apartheid means anyone who wants mobility through walking, cycling, or public transportation suffers discrimination in a built environment designed for automobiles."

"First-class citizens drive motor vehicles, second-class Americans walk, cycle, or ride public transit."

The human sacrifices of ancient civilisations are condemned, the human sacrifices to the auto-mobile 'god' becomes a mere risk calculation individually and systemically.The 'road toll' and 'road kill' fill the 2cm margins of the tabloids.

"In the past 25 years some 175,000 pedestrians have been killed on America's roadways." (grist)

Children and over 70's suffer the highest fatalities. Specific ethnic groups are also over represented in these stats.

• How is it possible that 10 cars roll over a woman on a highway and do not notice anything?
• What system can issue a $5 jaywalking ticket to a 73-old pedestrian that is bleeding on the ground after being hurled into the air by a car.
• What mind must one have to knock down an eight-year-old disabled girl with her walking frame and flee the scene?

Trees are pet-hates of road authorities: Make a 'clear zone' to improve 'roadsafety' and fell 20 km of them.

Compulsive passive driving for all who need to breathe further reduces life quality and life expectancy for all.
previous:
Motorised transport and its regulation
4 WDs

4WD user profile

"A typical 'city' four-wheel drive owner" is:

• in their 40s to 50s
• obese
• conservative, intolerant
  
• homophobic
• in full employment, well remunerated
• not keen on Indigenous culture
• allergic to public & good causes
• has a low regard for disadvantaged people

they view themselves:

• as rugged individualists 'lovin a bit of sport'
• 'it's ok to use force to get my way' (also on & off road)
• proud 'Mr. Fixit'
• ok to be digitally illiterate

via ABC news online

Air bags for pedestrians

In Europe, new design standards for cars are being proposed so that when pedestrians are driven into, the car does not immediately kill them or cause head injuries. Bonnets are to be raised above engines so they can bend on impact. Bumper bars are to be broader so that pedestrians are not immediately thrown head-first onto the engine compartment. At present, car design promotes head injuries as low bumper bars hit pedestrians' legs first knocking them off their feet so the head impacts the front of the car.

Another proposal is external air bags which open on impact on the outside of the car to protect pedestrians. This would be an extra cost for motorists, who would prefer to spend the money on car sound systems, but could save many lives and prevent injuries.

In Manly there are still a large number of vehicles which are designed for war on the roads. Car-armouring such as bull bars and heavy weight ensure the survival of the toughest. The guaranteed losers of these street battles are pedestrians and cyclists, especially children. For each one of the thousands of deaths on the roads and adjacent footpaths, about 100 people are injured, often seriously and permanently.

Although in Australia, the discussion about carcinogenic diesel dust particles has finally just begun, the topic of dangerous streets has been long kept quiet. The aim of design changes is to protect living beings without air bags who dare to go out into car-dominated public places.

Where are the car-free spaces around here?

Projects to stay alive while moving about

"...the car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete in the urban compound."

Marshall McLuhan

The Ghostcycles project in Seattle collects data from cyclists who have been involved in accidents. Patterns are established and action is taken. There is a Google map of all the places where cyclists were struck by cars, a form to report accidents and many useful links. In an auto-mobile culture like Australia such projects could aid in a transition to more sustainable means of transport. Some of the stats read like:

" 1 in 5 of the accidents involving another vehicle were hit-and runs"
" 74% of accidents resulted in physical injury and 35% resulted in damage to the bicycle 21% resulted in both. Only 13% of the accidents reported no damages."

There are many crosses and flowers lining roads in Sydney now, they seem to get denser and denser along the edge of the road. A mapping of the 'toll' could lead to changes or roads being blocked entirely to vehicles. There is even 'A Self-Help Program for Petro-Junkies'.