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Carfree Cities conference for Energy Lancaster
With funding from Energy Lancaster Dr Griet Scheldeman and Dr Dave Horton, two social scientists from Lancaster Environment Centre, gave an innovative workshop on an EPSRC project called 'Understanding Walking and Cycling' at the international 'Towards Carfree Cities' conference held in the UK for the first time, in York, June 2010.
Academics, practitioners, policy makers and activists from across six continents attended the workshop 'Putting the people into carfree cities'. The aim of the workshop was to invite participants to reflect critically on which people we put into carfree developments, and which - if any- we leave out. Planners of the past have sometimes worked with homogenous conceptions of the person, but cities for walking and cycling need to include lots of different ways of walking and cycling; for example, handrails on slopes can easily be forgotten if you plan only for the 'able-bodied' citizen.
Scheldeman and Horton presented ethnographic data - on real people walking and cycling in real cities - gathered so far in the ongoing 'Understanding Walking and Cycling' research. The emphasis was on the notion of empathy to reach real 'understanding', i.e. what something means to someone. Participants were then invited to steer away from the often abstract notion of 'carfree city', and instead to learn from eachother and real life experience. In groups of three they ventured out onto the streets of York, with the brief to talk to each other and try and understand how they each experienced and negotiated routes, places and traffic. Afterwards contributors expressed pleasant surprise at what they had found out about each other and at how a straightforward activity like walking is often taken for granted, but in fact holds variation and different meanings to each of us.
More information on the conference and the carfree cities network can be found at www.worldcarfree.net/conference
More information on the EPSRC 'Understanding Walking and Cycling' project can be found at their project website.
Wed 07 July 2010
Latest News
Geography student sets up film company
It is well known that Geography graduates are highly employable and use their degrees in many different ways. One of the more unusual we have heard about recently is Lancaster geographer Greg Tomaszewicz who has set up his own Video Production Company - Lanor Productions.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Fri 22 February 2013
Eco-innovation businesses invited to attend pioneering project launch
Ambitious North West SMEs keen to drive forward eco-innovative ideas and products are invited to a major event in Manchester on March 4.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Thu 21 February 2013
First Science and Technology Business Partnerships and Enterprise Annual Report 2011-2012 available to download now
2011-2012 saw the development of a new theme-based strategy for Business Partnerships and Enterprise in Science and Technology. The seven interdisciplinary themes are: Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Environment, Health and Human Development, Information and Communication Technologies, Quantum Technology and Security. Each theme has dedicated professional staff to work with businesses and source the expertise they need.
Tue 19 February 2013
Lancaster University Coffeemat Challenge won by Science and Technology student Seb
The concept of a new university website, complete with mobile application, to capture the campus social scene at a glance, earned an enterprising student an iPad.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Tue 19 February 2013