Diversity and Inclusion

From the Ad Council:

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A New Bollard for Campus?

At the monthly landscape committee meeting last week, we reviewed the myriad of materials and features found on campus. There are more than 42 different types of bollards. I saw this one last night in Ottawa’s Confederation Park.

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Might be a nice addition to our inventory during Dartmouth’s long winter.

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“Moments of Warmth” on a Snowy February Day

A friend who knows of my interest in transit and Canada shared this link. Wouldn’t it be fun to do a bus shelter like this at Dartmouth?

This is not intended to promote Duracell.

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Occom Pond Party Preparations

A number of volunteers gathered today to prepare for the Occom Pond Party & Dartmouth’s Winter Carnival next weekend. “Heroes & Villains” is the theme. Under the able direction of Bill Young, snow was piled for sculptures, and ice blocks from the pond were assembled into an ice castle.

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Taking Down West Stands

Here’s a great time lapse video of the West Stands coming down.

The replacement stands will be ready for a big crowd in September 2015.

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Multiuse Solar Panels/Bike Paths

We know that the Netherlands is a bike loving country. That together with some innovative minds gets you a solar bike path. Please click on the pictures for more information.

Or in Dutch:

 

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Induced Demand and Road Diet

Recently I read the book ‘Walkable City’ from Jeff Speck. The book discusses in 10 steps how we can make cities better, more attractive and healthier. As always when I read an urban planning book, I wonder how this would translate to Dartmouth. Regrettably, most great books are about city planning and, when we’re lucky, about town planning but hardly ever about campus planning. Nevertheless, I am going to try to translate Speck’s lessons for a walkable city and ask what this would look like for Dartmouth.
Speck’s most eye-catching quote is: ‘Traffic Studies are Bullshit’. Besides the fact that I like the controversial language, I agree with his opinion that the car-first approach has been damaging to American cities. Any significant change to a neighborhood requires a traffic study, any new street design needs a traffic study and guess what: they almost always predict an increase in traffic. The traffic studies are almost always right as well. The reason for this is ‘induced demand’. ‘On average, a 10 percent increase in lane miles induces an immediate 4 percent increase in vehicles traveled on that road, which climbs up to 10 percent in 10 years. In other words, the induced demand is so large that eliminates all the advantages of adding lanes.

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Now, we do not live in a metropolitan area and many people are completely dependent on the car to get to work, but does creating more roads solve the congestion issue around Dartmouth?
With a ‘road diet’, Speck argues that decreasing the amount and the width of lanes can substantially increase the walkability and dynamic of a city without creating more congestion. In fact, he argues that narrower lanes are safer. Fewer fatal accidents happen, and cars drive substantially slower. Chances of a pedestrian surviving a traffic collision would be 35% higher if collision speed were reduced from 30mph to 20mph. The chances would be 85% higher if the speed were reduced from 40mph.
Where could this work for Dartmouth? Two places immediately come to mind. One is the traffic around the Green, the other is the access roads. Roads around the Green can be identified as three one-way roads and one two-way two-lane road with a safety island in the middle, street parking on one side and a bus-stop lane on the other side.  From a quick satellite picture measurement, the three one-way roads are approximately 26′ (Dartmouth Hall Side ), 24′ (Baker Library Side), and 33′ (Collis Side) wide.  The width of each of those lanes on those roads are at least the same width of highway lanes which encourages people to drive fast, especially if there is no oncoming traffic.
The access roads are the Wheelock Streets (East and West), Lyme Road, Route 120 and Route 10. The speed limit of those roads in town is 25mph. These roads also have at least 12 foot wide lanes, again the width of highway lanes. Though direct oncoming traffic and street parking reduce the ‘sense of safety’, the width of the lanes still encourage speeding.

I understand that snow removal may require some additional space in the lanes but it would interesting to take a close look at some of those roads and see if narrowing lanes, adding bike paths and return to 2-way streets around the Green could significantly improve the traffic situation, including bicycle and pedestrian friendliness and the livability of our Campus.

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Another playable campus idea

Here’s another  fun idea for the campus. And if it can be installed in Montreal, it seems like it could survive Hanover’s environment.

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Playable Campus?

Playable City ideas – like Bristol’s water slide or its temporary play streets – are a human response to the coldness and anonymity of the urban environment.

How could we promote a more “Playful Campus?” How about a giant slip n’ slide on Old Tuck Drive for the Sophomore summer experience. It also would be a great way to get students to the river – fast!

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New Windows at the Hop

One of the three summer projects on the south side of the Green is the replacement of the windows at the Hop. The work began last month and will wrap up in September.

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