As soon as we got to know the city of Alcoi by visiting the hotspots of problematic infrastructure, Isabel showed us the problems she is seeing since a long time and together we tried to find single solutions for these problems. We also used the supplies given to us by the Universitat Politècnica de Valéncia, such as an electric scooter as a testing vehicle, for further ideas and inspiration. Many of the ideas are supposed to form a bigger concept in the end. The most promising ten ideas are the following:
- Xkuty - electric scooter sharing
- What: Creating a concept for sharing electric scooters city wide for an affordable price.
- Why: Many people do not use bikes or do not even own one, part of the reason for that are the steep hills and hot weather. Driving electric scooter is much more convenient and will help to reduce the amount of cars.
- How: Using the local company Xkuty, which builds e-scooters, will be very beneficial for the economy of the area and the acceptance of the program
- Less and more expensive parking spots
- What: We would like to reduce the number of parking spots on the streets and make the remaining ones more expensive or ban them to the outskirts.
- Why: On the one hand it will simply make driving less attractive, but more importantly on the other hand will create space for bike lanes.
- How: By reducing the total amount of spots and creating central parking points instead of on-street-parking.
- Bike escalator
- What: There is only one real bike escalator which is operating in Norway. We would like to see that also in Alcoi.
- Why: Alcoi is located in a mountain area, which makes many streets very steep and unattractive to ride up. Especially in the summer when it is up to 45°C it is very unlikely for people to ride a bike uphill. On the other side it is totally fine to go downhill.
- How: By exploring the city more we will find a street which is very steep and very busy at the same time. Finding the most adequate street guarantees that people will try it out and might use it frequently.
- Pedestrian boulevards in cooperation with art students
- What: Many streets also in the city center are open for cars and have very narrow sidewalks.
- Why: We want to slowly step-by-step push the cars out of the city center to make walking and biking more attractive.
- How: By addressing art/design students and creating a project for them we could pick a certain road that should be closed first. The art students can find a way to make the street more beautiful e.g. colorful umbrellas as shade providers.
- “Welcome package” for new students or staff
- What: Giving “sustainable” gifts to new students and staff
- Why: This can raise awareness and gives people the opportunity to try out new and more sustainable things
- How: We can find sponsors for a gift bag, these could include free trial month tickets for public transportation, sustainable toothbrushes made from bamboo or discounts for green energy contracts in case students move into a new apartment.
- Different traffic flow
- What: We find the existing traffic flow not very suitable for an environment in which people would like to walk or bike.
- Why: The major roads are only one way streets which leads to many detours if you want to go somewhere, which can be very exhausting while biking. Also it makes people drive much faster than allowed making bikers uncomfortable to drive on the street.
- How: By changing to two way streets all points in the city should be easier accessable. Furthermore, we would like to restructure the green waves, we find they are too long in terms of length which will support the speeding.
- City Bikes
- What: Introduce a city bike service
- Why: Thereby people would not need to buy/ possess bikes but could still use them. To increase the inner city mobility.
- How: Provide a city bike service with stations at strategic points. The first twenty minutes would be free of charge which should be enough in a small city like Alcoi. If you would like to take a longer ride or make an excursion there could be an attractive fee system.
- Walking distance maps
- What: Visualise that the distances within the city are short.
- Why: To promote walking for short distances
- How: Installing walking maps for example at bus stations or strategic spots which show how many minutes it takes you to get from your current location to your destination.
- Safer road crossing for pedestrians
- What: Provide secure street crossings.
- Why: The majority of drivers does not respect crosswalks and traffic lights take to long to switch lights.
- How: Installing green light on demand for traffic lights at busy areas or schools.
- Increase amount of people who bike-to-work
- What: Facilitate the bike ride to work or university.
- Why: To raise its attractiveness.
- How: Providing showers, changing rooms and lockers e.g. promote the gym showers.
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