Urban Planning & Design « The Gondola Project

Urban Planning & Design

28
Jan

2015

La Paz Announces 6 New Cable Car Transit Lines, Leaves Developed World in the Past

Linea Roja in La Paz, Bolivia. Image by Flickr user David Almeida. (Creative commons.)

Forgive the pun, but with yesterday’s announcement of six new cable transit lines for La Paz, Bolivia, the developing world continues to show that it is actually capable of developing new transportation projects, whereas the developed world seems to be capable of little more than resting on the laurels of what was developed generations ago.

Consider the Bolivian situation:

Not more than two years ago, the country announced three new cable car lines with a total distance of around 12 kilometres spread across 11 stations. Those three lines were all operational by the end of last year. This new announcement will add an additional 21 kilometres of lines distributed over 23 stations — all of which, presumably, will be built in the same speedy manner.

When completed, the system as a whole will offer a level of capacity beyond that of the average North American tram or streetcar, as well as wait times of seconds between vehicles — at a fraction of the price of other standard modes.

I have no desire here to get into a debate on the merits of cable propelled transit systems versus things like streetcars and light rail — pick whichever you like and built it.

But the key here is this: You’ve gotta actually build it. Read more

Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

Comments

20
Jan

2015

Is Your (Gondola) Project Successful?

Who knows. I certainly don’t.

It’s a question we get all the time. Is such-and-such a project a success? Is it going to be a success? Why was this project a success? Why was that project a failure?

Again: Who knows. I certainly don’t.

Success is one of those awful words that sounds great but means virtually nothing.

To measure success, one first has to know the intentions and strategic goals underlying the project. That goes not just for gondolas but any project.

That may seem blatantly obvious to some, but is too often completely outside of the debate when it comes to major infrastructure projects. Too often we focus on what we are building, instead of why we are building it.

But that’s only half the problem. Another significant obstacle is that not everyone’s strategic goals are the same. Again — totally obvious to some but all too often missing from public debate about our infrastructure needs.

What’s worse is when the intentions are unintentionally miscommunicated or — even worse again — intentionally obscured. That’s why there’s such a debate about things like London’s Emirates Air Line. Everybody seems to think they know why it shouldn’t have been built, but know one really seems to know why it actually was built.

There’s a difference there, and an important one at that.

When you know the reason something was built, it’s far easier to measure whether it was a success or a failure.

In fact, there’s no other way.

Comments

29
Jul

2013

Walt Disney and Urban Gondolas

This is a guest post by Billy Beasley.

Walt Disney. Just the sound of his name evokes thoughts of Mickey Mouse, animation, and the sprawling theme parks that bear his name. But Disney wasn’t just an animator, he was a master urban planner.

EPCOT Model – Disney’s Future City. Image from WikiTravel.

Disney orchestrated everything when it came to his parks from perception of buildings to the flow of traffic to even the distance between trash cans – he thought of it all. Walt Disney was a dreamer, always pushing to innovate and to push the limits of what was possible. He was also captivated by the future, constantly thinking about what it would look like. In some areas of his theme parks that he dubbed Tomorrowland, he built attractions and features that he believed would be a part of future urban cities. He even built a prototype city model which was to be completely developed and owned by Disney and be a literal living blueprint for future metropolises. Although this massive plan was never built, a model is on display at Disney World. In fact, the E.P.C.O.T. park (the proposed name for the city) evolved into this style and design. Being so captivated by the future, Disney imagined what future transportation methods would be and one of the many solutions he envisioned was the gondola.

Skyway Gondola, first cable car system in Walt Disney Resorts. Image from Wikipedia.

After looking around the world at ski resorts with thoughts of buying one, he noticed how efficient gondola lifts were. So when building his Disneyland park, he added a gondola to connect two parts of the park. Disney envisioned gondolas as futuristic transport and his park was a perfect place to showcase this relatively new and unknown technology. The Skyway Gondola was a four passenger monocable gondola designed by VonRoll, a classic type 101 skyride. This gondola was the first Von Roll gondola in the United States and it even went through another attraction, a smaller model of the Matterhorn mountain.

Disneyland Skyway from another angle. Image by Flickr user Phil Aaronson.

However, this backfired on Disney when other theme parks noticed the gondola and purchased a system of their own to serve as an attraction, not a model for futuristic transportation. Soon, VonRoll type 101 skyrides were popping up in amusement parks everywhere like the San Diego Zoo and in Sea World San Diego. Even Disney themselves used gondolas as attraction at their Disney World and Tokyo Disney Land parks. Soon after, the idea of urban gondolas disappeared into the depths of the amusement parks until its recent resurgence.

Skyway to Tomorrowland - Magic Kingdom, WDW 1999

Skyway at Tomorrowland – Magic Kingdom. Image by Flickr user Halfpintpixie.

Skyway at Tokyo Disneyland. Image by Flickr user Michael.

Today, all of the Skyway gondolas at the three Disney Parks are closed for various reasons. The old gondolas were becoming too much of a cost to maintain and by removing the system, Disney was able to open up land for new attractions. These classic gondolas were landmarks for the industry, helping to introduce the American public to a new form of transportation while staying at the cutting edge of technology.

While unfortunately these gondolas are gone, one aerial ropeway system remains and that is the chairlift at Disney World’s Blizzard Beach (a ski resort themed water park).

Blizzard Beach Summit Plummet and Chairlift

Blizzard Beach Chairlift. Image by Flickr User Marcus.

Walt Disney, under all of the Mickey Mouse paraphernalia and publicity, was a visionary man and a great urban planner, one that many cities would be delighted to have working for them today. After a recent visit to Disney World with my family, the attention to detail is apparent and although he rarely receives credit for it, Disney excelled in the area of urban design.

The addition of Walt Disney’s name to the urban gondola movement is one that could help give credibility to it as well as introduce urban gondolas to hundreds of more people. Years after the Skyway gondolas, Walt Disney’s prediction is finally being fulfilled and the technology that he helped to pioneer in his parks is coming to fruition in the cities of today.

Become a Contributor, Write a Guest Post.
For more information check out the Get Involved page here.

Installations / Urban Planning & Design

Comments

03
May

2012

The Spread of Humanity

Image contrasting and comparing Dubai's growth and development from 2000 (left) to 2010 (right). Image from CNN.

Urban populations and development in cities around the world have exploded over the past century and with the help of modern satellite imaging, we’re able to track the spread of humanity over time. The effects of this growth results in some incredibly stunning photographs. Check out this link or click the image above to see the full article.

The images are brought to you by CNN in collaboration with NASA’s Landsat department and U.S. Geological Survey.

Urban Planning & Design

Comments

29
Mar

2012

Three Eye-Opening Papers On How We Build Transit

The other day I discussed how modal choice often has less to do with the intrinsic qualities of a technology and more to do with extrinsic factors. Those comments caused something of a stir with people coming out saying a variation of the following:

Light Rail is a scam.

Light Rail is awesome.

It depends. (Note: This is the camp I tend to fall in.)

Within the comments I disagreed with a commenter who referred to a “Light Rail Scam” but also admitted that “LRT has been foisted onto places that didn’t need it and probably shouldn’t have been built. But that’s not the case everywhere.”

Which prompted frequent commenter Matt the Engineer to question “What LRT lines weren’t needed and shouldn’t have been built?”

Very good question, Matt.

For readers interested in this issue, there are three essential articles they should look to (Note: clicking on the title of the article will allow you to download it):

Pickrell, A Desire Named Streetcar by Don H. Pickrell (1992, Journal of the American Planning Association).

Flyvbjerg, Demand Forecasts by Bent Flyvbjerg, et al (2005, Journal of the American Planning Association).

DOT ridership cost report by the US Federal Transit Administration (2008).

The Pickrell piece is insanely readable for something as mundane as transit ridership forecasting. If you only have time to read one, this is the one you should look at. It gives a rather disturbing insight into how public transit is planned, funded and built in North America.

The Flyvbjerg piece, meanwhile, is a little more technical but nevertheless eye-opening. In fact, most of Flyvbjerg’s work is essential reading for anyone interested in how we (in)effectively conduct mega projects in the developed world, particularly in regards to public transit. If you take the time to work through his materials, you’ll come out the other end with a different mindset than when you entered.

The FTA piece, lastly, is boring beyond belief. But is great as a reference point to see how this all comes together. In it, you’ll find out which LRT systems in the US are the star performers (they’re not the ones you think), which are the true dogs (they probably are the ones you think), and which ones are middling at best (a few surprises).

If you’re a transit nerd, you need to read these.

Light Rail & Streetcars / Monorails / Public Transit / Research Issues / Urban Planning & Design

Comments

01
Mar

2012

Transit Aesthetics – AutoTram / BusRail

Can the AutoTram revolutionize the way we think about transit planning? Image from fotogalerie.verkehrsgigant-portal.de.

When a city plan is planning a new transit infrastructure project, a lot of time is often spent deliberating over which technology should be implemented. This discussion generally floats back and for between bus and rail (and more recently, sometimes even CPT). For many cash-strapped cities looking for quick wins and cost-effective mass transit solutions, the debate often settles on the mid-tier options, namely bus (BRT) and lightrail/streetcar opportunities (HRT tends to be too expensive and time-consuming to construct.) Amongst the many debate points — capacity, aesthetics, speed, cost, etc. — proponents of both technologies claim their technology is superior.

From my personal experience (your experience may be different), based on conversations with transit planners, engineers, operators and average joes, one of the biggest arguments in favour of LRT is its aesthetics. You can go on and on about all the capabilities and characteristics of modern bus technology, but in the end, a bus is still a bus.

But what makes a bus, such a bus? Its shape? Size? Look? Smell? Other than rubber on road vs steel on rail, what if a bus could be completely remodeled and redesigned to look and feel like LRT? Would this make it as attractive as LRT, and therefore able to attract just as much new transit riders as the rail systems claim?

The Fraunhofer Institute decided to find out. In 2005 they introduced the AutoTram — essentially a road-based LRT. The makers of this technology describe it as:

“… [it] combines features of conventional buses (e.g. high flexibility, low infrastructure costs and moderate life cycle costs) with the advantages of trams like high transport capacity, driving comfort and the possibility of partial emission-free operation.”

Could the AutoTram succeed and if it does, what does this mean for the future of light rail and transit planning?

Infrastructure / Innovations / Other Transit Techs / Public Transit / Questions / Urban Planning & Design

Comments

14
Feb

2012

Yurikamome AGT, Tokyo – Coordinated Urbanism

Yurikamome - 15km elevated AGT system - in Tokyo. Notice how the transit line blends into the surrounding urban fabric - almost making it appear invisible.

Elevated infrastructure can elicit different responses and reactions from cities and communities. Some find a gap in the underutilized spaces below a structure (such as with the boxing ring built under the Sao Paulo highway) while others enjoy the convenience of well-planned, multi-layered cities. For the latter let us turn to Japan.

The Yurikamome (aka Black Headed Seagull) is a 15km elevated AGT line built in the Odaiba and Shiodome districts of Tokyo, Japan. The districts are home to several important commercial, residential and touristed-oriented building and considered one of the most modern areas in the city. (In fact, Obaida was first redeveloped in the 1990s as part of a showcase of futuristic living.) Today, the districts have some of the most visually stunning mixtures of architecture, urban design and transit planning in the world. Check it out:

Obaida, Tokyo in Japan.

Shiodome, Tokyo in Japan

For more photos, click here and here.

The built form is immaculate and in some ways, rather surreal — as though it was plucked straight out of a science fiction film. The Yurikamome’s design is no different and in my opinion, the elevated transit infrastructure and stations are some of the most beautiful examples of above grade transport in the world.

Elevated station, tracks and train. Notice how the different layers of transport connections are all melded together making multi-modalism simple and easy.

The Yurikamome is a vital piece of rapid transit in Shiodome and Obaida.

Station interior within Yurikamome. Bright lighting and platform doors ensure safety for passengers.

It is incredible how the stations and tracks all appear to be seamlessly integrated and blend into the existing urban fabric. This serves as solid evidence for elevated infrastructure, that if planned and designed properly, can be built to enhance the cityscape. As with the case of gondolas, successful elevated system designs can provide strategies and best practices that will guide future city-builders as they continue to create and construct urban transit solutions.

Infrastructure / Thoughts / Urban Planning & Design

Comment

The Gondola Project