By Gideon Shapiro
A photo simulation of Contrail in action. Image: Jessi Pervola and Studio Gelardi.Ever wonder which paths cyclists naturally take through the city? Not satisfied with the location or extent of designated bike lanes? Feel like other street users are quick to dismiss the presence of cyclists?
"Contrail" is a design concept that enables cyclists to increase their visibility to cars, pedestrians, and each other. Conceived by Pepin Gelardi and Teresa Herrmann, this frame-mounted device would allow cyclists to make their mark on the street with faint lines of chalk. The rear wheel spins a smooth trail of color onto the pavement as the bike whizzes along.
Contrail leaves an impression based on the cumulative movements of many
cyclists over time (a more lasting variation on the BYO bike lane concept employed by the laser-projected LightLane). Its provocative visual language lies somewhere between sky
calligraphy, temporary street graffiti, and overlapping footprints in
the snow.
Gelardi and Herrmann proposed Contrail for the Power to the Pedal competition, and are currently developing a prototype. They envision "a new cycle of biking participation" in which the criss-crossing chalk ribbons would pique curiosity, identify more popular routes, and inspire more cyclists to hit the road.
This piece originally appeared on Streetsblog.
Gelardi and Herrman will find that the hard part is in actually applying some enduring mark to asphalt under real use conditions, in such a way that that mark is visible to others, when that mark is constrained by having to be non-polluting and non-permanent.
Che-wei Wang - one of the most talented students in the Urban Computing course Kevin Slavin and I taught at ITP - had this selfsame idea last year, and if someone with his experiential and conceptual toolkit wasn't able to get it to work to his satisfaction, I will be surprised if someone else does. (Actually, his original concept was even more poetic, in that the trails were supposed to be invisible under ordinary light, but radiant if you had the proper filters.)
Posted by: AG on 2 Mar 09
Please note that comments will remain open for only 14 days after the article is posted. While previous comments will remain visible, attempts to post new comments after this period will fail. This helps stop comment spam, so your forebearance is appreciated.
The Worldchanging comments are meant to be used for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in our posts. Please note that, while constructive disagreement is fine, insults and abuse are not, and will result in the comment being deleted and a likely ban from commenting. We will also delete at will and without warning comments we believe are designed to disrupt a conversation rather than contribute to it. In short, we'll kill troll posts.
Finally, please note that comments which simply repost copyrighted works or commercial messages will be summarily deleted.
Get good news for a change —Click here to sign up!
For the latest worldchanging solutions and planetary thinking, follow Worldchanging's Alex Steffen on Twitter: @AlexSteffen
