Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

Henri Lefebvre, The Right to the City — In brief, the right to the city is the right to the production of a city. The labor of a worker is the source of most of the value of a commodity that is expropriated by the owner. The worker, therefore, has a right to benefit from that value denied to them. In the same way, the urban citizen produces and reproduces the city through their own daily actions. However, the the city is expropriated from the urbanite by the rich and the state. The right to the city is therefore the right to appropriate the city by and for those who make and remake it.

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What if bikes had been invented earlier? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Why do alt-history people never focus on infrastructure or innovation? What would have happened had bikes been invented centuries before cars instead of around the same time? How different would the built environment and our culture have looked?

Personally, I think centuries of more established bike use would have created an infrastructure that limits how well cars take off. Cities would have entrenched themselves in a cheap, dense manner of transit.

I could be wrong, lots of dense cities were wrecked by the car when it was commercialized. I'd love to hear any thoughts :)

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (13 children)

Bikes need a level of precision manufacturing that means cars and airplanes are just around the corner no matter what alternative history you come up with. If you sent a modern machinist back to 10BC they could maybe make a bike by hand (if they are lucky enough to get a rich sponsor - making a Gingery style lathe by hand is something a modern machinist would be able to figure out it takes a lot of time an materials that are were not cheap), but the cost would be such that the only people who could afford it already have slaves to carry them everywhere. There might be demand for a handful as a novelty for their young sons (sexist world, girls need not apply) but it will soon disappear as those slaves are cheaper than the bike. (it takes a lot of slaves to mine and refine the ore needed to make the bike)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Have you ever seen wooden/ bamboo bikes? Renovo was one manufacturer. And currently, (https://www.lightwoodenbicycles.com/) TimberWolf Cycles.

There are others: https://www.treehugger.com/awesome-bikes-made-of-wood-4869156

I saw one in a museum, from the 1880s, made of hickory. It reportedly weighed 18 pounds.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Most of them the frame is wood, but the gears, chain, spokes, brake cables, steering, cranks... are all metal. There are a few all wood bikes, but wood doesn't work well for some applications (it is great for the frame) and so I'd expect the all wood bikes to wear out fast.

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