Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Streetfilms

Parking Craters: Scourge of American Downtowns

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Jun 4, 2014 | No Comments

Streetsblog’s Angie Schmitt popularized the term “parking crater,” defined simply as “a depression in the middle of an urban area formed by the absence of buildings.” Various types of “meteors” left behind parking craters in the 20th century — sprawl subsidies, highway building, the erosion of manufacturing. Whatever the cause, parking craters destroy sections of […]

STREETFILMS

“The Better Block” Celebrates Four Years of Re-imagining Streets

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | May 19, 2014 | No Comments

Streetfilms has wanted to profile Jason Roberts and the amazing work of The Better Block for a long time. So it felt like destiny when, a few weeks ago, we were able to sync up and chronicle the fourth anniversary of The Better Block in Oak Cliff, Texas. This temporary pedestrian plaza is right next to […]

STREETFILMS

Lakewood, Ohio: The Suburb Where Everyone Can Walk to School

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Apr 29, 2014 | No Comments

The inner Cleveland suburb of Lakewood (population 51,000) calls itself a “walking school district.” Lakewood has never had school buses in its history, and kids grow up walking and biking to school. Mornings and afternoons are a beehive of activity on streets near schools, as kids and parents walk to and from classrooms. You can feel […]

STREETFILMS

National Bike Summit 2014: United Spokes

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Mar 6, 2014 | No Comments

Usually I limit conference wrap-up videos to right around four minutes in length. But there were so many great (and funny!) moments at this year’s National Bike Summit, it was important to pack in all of the coverage we could grab. So sit back and enjoy many of the faces and fun that made this […]

STREETFILMS

The Rise of Open Streets

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Jan 7, 2014 | No Comments

The Rise of Open Streets from Streetfilms on Vimeo. Streetfilms has been documenting the open streets movement for over seven years, beginning with our landmark film in 2007 on Bogota’s Ciclovia, currently the most viewed Streetfilm of all time. The next year, Mike Lydon of The Street Plans Collaborative decided to get an open streets […]

STREETFILMS

Riding the Bike-Share Boom

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Dec 9, 2013 | No Comments

Without a doubt, 2013 has been a banner year for bike-share in the United States. Major systems were implemented in New York City and Chicago, and many others debuted or expanded in other cities. In fact, Citi Bike users have biked over 10 million miles and the system is closing in on 100,000 annual members! The Institute for Transportation & Development […]

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