Good day my good friend.
It is good to be back! I hope that all is well with you? I must say that spending a week in rural Suffolk, mainly dog walking and sitting around reading, was very much needed. It also gave me some ideas for what to do with this newsletter (as well as some things that aren’t quite working as I had hoped), that need a bit more work before they come to fruition. In the meantime, it is back to normal service.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
CCTV is not about reducing crime
I’m going to be honest here: I’m not convinced that CCTV is a particularly good crime prevent tool, although it may be a good crime solving tool, especially when used on public transport. But this study of the use of CCTV in residential areas has really made me think of it in a new light. Simply put, fewer people see it as a crime prevent tool, but more see it as a fear prevention tool.
What was really interesting was how attitudes also shifted according to context. For instance, more groups of people were positive towards CCTV in neighbourhood parks compared to shopping streets. So while we are thinking of CCTV in terms of security and increasingly in the use in smart cities, the public are thinking of it in a far more interesting light.
Women often see cycling as tough and masculine, and that needs to change
In the Netherlands, women cycle more often than men. Yes, infrastructure is a big part of that, but also how cycling is perceived does play a role as well. That is why this new study of women and the social identity of cycling from Tel-Aviv-Jaffa is important. The conclusions? Cycling is seen as something done by the priveleged, and it can be seen as a masculine activity.
We found cycling to be associated with ‘being a Tel-Avivian’ and with a healthy and active lifestyle…In addition, we show how e-bikes – which are not identified with privileged groups – do not provide an identifiable alternative for women from all groups, as it is identified with “tough” and “violent” men. Furthermore, we show how cycling, in general, is perceived as “tough”, “dangerous” and as requiring a “constant struggle” over space with other road users, and hence fits a typical “masculine” behavior.
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
A big 32-hour workweek test is underway. Supporters think it could help productivity (NPR)
Bottling the Sun (CNN)
New York’s hipster wars (The New Statesman)
How science helps fuel a culture of misinformation (NiemanLab)
Something interesting
Ok, not interesting I guess. But its fun.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Read this interview that a couple of Google engineers had with LaMDA, Google’s native AI. Then you realise quite how close AI is to mimicking human conversation. Its astounding.
Mobility Matters 