Subscribe to the Pedestrian Space newsletter here
| Spring Greetings from Warsaw! We just had a flurry of snow a few days ago but Spring is decidedly in the air and peeking through in newly formed buds and bursts of nature’s vibrant Spring colors beginning to appear…….  Photo by Taisiia Zhenryk Urban Mobility Workshops a.k.a. Mobility Thought Labs Since December 2022, I have been in my first ever workshop cycle, hosting ‘Urban Mobility Workshops’ around the city of Warsaw as part of my civic engagement methodology for my PhD research. These experiences, which I also dub ‘Mobility Thought Labs’, are important for my data collection but also as events in themselves- an opportunity to engage with inhabitants of the city and explore issues of mobility through their perceptions and reflections as well as allow me the opportunity to share about my research and the importance of the sustainable mobility shift. In these past 3 months, I have hosted 11 Urban Mobility Workshops in various neighborhoods and districts of the city and with different groups. It has been a very active, busy and exciting start to my research journey here in Poland. It has also been great to, via these experiences, make connections with people from all over this city as well as from elsewhere in Poland and the world. You can read more about the workshops here….  Some participant feedback from the workshops: “I loved this workshop. Talking & sharing about experiences of city mobility was a great way to exercise my mind & broaden my knowledge on this topic.” “Amazing workshop! Thank you for coming. Really thought-provoking and inspiring in adjusting my daily routine to health priorities. Very educational.” “Very interesting workshop. I liked the floating structure of the workshop (not strict plan). Looking forward to the next one!” “It’s very exciting for me to talk about this topic for hours. It’s also interesting to understand how others think about mobility. The location of the workshop is really great. Thank you a lot for this, I will recommend it to others!” “The workshop was very important to me. I think it is an aspect of great relevance to big city dwellers. What attracted my attention was the energy and engagement of the presenter/host. I recommend the workshop to everybody.” “The workshops were really engaging. You were so patient with us and you were genuinely into the talk.” “It was very nice to share our views & experiences about such an important topic. My friends & family are not as passionate about the subject as I am so it was really interesting to listen & be listened to.”  Walking in the Anthropocene ‘Walkable Urbanism in the Anthropocene’ is a talk I will hold next month in connection with my dissertation work in development.  Spring Walking Lab My Spring schedule of workshops and talks is shaping up and now also includes the dimension of walks! ‘Spring Walking Lab’ is a series of walks I am coordinating with locals to include resident-led walking experiences in different neighborhoods as well as some more thematic walks with individuals with extensive knowledge about an area and topic. Broadly, Spring Walking Lab is conceived as a social experience and opportunity for residents to gather and walk together in diverse neighborhoods around the city. Some of the walks will go deep into history of an area and aspects of architectural and spatial history while others will largely offer a resident-led glimpse into life in the neighborhood. Visit the below link to see the schedule and register for various walks:https://pedestrianspace.org/workshops-warsaw/ Feel free to drop a DM or email info@pedestrianspace.org if you would like to co-coordinate or participate in a Warszawa-based walk this Spring.  First University Talk I’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunity in the past month to begin hosting my workshops at universities here in Warsaw, with both undergraduate and graduate students in various disciplines. I am also looking forward to my first talk at a university, at Politechnika Opolska later next month.   Props to Great Public Transportation! I’m a woman who rides. I ride public transit regularly, sometimes using multiple modes a day. I ride at all times of day and in all weather conditions, often pushing a stroller along the way too. I ride during rush hours that often have less than cozy conditions and standing room only and I ride when there’s the luxury of plenty spaces to choose from and no crowds. I deeply enjoy observing how people spend their time in these transitional moments- many on phones, some reading, some relaxing, some knitting, some chatting with a commuter companion. I deeply value and enjoy being able to raise my children with access to diverse, flexible, quality public transportation, as a regular dimension of their mobility lifestyle in the city. I’ve come to understand and appreciate good public transit and their spaces as a ‘commons’. The many and varied benefits of efficient, accessible, affordable public transit are of course quantifiable, but I believe there is another, very valuable and deeply connective aspect that is simply immeasurable.  12 Days of Pedestrian Advocacy Tips Big thanks to America Walks for sharing this collaborative list of pedestrian advocacy tips that Jonathon Stalls, of Pedestrian Dignity, and I created last year. Big thanks also to Jonathon for the collaboration and great to see it live on! https://americawalks.org/12-days-of-creative-local-pedestrian-advocacy-tips-part-1/  EIT Urban Mobility Above is a screenshot from my 1st chat recently with Nishad Malik Mohamed at EIT Urban Mobility. I was recently brought on to their PhD student Urban Mobility Consultancy Initiative. I’m excited to be part of this innovative, new consultancy initiative. Read more about it here: https://www.eiturbanmobility.eu/academy/urban-mobility-consultancy/ I am also glad to be affiliated with EIT Urban Mobility considering their dedication to accelerating the sustainable urban mobility transition across Europe. This acceleration drives my motivation in my media activities at Pedestrian Space, inspires my facilitation of the Global Walkability Correspondents Network and is also at the heart of my research at the Warsaw-based Anthropos Doctoral School (Polish Academy of Sciences).In March, I also joined the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics at the University of Brighton as an Associate Member.  Urban Transit Lab Urban Transit Lab (UTL) launched this month! Alan Lacey Raposo (Co-founder and fellow Director at UTL) and I have been cooking up this initative for some months now. It’s a thrill to officially launch! @urbantransitlab is an initiative to support voices for sustainable mobility. Founded in March 2023 as a participatory media, communication and research project, the initiative is designed to raise awareness about the benefits of sustainable modes of mobility, focusing on the stories and lifestyles of inhabitants who rely on walking, cycling and public transit as their primary modes. We look forward to sharing more about our program, mission, vision and team this month as well as our first pilot and partnership launching later this year. Interested in getting in touch with our team? Email urbantransitlab@gmail.com  #toiletequity And last, but not least, if you follow any of the Pedestrian Space channels or are connected to me on LinkedIn, you’ll know I post regularly about issues of provision of safe, clean and accessible public toilets in communities. This video of me was recently recorded at two different public toilets in the Warsaw metro system (posted this morning before polishing off this newsletter issue to send off). People deserve access to clean, safe, free public toilets. This is an issue of basic public health but also affects our mobility, routines and access to the city. Here in Warsaw I’ve been enjoying documenting the public toilets that exist at every metro station and have a staff attendant through all opening hours who ensures a well-maintained and cleaned space & continuously stocked supplies (soap, toilet paper, paper towels). While, as is the case in most cities, provision of public toilets across the city could be better, I view the presence of these (well-maintained and free) public toilets in the metro system as an international best practice. How is the situation in your community with access to well-maintained, free public toilets? I have ongoing discussions on my LinkedIn page (for example here) and across Pedestrian Space platforms. Feel free to join in the discussion or send an email with your reflections. -Annika Lundkvist, Founder at Pedestrian Space |