CityRacks design submission
CityRacks Design Competition
In collaboration with arjodesign, our proposal aims to provide not just attractive and convenient bike racks for cyclists, but also to create greater civic engagement by making the racks useful to non-cyclists as well.
The plastic caps on the top loop of the racks brand the racks with embossed and stickered text, using color to reinforce the NYC Cycling Map’s routes and paths. There are currently 3 colors being used on the NYC Cycling Map and as new routes are created, we envision adding more colors to the palette. Color is significant because it can help riders quickly identify which route or path they find themselves on.
The rack or rack cluster’s caps have a unique identifying number which can be used to access important cycling and route info. Dialing into the system with a mobile device, a user inputs a code which returns a url that links to Google Maps with a NYC Cycling Map overlay. The code provides the exact geoposition of the bike rack, giving the user his/her exact location on the map. This data
will be cycling-focused at first (nearest bike shop, nearest hospital) but eventually can be rolled out to include local history, nearby landmarks and parks. In this way, the rack will serve as information hotspot and cultural ambassador for all the boroughs of NYC.
