Like many rapidly-growing cities with a prospering society, Beijing faces significant problems caused by rapid growth in private automobile traffic – and a further 1,800 cars are added to the city’s streets every day. The Auto-Mobile Beijing project aims to reestablish a bicycle culture in the former “bicycle kingdom” providing the potential to be a model for other cities with similar conditions. On the theoretical level the project aspires to create a trendsetting new bicycle avant-garde by incorporating lifestyle components with a practical mode of transportation which makes bicycle use a desirable alternative.
Last updated: March 31, 2011 Beijing, China
A parallel and independent bicycle infrastructure is planned under existing flyovers, reclaiming current wasteland in interstices of inner-city highway intersections to establish structures offering tailored functions addressing the new bicycle avant-garde. The enclosed bicycle network is placed adjacent to heavily-congested traffic routes that emphasize the effectiveness of the alternative transport mode. Cladding components recycle car metal panels and front screens, and incorporate photovoltaic panels and micro turbines to generate energy from the wind suction of passing cars.