Urban Bike Scapes in New York: Outline of a new urban typology

In recent years New York has developed a whole new web of bicycle routes through some of the most urbane and dense city areas in the world. The article explores what this new, urban typology, which is the result of 'mobility-design' consists of. The article suggests how these new cycle environments contribute to opening the city in new ways.

With an analysis of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway as point of departure the focus is partly on the role of the new cycle environment as a mobility space, which can be experienced via movement and in transit, and partly on the architectonic and spatial qualities of the design as a framework for urban life and cultural interaction.
A number of research questions have formed the basis for the analyses:
What is an 'urban bike scape'? How is the analysis of the architecture, the urban spaces and the aesthetic urban environment unfolded? Which role do the programs and the design related localization of the programs play? Which concepts can be used to capture the particular atmosphere, which prevails in the interaction between users and architecture? And what is the impact of movement and mobility on the aesthetic experience?

The article begins with a presentation of New York City's intentions with the new bike scape on Manhattan. As a continuation of this the results and the theoretical and methodological approach to the analyses are presented, from four perspectives:
⁃Urban bike scapes as a strategy to open the city and connect it in new ways. About the serial experience of the architecture, spaces and cultures of the city.
⁃Urban bike scapes as a ' place of time related bearer of meaning'. That means the historical and cultural meaning of the place, as well as the significance of the new design as generator of changes and urban transformation.
⁃Urban bike scapes as a 'socially constructed place' with emphasis on the social and mental meaning of the place and on the programs, which play a role for functionality and experience.
⁃Urban bike scapes as an 'architectonic place' from a duality of architectonic gestalt, architectonic elements and aesthetic experience.

Finally, the analyses are summarized and the concept 'urban bike scapes 'is presented as a new urban typology and defined more precisely, as a concept.