Paige Anderson: Designing Bikeable Cities for a Livable Future

Positives

• This video provides a hopeful perspective about one way to address an aspect of the climate crisis. 
• The discussion questions beneath the video serve as an excellent way to begin classroom discussion or could serve as writing prompts. 

Additional Prerequisites

• It may benefit students to know a little bit about the city of Pittsburg, including size and landscape, in order to better understand some of the issues the speaker might have faced in improving infrastructure. 
• This resource provides additional information, such as more about Paige's story and links to other solutions, that teachers can preview for background information or extension work. 

Differentiation

• Before viewing the video, put students into groups and have them discuss and chart their background knowledge about the benefits of strong bicycle infrastructure and also the barriers to getting more people biking. 
• Have students work in groups to research what elements of bicycle infrastructure are in place in their own communities and what they might be able to do to help encourage more bicycling. 
• Science classes could use this SubjectToClimate lesson plan to help students better understand the environmental impacts of different modes of transportation. 
• Consider having students watch this video to learn how Paris rapidly changed its bicycle infrastructure or this video about a system of bicycle-only roads in the Netherlands and compare how different cities are tackling this issue. 
• Other resources on this topic include this video about the benefits of reducing car traffic in cities, this podcast about how to get more people biking, and this resource outlining the steps students can take to organize a school-wide "Walk and Roll Day."