Green Infrastructure Wiki

EasyEdit
Report page
Share this

Liminal Space

Definitions:

boundary area, threshold, etc.

Links:

Liminal Space - a set on Flickr

Other Stuff:

We ride in a liminal space Cars take up so many resources that all the other modes of tranportation get ignored. For peds, it's a bummer. A person walking is virtually defenseless, and really can't get very far, very fast. The American pedestrian is a cowboy without a horse. A person with a bike, on the other hand, is perfectly scaled to the urban environment. She can get herself where she needs to go, squeeze through tight spots and traffic jambs, sprint out of harm's way, and generally have a good time doing it (and get a decent workout). Cars are regulated because they kill people on a regular basis. When bikes start doing that, I'll be happy to pay my registration fee and sit for a license. It's nice to inhabit a liminal space. It is the traditional hang-out of the Other, and the locus of freedom in increasingly commodified culture. And that's why bicycle culture is great. That's the point: stop whining. Get a bike. ----- End forwarded message ----- Without being explicit about it, this is the justification many cyclists use for violating traffic laws--running stop signs and red lights for example. It's also about the location and significance of counter-cultures. There is a lot more to say about liminal space, and it's importance, and it's hazards. For bicyclists, and perhaps others, staying too long in the liminal space is tantamount to refusing to grow up, or being adolescent, or just naive. Paul Farmer and Susan Sontag, come on down... Anyhow, we're all about radical acceptance and ruthless pragmatism now. That's the new thinking, and it really is different from the old thinking. --David M

We ride in a liminal space

Cars take up so many resources that all the other modes of tranportation get ignored. For peds, it's a bummer. A person walking is virtually defenseless, and really can't get very far, very fast. The American pedestrian is a cowboy without a horse.

A person with a bike, on the other hand, is perfectly scaled to the urban environment. She can get herself where she needs to go, squeeze through tight spots and traffic jambs, sprint out of harm's way, and generally have a good time doing it (and get a decent workout).

Cars are regulated because they kill people on a regular basis. When bikes start doing that, I'll be happy to pay my registration fee and sit for a license. It's nice to inhabit a liminal space. It is the traditional hang-out of the Other, and the locus of freedom in increasingly commodified culture.

And that's why bicycle culture is great.
That's the point: stop whining. Get a bike.
----- End forwarded message -----
Without being explicit about it, this is the justification many cyclists use for violating traffic laws--running stop signs and red lights for example. It's also about the location and significance of counter-cultures. There is a lot more to say about liminal space, and it's importance, and it's hazards. For bicyclists, and perhaps others, staying too long in the liminal space is tantamount to refusing to grow up, or being adolescent, or just naive. Paul Farmer and Susan Sontag, come on down...

Anyhow, we're all about radical acceptance and ruthless pragmatism now. That's the new thinking, and it really is different from the old thinking. --David M

ncormier	Latest page update: made by ncormier , Oct 3 2009, 3:56 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Rename - ncormier No content added or deleted. - complete history)
	Keyword tags: None More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

Post a new thread

There are no threads for this page. Be the first to start a new thread.

JavaScript must be enabled in order for you to contribute to this site.
To start contributing, enable JavaScript by changing your browser options, then try again.

Home