Case Study 2 – CaMden Stands by Bikeoff
Case Study 2 – Camden Stands by Bikeoff
Areas of impact: Bicycle crime
Social design location: Design Against Crime Research Centre, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London
Short description of activities:
The Bikeoff Research Initiative was set up in January 2004 by the Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design to explore how the design of cycling related objects and environments could reduce cycle theft and promote cycle use.
Through practice-based design research, Bikeoff catalysed and created cycling products and services that consider not only users but also abusers (such as vandals and thieves). The Bikeoff Camden bike stands were designed to influence the security of cyclists’ parking and locking behaviour, encouraging them to lock their bike in the most secure way. Thousands of ‘cycle parking events’ were observed identifying the most common parking behaviours, the most secure parking behaviours and the most insecure parking behaviours.
Six prototype stands were produced that responded to the user research and testing.these. Two of the stand designs, the M stand and the Butterfly stand, were found to encourage the most secure locking practice. They have now been licensed to Broxap, the UK’s leading cycle parking supplier, and have been installed on the streets of the UK.
Why it’s a social design:
The aim of the design activity was to increase the security of cyclists parking and locking behaviour to promote safe cycle use and reduce the incidence of cycle theft.. Bikeoff user research showed that a majority of cyclists locked their bikes by only securing the top tube of the bicycle to the stand, making them vulnerable to common theft techniques, such as levering the lock apart or unbolting the wheels of the bike. By re-designing a short-stay bike parking stand, Bikeoff improved the security of locking behaviours and reduced the likelihood of bike theft.
What is its design aspect?
Bikeoff deployed user and abuser-centred design techniques to learn how cyclists park and secure their bikes and how bike thieves might break them away.
This research informed a set of key design priorities for short-stay bike parking furniture:
- Reduce the opportunity for insecure locking practice
- Support the bike from falling and the front wheel from falling to the side
- Increase the security of bikes for one-lock users
- Relocate long-stay parking to off-street sites
The Camden stands that emerged promote more secure locking behaviour because they make it easier for cyclists to keep their bicycles upright and lock both wheels and the frame to the stand.
The M stand is designed for short-stay parking. Its shape denies cyclists the opportunity to lock the top tube of their bike frame to the stand, a common insecure locking practice that is vulnerable to theft. While it is harder for the bike to be levered against the stand to break it away, the centre section of the M is high enough from the floor to ensure that locks cannot rest on the floor and be broken apart by striking.
Main actors and interactions (including stakeholders, networks, services and revenue streams):
- Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design conducted the user research
- Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London evaluated the user observations to see which behaviours were most common with which types of furniture
- Transport for London anti-bike theft working group and Cycling Centre of Excellence introduced key knowledge, experience and expertise (Link: www.tfl.org.uk)
- Home Office and Design Council anti-crime design and technology alliance
- Broxap Ltd, the UK's largest supplier of street furniture and cycle parking equipment, contributed itsconsiderable experience and knowledge to the project (Link: www.broxap.com)
- Royal Society of the Arts (RSA); delivery of Bikeoff into the 2008-09 'Design Directions' competition
- London Borough of Camden (LBC) delivered multi-agency research projects to provide secure cycling infrastructure within the borough
Social Impact:
- Cycling can add nine years to life and leads to better health for cyclists as well as cleaner and quieter streets
- UK research shows that 17 per cent of cyclists experience bicycle theft; of these, 24 per cent stop cycling and 66 per cent cycle less often (DTR/TRL 1996)
- Secure cycle parking furniture increases cycling and the health benefits it provides
Environmental Impact:
- The costs of bike crime are not carbon neutral; cycling is more energy efficient than any other mode of transportation (even walking)
- The fuel used to power our bodies is renewable in principle (food and water) and the emissions from cycling do not harm the environment
- The effect of cycling on the built environment is positive in as much as the more bikes there are on the road the less likely there are to be accidents; cycle theft deters such benefits
- Consequently, reducing bike theft is an important factor in the establishment of cycling as a stable, sustainable transport system
Economic Impact:
- Cycling is cheap and therefore economically inclusive
- People that cycle to work have fewer days off-sick than non-cyclists, adding economic value to those organisations with cycling staff
- Reductions in cycle theft lead to reductions in the cost of police time spent recording and responding to the crime
- Further costs that may be reduced include those linked to replacement and/or refurbishment of stolen or vandalised bikes, as well as the costs to the local council of removing vandalised bikes from public walkways in bike theft hot-spots
Links:
www.bikeoff.org
www.bikeoff.org/design_resource
www.designagainstcrime.com