Articolo realizzato con la collaborazione di Sabrina Bianchini Ghillani (nella foto in alto)
L’aspetto più affascinante di New York è il suo continuo mutare di forme, colori, suoni, razze, lingue, cibi, usanze, idee, culture e religioni.
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen.
Attraversare la città vuol dire oltrepassare mondi diversi (così vicini, così lontani). Vivere nella Big Apple ti apre la mente, ti allarga gli orizzonti e ti fa capire che una convivenza pacifica tra i popoli è possibile.
Vagando per le strade di New York spesso si ha l’impressione di provare la stessa esperienza mistica di un regista cinematografico mentre gira un eccitante piano sequenza. I nostri occhi/macchina da presa si fanno largo tra la gente, i grattacieli, il traffico per catturare l’energia della città che non dorme mai.
C’è, infatti, un’energia incredibile e difficile da spiegare a parole nelle strade di New York. Adrenalina pura.
Percorrere la città in bicicletta è forse il modo più coinvolgente e poetico per assorbire tutta questa energia straripante e per catturare la vera essenza di questa Big City, così dinamica e in costante evoluzione.
Non è solo una questione di praticità, benessere fisico e contributo “ecologico”, oggi usare la bici a New York è diventato uno stile di vita.
The most fascinating aspect of New York is its heterogeneity of forms, colors, sounds, races, idioms, foods, cultures and religions.
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen.
Walking around the city means passing through an array of infinite different worlds. Living in the Big Apple opens your mind, broadens your horizons and makes you aware that a peaceful coexistence among different races is possible.
Wandering the streets of New York gives one the mystical experience of a film director shooting an exciting sequence. Our eyes, like cameras, push through the crowds, the skyscrapers and the traffic to capture the energy of the city that never sleeps.
There is, indeed, an incredible energy in the streets of this big city. Pure adrenaline.
Riding a bicycle in New York is perhaps the most poetic and fascinating way to absorb all of its overflowing energy and to capture the essence of this metropolis that is so dynamic and constantly evolving.
Today, being a cyclist in New York doesn’t have only a practical or ecological meaning; it has become a lifestyle.
“The cyclist is someone very cool”, as quoted by Sam Polcer, photographer, journalist and author of the book “New York Bike Style” (2014). His book uses striking images to create the ultimate style guide for anyone who pedals their way through The Big Apple.
Polcer is also the director of communication at Bike New York, a non-profit organization that is very active in promoting the use of bicycles in NYC. Since 1977, on the first Sunday of May, Bike New York organizes a very successful event: the TD Five Boro Bike Tour. On that day, more than 32 thousand cyclists from all over the world gather to ride 40 miles through the 5 boroughs of NYC. It’s a unique event where the cyclists are the real protagonists, free to ride the streets of the City completely car free. For one day, the roads are yours, the bridges are yours, the City is yours—there’s no better way to experience the Big Apple.
Time’s Up is another not-for-profit direct-action environmental group that uses events and educational programs to promote positive, thought-provoking and sustainable lifestyles. Time’s Up now has two bicycle workshop locations: one in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and one in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Citi Bike is a self-service system that provides members with easy access to a network of thousands of bicycles, stretching from Columbus Circle to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
Of course we must not forget to mention New York’s number one cycling icon: David Byrne, the ingenious artist and musician. His love and devotion to the bicycle as a primary means of transport is very influential, and his book “Bicycle Diaries” (2009) is a must read. Byrne’s point of view, from his bike seat, became his panoramic window to urban life, a magical way of opening one’s eyes to the inner workings and rhythms of a city’s geography and population.
Ricky Russo and Sabrina Bianchini Ghillani
Thanks to Andrea Valentini and Moncler
RICKY RUSSO 