City of Marion Bike Racks.
Overview.
Beginning in 2020, Marion Design Co. partnered with a team of community leaders, including Riley Sapp, Michelle Doyle, and Mikayla Marazzi, to design a set of custom bike racks for the city of Marion. With a design inspired by the city’s logo, the new bike racks help to make Marion a safer, more equitable, and more interesting place to live.
Background.
The city of Marion has suffered an economic decline over the past decades, leading to the development of blighted spaces and the loss of a crucial sense of safety. Marion also has relatively few options for transportation outside of cars. Together, these factors can make for an unwelcoming downtown environment. Marion Design Co. joined with community leaders to create custom bike racks as part of the solution to this problem.
Objectives.
connection
One goal of the bike racks is to make it easier for Marion residents and visitors to get from Point A to Point B.
equity
Another goal of the bike rack project is to provide equitable transportation for all Marion residents, regardless of race, class, or socioeconomic status.
identity
By building on the city’s logo, the bike racks are designed to reinforce a sense of common identity and pride in Marion’s downtown.
Process.
Our team formally proposed the concept of the bike racks in July 2020. This initial concept used the shapes from the city’s logo to create three unique geometric designs. Once the city selected their preferred design out of the three, we began to make plans for implementation.
In 2021, Marion Design Co. interns further researched the ways that bike paths could alleviate some of the problems of Marion’s downtown square. Working both for Marion Design Co. and design courses at Indiana Wesleyan University, the interns produced presentations and literature that helped to envision what a bike-friendly downtown could look like. Multiple students proposed plans for bike paths and placemaking within the downtown’s underused alleyways, in addition to the bike racks. They uncovered research that suggested how much of an impact cycling-related infrastructure could have — by making room for more affordable transportation options and creating a stronger sense of safety and welcome for diverse community members.
The collaboration between Marion Design Co., the city of Marion, and Indiana Wesleyan University allowed for an open and inventive dialogue. By the fall of 2022, we had come up with a detailed plan for the implementation of the bike racks. We decided to pursue two rounds of implementation, with the first stage installing bike racks mainly in the downtown area and the second round expanding out into the surrounding streets.
Results.
In the summer of 2023, colorful bike racks appeared all over Marion’s downtown. The final design of the bike racks draws inspiration from the geometry of the city’s logo. The bike racks are placed in sets of three, in vibrant blue, green, and orange — Marion’s city brand colors. With the city logo affixed to the bike racks, this design reinforces a strong sense of community identity and permanence.
The bike racks also make it easier for residents and visitors to move from place to place. Where previously, people had few or no options to safely store bikes, they now have a multitude of places to lock up their bikes while they go inside for work, shopping, or a bite to eat. This increase in accessibility makes the downtown environment more equitable as well, as it reduces a previous barrier to enjoying downtown life. Residents and visitors no longer need a car to safely explore this part of Marion. They can now access the opportunities available downtown via the more affordable transportation option of cycling.
This project involved collaboration, creativity, and a willingness to imagine a brighter future for the city of Marion. While bike paths and more involved infrastructure have yet to appear downtown, the colorful bike racks represent an important step toward making the downtown square a more accessible, equitable, and lively space.