There’s no denying that biking is one of the biggest trends in urban development right now, with many touting cycling as the solution to reducing pollution and congestion – not to mention its health benefits. As cities are focusing on what they can do to encourage cycling and make their streets bike-friendly, architects have played a critical role in ushering bikes into the city, designing everything from protected cycle lanes to elaborate elevated cycletracks. Yet after cycling in Vienna for eight years, two architecture students decided to take a different – and simpler - approach to improving biking conditions. Focusing on the often cumbersome task of trying to run errands while on a bike, Philipp Moherndl and Matthias Lechner have designed a lightweight, recyclable cardboard pannier that can seamlessly go from store to bike.

“Due to the mass appeal of the bike, conventional cycling accessories do not fit the lifestyle of many urban cyclists,” Moherndl and Lechner told ArchDaily. “The limited transport capacity of usual bicycles makes shopping difficult and inflexible. People often do their shopping spontaneously, on their way home or whilst cycling in the city. Therefore we wanted to come up with a more flexible solution: a multi-use bag for bicycles, which is low priced and environmentally-friendly.”

Learn more about the Packtasche after the break.

Ideally, the Packtasche would be provided as an alternative to plastic bags at store checkout. It can be folded quickly, filled with groceries or other purchases and then carried to the bike where it can go directly onto the rack, Lechner explained.

“Our main goal was to make cycling in the city even more practical and attractive than it already is,” Lechner said. "The Packtasche is our small contribution to make cycling more attractive to people and hence support sustainable urban mobility."

The idea started when the two took part in an international idea’s competition on the topic “Cycling in the City.” “As the spontaneous transportation of groceries and other goods had always been a difficult task for cyclists, we decided to work on that particular problem,” Lechner said. “We designed the Packtasche as an easy-to-use transportation device both for cyclists and pedestrians. Besides the durability of the Packtasche on the bike, a smooth transition between carrying the bag and using it cycling was key in our development process.”

Currently the duo is seeking to establish the Packtasche in the Austrian and European market, with NGOs, political organizations and private organizations as their main customers. To make Packtasche available to individual customers worldwide they aim to launch a kickstarter campaign in the coming months.

Visit the Packtasche website to learn more.

h/t Fast Company