There is a country where female and male members of government commute to their swearing-in ceremony by bicycle. But even 50 years ago, nothing would have announced this! The spaces of Amsterdam or Rotterdam, rebuilt after the war in the spirit of modernism, were overcrowded with cars and completely unsuitable for cycling. In their book, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett tell the story of how a revolution took place in the Netherlands that made the bicycle not only a political topic, but also a tool for transforming transport, urban space, education, commerce, services and the entire Dutch way of life. In Bicycle City, you will read about how combining traffic engineering with social engineering created urban mobility accessible to everyone - not just the young and able-bodied - and how transport exclusion outside the big cities was combated. You will learn why it is important to design electromobility for more than just four wheels and how, using bicycles, to improve both the quality of public transport and the level of safety on the streets - despite the tendency of all road users to bend the rules of the road.
What is particularly valuable from a Polish perspective, the Bruntlettes also consider how to transplant Dutch solutions and experiences to foreign soil. I recommend this book as an inspiration for politicians, local activists, architects, urban planners, engineers, cyclists and all those who care about a better future for our cities. In an age of improving urban space with various high-tech solutions - such as drones or autonomous vehicles - it is worth not forgetting good old two wheels.
Krzysztof Gubański, cycling activist and author of the blog One car less
Cycling City. The Dutch way to revitalise urban space is the ninth title in the series CYCLING CITY.
Translated by: Klementyna Dec
CONTENTS
1 Introduction: the fietser nation
- not wall-to-wall concrete streets 3 Not sport. Transport
- the world belongs to the brave
- no one-size-fits-all solutions
- demand more
- Think commodity
- build on a human scale
- feed public transport with bicycles
- make your city a household name
- learn to ride like the Dutch
- summary: a world of fietsers
