What does an AI tool teach us about accelerating the urgent shift to cycling? We must stop engaging in bad faith arguments over bike lanes. We won’t—and don’t need to—convince everyone in the comment section. Our precious time and energy are better spent on the bigger picture. 🧵
Rather we should share our vision of a liveable future; sparking a values-based conversation on our aspirations, on which there’s a lot of consensus: on safety, health, greenery, equity, sustainability, prosperity. Once we agree on the destination, we can debate how to get there.
We must expand our movement to bring in those left behind by car dependence. There's a coalition waiting to be formed, especially the young and old, women, and people with disabilities or lower incomes. Many would hop on a bike if it didn’t require dodging cars from door-to-door.
We must rise above the culture war separating us into modes and leading to inaction. There is a latent demand waiting to be activated and numbers that will support politicians willing to change the status quo. Our mission is to ensure this silent majority is heard loud and clear.
The five images in this post weren’t created by AI. They’re photos of places where the @Cycling_Embassy has worked... Pioneers that reframed the conversation, and asked, “Not what your city can do for cycling, but what cycling can do for your city.” WATCH:
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When Dutch Grand Prix organizers announced in 2019 the goal of going car-free, they were ridiculed: "That's impossible!” decried critics.
But they made the impossible possible in Zandvoort, shifting behaviour with a bold vision, targeted investment, and effective cooperation. 🧵
While an F1 race is an unlikely place for a sustainable transport revolution, the event’s 110,000 daily attendees were prohibited from arriving by car.
Instead, organizers executed an integrated mobility plan; resulting in 98% of fans traveling by foot, bike or public transport.
By strictly applying the STOMP principles: Stappen (Walking), Trappen (Cycling), OV (Public Transport), Mobility as a Service, and Private Cars, the comprehensive and flexible strategy could be adjusted each day in response to changing weather, demand, and other external factors.
Ten years ago, México City—the world’s fourth most populous metropolitan area with 22 million inhabitants—passed a landmark mobility law.
Intended to unlock economic opportunity and improve quality of life, it represented a shift towards integrated, people-oriented movement… 🧵
1️⃣ The “right to mobility”: The law recognized mobility as a fundamental right of residents. It prioritized including citizens in the network’s planning, regulation, and managing processes; incorporating principles of urban resilience, inclusive governance, and active transport.
2️⃣ Prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists: The law established a mobility hierarchy that shapes the city’s priorities for road use planning and budget allocation. Pedestrians were at the top of the pyramid, followed by cyclists, public transport users and lastly private car users.
The underwater bike parking at Amsterdam Centraal Station is the crown jewel in a bold plan to build 300,000 spaces nationwide since 1999.
Over that period, Dutch railways has evaluated each facility, refined their approach, and developed nine design principles in use today… 🧵
1️⃣ Proximity to Platform: The thing that cyclists making their way to the train want above all is a logical approach route and the ability to park their bikes as close to the platform as possible. Their walk from the parking space to the platform should be less than four minutes.
2️⃣ Always Open Spaces: Travellers rely on the fact there is always an open space waiting for them. Every station in the country has a system in place to ensure the necessary turnover of spaces, and utilizes capacity prognoses to find out when they need to extend their facilities.
In ‘Dark PR’, @EnnisGrant outlines nine devious frames the automotive industry uses to obscure millions of injuries and deaths caused by its products; influencing how we process and discuss the issue and ultimately preventing meaningful political action.
They are as follows… 🧵
1. Denialism: “The road lobby’s most pervasive denialist framing is speed does not kill, or high speeds can be made safe under the right conditions. Nothing could be further from the truth… a change in average speed on a road network is directly related to the fatal crash rate.”
2. Post-Denialism: “Engineers know wider roads lead to higher speeds and longer crossing distances, both of which result in more deaths. Yet corporations lobby for wider roads, smoother surfaces, and other speed-inducing measures, under the smokescreen of ‘improvement projects.’”
All over the world, communities are reimagining themselves as places for people not cars. That process starts with stirring the hearts and minds of everyone involved.
Twelve books we read in the past 12 months that changed how we think about cities.
Some suggest it’s impossible, but the imperative act of reducing car supremacy is already happening in cities that stopped making excuses, and started making progress.
Sixteen places we visited in the past 12 months that made recent and radical changes to their streets.