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Bicycle City: Riding the Bike Boom to a Brighter Future
It took an oil crisis in the 1970s for the Dutch to realize that they simply couldn´t afford to live without bicycles, and today the Dutch lead the world in urban cycling. Fifty years later, another crisis, the pandemic, has led to a boom in bicycling and a radical rethinking of the future of urban mobility, demonstrating the possibility of a car-free urban future. The pandemic “bikeboom” is one of the very few bright spots in an otherwise terrible time – and an opportunity we cannot waste. The climate crisis is all too real, the inequities in our cities too severe, to allow the US to backslide to the status quo of car-dependence.In Bicycle Riding the Bike Boom to a Brighter Future cycling expert Daniel Piatkowski argues that the bicycle is the best tool that we have to improve our cities. The car-free urban future—where cities are vibrant, with access to everything we need close by—may be less bike-centric than we think. But bikes are a crucial first step to getting Americans out of cars. Bicycle City is about making cities better with bikes rather than for bikes.Piatkowski offers a vision for the car-free urban future that so many Americans are trying to create, with no shortage of pragmatic lessons to get there. Electric bikes are demonstrating the ability of bikes to replace cars in more places and for more people. Cargo bikes, with electric assistance, are replacing SUVs for families and delivery trucks for freight. At the same time, mobility startups are providing new ownership models to make these new bikes easier to use and own, ushering in a new era of pedal-powered cities.Bicycle City brings together the latest research with interviews, anecdotes, and case studies from around the world to show readers how to harness the post-pandemic bikeboom. Piatkowski illustrates how the future of bicycling will facilitate the necessary urban transitions to mitigate the impending climate crisis and support just and equitable transport systems.
- GenresNonfiction
192 pages, Paperback
Published May 23, 2024
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102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 3, 2024
A quick and easy, almost a light, read, well worth the time for anyone interested in learning about (or seeking an introduction to) the evolving world of bicycle infrastructure.
Special kudos: For me, the book was worthwhile, if for no other reason, simply because it exposed the power of rethinking urban planning (not solely in the context of the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change, although that's very much part of the equation and the book's content) to reduce cyclist and pedestrian ... and motorist fatalities. I had no idea that, in 2019, the City of Oslo achieved (albeit temporarily, but still remarkably) its Vision Zero: zero traffic fatalities for a year. Wow! And, even after the pandemic, a bad year on the roads in Norway (obviously including a much wider area than Oslo), results in a fatality rate of one sixth of that in the U.S. (OK, this is very much a junk statistic kind of sentence, but it still drives the point home: [A]pproximately the same number of people die on U.S. streets every day as are killed on Norwegian streets in a year.)
Reviewer's Quibbles: I could argue (at length) about the accuracy of the title, but I don't think that takes anything away from the book's content or its utility. Interestingly enough, I read the author's thesis to boil down to an argument for making our communities (but primarily, but not exclusively, our urban centers) more car-lite and more bicycle (and pedestrian and e-bike and e-cargo bike and micromobility) friendly. That makes sense to me, and it's a logical touchstone. My only point here is that advocates for enhanced pedestrian access and safety and many others might enjoy (and benefit from) the book, and I fear the title could keep it off their reading lists.
Also, as a reader, a teacher (of sorts), an advocate, and an academic (and thus, also a writer), I'm all-in on the power of anecdote or storytelling. The author powerfully and effectively uses Oslo's (Norway's) experience (one that, frankly, I was largely unfamiliar with - as opposed to the other success stories or benchmarks he refers to - largely in Holland (Amsterdam) and Denmark (Copenhagen)). Again, however, I guess I was hoping the work was somewhat broader or, in other words, nothing in the title suggested to me how much of the work would be Oslo-centric (although, in all fairness, he does mention plenty of other success stories - both in Europe and here in the U.S.).
I concede that, as much as I enjoyed the book, I would have preferred, well, more. More photos, maybe some diagrams or maps, ... more examples and data, more ideas and suggestions ... and resources.... But that's just me.
I'm glad I found, bought, and read the book, and I hope it's read widely.
Special kudos: For me, the book was worthwhile, if for no other reason, simply because it exposed the power of rethinking urban planning (not solely in the context of the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change, although that's very much part of the equation and the book's content) to reduce cyclist and pedestrian ... and motorist fatalities. I had no idea that, in 2019, the City of Oslo achieved (albeit temporarily, but still remarkably) its Vision Zero: zero traffic fatalities for a year. Wow! And, even after the pandemic, a bad year on the roads in Norway (obviously including a much wider area than Oslo), results in a fatality rate of one sixth of that in the U.S. (OK, this is very much a junk statistic kind of sentence, but it still drives the point home: [A]pproximately the same number of people die on U.S. streets every day as are killed on Norwegian streets in a year.)
Reviewer's Quibbles: I could argue (at length) about the accuracy of the title, but I don't think that takes anything away from the book's content or its utility. Interestingly enough, I read the author's thesis to boil down to an argument for making our communities (but primarily, but not exclusively, our urban centers) more car-lite and more bicycle (and pedestrian and e-bike and e-cargo bike and micromobility) friendly. That makes sense to me, and it's a logical touchstone. My only point here is that advocates for enhanced pedestrian access and safety and many others might enjoy (and benefit from) the book, and I fear the title could keep it off their reading lists.
Also, as a reader, a teacher (of sorts), an advocate, and an academic (and thus, also a writer), I'm all-in on the power of anecdote or storytelling. The author powerfully and effectively uses Oslo's (Norway's) experience (one that, frankly, I was largely unfamiliar with - as opposed to the other success stories or benchmarks he refers to - largely in Holland (Amsterdam) and Denmark (Copenhagen)). Again, however, I guess I was hoping the work was somewhat broader or, in other words, nothing in the title suggested to me how much of the work would be Oslo-centric (although, in all fairness, he does mention plenty of other success stories - both in Europe and here in the U.S.).
I concede that, as much as I enjoyed the book, I would have preferred, well, more. More photos, maybe some diagrams or maps, ... more examples and data, more ideas and suggestions ... and resources.... But that's just me.
I'm glad I found, bought, and read the book, and I hope it's read widely.
October 3, 2024
Nsghtful. Gave me a new perspective on the value of e bikes
August 11, 2024
The NE native always believed there were things we could do to improve cities to save our planet. From 2014 to 2020 there was an 80% increase in cycling in Oslo so the author moved there to study how other cities could do the same thing. What is this process of betterment leading to equity and sustainability? The goal is to make cities better WITH bikes- rather than for bikes. Bikes are the catalyst to make this improvement in a city. Investing in bikes can improve transportation options for everyone. Walkable and bikeable laces are often the least affordable and are frequently arrived at through gentrification creating a damaging link between bike infrastructure and displacement. More recent research suggests that bike infrastructure tends to come after gentrification and displacement rather than paving the way for it. People can and do change their behavior all of the time. We have the capacity to adapt for our wellbeing and that of the planet. Bikes can make cities better for everyone and they can work everywhere from big cities to small towns.
The challenge is to move from car dependency to better uses of our shared urban spaces and bikes can get us there.
HG wells said every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair Dr the future of the human race
Currently we design our streets to move as many vehicles as quickly as possible and safety is secondary in the design process. We need to change the system. Ebikes are changing the game and can bridge the gap between car centric cities and car-free living. Cargo bikes are also the closest thing to a car replacement. Maybe a two car household can sell a car becoming a one car house. Americans need to think of bikes as transportation. An ideal streetscape in a car lite future could include the public transit, mixed uses, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Cargo bikes benefit from this and are also the catalysts for accelerating it. We need to find places for all microbility including scooters.
Car-lite living is possible in more places than people think. Using bike events to change minds and improve places is an effective strategy for urban planners. Ciclovias have been around since the 1970s- about the same time RAGbrai started!
The bike is often the fastest for of transportation.a viable car replacement is now within reach for more role.
Oslo vision zero- no traffic deaths for a whole year
We can do it!
The challenge is to move from car dependency to better uses of our shared urban spaces and bikes can get us there.
HG wells said every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair Dr the future of the human race
Currently we design our streets to move as many vehicles as quickly as possible and safety is secondary in the design process. We need to change the system. Ebikes are changing the game and can bridge the gap between car centric cities and car-free living. Cargo bikes are also the closest thing to a car replacement. Maybe a two car household can sell a car becoming a one car house. Americans need to think of bikes as transportation. An ideal streetscape in a car lite future could include the public transit, mixed uses, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Cargo bikes benefit from this and are also the catalysts for accelerating it. We need to find places for all microbility including scooters.
Car-lite living is possible in more places than people think. Using bike events to change minds and improve places is an effective strategy for urban planners. Ciclovias have been around since the 1970s- about the same time RAGbrai started!
The bike is often the fastest for of transportation.a viable car replacement is now within reach for more role.
Oslo vision zero- no traffic deaths for a whole year
We can do it!
January 4, 2025
Piatokowski frames this book around envisioning a better future, one in which is constantly trying to get better by transitioning from a car-centric society to one that is people centric. He does this by focusing on the bicycles as well as the cities we live in, or bicycle urbanism.
The bike, and the technology around it, have shown how we can rapidly and transform our cities into more equitable, sustainable, and healthier places — from e-bikes to cargo bikes to bike-sharing systems to the demand to find better ways to travel, like through micro mobility, and use cities, like through closed streets, during the pandemic.
Bjt that also means thinking beyond bikes as toys and more as part of the transportation ecosystem. It also means to not resort to technocratic thinking, which brings us driverless cars, electrification, and car sharing.
By investing in bike infrastructure, we invest in people infrastructure, creating a city that benefits all, not just those who drive cars: vibrant places and livable streets; compact and sustainable cities; less expensive infrastructure; community building; cheap, convenient modes of transport.
“We have been hobbled by the path dependence of a century of auto-oriented planning — a century that has enshrined unhealthy, inequitable, and unsustainable urbanism in our daily lives and the shape of our cities…. We can harness the post-pandemic bike boom… to push an urban transition to a future that is not about making cities better for bikes but making cities better with bikes.”
As much about urban planning as it is about infrastructure as it is about advocacy, Bicycle City offers a vision of the future where designing for bikes leads to cities that can and should serve everyone.
The bike, and the technology around it, have shown how we can rapidly and transform our cities into more equitable, sustainable, and healthier places — from e-bikes to cargo bikes to bike-sharing systems to the demand to find better ways to travel, like through micro mobility, and use cities, like through closed streets, during the pandemic.
Bjt that also means thinking beyond bikes as toys and more as part of the transportation ecosystem. It also means to not resort to technocratic thinking, which brings us driverless cars, electrification, and car sharing.
By investing in bike infrastructure, we invest in people infrastructure, creating a city that benefits all, not just those who drive cars: vibrant places and livable streets; compact and sustainable cities; less expensive infrastructure; community building; cheap, convenient modes of transport.
“We have been hobbled by the path dependence of a century of auto-oriented planning — a century that has enshrined unhealthy, inequitable, and unsustainable urbanism in our daily lives and the shape of our cities…. We can harness the post-pandemic bike boom… to push an urban transition to a future that is not about making cities better for bikes but making cities better with bikes.”
As much about urban planning as it is about infrastructure as it is about advocacy, Bicycle City offers a vision of the future where designing for bikes leads to cities that can and should serve everyone.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews