Top Twenty Cycling cities - learning from best performance?
Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
The goal of this paper was firstly to identify the European cities with the highest and the lowest bicycle use, and secondly, to discuss if and how other cities can learn from the Best and Worst practice. It is generally recognized that a shift from car use to public transport, walking and cycling will reduce both local and global emissions and indeed contribute to better health. However, even with clear goals and ambitions to increase cycling, most cities fail to achieve their goals. “Thirty years of broken promises to increase cycling” is how the major newspaper in Norway described how the capital Oslo had failed to implement a bike strategy.
The modal share of urban travel is a key indicator to describe the sustainable transport performance of a city. Most modal split data measure the number of trips on the different modes and thus give indications on how many travel with each mode. The TEMS EPOMM database makes it easy to compare modal split in cities and thus answer questions as: Which city is most transport sustainable? Which city is the most car dependent?
The Top Twenty of cycling cities in Europe is presented. Münster in Germany tops the list and is the European Bike City. Copenhagen is the World Cycling Capital. It is not surprising that they cycle a lot in Dutch cities, nor in Copenhagen, possibly more surprising that the bike is used extensively in Bolzano and Berlin? A line can be drawn through Europe. North of the line are the “cycling countries” and south of the line “car countries”.
Description
Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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