The 2014 EU BICI series at streets.mn featured reports, photos, and video accounts via personal observation of 13 cities within 8 different countries: Cambridge (UK), Berlin and Munich (Germany), Seville (Spain), Ferrara, Bologna and Padova (Italy), Zurich (Switzerland), Copenhagen and Odense (Denmark), Stockholm (Sweden), Houten and Delft (the Netherlands). Individual posts highlighted structural and policy peculiarities of […]
The 2014 EU BICI series is available for Seville (Spain), Ferrara (Italy), and Berlin (Germany). You don’t need to be in Munich long before you hear of the Champion’s League of Europe and Munich’s football (soccer) prowess—5 time champion (and 5 time runner up) of the most prestigious competition in European football. Apparently, the Champion’s league apparently also to […]
The 2014 EU BICI series includes: Seville (Spain), Ferrara (Italy), Berlin , Munich (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), and Cambridge (U.K.). My adopted home-town for the past year, Bologna, has essential ingredients for a world-class cycling success story; it has: a big university, flat topography, good enough cycling weather for ~9 months of the year, the right size for most everything to be within a few […]
It’s hard to figure out how Ferrara (Italy) achieved legendary status among Europe’s top cycling towns. The answer might not be in the water; but it could be because of it. The ferraresi embrace the bike as much as any place I have seen. But in way lacking self-consciousness, most residents fail to consider themselves […]
Prior to a 2 month hiatus, the EU BICI series travels to (arguably) Northern Europe’s best cycling success story: Odense. Denmark and the Netherlands have the best cycling culture and infrastructure of anywhere in the world. The “big city” stars in each, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, shine bright. Outside of these high profile centers, however, exist dozens of other […]
The EU BICI series travels to Denmark’s capital city–Copenhagen–the location for other perspectives presented within streets.mn. Upon arriving in Copenhagen, I was immediately struck by three observations: An intersection on the east edge of town carrying 36,000 cyclists per day. A feature spread in the daily newspaper highlighting cycle track rage—not between car drivers and cyclists—but between cyclists. […]
The next post of the EU BICI series stays in the Netherlands and travels to the widely acclaimed bike town of Houten. “We keep it simple: we design all bike facilities in town to be 3.5 meters wide.” -Andre Botermans, urban planner for the town of Houten (the Netherlands) talking on June 25, 2014 to a […]
The 10th post of the EU BICI series benefits from the insights of co-author, Peter Furth, Professor of Civil Engineering at Northeastern University and frequent instructor of a sustainable transportation course via TU-Delft. With tulips and clogs, bikes are a signature element of the Netherlands—lots of them. Everywhere. It’s the only country in the world […]
The EU BICI series moves to Northern Europe; Stockholm this week. Previous posts include Seville (Spain), Bologna, Ferrara, Padova (Italy), Berlin , Munich (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), and Cambridge (U.K.). The cycling environment of Stockholm—the self-proclaimed “Capital of Scandinavia”—endures incessant questions about how it cannot achieve Copenhagen-like status. Quick responses point to the barriers provided by the 14 major islands (more bridges, bottlenecks, and pinch points). Others point to how […]
Below is the next entry in the EU BICI series which includes: Seville (Spain), Bologna, Ferrara (Italy), Berlin , Munich (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), and Cambridge (U.K.). There is reason to believe that Padova—a town with more than 200,000 people in the Veneto region in the north of Italy—is capable of becoming one of the country’s best cycling towns. Some places in Italy stand out in one dimension of a […]