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The study was based around visits during 2013 to 14 cities of different character, to learn from them by interviews with local practitioners,
by observation and by riding. The cities were chosen to enable different types of lesson to be learned: from what works best in cities where mass cycling is established, to how cities lower down the curve have applied learning from those further up (as London now seeks to); and from physical techniques to systems of governance. For this reason, we visited cities as diverse as New York and Utrecht. The former is a mega-city of 8+ million inhabitants with low overall levels of cycling (like London), but with a recent successful policy of reallocating street space from general traffic to cycling. By contrast, Utrecht has around a third of a million inhabitants and is one of the world’s great cycling cities, where around a third of all journeys are by bicycle.
The full list of cities visited for this study is:
• Berlin
• Brighton & Hove • Cambridge
• Christchurch
• Dublin
• Malmo + Lund
• Minneapolis
• Munich
• Nantes
• New York
• Seville
• Stockholm
• Utrecht
• Washington DC
Additionally, arising from study visits undertaken by members of the consultancy team earlier in 2013, lessons from Amsterdam and Copenhagen have also been incorporated within this report.
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(Not Edinburgh then...)
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KEY FINDINGS
This study has yielded a great deal of valuable information, but no simple formula that will transform London or other UK cities into places as attractive to cycle in as, say, the capital cities of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. What is needed is concerted action, on several fronts, according to a clear plan, over the long term.
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