Want to Be a More Bike-Friendly City? There’s an Online Course for You!

An online course is now available that explains the transformation of Amsterdam’s transportation infrastructure, to help other cities bring cycling to the top of the mobility chain – for a healthier and greener way to go from point A to point B.

“You are here in the bike capital of the world,” states Meredith Glaser, director of the Urban Cycling Institute at the University of Amsterdam. “More than 60% of trips in the city happen on bicycles.”

The Unraveling the Cycling City online course explains the country’s deployment of safe systems principles to avoid injuries by learning lessons through mistakes. The city even got rid of traffic lights and signalization for more fluid circulation on wheels. A popular movement against traffic-related injuries started in the 1970s, and a wave of parking-free-funded bike infrastructure improvements took place in the 1990s, both leading to Amsterdam’s transformation away from its auto-oriented development patterns. And as the railroad system in the Dutch capital is developed to such an extent that 85% of the population lives within biking distance of at least one station, it is virtually useless to own a car within the limits of the country’s first city.