Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife Twitter profile

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

2 years

Our streets have an enormous impact on our lives: How are they designed and for whom? Cars or people? Choosing the latter increases the autonomy of children; improves sociability among citizens; and creates more gender, age, and ability-equitable places.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

To great uncertainty and controversy, in 2007, Ljubljana closed 12 hectares of its city center to private cars. Just 40% of residents approved. A decade later, no less than 97% were against reopening to motor traffic: “None of us can really imagine cars ever staging a comeback”.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

With 58% of all trips nationally made by bike, teenagers are among the biggest beneficiaries of Dutch infrastructure. From a young age, they enjoy the freedom of a driver’s license; without the added stress, cost and danger. The scene outside our son’s high school this morning.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Last month, Germany introduced a €9 monthly pass for unlimited travel on all buses, trams, subways and regional trains. A preliminary analysis has found a clear decrease in car congestion, resulting in improved driving times in 23 of 26 cities examined.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

How many more people would cycle if your city’s streets were this inviting? How many would leave their cars at home if their choice was made this easy? Don't design streets that make the 5% already biking marginally safer. Build them to entice the other 95% back on their bikes.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

This incredible invention whisks 900 people from the heart of London to the center of Rotterdam in just over three hours. The tools needed for a low-carbon future aren’t waiting to be discovered by billionaires; they already exist and are waiting to be discovered by politicians.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

The Dutch invest €595 million—or €35 per resident—annually on cycling (15 times that of nearby England). Seem expensive? Those 17 million people collectively cycle 15.5 billion km.—or 912 km. per resident—annually, saving their healthcare system €19 billion (3% of their GDP).

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Following the overwhelming success of the nine euro ticket experiment last summer, Germany will introduce a permanent €49 pass this spring. The monthly subscription will allow unlimited travel on buses, trams, subways, and local trains across every region in the entire country.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

A quarter of all kilometers cycled in Dutch cities are to/from a train station. Half of all train trips start with a bike ride. Thanks to the trains, there is more cycling; and thanks to cycling, more train usage. A virtuous circle of sustainable travel.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

To paraphrase Enrique Peñalosa: A plowed and salted cycle track is a symbol that a child on a $30 bicycle is equally important as an adult inside a $30,000 car.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

On January 1st, 2021, Brussels introduced a 30 km/h (18 mph) citywide speed limit. Within one year, overall speeds decreased 9%, collisions 22%, fatalities 50%, and traffic noise up to 50% (depending on the surface). Journey times by car were identical or even slightly shorter.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

The greatest trick the automotive industry ever pulled was convincing the world they need 2,500 kg of machinery to move 25 kg of stuff.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

81% of the Dutch population lives within a 20 minute pedal of a rail station. By unlocking the bike-train combination, residents are given access to the same housing and employment opportunities, and freed from the burden of car dependency. A cycling city is an affordable city.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

A low-car city is only as good as the infrastructure around it. Since 2007, Ljubljana has launched a free on-demand electric shuttle service, renovated and built 13 active travel bridges, launched a bikeshare system that makes 900,000 trips a year, and expanded its bus network.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Dutch teens cycle an astonishing 2,000km per year. They also rank among the healthiest and happiest—with the lowest rates of obesity and antidepressant usage—on Earth. This isn't coincidence, but an outcome of a system that prioritizes humans over cars.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

On behalf of transportation nerds everywhere, today we made a long-overdue pilgrimage to an unlikely corner of western Germany. Opened in 1901, the 13.3-kilometer Schwebebahn is Wuppertal’s electric suspended railway; the oldest—and probably most famous—of its kind in the world.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

0.5% of Dutch cyclists don helmets. Yet theirs are among the safest streets on earth. Why? They realize it’s more effective to slow cars, build protected infrastructure, and create a culture of everyday cycling. Not force the most vulnerable to armour up.

No helmets, no problem: how the Dutch created a casual biking culture

A chat with the authors of a new book on cycling in the Netherlands.

www.vox.com

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

The Netherlands’ quality cycling infrastructure means a third of trips by people aged 65 to 75 are on a bicycle; the highest rate among all adult categories. For many, the bicycle acts as a “rolling walking stick”; a type of mobility device far easier on the joints than walking.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Here’s what Mayor @Anne_Hidalgo knew when she took office in 2014: It wasn’t the hills, weather or culture that was preventing Parisians from cycling; it was a lack of safe infrastructure. With that revelation—and some immense courage—she has unleashed a revolution in the city.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Since the introduction of a car-free zone in 2007, the auto mode share in Ljubljana has dropped by 32%. The concentrations of black carbon emissions has reduced 70% and noise pollution is down six decibels. Most importantly, it’s a more pleasant place to spend time (and money).

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

Dutch women are a staggering 80 times more likely to cycle than their British counterparts; a mere 150km across the North Sea. Not because the terrain is different. Not because the weather is different. Not because the culture is different. But because the streets are different.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

The greatest trick the car industry ever pulled was convincing the world they needed 1,500 kg. of machinery to move 15 kg. of stuff.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

When Dutch cities started removing cars from their streets and plazas in the 1990s, critics argued, “We’re not the Mediterranean!” At the time, their country didn’t have the year-round walking and terrace culture of Spain, France and Italy; due to the harsh climate. They do now.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Even as the Netherlands’ so-called “car city”, Rotterdam’s cycle network puts most global cities to shame; showing how high a bar the Dutch have set. Pedal four kilometers from the industrial Delftshaven to Centraal Station, without once leaving a protected lane or intersection.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Three years after opening, the entrance to the Utrecht Centraal bike parking has been totally rebuilt to improve clarity, flow, and safety. Yet again, it embodies a cultural willingness to listen to feedback, admit a mistake, and continually perfect the design of infrastructure.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

The Netherlands’ rural cycling network could be the eighth wonder of the world: thousands of miles of smooth, signed, scenic, separated paths connecting every remote corner of the country. The result? A cycle tourism industry worth €2.4 billion annually to the national economy.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

Not everyone will cycle 20+ km. to their destination, but enable them to ride 3-5 km. to public transport, and they’re much more likely to leave the car at home. Every day, over 600,000 people cycle to train stations across the Netherlands. Why? It has been made the easy choice.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

After eight months of living in the Netherlands, four things our family now takes for granted: 1) A cycle track on each arterial. 2) Streets that slow/discourage cars. 3) Protection at all intersections. 4) Secure parking at our destination. Shouldn’t it be this way everywhere?

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

You‘ll barely notice it, but this cycle track is actually crossed by two residential side streets. Rather than treating bikes and humans as guests in the cars’ space, the opposite occurs, and the cycle and foot paths are continuous by design. This should be standard everywhere.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

Half of all train trips in the Netherlands begin with a bike ride. As you can see from Delft Station, that isn’t an accident. It’s the deliberate extension of the CROW principles of cohesion, directness, safety, attractiveness, and comfort; from the street and onto the platform.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Amsterdam is currently removing 1,500 on-street car parking spaces per year; a phenomenal public realm improvement enabled by decades of effective mobility policy. Ask not what your city can do to get more people cycling—but what getting more people cycling can do for your city.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

A light, quick, cheap solution so good, it should be copied the world over: The fietsvlonder is a “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for 10 bicycles. If deemed a success, the curb is permanently adjusted, and the structure is moved to the next location.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality isn’t about bicycles. It’s about refusing to sacrifice vast amounts of the public realm to the private car; instead reserving it for commerce, community and social connection. The ubiquitous bicycles are simply a byproduct of that process.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

What inspires us most about Dutch planning? They design for the future they want; with bold, ambitious projects that make the right choice the easy choice. The brand new 7,000-bicycle parking facility built beneath the water at Amsterdam Central Station.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

8 months

On paper, “Superblocks” are modest interventions; simple traffic filters that reclaim a fraction of the 60% of Barcelona’s land mass dedicated to the movement and storage of cars. In reality, they are nothing short of a triumph; the results totally justifying the grandiose name.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality isn’t really about bicycles. It’s about refusing to carve out enormous amounts of space from their cities for cars; instead reserving room for commerce, community, and social connection. The bicycles are simply a byproduct of that process.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

A train that runs on 100% wind power, at a station that runs on 100% sun power, fed by a bike that runs on 100% leg power. The technology needed for a better mobility future isn’t waiting to be discovered by corporations; it exists and is waiting to be discovered by politicians.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

If your cycling infrastructure isn’t good enough for them, it isn’t good enough.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

If your solution—to improving road safety or decreasing car usage—relies on “If everyone would just…” then you don’t have a solution. Everyone isn’t going to “just”. At no point in history has everyone “just”. And unless you create the conditions for them, they won’t start now.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

This summer, Rotterdam will allow all businesses—from restaurants to hairdressers—to convert the parking spaces in front of their building into retail space. The owner may build their own deck, or borrow a free one from the municipality. No permit needed.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

This 30 second commercial was just banned from French television because it "discredits the automobile sector... while creating a climate of anxiety". It’s easy to see why car manufacturers are scared of e-bikes. They represent the dawning of a new day.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

6 years

The Dutch don't cycle because their country is flatter, warmer, or morally superior to the rest of the world. It's because they’ve built a dense, 35,000 km. network of fully separated infrastructure, equal to a quarter of their 140,000 km. road network.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

Ask a Dutch person why they cycle so much, and they’ll shrug: “It’s just in our culture”; oblivious to the vast infrastructure networks built to make it easy. Ask an American why they drive so much, and they’ll do the same. First we shape our streets; then our streets shape us.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

When Max van den Berg proposed a plan in 1977 that made the centre of Groningen virtually impenetrable by car, his party was the subject of outrage, protests, and death threats. Now not a single resident misses the days when cars choked their streets. Fortune favours the brave.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

We were pedalling side-by-side today, when it suddenly it hit us: After 16 months of living in the Netherlands, we haven’t once felt unsafe, uncomfortable, or unwelcome while cycling. Not because drivers are better behaved. Because streets are designed to minimize their threat.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Many business owners believe their livelihood depends on two lanes of free-flowing traffic and two parking spaces outside their front door. Except cars don’t have wallets, people do; and they’re far more likely to spend their time and money in serene, social, stimulating places.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

“If you see salmon swimming up a river, that's a sign of the quality of that habitat. If you see children of different ages—with or without their parents—being active and visible in their neighborhood, that's a sign of the health of that habitat, that human habitat.” - @timrgill

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Working with local residents on their design and maintenance, Antwerp is piloting tuinstraten (“garden streets”) in five districts across the city. They improve resiliency (to flooding and heat), liveability and sociability—making these spaces calmer, greener and more beautiful.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Some people think Teslas-in-tunnels are the future of urban mobility. We think they misdirect attention and resources from simple solutions already proven to address congestion, safety and inequity—problems caused by cars that won’t be fixed by cars. Rotterdam Centraal Station.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

10 months

Trams on grass, Oslo edition.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

How do Dutch engineers find so much space for cycling? They question the necessity of every car lane—because the capacity of a road is determined not by its width, but by its intersections. Get the intersection design right, and a single lane can move as many cars as two lanes.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

One year after Paris had built 52km of “corona tracks”, 60% of users were new cyclists, and the proportion of women increased 14%. With 62% public support, €250m will be invested by 2026 to make those popup lanes permanent, add 130km more, and build 130,000 bike parking spaces.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

We constantly talk about how kids “these days” need to get less screen time and more outdoor time. But by building cities for cars, we’ve systematically robbed them of the ability to do so. A cycling city is a child-friendly city. Video by @Streetfilms :

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

Fifty years ago, 86% of British kids and 50% of American kids walked or cycled to school. Those figures are now 25% and 13%, respectively. So don’t say, “That would never work here because of hills/weather/culture.” It already worked. It can work again.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Building bike garages at train stations doesn’t just take more cars off the road, it encourages more people to take public transport. But that requires cities to stop viewing cycling and public transport as competitors, and start treating them as allies.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

6 years

Dutch teens are among the healthiest and happiest on earth, with the lowest rates of obesity and antidepressant usage in the world: Dutch teens also cycle—on average—an astonishing 2,000 km. each year: Coincidence? We think not.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To an engineer, everything looks like a car. But bikes aren’t little cars; and don’t need dedicated traffic circles, signals and signs. They’re wheeled pedestrians; capable of navigating complex interactions without such interventions.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

When Dutch cities started removing cars from their streets and plazas in the 1990s, critics argued, “We’re not the Mediterranean!” At the time, their country didn’t have the walking and terrace culture of Spain, France, and Italy; due to its harsh climate. They certainly do now.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 months

We’d been sitting in Valencia’s Plaça de l'Ajuntament for a while when it suddenly hit us: “This was filled with traffic four years ago!” Testament that even to the keen eye, car-free feels like the natural state of cities. It just takes courage to push the invasive species out.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

What if—instead of misery and stress—our transportation networks could actually bring us joy? #Utrecht

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

The paradox of moving to a cycling city is we’ve never done more walking in our lives. Daily strolls made desirable because the streets of Delft aren’t drowning in cars. The greatest trick the auto industry ever pulled was convincing the world walking and cycling can’t coexist.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Train ridership in the Netherlands has doubled over the past two decades. This was largely achieved not by improved station coverage, but by improved station access/egress through targeted investments in bike infrastructure, (300,000+) parking spaces, and (23,000+) shared bikes.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

While the rest of the world wrings their hands over bike safety, the Dutch are quietly—and quite happily—living their lives on two wheels. They are undeniable proof that cycling itself isn’t a dangerous activity; it’s the car-first street design that often makes it so.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Just 20 years ago, cars could freely enter and park in Delft’s historic core. Then a center-left coalition narrowly (19-18 votes) passed an autoluwe binnenstad (‘low-car city center’) policy. Now not a single resident or merchant misses the days when cars choked their streets.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

7 months

In a car-obligatory society, teens rely on parents to chauffeur them to and from sports; counting down the days until they can drive themselves. In a car-optional one, they’ve already been navigating their city for years; moving safely, happily, and healthily with their friends.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Howdy from Austin, Texas!

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 months

The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality isn’t really about bikes. It’s about refusing to carve out enormous amounts of space from their cities for cars; instead reserving it for commerce, community, and social connection. The bikes are simply a means to help reach that end goal.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 months

The electric train was invented in 1879. The safety bicycle six years later. Unleasing the potential of these two “obsolete” technologies is our best bet at addressing the converging climate, health, resource, and inequity crises. Not smarter cars. Not cleaner cars. Fewer cars.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Whenever we arrange study tours of the Netherlands for international decision makers, we insist they visit Utrecht rather than Amsterdam. It’s easy to see ancient Amsterdam and think, “This is not my city.” It’s easy to see futuristic Utrecht and think, “This could be my city.”

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

The curbside “stoep” is a delightful Dutch phenomenon: a blurring of the boundary between public and private space. While technically municipal property, residents are encouraged to personalize the area outside their home, creating a sense of pride and ownership in their street.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

The paradox of moving to a cycling city is we’ve never done more walking in our lives. Daily strolls made desirable because the streets of Delft aren’t drowning in cars. The greatest trick the auto industry ever pulled was convincing the world walking and cycling can’t coexist.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

10 months

When your daughter graduates from high school in the Netherlands, there is only one acceptable way to arrive at the ceremony.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

0.5% of Dutch cyclists wear helmets. Yet theirs are the safest streets on earth. Why? They understand it’s more effective to slow cars, build protected infrastructure, and nurture a culture of everyday cycling. Not force the most vulnerable to armour up.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

Dutch children are 40 times more likely to cycle to school than their British counterparts; a mere 150km across the North Sea. Not because the terrain is different. Not because the weather is different. Not because the culture is different. But because the streets are different.

Adam Tranter

@adamtranter

4 years

Cycling outside a school in the UK Vs Cycling outside a school in the Netherlands.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

Imagine how much better your street could look and feel with fewer parked cars lining its curbs. #Amsterdam

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

“If it needs a sign, it’s bad design.” Streets and intersections can be engineered to reduce the number of conflicts, forgive inevitable mistakes, self-explain anticipated behaviour and self-enforce desired speed. Our interview on the ‘Mobilitetspodden’:

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

What happens when cities value non-motorists’ time as much as motorists’? Amsterdam’s €12M Cuypers Passage tunnels below Centraal Station preventing a 600m detour and saving 25,000 daily users five minutes each. That’s 2,000 hours/day… 14,000 hours/week… 728,000 hours/year…

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

We’re not saying cities should ban cars. We’re arguing they should stop privileging and prioritizing motor vehicles at the expense of every other mode; forcing dependence through design. With that revolutionary act, they become far better places for everyone, including drivers.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

"America is too big and spread out for bikes.” Except most people aren’t driving from Seattle to Miami. A THIRD of all trips are one mile or less. HALF are three miles or less. The potential for transformation is huge. But only if we stop making excuses and start making space.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

With their cycle tracks bursting at the seams, many Dutch cities are moving onto the next level, and handing over entire streets to cyclists. On Utrecht’s Voorstraat, a separated lane was removed in favor of a ‘bicycle street’, where cars retain access but are treated as guests.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Taking a page out of the Dutch blueprint, our hometown of Kitchener just broke ground on a continuous and protected cycling network that connects adjacent neighborhoods to the downtown. A cohesive grid of no fewer than 20 new routes will be designed and built by the end of 2023.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

Many cities *talk* about prioritizing active travel. But few actually do. At this Delft intersection, pedestrians and cyclists have a continuous green light, and drivers must ask for permission to cross the foot and cycle path. See the full @Streetfilms :

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

8 months

“0.5% of Dutch cyclists wear helmets, and that’s really just sport cyclists. They’ve ultimately decided that it’s far more important to build this culture of everyday cycling, and to build safe streets, instead of requiring people to protect themselves.”

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

11 months

Everyone dreams of finding a home they don’t feel the need to escape from. We’ve found ours in Delft.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 years

Rotterdam’s main boulevard—the Coolsingel—has been reimagined as a city lounge; with 10,000 fewer cars per day, a 30 km/h design speed, dedicated tramway, and abundant space for walking, cycling, and sitting. Design your street for the traffic you want, not the traffic you have.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Ask a Dutch person why they cycle so much, and they’ll shrug: “It’s just in our culture”; oblivious to the vast infrastructure networks built to make it easy. Ask an American why they drive so much, and they’ll do the same. First we shape our streets; then our streets shape us.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

You’ll barely notice, but this arterial road is intersected by several side streets. Rather than sinking humans down into the space of crossing cars, the foot and cycle paths are raised, continuous and prioritized—reducing driver entitlement. This should be standard everywhere.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

10 months

Why does Copenhagen invest so much in cycle infrastructure? They calculated every km. cycled produces a societal economic gain of DKK 4.79 (€0,64); every km. driven loses DKK 5.29 (€0,71). Society therefore saves DKK 10.08 (€1,35) per km. when people cycle rather than drive.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Six out of ten rail passengers in the town of Houten arrive at the station by bike; taking advantage of 3,100 parking places below the platform and trains at eight minute headways. Most own cars but opt not to use them, because the right choice is designed to be the easy choice.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Since opening in 2015, Delflandplein has averaged 4 million cyclists and 8 crashes (zero fatal) per year. It was recently redesigned to improve homogeneity, predictability and forgiveness. Creating the safest streets in the world isn’t a destination, it’s a neverending journey.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

This is what society collectively lost when it decided the sole purpose of streets was to move and store cars rather than welcome people. Places that allow neighbours to interact regularly, children to play freely, and people to walk or cycle without the stress of motor traffic.

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438

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

9 months

When a 26-year-old Deputy Mayor proposed a 1977 plan that made the centre of Groningen virtually impenetrable by car, his party was the subject of outrage, protests and death threats. Decades later, no one regrets the change or remembers the controversy.

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688

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

3 months

After years of concrete measures to improve cycling—and discourage driving—cyclists now outnumber motorists on London’s streets. Since 1999, cycling has spiked 386% and driving fallen 64%; with cyclists representing 40% of surface traffic—including pedestrians—during peak hours.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

Trams on grass: Frankfurt edition.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Street trees haven’t historically been considered urban infrastructure, but planners are slowly realizing their social-economic benefits. They cool corridors, conserve energy, reduce runoff, improve health, and absorb pollutants; saving cities and citizens money year after year.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

1 year

Some suggest it’s impossible, but the imperative act of reducing car supremacy is already happening in cities that stopped making excuses, and started making progress. Sixteen places we visited in the past 12 months that made recent and radical changes to their streets. Thread.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

In the Netherlands, 21% of ALL trips by non-western women are cycled. 16% by people with disabilities. 27% by seniors (65+). 55% by teenagers. Undeniable proof that when cities build dense, high-quality infrastructure networks, everyone will use them; not just the fit and brave.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

“Children and cars are competitors.” - Lia Karsten Only by challenging the perceived right to drive and store an automobile in front of every building, do cities create opportunities for the ‘indoor generation’ to get outside and move, meet, and play. Daguerrestraat, The Hague.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

5 years

Dutch cities *really* like putting their tram tracks on grass. And it’s not just the bigger metropolitan areas. Here’s the scene in Schiedam; population 80,000. Dedicated right-of-way. Less asphalt. Better stormwater infiltration and sound absorption. Seems like a win-win to us!

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547

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

4 years

Most teens spend years yearning for the freedom and autonomy of a driving license (because that’s how their streets were built). Dutch teens spend years actually experiencing those things—without the added stress, danger and expense (because that’s how their streets were built).

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706

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife

2 years

What inspires us most about Dutch planning? They design for the future they want—with collective long-term investments that enable citizens to choose active, social, affordable, enjoyable and sustainable ways to move in and between cities. Shouldn’t that be the case everywhere?

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