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Chris Bruntlett is the International Relations Manager at the Dutch Cycling Embassy and a prolific author and speaker — and the latest guest in our series with leading thinkers in Europe. This conversation orbits around a LinkedIn post Chris wrote after he and I met earlier this fall in Utrecht. There’s a tremendous amount to unpack — from the strategic sequencing of how to build a bike network to the Dutch concept of ontvlecthen, to the importance of a car plan in making a bike plan possible. Chris, along with his wife Melissa, is the author of three books, including one of my favorites, “Building the Cycling City.” Laying the Groundwork: Why Cities Didn't Start with Bike Lanes (01:06) From Car Planning to Traffic Calming (02:44) Ontvlechten: The Power of Disentangling (08:55) Building Unlikely Political Coalitions (12:45) The "Lighter, Faster, Cheaper" Philosophy (17:11) Plastic Flex Posts vs. Concrete Blobs (21:31) Putting the Cart Before the Horse in North America (26:08) Why Density and Critical Mass Matter (30:53) Beyond Brick and Mortar: The Human Infrastructure (44:56) Groningen: The Bold Blueprint (49:20) Why Driving in the Netherlands Is Actually Great (53:37)

Stefan Carsten is a leading thinker on the future of mobility in Germany. While working at Daimler – yes, that Daimler – his team explored the reallocation of public space in Germany, 50-60% of which goes exclusively to cars. In that role, his team developed the concept for car2go – the Smart Car sharing service. Stefan has described bikes as a new status symbol and the appearance of them as a leading indicator of the successful reallocation of public space. A Ted Talk he gave starts with this question: “What do you see when you leave your home in the morning? Do you see trees, a shopping mall, a restaurant, a coffee? The Current State of Mobility in Berlin (02:38) Public Choice vs. Political Policy (05:21) The Evolution of Urban Mobility (07:27) Urban Geography and Space Allocation (11:49) Envisioning Berlin's Future Street Design (13:55) One-Way Streets as a Tool for Mindset Shift (18:57) The Paradox of the Bicycle (23:29) Economic & Community Benefits of Bike Transportation (26:59) Berlin's Mobility Law & Societal Change (30:34) Case Studies: Successes and Cautionary Tales in Berlin (36:53) Community Engagement vs. Crisis Response (43:39) Futurism as an Exercise in Optimism (48:47) Closing Remarks (53:00)

Mikael Colville-Andersen is the iconoclastic author of “Copenhagenize” and the forthcoming “Welcome to Analogville”, Founder and former CEO of Copenhagenize Design Company, and the host of the show Life-Sized City. Mikael is one of the preeminent voices in the bike transportation movement, though he has written, “I don’t identify in any way, shape or form, as a cyclist. I am just a modern city dweller who just happens to use a bicycle to get around because it is safe and efficient.” The Bicycle as the Ultimate Urban Tool (01:06) Universal, Timeless Design vs. Constant Optimization (03:30) Traffic Engineering vs. Urban Design (05:40) The Problem with Traffic Counts over Human Behavior (13:00) Challenging the Automobile-Centric Paradigm (15:35) Taking a Design-First, Human-Centered Approach (21:54) Observing Cyclist Behavior & Questioning Assumptions (27:32) The Evolution of Copenhagen's Bike Infrastructure (31:10) Danish Design Principles Applied to Cities vs. Dutch Network Complexity (35:00) Examples of Rapid Success: Seville, Ljubljana, and Tatarstan (45:30) Addressing Cost, ROI, and Systemic Benefits (48:40) Welcome to Analogville & Lessons for Future-Proofing Cities (58:45)

Dr. Meredith Glaser is the CEO of the Urban Cycling Institute, an urban planning lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, and a Professor of Cycling at Ghent University. This conversation is part of a series with leading European bike thinkers. Austin, Albuquerque, and Albany aren’t Amsterdam, but there’s a lot we can learn from how European cities have navigated many of the same challenges we face in the US. Most of these discussions will be studio recordings, but this is a special conversation I recorded with Dr. Meredith Glaser on the streets of Amsterdam. Finding Answers to Broken American Bike Networks (00:00) Why Immersive Experiential Learning Changes Mindsets (03:25) Transforming Amsterdam Streets via Puccini Method Guidelines (06:56) Testing Space Reallocation through Interim Tactical Pilots (11:20) Underwater Garages, Decreasing Car Ownership, Shifting Paradigms (14:39) Seizing Strategic Windows of Opportunity for Mobility Overhauls (21:44) Rapid Deployment Secrets Behind Sevilla’s Cycling Boom (25:34) Traffic Circulation Plans: Lessons from Ghent’s Transformation (35:14) Fietstraaten Evolution: When Whole Streets Become Bikeways (45:09) Transitioning Transport Investments toward Values-Based Regional Planning (50:47) Low-Cost Scalable Infrastructure Solutions for American Cities (57:04)

This is a conversation with Ruth Oldenziel, an emeritus professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology and an expert on the history of technology. Ruth is the program leader of the Cycling Cities Project, a research initiative to understand what has worked and what hasn't to make bike transportation a reality in cities across the globe. I wanted to talk to Ruth about that research, how some European cities have succeeded and others haven't, and to dispel the notion that the Dutch are genetically predisposed to create bike-friendly cities. Amsterdam’s Cycling History and Unsafe Beginnings (02:46) Building Broad Coalitions Beyond Single-Issue Advocacy (06:08) Data Gaps and the Historical Erasure of Non-Motorized Mobility (10:35) Framing the Future of Street Space (16:34) Amsterdam vs. Rotterdam: City-Specific Contexts (19:40) The Five Organizing Factors for Cycling Cities (26:02) Traffic Calming and Shared Spaces vs. Separated Infrastructure (31:01) The Economic Case and the Suburban-Urban Divide (36:22) Lessons from Paris, Leveraging Political Moments (42:11) Shared Streets Demonstrations and Symbolic Projects (47:20) Rethinking Advocacy through Lived Experience in City Planning (53:47)

The bike story in Boston in recent years has been tumultuous. Mayor Michelle Wu was originally a champion of the cause. Then she got cold feet. Now, perhaps, she’s back on board. What happened in Boston? How do we lose political allies? How do leaders sour on biking? And what can we learn to keep them on board even when the going gets tough? Tiffany Cogell is the Interim Executive Director of the Boston Cyclists Union. She took the reins in early 2025 after being involved as a volunteer and board member for more than a decade. She is a League Certified Instructor. And she’s the founding organizer of Ride for Black Lives Boston. Equity and Translation Lessons in El Salvador (02:34) Bicycles as Tools for Social and Economic Freedom (06:36) The Politicization of Safe Street Infrastructure in Boston (08:50)Flex Posts, Parking Conflicts, Street Maintenance (12:32) Mayor Michelle Wu’s First-Term Cycling Agenda (16:07) Bold Political Leadership and Transforming Street Standards (19:32) Rapid Implementation vs. Traditional Bureaucracy (23:47) The Mayoral Campaign and Pushback Against Bike Lanes (28:58) Multi-Layered Pressures and the 30-Day Project Pause (39:43) Tragedy, Public Outcry, and a Recommitment to Vision Zero (47:10) Leadership, Integrity, and the Path Forward for Safe Streets (52:18)

Jon Orcutt has more than 30 years of experience shaping transportation policy. He was the Director of Policy at the New York City Department of Transportation from 2007-2014, during the halcyon years of the department during the mayorship of Michael Bloomberg. That means he was the lieutenant to Janette Sadik-Khan, one of the most influential leaders in the modern street-transformation movement. He’s also come at this from an advocacy perspective as the Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, one of the largest advocacy organizations in the country, and as the Executive Director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which works to reduce car dependency in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. 02:24 - Reimagining Times Square and Broadway 07:25 - A City Without Seats 11:18 - Tactical Urbanism & Lawn Chairs on Broadway 17:04 - Replicating the Playbook Globally and Locally 24:17 - Driving Bureaucratic Innovation from the Top 29:25 - Moving Past Traditional Master Planning 38:11 - Citi Bike and High-Density Bike Share Systems 44:27 - Berry Street and Scalable Low-Traffic Bikeways51:00 - Leadership and Systemic Reform 54:34 - Closing Thoughts and Podcast Outro

“There is rarely ever any negative feedback on these projects.” Bet you’ve rarely heard those words associated with a bikeway or street safety development project. But in Indianapolis, because of the city’s enlightened tactical urbanism program, it’s become the norm. Every city transportation official should study the Indy program. And every city have their own tactical urbanism program. In this second episode about Indy, we speak with Chris Davner, the city’s tactical urbanism program lead, and LeAndre Level, Indy’s Vision Zero leader. 02:50 – The Catalyst: 10th Street & Art in the Right-of-Way 06:51 – Vision Zero Strategy & Interagency Coordination 09:58 – Why Community-Led Safety is Essential for Vision Zero 13:04 – Deep Dive: Redesigning 16th Street & Monon Trail 19:40 – Transitioning to Semi-Permanent "Quick Builds" 24:07 – Why Indianapolis Leads in Tactical Infrastructure 30:10 – Building Community Support Over Polarized Meetings 38:03 – Iterative Design, Testing Hypotheses, & Street Reconfigurations 44:42 – Advice for Municipal Leaders

Dave Snyder is a battle-tested bike advocate and social entrepreneur. He revived and led the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for 11 years. He founded Transportation for a Livable City and the SF Transit Riders Union. He led the California Bike Coalition for a decade. And then he was the Senior Director for Infrastructure at PeopleForBikes. Despite decades as the consummate insider — indeed, informed by those decades of experience — he has some surprising views that challenge bike advocacy orthodoxy. The Movement Newsletter 02:32 — The Scary 5% That Keeps People Off Bikes 05:51 — How Do We Outcompete the Car? 07:25 — Density, Housing, and the Politics of Driving 09:36 — Have We Actually Tested Complete Networks? 13:29 — Why Bike Advocacy Should Embrace Housing 15:56 — The Power of Grassroots Organizing 17:29 — How Bike East Bay Won on Telegraph Avenue 23:26 — Stop Counting Bike Miles. Count Riders. 28:56 — When Bike Lash Means You’re Winning 33:10 — Rethinking the Bike Master Plan 40:24 — What Makes a Movement Actually Work?

Why isn’t tactical urbanism more common? On the grandest scale, it was good enough for New York City in the redesign of Times Square. Why aren’t we using this to figure out how to make streets better all the time? Indianapolis hasn’t quite done that, but they are one of the few cities with has a formal Tactical Urbanism program. 00:00 — Why Tactical Urbanism Matters 03:26 — What Tactical Urbanism Really Means 08:35 — How Indianapolis’ Program Works 10:40 — The Dangerous Story of 10th Street 13:29 — Building the Case for Change 17:22 — Can the City Cut Through the Red Tape? 21:42 — What the 10th Street Project Looked Like 24:55 — The Data: Did It Actually Make Streets Safer? 28:33 — From Tactical Experiment to Permanent Change 34:59 — How Other Cities Can Make It Happen 43:57 — Rethinking Community Engagement

Our guest is John Simmerman, founder of Active Towns. John travels around the world trying to understand what’s working well in active transportation systems and what’s not. He chronicles his adventures on the excellent Active Towns podcast and his prolific Active Towns YouTube channel. 00:00 — The Idea of “Activity Assets” 05:14 — Streets for People and Human Flourishing 09:54 — How We Gave the Streets to Cars 12:26 — Lessons From Around the World 15:30 — What Paris Can Teach Us About Livable Streets 19:27 — It’s Not About the Bike, It’s About Mobility Choice 24:11 — The Hidden Network of Low-Stress Streets 27:11 — Why We’re So Resistant to Changing Our Streets 32:10 — The Value-Action Gap and Changing Behavior 40:44 — The Voices Missing From the Conversation 47:18 — The ROI of Active Transportation 53:12 — The Positive Flywheel of Better Streets Links: John’s Paris playlist of videos: https://bit.ly/3EVT9Sa John’s Walk n' Talk with Chuck in Fayetteville: https://youtu.be/Sxi3UQqAH2Y John’s Strong Towns Ride to Springdale: https://youtu.be/VpCvHdbazCc

In this conversation, we’re headed to Blacksburg, Virginia, the home of Virginia Tech. In previous episodes, we’ve investigated the state of biking in big metropolitan areas – Denver, New Orleans, Houston, Portland. Blacksburg, by contrast, is a college town with a population of 45,000. When school is in session, the population almost doubles. So what’s it like trying to get around this college town on a bike?

On this episode, we’re headed to Portland, which is to many people the Xanadu of American bike cities. If I only had a quarter for every time someone, talking about biking, has wistfully started a sentence with, “In Portland…” What is the reality on the ground in Portland? It’s ranked 8th for cities its size in the PeopleForBikes City Ratings. Is its reputation deserved? And why have recent times seen decreases in ridership?

In this episode, we're headed to Houston. If you’re like, “Biking in Houston?!” that's exactly why this is one of the conversations I've been most looking forward to. Houston is the punchline in a lot of national conversations about cars and sprawl—the fourth-largest city in the country, defined in the popular imagination by freeways and heat and distance. The city rating from PeopleForBikes for Houston is a 17 out of 100. No less, the bike movement persists.

My guest today has spent years building the tools that let us actually measure whether that is indeed true. Martina Haggerty is the vice president of infrastructure at People for Bikes, where she leads the great bike infrastructure and the city ratings initiatives, which score hundreds of cities on how well their bike networks actually connect people to the places they want to go. They call this the bike network analysis, and we'll dive into that in a moment.