What Makes a City a Cycling City?
The War on Cars
The War on Cars, LLC
4.9 • 937 Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why have some cities become places where it's easy to hop on a bike for daily transportation needs while others have languished or even been left behind? Is there some sort of magical combination of forces that separate the best cycling cities from basically everywhere else?
Those are the questions asked by Cycling Cities: The Global Experience, a research project headed by Dr. Ruth Oldenziel, a Professor in The History of Technology at Eindhoven University of Technology. Nthoki Dorcas Nyamai, an Urban Development Researcher at International Planning Studies, TU Dortmund University, also joins us to talk about her research into African cities, local advocacy and cycling culture in places like Nairobi, and more. Looking far beyond the handful of Northern European cities that consume so much attention in the cycling world, the Cycling Cities project challenges us to take a bigger view of the factors that determine whether or not cities prioritize people over cars and to think beyond traffic counts or even two wheels. Ruth and Dorcas's research may surprise you.
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SHOW NOTES
Read about the Cycling Cities project and learn more about Ruth Oldenziel and Nthoki Dorcas Nyamai
Here's the Guardian story about Amsterdam becoming an cycling city almost "by chance" that we mention in the episode.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Over a month ago, the folks at ExtraCycle loaned me a new RFA. |
| 0:06.0 | That's a multi-purpose compact electric cargo bike, and I've loved riding it. |
| 0:11.0 | You know who else loves riding it? My son. |
| 0:13.0 | He sits on the back as we cruise around the neighborhood and actually looks forward to running errands with me. |
| 0:19.0 | But what if you have a bigger family? I spoke with |
| 0:22.5 | Kate, an extra cycle owner from Rowley, North Carolina, and mother of four. And here's what she had to say. |
| 0:29.1 | I have four kids right now. They are six, four, two, and an infant. I've always wanted to live in a bigger |
| 0:36.9 | city where I could walk everywhere and not get in a car. |
| 0:39.3 | So I saw these e-bikes and I was like, hey, maybe this could bridge the gap and give me the best of both worlds. |
| 0:46.3 | I spoke with ExtraCycle. They were incredibly helpful. |
| 0:49.3 | Talk to me on the phone for over an hour to nail down the right bike for me. |
| 0:53.3 | Kate opted for the ExtraCycle swoop, which is perfect for hauling multiple kids. |
| 0:59.5 | She and her husband loved it so much that they also wound up getting an RFA. |
| 1:04.3 | And even though they still need to drive every now and then, the bikes have taken a primary |
| 1:08.6 | place in their lives. |
| 1:10.3 | We actually have two cars. |
| 1:12.1 | However, I will say that the second car got booted to the driveway |
| 1:16.2 | so that the bikes could live in the garage. |
| 1:19.4 | With four little kids, Kate is used to juggling a whole lot of gear, |
| 1:23.7 | something that usually causes parents to default to taking the car. |
| 1:31.3 | But she's found that loading up the extra cycle is a piece of cake. It's got that huge cargo bag on the front. |
| 1:34.3 | I mean, I can actually fit a travel stroller in that compartment on the front. |
... |
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