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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife • 88,379 subscribers

Dutch-Canadian authors and urban mobility advocates who strive to communicate the benefits of happier, healthier, more human-scale cities.

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The wait is FINALLY over! Our new book, “Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation”, is NOW AVAILABLE worldwide through RIBA Books wherever books are sold. From Paris to Bogota, from Manila to Montreal—when women lead, cities thrive.

The wait is FINALLY over! Our new book, “Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation”, is NOW AVAILABLE worldwide through RIBA Books wherever books are sold. From Paris to Bogota, from Manila to Montreal—when women lead, cities thrive.

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Guangzhou isn’t just building bike lanes. It's building a healthy, liveable city. With 6,000 km. of greenways, it boasts one of the world's largest cycling networks. What was once overlooked is now impossible to ignore: a vital link in their modern, multimodal transport system.
3:00
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Guangzhou isn’t just building bike lanes. It's building a healthy, liveable city. With 6,000 km. of greenways, it boasts one of the world's largest cycling networks. What was once overlooked is now impossible to ignore: a vital link in their modern, multimodal transport system.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

1,106,436 views • 6 months ago

In recent years, Bilbao has quietly built a cycling network shaped by lessons from the Dutch: calmed where it can be, protected where it must—always comfortable and connected. The result? You can now ride across the city on infrastructure for everyone—not just the fit and brave.
2:59
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In recent years, Bilbao has quietly built a cycling network shaped by lessons from the Dutch: calmed where it can be, protected where it must—always comfortable and connected. The result? You can now ride across the city on infrastructure for everyone—not just the fit and brave.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

495,905 views • 6 months ago

Such a scene is often framed as proof the Dutch are superhuman—they’re not. The real miracle isn't the Dutch cyclist. It's the environment that allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Build the infrastructure, and you'll find your city is full of capable cyclists too.
0:49
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Such a scene is often framed as proof the Dutch are superhuman—they’re not. The real miracle isn't the Dutch cyclist. It's the environment that allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Build the infrastructure, and you'll find your city is full of capable cyclists too.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

198,022 views • 3 months ago

10,000 fewer car parking spaces. That's the pledge by Amsterdam's new coalition government for the next 4 years. As many cities still argue whether change is possible, Amsterdam is reclaiming its public realm one tree, bench, bike rack, terrace, playground, and garden at a time.
1:59
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10,000 fewer car parking spaces. That's the pledge by Amsterdam's new coalition government for the next 4 years. As many cities still argue whether change is possible, Amsterdam is reclaiming its public realm one tree, bench, bike rack, terrace, playground, and garden at a time.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

82,434 views • 1 month ago

Montréal on two wheels is pure joy. There’s a reason the city feels so effortless by bike: it boasts North America’s oldest and largest network of protected bike lanes, with 250 km of physically separated infrastructure woven into a network stretching 1,000 km across the island.
1:29
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Montréal on two wheels is pure joy. There’s a reason the city feels so effortless by bike: it boasts North America’s oldest and largest network of protected bike lanes, with 250 km of physically separated infrastructure woven into a network stretching 1,000 km across the island.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

40,638 views • 1 month ago

Tallinn has 112 km of bike routes, with the goal of 300 km by 2035. Its aims for cycling to account for 11% of trips, while 70% of regional journeys should be made by walking, cycling or transit by 2035. Ride with us and see how the city is putting these ambitions into practice.
1:29
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Tallinn has 112 km of bike routes, with the goal of 300 km by 2035. Its aims for cycling to account for 11% of trips, while 70% of regional journeys should be made by walking, cycling or transit by 2035. Ride with us and see how the city is putting these ambitions into practice.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

12,070 views • 12 days ago

Just 20 years ago, drivers could freely enter and park in Delft’s historic core. Then a broad coalition narrowly (19 to 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.
0:59
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Just 20 years ago, drivers could freely enter and park in Delft’s historic core. Then a broad coalition narrowly (19 to 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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

391,436 views • 2 years ago

In the Netherlands, cycling and public transport aren’t competitors—they’re teammates. Invest in one, and the other gets stronger. Nowhere is this clearer than at stations, where every design decision sharpens the bicycle network and makes the door-to-door journey even smoother.
0:31
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In the Netherlands, cycling and public transport aren’t competitors—they’re teammates. Invest in one, and the other gets stronger. Nowhere is this clearer than at stations, where every design decision sharpens the bicycle network and makes the door-to-door journey even smoother.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

100,964 views • 7 months ago

Cycling side-by-side isn’t bad behaviour. It’s human behaviour. It’s how parents talk to kids. How friends catch up. How communities form. If our bike lanes are too narrow for people to ride and talk together, the problem isn’t the people. It’s the lanes. Nørrebro, Copenhagen.
0:30
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Cycling side-by-side isn’t bad behaviour. It’s human behaviour. It’s how parents talk to kids. How friends catch up. How communities form. If our bike lanes are too narrow for people to ride and talk together, the problem isn’t the people. It’s the lanes. Nørrebro, Copenhagen.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

82,256 views • 6 months ago

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.
2:20
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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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

390,591 views • 3 years ago

The Dutch mobility system isn't just built around cycling. It's built around bike-train intermodality: the bike solves the train's convenience problem and the train solves the bike's range problem. Together they offer an attractive alternative to driving:
1:17
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The Dutch mobility system isn't just built around cycling. It's built around bike-train intermodality: the bike solves the train's convenience problem and the train solves the bike's range problem. Together they offer an attractive alternative to driving:

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

46,031 views • 3 months ago

We just arrived in Tirana and were met by a remarkable sight from the hotel window: thousands of Albanians gathered outside Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office for the tenth consecutive evening; waving flags, holding banners, and making their deafening voices impossible to ignore.
0:29
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We just arrived in Tirana and were met by a remarkable sight from the hotel window: thousands of Albanians gathered outside Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office for the tenth consecutive evening; waving flags, holding banners, and making their deafening voices impossible to ignore.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

46,171 views • 3 months ago

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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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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

254,502 views • 2 years ago

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.
2:20
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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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

257,779 views • 2 years ago

“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’:
1:34
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“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’:

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

265,910 views • 3 years ago

There are over 100 cable ferries in the Netherlands, serving as unique and important links within the rural walking and cycling networks. At strategic locations where a bridge is impractical, they offer a self-propelled water crossing using a guide cable placed along the bottom.
0:40
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There are over 100 cable ferries in the Netherlands, serving as unique and important links within the rural walking and cycling networks. At strategic locations where a bridge is impractical, they offer a self-propelled water crossing using a guide cable placed along the bottom.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

260,644 views • 3 years ago

Outside Delft Station, the absence of cars reveals a richer urban soundtrack: trams gliding, bells ringing, birds chirping, laughter echoing, and bicycles creaking by. In place of roaring engines, the human-scale soundscape brings the street to life: so serene, yet full of life.
1:15
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Outside Delft Station, the absence of cars reveals a richer urban soundtrack: trams gliding, bells ringing, birds chirping, laughter echoing, and bicycles creaking by. In place of roaring engines, the human-scale soundscape brings the street to life: so serene, yet full of life.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

41,398 views • 4 months ago

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.
0:59
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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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

145,592 views • 1 year ago

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.
0:59
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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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

212,193 views • 3 years ago

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.
1:20
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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.

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

214,221 views • 3 years ago