Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
@modacitylife • 88,637 subscribers
Dutch-Canadian authors and urban mobility advocates who strive to communicate the benefits of happier, healthier, more human-scale cities.
Shorts
Videos
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 Bruntlett197,240 Aufrufe • vor 8 Tagen
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 Bruntlett849,339 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
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 Bruntlett495,519 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
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 Bruntlett41,244 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
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 Bruntlett81,394 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
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 Bruntlett100,837 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
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 Bruntlett391,404 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
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 Bruntlett390,569 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
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 Bruntlett254,446 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
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 Bruntlett257,754 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
The world’s biggest bike parking in Utrecht didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t fall out of the sky. It’s a product of decades of effective urban planning. Long-term political decisions. Sustained public investment. Great cycling cities aren’t miracles. They’re policy outcomes.
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett14,242 Aufrufe • vor 28 Tagen
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 Bruntlett145,539 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
“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 Bruntlett265,910 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
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 Bruntlett260,638 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
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 Bruntlett212,174 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
“In Utrecht, the bike is not an end in itself. It’s a means to create a liveable, healthy, climate-friendly city for all. The success can be admired in the inner city. It’s lively and yet quiet. Here, it's noticeable: Cities aren't loud; only cars are—and they play no role here.”
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett47,506 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
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 Bruntlett214,183 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
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…
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett189,668 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
If designed inclusively, bike infrastructure offers independent mobility to those with physical impairments who are left behind by car dependence. For many people housebound or reliant on others, two—or three—wheeled travel isn’t just a form of movement, it’s one of empowerment.
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett17,889 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
The decision to invest €30-million in the world’s biggest bike parking (12,500 spaces) at Utrecht Central Station seems extravagant, but when you calculate the cost of the alternatives—in the context of tens of thousands of bike-train trips each day—it’s an absolute bargain...🧵
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett92,068 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr