> The city recently surpassed Amsterdam in a widely respected ranking of bike-friendly cities and is now second only to Copenhagen, which is more than twice its size.<p>I visited Copenhagen last year, and while it's a lovely city I have absolutely no idea how it is ranked number one cycling city in the world. Mark Wagenbuur, cited in this article, is also sceptical: <a href="https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/is-copenhagen-a-city-of-cyclists/" rel="nofollow">https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/is-copenhagen-...</a>
As someone who bikes to work most days and thinks cycling infrastructure like this is great, what do the people profiled in this article do when it rains?
> Utrecht, like many other European cities, spent several postwar decades trying to make automobile use easier.<p>> The effort included building a four-lane highway over centuries-old canals, making space for parked cars on its narrow cobblestone streets, and planning for a highway that was to cross the medieval city’s cathedral square.<p>What better to do with history than learn from it?<p>Next step: see the similarities of our focus on airplanes to that view on cars and how it's not improving our lives, environment, or communities, but rather hurting them all.
"Cycling is like a piece of magic: It only has advantages,” said Ms. van Hooijdonk . (who never cycled into gale force winds in freezing cold and rain ;'D... wtf)
In an alienated society where everyone lives in his own bubble, biking and not having a car is an easy proposition. No need to drive your sick parents to the hospital, no need to help a friend with moving the furniture, putting your child on the backseat of a bike on a rainy day is not frowned upon. Almost every aspect of social life is handled by a company in the private sector or by a public institution.<p>The majority of people in the world do not share those views of the Dutch and the Scandinavians, so it might not work elsewhere.