How the Dutch get out of a car

As an American who has been living in Amsterdam for several years, Russell Shorto is struck, every time he goes home, by the way American cities remain manacled to the car. He wrote an article about this in the New York Times: While Europe is dealing with congestion and greenhouse gas buildup by turning urban centers into pedestrian zones and finding innovative ways to combine driving with public transportation, many American cities are carving out more parking spaces. It’s all the more bewildering because America’s collapsing infrastructure would seem to cry out for new solutions. Geography partly explains the difference: America is spread out, while European cities predate the car. But Boston and Philadelphia have old centers too, while the peripheral sprawl in London and Barcelona mirrors that of American cities. More important, I think, is mind-set. Take bicycles. The advent of bike lanes in some American cities may seem like a big step, but merely marking a strip of the road for recreational cycling spectacularly misses the point. In Amsterdam, nearly everyone cycles, and cars, bikes and trams coexist in a complex flow, with dedicated bicycle lanes, traffic lights and parking garages, thanks to a different way of thinking about transportation. Velo Mondial is promoting this way of thinking in the Amsterdam Mobility Embassy that will be set up in the fall.