The Cycling Capital of the World and its Two-Wheeled Culture
Here is What I Learned
During university I had the exciting opportunity to go on a student exchange, to wherever my heart desired. Having the travel bug that many people do, I was surprisingly quite apprehensive about going because I thought it would impact my studies in a negative way… but I could not have been more wrong. Falling in love with this new way of life allowed me to really understand this new culture and sparked my interest to research it.
After only living in Amsterdam for 6 months, it began to feel like my second home. When I first arrived, I was one of those tourists accidentally walking in the bike lane and almost getting run over… but by the end of the month I was ringing my bell at tourists doing the same thing, as a true local. I could not have felt more empowered than I was riding that bike through the city streets with the rest of the masses.
I was truly fascinated by the cycling culture in the City of Amsterdam. People do not ride their bike to work because someone tells them to, they ride their bike because it has been so engrained into everyday life that it is no longer a question, it just is. Not only is cycling financially accessible, but in The Netherlands it is classy, natural, incredibly efficient, safe, and part of their nationality. By mastering the dance of the bicycle traffic, I felt like I had been welcomed in the Dutch way of life and I felt invincible. But how did this all come to be? How is biking classy?
The Biking Revolution
Amsterdam has not always been a city ruled by bikes. After the war, The Netherlands faced strong automobile pushes with industrialization just like the rest of the developed world. This was met with great resistance as it threatened cycling routes, cycling safety, nationality, and the tradition of the Holland bicycle. When automobile traffic deaths started accelerating and oil prices were proving to be volatile, protests against car-centric policies began. Protests included cyclists filling the streets and grouping together in the centre of the city to disrupt car traffic, proving that there simply wasn’t enough space for the car. Present day Amsterdam, shows that they were more or less successful. Once it was realized that the public wanted the bicycle to stick around, the government and institutions gave their effort, money, and power to the bicycle.
‘Joyriding’ vs. ‘Jaywalking’
With a quick background on the power that was given to the automobile industry back in the day, we come to understand how the car has such an influence on the way we build out cities. About a century ago the street belonged to pedestrians and citizens walked freely. The motor vehicle was met with great resistance at first and ‘joyrider’ became a term to refer to the reckless drivers of such dangerous machinery, killing children in the streets. But the economic and institutional power of the automobile did not give way. More cars were introduced and the public was told that the street belonged to the car. In reaction to the term ‘joyrider’, corporate members coined a term rooting from the offensive term ‘jay’ in efforts of making crossing the street at anywhere but the right-angle crosswalks, a bad and unruly thing to do. ‘Jaywalking’ is a term that is popular today, and has come so far with the evolution of the car that it is now an illegal activity. This one term was given so much power that it legitimately shifted social norms and views. The automobile industry was successful and the car basically rules and organizes our cities today. If such power was given to the automobile by one term, could we not reverse the culture in a similar manner?
Biking is Classy?
For the bicycle lover or transportation planner, visiting Amsterdam is like a spiritual affirmation that change is possible. Anyone and everyone is seen using the bicycle as a mode of transportation; business men and women are in dresses and suites travelling to work with their children standing on the back to be dropped off at school, people are holding umbrellas over their head on a rainy day, friends are spending time together sharing one bike, people are holding hands through the park, and someone is seen transporting a chair that they bought at a yard sale. Biking is safe in the city because the infrastructure allows it to be and most cyclists don't actually wear helmets or any special attire at all. Observers and academics describe the intricate flow of bike traffic and the steep learning curve to understand the unspoken rules of navigating the biking city as, ‘the dance’. Amsterdammers have mastered ‘the dance’ so well that bicycle traffic is in harmony with other forms of transportation and cyclists receive the right of way in almost every situation. Because of the safety, accessibility, the creation of ‘the dance’ and the institutional and public power given to the bike, it has become second nature and a way of life.
Looking back, I can not believe that I doubted the opportunity to learn in this unbelievable city. I came out of this experience researching and finishing my Bachelors degree with an intense interest in biking cities and would not be where I am, studying to be an urban planner, if it weren't for the Dutch showing me their ways.
