London: No City For Cyclists

The Danish architect and planner Jan Gehl  has said in a report in  The Guardian  that cycling provision in London is 'laughable'. Gehl is a hugely respected urban designer who has focused much of his career on improving the quality of urban life by adopting a people based approach with an emphasis on travelling by bike and foot.

He went on to say: "In Copenhagen I cycle with one grandchild at the front of the bike and another at the back, and a five-year-old grandchild on his own bike next to me. That can be done if you have bicycle lanes which are proper lanes which have kerbs and proper junctions. But in London, never,"

His comments come in the wake of the deaths of several cyclists in the capital which have received extensive coverage in the national media. 

Gehl has worked in major cities all over the world including New York and is responsible for the award winning New Road in Brighton - one of the few shared spaces in the UK which allows pedestrians, motorists and cyclists to use the same space.

he is also quoted as saying "It is my opinion that to have a substantive bicycle culture it is not only for the extreme sport enthusiasts, the freaks who think, 'It's a good day if I survive'. If, like in Copenhagen, you have a bicycle system that's a real system, it should be city-wide in the major streets. It should be like sidewalks – it goes from one entrance door to another entrance door."

The vast majority of children in the small Sussex village where we live go to school in a neighbouring village and very few of them cycle as it is simply too dangerous with no safe cycling route, most of them have to rely on buses which are expensive, overcrowded  and unreliable.

According to Gehl if people walk and bicycle more it will lead to livelier,  more liveable, more attractive,  more safe, more sustainable urban environments with obvious health benefits.

At a recent Stop Killing Cyclists Campaign demonstration in London there were calls for 10% of the TfL budget to go on cycling (compared to 35% in Holland) which would be an excellent start but Local and Regional Planning Authorities should also be funding safe cycling routes with developers made to contribute more to enhancing and extending local cycle routes.