Island Press Field Notes

In honor of National Bike Month and Bike to Work Day, Island Press is celebrating the power and the freedom of cycling.

Before we can create vibrant, sustainable urban areas, we need to understand what naturally happens when people congregate in cities.

Cities across the globe have been designed with a primary goal of moving people around quickly—and the costs are becoming ever more apparent. The consequences are measured in smoggy air basins, sprawling suburbs, a failure to stem traffic congestion, and 1.25 million traffic fatalities each year. It is clear that change is needed. Instead of planning primarily for mobility, our cities should recalibrate planning and design to focus on the safety, health, and access of people in them.

More than ever, cities are charged with carrying out national-level policies and are expected to be at the forefront of our response to climate change, housing inequality, job-creation and public health. At the same time, most city government agencies are perennially understaffed and impeded by cumbersome, often backward regulations that leave them at odds with the private sector. Seemingly insurmountable frustrations are everywhere. So the big question is: Can meaningful changes get made in spite of these realities?