Activating the City - Case Studies and References

These are the references and case studies for City Science's guest post "Activating the City". You can see their original report in full here (PDF).

Case Study 1 - The Cycling “Heaven of Heaven”: Houten, the Netherlands

Located about five miles from the city of Utrecht, Houten in many ways is a typical medium-density suburb: single-family homes line the streets; moderate rates of car ownership prevail; on average, there are 1.1 parking spaces per resident (Jaffe, 2015).

Yet in other ways, Houten is far from typical.

In Houten, traffic is restricted to a ring road that surrounds the city; there are no direct links for cars between residential areas. Within the ring road, a network of low-speed streets intended for cyclists and pedestrians connect two intercity train stations, as well as most of the city’s schools, shops, and amenities. Alongside 129 kilometres of brick-red cycle paths, a bike-sharing scheme enables users to rent bikes for a twenty-hour period; each bike comes equipped with a lock, allowing users to park the bike throughout the day. Unlike many other bike-sharing schemes, this makes it easier for users to utilise the scheme to run errands throughout the day.

“If the Netherlands is heaven for bicycles”, says Peter Furth (Powers, 2013), Professor of Civil Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, then for him “Houten is the heaven of heaven.”

Taken together, Houten’s built environment and bicycle-friendly policy measures result in a high level of traffic safety for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as a large modal share for walking and cycling. In total, 42% of trips shorter than 7.5 kilometres are made by bike, with around 21% completed by foot (Foletta, 2011). In turn, this translates into high levels of overall physical activity; on average, the residents of Houten are more active than people in both neighbouring Veldhuizen and the Netherlands as a whole (Foletta, 2011). In addition, a high modal share for active modes like walking and cycling means economic benefits for the city: two-thirds of the average household budget is spent in the city itself. Studies indicate that the turnover per m2 of shopping area in this pro-bicycle city is 2.5 times higher than elsewhere (Buis & Wittink, 2000).

Improvements in Real Estate Value After Street Pedestrianisation (Walkscore, n.d.)

per square foot

Annual Office Rents: $9

Annual Retail Rents: $7

Annual Apartment Rents: $300

Homes Values: $82

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