Velotopia, a route map to cycle cities

Largely car-free and rail-free cities as dense as Manhattan and restricted to 15km in diameter with compulsory cargo bikes for deliveries would be possible utopias for cyclists, according to a new book.

With private cars banned and trades-people carrying up to 500kg compelled to use cargo bikes there are "never more than a few dozen heavy vehicles moving throughout 'Velotopia' at any one time even though it is a city of millions - not enough to warrant a network of service roads," Dr Steve Fleming writes in an extract of the book Velotopia in The Guardian. "The people of Velotopia would "never vote for a mayor who allowed the ration of motorised vehicles to ever increase," he imagines, with traders receiving more passers-by than on avenues in Manhattan, with "moving fun, people make more discretionary trips..they're moving for no reason other than to be out".

Cyclists and pedestrians are grade-separated where there are popular attractions with large volumes of pedestrians, but more usually "cyclists and pedestrians convivially share the same space," Dr Fleming, director of Cycle Space consultancy adds.

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