Velotopia, a route map to cycle cities

Velotopia imagines how cities could be catered for mainly by cycling and walking

Velotopia imagines how cities could be catered for mainly by cycling and walking

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.