I was honored to tag along with and document a PeopleForBikes sponsored city builder and Dutch cycle network study tour for a delegation hailing from Austin, TX. In a future video, I will dive deeper into why and how study tours such as this are so powerful and helpful in moving the needle when it comes to initiating change back at home, wherever that might be.

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
– Playlist of Austin’s Dutch-inspired cycle network build-out: https://bit.ly/AustinDutchBikePlaylist
– PeopleForBikes: https://www.peopleforbikes.org/
– Zach Vanderkooy’s Inspired by Cities: https://www.inspiredbycities.com/

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Credits: Video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music via Epidemic Sound: https://bit.ly/3rFLErD

Resources used during the production of this video:
– My recording platform is Ecamm Live: https://bit.ly/3rwsUup
– Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite: https://bit.ly/35DBDDU

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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

Since 2010, I’ve been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a “Culture of Activity” for “All Ages & Abilities.”

The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022

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20 Comments

  1. Great video! And totally depressing how terrible of a wrong turn we took in the USA and how long it will take to fix. But the best time besides decades ago to plant a tree is today. Planning a bike trip to the Netherlands this summer with my 80+ y.o. parent who is more excited than I am, can't wait!

  2. I saw the Fire Chief was listed as a participant – terrific! Do you have more roll of the fire station and small truck tour? Our fire department is one of the biggest barriers to redesigning streets for people – and we have huge wide streets here in Salt Lake City.

  3. I saw the group driving past a police station. I hope they hopped in because a big argument I hear from americans is how do police and ambulance get to places if there is so much traffic calming and bicycle paths? And it's interesting to see how the police actually uses the bicycle paths to get to places quicker.

  4. Nice vid, I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the participants though. Like why did they attend, what are their impressions, what lessons do they hope to bring back to their hometowns and what can they realistically achieve in the coming years.

  5. Curious if they also visited medium sized towns. I think in many of those you can really see the full implementation of the Dutch vision, especially in newer neighbourhoods. The bigger cities are often a less sophisticated mix of older and newer designs due to lack of space and high competition between modes due to crowding.

  6. Vistit also Spakenburg The hidden jam of the Netherlands. In the outpost of the provincie of Utrecht. Near Amersfoort and the newist Provincie of Flevoland.
    Spakenburg. Whit a weekly makert whit more than a 100 stands. The old hauber of Spakenburg is a UNESCO SITE HAUBER!
    Whit vloting haratich .(": De bruine vloot").
    Not on a sunday.
    The 1e Saterday of September i'ts Fihseryday in Spakenburg goingbackintime.

    Visserijdag 2019 / RTV Bunschoten
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok40dg-YD50

    Visserijdag Spakenburg 2011 / Bunschoter
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgt9GOHOv6M

  7. Thank you for this video. I was wondering why the firestation tour was included, were there firefighters amongst you? And what was the response to our compact fire trucks?

  8. Awesome to see American city leaders willing to go see for themselves just how the Dutch have taken cycling seriously, shifting so many people away from the burden of car dependency. Kudos to those attending, going out of their comfort zone.

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