Tag: Europe Study Tour

Posts from 2015 3-month study tour of Europe

Flashback Friday – Unterhaching, Munich: Cycling and good planning

This week we have hosted a young German at our place, who hails from outside Cologne. Ten years ago, I got to explore a fair bit of Germany, both big and small places. In the southeastern part of Germany, this …

Flashback Friday: Munich – Cycling for a Big City

While here in NZ, we are currently enduring some chilly days, and quite a bit of rain to boot, over in Europe at the moment a heatwave is sending temperatures soaring. Germany is not immune; interestingly the first time I …

Flashback Friday: Arnhem and Nijmegen – Twin Cycling Cities

Halfway around the world from us, the latest Velo-City cycling conference is just wrapping up in Gdansk, Poland. The Velo-City series has been an ongoing event since 1980; although mostly based in European cities, it has occasionally graced other …

Flashback Friday: Enschede – a pioneer for cycling

In my work, we’re about to start a really interesting project to hopefully trial some small low-level cycle signals at various cities around NZ. The inspiration for this is from several places in Europe that are already using these to …

Flashback Friday – Vienna: Cycling on the Rise

It’s starting to get a little bit cooler and for many Kiwis they might be thinking of travelling to warmer climes. Indeed, two of my children are planning to head over to Europe in the next few months. So I …

Flashback Friday: Munich: Cycling for a Big City

Happy Matariki! Earlier this week, I mentioned how Christchurch had rated fairly well amongst large cities worldwide in the People for Bikes 2023 City Bike Ratings. Perhaps not surprisingly, three large Dutch cities, The Hague, Utrecht, and Amsterdam feature in …

Flashback Friday: What can Christchurch learn from The Netherlands?

This week we heard the fantastic news that a large chunk of local streets in Chch will soon see their speed limits lowered – bravo! For some people, speed management still seems like a strange (and unnecessary) facet of our …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in London – More Pictures

Currently I’m working on a couple of interesting and somewhat related projects. One is some research looking at how ways to reallocate road-space (e.g. remove a traffic lane for a cycleway…) can reduce vehicle-kms travelled. The other is to …

Flashback Friday: Münster – Germany does Cycling too

Earlier this week, I ran another Cycle Planning & Design industry course here in Christchurch. While increasingly it showcases some of the good practice cycling to be seen around NZ, we also include a few  nice examples from overseas where …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in Houten – a triumph in Planning

There’s a growing group of people within Christchurch looking to meet regularly in Christchurch to discuss urban transport and planning issues, including good sustainable transport practices like cycling. Tonight was another meet-up and, amongst the many topics discussed, was some …

Flashback Friday – End of Tour: Reflections on Cycling in Europe

Earlier this week I reported on the recent draft Chch Transport Plan, which has some great proposals in it. It’s stated that many of the ideas in it came from looking at best practice elsewhere in the world; many …

Flashback Friday – Vauban and Rieselfeld, Freiburg: Suburbs for Cycling

Last week I reminded you about my time visiting the German city of Freiburg and some of its transport-friendly aspects that the similar-sized Christchurch could emulate. Another feature that Greater Chch could do well to consider is how Freiburg develops …

Flashback Friday: Freiburg – Cycling and Sustainability

This week has seen a flurry of discussion locally by City Council about whether to release or not the draft future transport plan. In the end, the Council decided to publish the 30-year draft plan for the public to have …

Flashback Friday – Cycling in Zürich: An uphill challenge

This week I have been spending time in Wellington, looking at some proposed cycleway routes and observing bike behaviour in our capital city. Although similar in size to Christchurch, Wellington suffers from having a lot of hills that limit the …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in Nantes and #VeloCity2015 Conference

Like many parts of the world, Europe is starting to attempt some semblance of post-lockdown normality (even despite the ongoing Covid infection numbers…). In the cycling world, that meant another recent Velo-City cycling conference two weeks ago, in Ljubljana, …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in Amsterdam – does it live up to the hype?

Pay attention to some of the debates that occur in the media comments sections about cycleways and at some point a naysayer is invariably going to say that “[NZ town X] is not like Amsterdam!” Ignoring the fact that a …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in Utrecht

Happy Easter! I hope you’re managing to get in some bike rides to work off all the additional chocolate… It’s been an interesting week, not least because I managed to catch Covid. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that my symptoms have …

Flashback Friday: Reflections on a Month in the UK

With all the recent Govt announcements allowing more easy travel in and out of NZ once more, it feels like the world has suddenly opened up again. People are talking about doing the travel they’ve had to postpone for the …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in Bristol

Any time that someone claims their city is too hilly for lots of cycling (and conversely, that’s why everyone bikes in Chch…) I invariably think about all of the hilly cities I have visited around the world that somehow buck …

Flashback Friday: Study Abroad – First Stop: London

Remember that thing called overseas travel? Long before Covid, it was a thing apparently… And back in my previous university job it was a regular thing to visit places overseas to check out their transport systems (call it a busman’s …