Background
There are many existing resources available to support the process of implementing cycling infrastructure and associated measures, which have been developed with EU co-funding, prepared at the national level or by other stakeholders within Europe. With such a choice, it is often not clear where city practitioners should start, which guidance is most appropriate or most comprehensive, and what to do in the case of conflicting recommendations. See also http://ec.europa.eu/transport/node/6237{EU Funded Cycle Projects as Link}.
Guidance for European cities
This Commission guidance on cycling projects in the EU binds together existing advice into a single, coherent and universal online guidance resource that enables users to identify the most relevant information for their situation.
It should be noted that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and experience and measures are not always directly transferable. For example, a best-practice example from a Western European country may not be appropriate for implementation in an Eastern European country, and vice versa. The guidance attempts to address this issue by recognising the differences between city characteristics and providing clearly relatable examples from a wide range of case study cities.
Guidance is also provided on the selection of cycling measures depending on a range of considerations for applicability – see http://ec.europa.eu/transport/node/6230{Selecting cycle measures for your city - Further considerations for applicability as Link}.
Case Study Cities
A set of twenty city case studies support this guidance by providing illustrative real-world examples of cycling measure implementation in different contexts. As well as giving concrete examples of best practice, they also demonstrate how barriers have been overcome. Case study cities have been used in the guidance to consider how city characteristics may influence the level and type of action needed to promote and support cycling, and potential success of selected cycling measures.
The twenty case study cities have good geographical coverage across Europe and include a range of city sizes and levels of cycling development.
The cities involved and a summary of their high-level characteristics are outlined below:
City (Member State) | EU Location | Size (population) | Level of cycling development/Cycling mode share |
Agueda (PT) | Southern/Mediterranean | Small Urban Area | Starter (2%) |
Berlin (DE) | North/North West | Metropolis | Climber (13%) |
Bolzano (IT) | Southern/Mediterranean | Medium Urban Area | Champion (28%) |
Bregenz (AT) | North/North West | Small Urban Area | Champion (20%) |
Brighton (UK) | North/North West | Medium Urban Area | Starter (5%) |
Brussels (BE) | North/North West | Larger Urban Area | Starter (3%) |
Budapest (HU) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Metropolis | Starter (2%) |
Burgas (BU) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Medium Urban Area | Climber (8%) |
Copenhagen (DK) | North/North West | Larger Urban Area | Champion (30%) |
Gdansk (PO) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Larger Urban Area | Climber (6%) |
Hradec Kralove (CZ) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Small Urban Area | Climber (17%) |
Košice (SK) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Medium Urban Area | Starter (3%) |
La Rochelle (FR) | Southern/Mediterranean | Medium Urban Area | Climber (10%) |
Ljubljana (SL) | Southern/Mediterranean | Large Urban Area | Climber (10%) |
Malmö (SE) | North/North West | Large Urban Area | Champion (22%) |
Nijmegen (NL) | North/North West | Medium Urban Area | Champion (24%) |
Seville (ES) | Southern/Mediterranean | Larger Urban Area | Climber (6%) |
Slatina (RO) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Small Urban Area | Starter (0.7%) |
Tallinn (EE) | Baltics/Eastern/Central | Large Urban Area | Starter (4%) |
Trikala (GR) | Southern/Mediterranean | Small Urban Area | Champion (20%) |
How to use this guidance
For an overview of the full contents of this guidance, please see http://ec.europa.eu/transport/node/6165{Guidance for Cycling Projects in the EU as Link}. The contents list on the homepage can be used to select topics of interest.
The guidance uses web-enabled links to direct the user to the most appropriate sections.
On each page, the user will also find links to key guidance, further reading and references.