Houten

By Jordan Hunt, 11 June 2017
The city of Houten is an anomaly even by Dutch standards. The major differentiator between Houten and other cities is that Houten started from scratch and developed a city fully focused around cycling. They never had to retrofit or redesign corridors in order to accommodate cyclists. Because Houten expanded from a very small town, they had the opportunity to create a safe, high functioning transportation network that encouraged cycling and train travel and restricted vehicle mobility. 
The mindset taken by the developers during the design of Houten was that cities are meant for living, not for vehicles. This resulted in vehicles being restricted to the outskirts of the city. In order to travel across Houten in a vehicle, they must travel to the ring road that borders the city and travel around the city centers; there are no vehicular roads that travel directly through the city. This design creates a city center that is highly accessible for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as reduces the noise pollution from vehicles resulting in a very quiet and comfortable city center. One interesting concept that was used was the idea that developed areas within the city should be surrounded and interconnected by a network of green space. This is contrary to the typical method for developing cities, which is to have green spaces scattered throughout with developed urban areas surrounding and connecting these green spaces. The major bike routes through the city were located along these green spaces which created a wonderful experience for cyclists. 
There are several difficulties that would prevent this type of approach from being applied within the states. Firstly, most cities already have significant vehicle infrastructure in place which would make it harder to implement this type of cycling and transit focused system. A second difficulty would be that American culture does not view cycling as a dominant mode of transportation. Developing an entire city around cycling infrastructure would be difficult to do, solely because automobile use is so high. The only way I could see this approach being implemented is within a very small town or just a small neighborhood within a larger city. It would almost be experimental, implementing a significant network of cycle tracks and eliminating most vehicle access. Houten is the poster-child of cycle oriented cities and I believe the US has a long way to go before this type of development would be feasible.