PeopleforBike has released its most comprehensive analysis yet of how well cities and towns provide bike infrastructure and succeed in attracting people to active transportation.
PeopleForBikes released this week the 2019 PlacesForBikes City Ratings, reporting a much higher participation rate and, thus, "better data and have an improved picture of bicycling in the United States."
A blog post announcing the new rankings reports a diverse mix of cities in the top 20 list, "which signals that progress is being made across the board."
The rankings are built on a scoring system that rates five key areas: "Ridership (how many people ride bikes?), Safety (how safe is it to ride bikes?), Network (how easy is it for people to get where they need to go?), Acceleration (how fast is the bike network expanding?) and Reach (how well the network serves all neighborhoods in the community)." In all, the rankings make 184 calculations per city, and draw data from six sources.
A new city took over the top spot this year: Boulder, Colorado, bumping Fort Collins, Colorado from the top spot. Fort Collins fell to #2. Rounding out the top five are Eugene, Oregon; Manhattan, New York, and Arlington, Virginia. A note on each of the places is included in the blog post.
You can also take a closer look at each city on the rankings. Los Angeles, for instance, scored a 1.7 (Boulder had a 3.7), and was docked major points for a lack of effort in building new infrastructure (according to the "Acceleration" rating).
FULL STORY: 2019 CITY RATINGS: TOP OVERALL CITIES
Study: More Bike Infrastructure Could Prevent 15,000 Deaths Annually
In addition to reducing air pollution and congestion, improving bike infrastructure could save thousands of lives each year, according to new research.
U.S. Still Lags Behind in Bike Commuting
Triple Pundit takes a step back to gather some perspective, asking why the U.S. commuters are still so resistant to getting on bikes.
How Bike-Friendly Is Your City?
PeopleForBikes just released its annual rankings.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?
Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.
What Happens if Trump Kills Section 8?
The Trump admin aims to slash federal rental aid by nearly half and shift distribution to states. Experts warn this could spike homelessness and destabilize communities nationwide.
Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts
Despite evidence that colorful crosswalks actually improve intersection safety — and the lack of almost any crosswalks at all on the nation’s most dangerous arterial roads — U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy is calling on states to remove them.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie