Lego Neglects Space for Bike Lanes

Andrew J. Hawkins reports on Lego's curious neglect of bikes: "The streets in Lego’s city sets had space for cars, trains, even tiny storm drains but no designated space for zero-emission, human-powered vehicles like bikes."

"Even worse," adds Hawkins, "it appeared that Lego’s streets were becoming more hostile toward pedestrians over time. As compared to Lego sets from years ago, the cars seem to have grown larger — evolving from four- to six-studs wide — and the roads appeared to be getting wider, while the sidewalks were getting more and more narrow."

A regional councilor from the Netherlands named Marcel Steeman has launched an advocacy campaign o move Lego toward more environmentally friendly representations of the world's built environment.

With the help of Marco te Brommelstroet, an associate professor in urban planning at the University of Amsterdam who tweets under the name Cycling Professor, Steeman submitted two designs to Lego’s “Ideas” project, in which fans are encouraged to submit proposals for new Lego sets. His proposal was simple: more bike lanes.

So far, the efforts has met roadblocks from Lego while winning attention online.