Bicycle network planning and design: in Edinburgh, Cambridge and London

Bicycle network planning should be based on:

• the principles of transport planning
• the principles of landscape urbanism

This is because

• The full functionality of cycle ways, paths, lanes, routes etc is realised only when they form part of a well-planned cycle network that is integrated with rail, bus, walking and road networks.
• The design of high quality cycleways must be integrated with other aspects of urban landscape design (land use, topography, habitats, hydrology etc).

The city of Boston Massachusetts also has discontinuous cycle paths. They use the Emerald Necklace planned by the father of the landscape architecture profession, Frederick Law Olmsted, who had a deep influence on open space and landscape planning in London and in many other world cities. Olmsted lived till 1903 and could easily have become an enthusiast for cycling and cycle network planning. If only!

See also 

• 16 Principles for Cycleway Network Planning
• Four step model for bicycle network infrastructure planning
• Sustainable Mass Rapid Transit by light rail, bus and bicycle: a comparison