UC Santa Cruz Students Explore Dutch Cycling and Sustainable Mobility

As part of their month-long summer school in the Netherlands, 14 students from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) spent time with the Dutch Cycling Embassy to learn how cycling and sustainable mobility can contribute to healthier, more sustainable cities.

The students were in the Netherlands from 2–30 August as part of UC Santa Cruz’s Eco-Entrepreneurship and Regenerative Innovation program. Throughout the program, they explored how entrepreneurship, technology, policy and design can be leveraged to address environmental challenges and create positive social and ecological impact. Their itinerary brought them into contact with universities, startups, social enterprises and organisations working at the forefront of sustainability, climate innovation, the circular economy, regenerative agriculture and water management.

Cycling provided an opportunity to look at these themes from an urban mobility perspective. On Wednesday, 19 August, DCE Project Manager Jeska de Ruiter took the group on a cycling tour of Utrecht. Experiencing the city by bike gave the students a first-hand look at how cycling is integrated into everyday urban life in the Netherlands, from dedicated infrastructure and intersections to bicycle parking and the relationship between cycling and public space.

The students reconnected with the DCE in Amsterdam on Tuesday, 25 August, for a deeper look at the thinking behind the Dutch approach to cycling. DCE International Relations Manager Chris Bruntlett gave a presentation covering the history and development of cycling in the Netherlands, the principles underpinning Dutch cycling infrastructure, and the wider benefits of cycling for cities and communities.

The session also looked beyond the Netherlands, with examples of U.S. cities where the Dutch Cycling Embassy has worked with local partners to support the development of more bicycle-friendly environments. This provided an opportunity to discuss both the potential and the challenges of applying lessons from the Dutch experience in different urban and cultural contexts.

The presentation was followed by an open discussion, with students asking questions about infrastructure, policy, behaviour, urban design and international knowledge exchange. For students focused on regenerative innovation and environmental entrepreneurship, the sessions offered a practical perspective on how long-term policy choices, infrastructure and design can shape more sustainable ways of moving around cities.

By combining a cycling tour with discussions on Dutch cycling history, principles and international collaboration, the two sessions offered the UC Santa Cruz group both a first-hand experience of Dutch cycling and an insight into the ideas and systems that have helped make cycling a central part of mobility in the Netherlands.