University of Washington visits The Netherlands

As part of the summer course: Sustainable Urban Mobility in Seattle, England and the Netherlands organised by the University of Washington, Department of Urban Design and Planning the Dutch Cycling Embassy hosted a group of students on the 11^th of August.

The multidisciplinary course focusses on urban growth and economic development in relation to mobility. With learning objectives to learn more about:
– Traditional urban planning principles and practice in the United States, England, and the Netherlands.
– The connection between land use and mobility issues in the Pacific Northwest, and best practices in that nexus from England and the Netherlands that might be applied to similar challenges in the U.S.
– Planning for multi-modal transportation infrastructure and its relation to automobile dependency.
– Public policy designs that can support successful planning initiatives to meet environmental and climate change goals.

The group was provided with a general overview concerning the work of the Dutch Cycling Embassy and interactive exercises which reflected on students their experienced differences between the USA, UK and the Netherlands. A brief recap of differences which were defined and discussed: type of bicycle used, high quality of infrastructure, long term planning perspective, bicycle education and more.
The group was very active in participation into discussion and valuable lesson learnt where discussed. A great atmosphere wherein knowledge sharing was fostered despite the intense warmth during the unusual hot Dutch summer days.