In a departure from typical British urbanism, a new town near Cambridge is taking a cycle-first approach. Built from scratch on reclaimed wetlands, the 716-acre lakeside development of Waterbeach has ample protected bike lanes threading through its housing complexes and bike sheds flanking entrances to homes. Residential streets limit car access. 

Waterbeach comes as the UK tries to ease its housing shortage with a network of new towns, and it aims to provide a different urban planning template. But as contributor Laura Laker writes, delivering bike-friendly infrastructure requires pushing against the status quo at every stage. Today on CityLab: How Britain’s Most Bike-Friendly New Town Got Built

— Linda Poon

More on CityLab

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70 years before congestion pricing landed in New York City, Lewis Mumford sounded the alarm on letting automobiles run amok in America’s downtowns.

A Blueprint for Better Bike Lanes
Over the past decade, protected bike lanes have gone mainstream in US cities. A new traffic engineering guidebook invites them to think even bigger.

Trump’s Deportation Push Tests Courts’ Ability to Check His Power
The administration is being accused of defying the judiciary after swiftly deporting hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members in an assertion of sweeping power to pursue hard-line immigration policies.

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