An invitation

The Mayor of London is “doing an awful lot to try to encourage people to cycle”: telling us that there is a cycling revolution going on and all he needs us to do is get on out on the lovely London streets to be a part of it.

Meanwhile, York is challenging its residents to take to the bicycle: their city needs them to put in the effort and hard work of cycling in its battle against Cambridge.

Skyride urges people to cycle, cycling organisations and officers spend what little money cycling is given on devising new ways to persuade us that we can cycle, yet apparently we’re still not doing enough to promote cycling.

Jan Gehl describes the cities where people ride bikes.  They all invite the bicycle user: they make the bicycle journey an inviting prospect.

They’re just words.  But the difference between the approaches that they represent is that Gehl’s works.

(via ibikelondon and the bike show.)