Documentary on Dutch cycling culture offers lessons for Waterloo region

A documentary on biking in the Netherlands can offer insight into creating a culture of cycling in Waterloo region, a University of Waterloo planning professor says.

Brian Doucette is hosting a screening of the 2017 documentary Why We Cycle in Kitchener on Tuesday night.

The film takes a closer look at the effects of cycling on people, communities and cities, through the lens of the Dutch experience.

Doucet knows firsthand how important cycling is in the Netherlands, having lived in the country for more than a decade.

"I like to tell people when I moved to the Netherlands in 2004, the second thing I bought was a bike. When I moved back to southern Ontario in 2017, the second thing I bought was a car," Doucet told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition.

Building a 'cycling environment'

Doucet said his experience is not unusual, as cycling has become a ubiquitous part of Dutch culture.

The county has a long history of creating a "cycling environment" and has made a conscious effort to build connected cycling infrastructure, he said.

One key to the country's success has been funding. While local spending on cycling infrastructure is less than $10 per person each year, Doucet said, the Netherlands spends as much as $50 per person.

"If you're serious about enabling people to do more on bikes, it does take prioritizing it. It does take actually switching the built environment," he said.

"Not trying to squeeze in a bike lane wherever you can, but actually thinking, 'How can we give priority? How can we make things easier? How can we make things seamless and connected?'"

Doucet said creating a culture of cycling has benefits beyond improving health and the environment.

Researchers in the documentary suggest widespread cycling encourages children to be more independent and leads to a more trusting society.

"When you're navigating through that space on a bike, there's all sorts of informal, indirect, non-verbal forms of communication that you need to do with others to negotiate space," Doucet said.

The Why We Cycle documentary screening starts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the University of Waterloo school of pharmacy in downtown Kitchener.

A panel discussion following the film will explore the lessons, insights, challenges and possibilities for cycling in Waterloo region.