How bicycling benefits cities

Bicycling is correlated to social, health, environmental, and economic benefits for cities, reports Streetsblog, drawing on three online reports.

The findings are not surprising, given the direct health and environmental benefits of commuting and taking other trips by bicycle. All three cities, Copenhagen, Denmark, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Portland, Oregon, are appealing to young professionals.

Copenhagen, where an astounding 35 percent of residents commute by bicycle, researchers found that "every mile cycled provides the equivalent of 41 cents in social benefits to the community. Meanwhile every mile driven exacts about 24 cents in costs on society."

Ann Arbor's Get Downtown blog "draws on a recent Richard Florida article for The Atlantic, which showed the variety of social and economic advantages enjoyed by cities with high rates of bike commuting, including better educated, more affluent, happier residents."

Compared to metros with lower bike commuting levels, Get Downtown reports, metros with high levels of bike commuting:

• Are more affluent
• Have higher levels of education or human capital
• Have more knowledge-based economies (with more creative-class jobs)
• Are more diverse (with higher levels of immigrants and gays and lesbians)
• Are happier
• Are fitter

Finally, Aaron Renn at the Urbanophile "offers a tribute to Portland, which he says is perhaps the most influential mid-size city ever in the United States. This sustainable enclave in the Pacific Northwest was far ahead of the curve in sustainability and its leadership has been widely influential."