The future is two wheels, not four

As far as cycling advocacy jobs go there can be very little argument that UrbanismNZ 2023 speaker Chris Bruntlett has, as he says, “hit the lottery”. 

Now into his fifth year in the role of Marketing and Communications Manager for the Dutch Cycling Embassy, Chris has had no regrets transplanting his personal and professional future from Canada to the “cycling paradise” that is the Netherlands. 

After attaining a BA in Architectural Science from Toronto Metropolitan University, Chris was working in Vancouver in residential housing design when he met partner Melissa. Joining together their mutual passions for promoting the health, environmental and social benefits of cycling, walking and public transit, they co-founded Modacity (now updated to Modacity Life). 

“This was our response to the huge existential arguments for moving away from a car-centric transportation model and towards a more inclusive model that is accessible to people of all ages, abilities and economic means,” says Chris.

The energy they were putting into advocacy for a more human image of multi-modal transportation “snowballed out of control”, and after a series of visits to the Netherlands had cemented a love of the quality of life there, the stars aligned. 

The cleverly named Dutch Cycling Embassy is a government supported public-private intermediary for exporting Dutch excellence. Melissa is similarly employed in Delft with Mobycon, another purveyor of Dutch cycling genius and urban know-how. 

When UrbanismNZ spoke with Chris he’d just been involved in presenting to a delegation from Queensland, led by Minister of Transport and Main Roads, Mark Bailey which included a visit to the world’s largest bike parking facility at Utrecht Centraal Station. 

“It’s wild when I think of the level of public diplomacy I get to operate at,” says Chris. 

He is equally enthused by the fact there is no “finish point” to the continuous improvements occurring in the transition away from cars and towards a development model. “It’s a field where I feel I’m constantly discovering new information, new principles, new insights”. 

“The Dutch have earnt the reputation that they really live it,” says Chris. “They have embraced the autonomy and freedom of cycling”. 

“They reversed a slide away from cycling. It’s only in the last 25 years that the cycling infrastructure has been almost doubled to around 37,000 kilometres - something many people don’t know. Even here there had to be a tipping point”. 

“They’re really good at flicking a switch on pilots that can be fast tracked and scaled up, and seeing that simply as the cost of doing business”. 

Although Chris will be presenting remotely to the UrbanismNZ conference he has been to Auckland previously in 2018, along with children Coralie and Etienne, and rates it for its “huge potential’ as a cycling city. With the caveat being that meeting that potential requires the right political leadership - a leadership that pushes past so-called ‘bikelash’ to avoid the paralysis that can be caused by some false need to reach 100% consensus when 51% will do. 

The Dutch Cycling Embassy has doubled its staff in Chris’s time with them, and will continue to shine its beacon. There is a clear message that wins on mode shift can become easier and cheaper, particularly if the focus on building capacity and volume is sharpened. 

Teaming up with publishers Island Press, Chris and Melissa Bruntlett have been telling their story in accessible language through two books so far: Building the Cycling City - The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality (2018) and Curbing Traffic - The human case for fewer cars in our lives (2021). Definitely recommended reading. 

For more information on happenings at the Dutch Cycling Embassy see its News section

. Chris will be zooming into a UrbanismNZ 2023 conference panel on urban mobility and accessibility on Friday 28 April.