Collective Choices
Our future is based on our choices. The ones we make as individuals and also the ones we make as groups, countries and as a species. A peaceful and plentiful future is only possible if we agree on making sustainable choices together. Collective Choices is a podcast that aims to explore both possible solutions to some of our current issues and also the process of reaching agreements for the common good. As more and more people live in cities, these are the key centers that define economic models, political decisions, consumer behavior and mindset shifts with all the eventual global consequences, so we will talk quite a bit about how we can improve life in urban spaces. I am Doru Oprisan, a radio journalist and photographer who loves to ride his bicycle in Stockholm, Sweden.
Collective Choices
Ep. 15 - The Best Cycling City In The World with Herbert Tiemens
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Herbert Tiemens works as a Senior Policy Advisor for the City of Utrecht and he has been involved in many of the transformations that the city has seen in the past couple of decades. He also works with the POLIS network of European cities and regions.
We talk about how Utrecht became the best cycling city in the world and a few other things:
- cycling vacations
- long term vision for cycling
- initial opposition and long time reactions to change
- commuting inside vs outside the city
- traffic lights and a reason for the beg button
- fast lanes for e-bikes and the 3rd wave of cycling infrastructure
- building the biggest bike parking facility in the world and navigating it
- using cycling to increase train travel
- being indifferent to oil prices
- car free neighbourhoods, planning challenges and advantages
- the future of cycling developments in the Netherlands and elsewhere
- the need for “conflict” in the city
This episode was recorded during the Sweden’s National Cycling Conference in Stockholm, 25-27 August 2026. Thanks Stockholms Stad and Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner for having me.
More about cycling in Utrecht:
https://copenhagenizeindex.eu/index.php/project/utrecht/
Collective Choices is a podcast by Doru Oprisan, exploring sustainable choices for a better future and the process of agreeing on those choices. Thanks for listening and sharing!
Get in touch:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doruoprisan/
www.doruoprisan.com
