Dutch-Canadian authors and urban mobility advocates who strive to communicate the benefits of happier, healthier, more human-scale cities.
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
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"Cities have the potential to be vital and creative spaces for re-creating how we live together.
No city is an island, and cities are networked in dynamic ways, meaning a city strategy can often be a global strategy in a different form.
As a result, to change the city is also to change the world.”
We just arrived in Tirana for an event tomorrow and were met by a remarkable sight from the hotel window: thousands of Albanians gathered outside Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office for the tenth consecutive evening; waving flags, holding banners, and making their deafening voices impossible to ignore.
Today, Princess Victoria Street stands as a testament to the power of tactical urbanism. A short-term crisis response has revamped one of Bristol's most beloved shopping streets, showing the surest way to shape a better future is to just build something, and let people experience it for themselves.🔚
"Cycling works when it connects the home to the school, the doctor, the restaurants, the shops, and everything in between.”
The DCE’s Chris Bruntlett sat down with Paolo Barbato of Wiseair to speak about what Italy can learn from the Dutch cycling model.
Read the full interview: buff.ly/vaD2cWg
The completed scheme was unveiled in July 2025. The redesign introduced a continuous raised surface, natural stone paving, tactile guidance strips, new landscaping, bike racks, permanent seating, and access gates. By then, the street had effectively become an outdoor living room for Clifton Village.
Sentiment shifted over time. What at first felt radical soon became normal. Residents who had grown accustomed to the vibrant street struggled to imagine it filled with cars again. Many described it as “bouncing” with activity and questioned why the idea had generated controversy in the first place.
Beginning as a pop-up pandemic-era intervention in the summer of 2021, Bristol's bustling Princess Victoria Street emerged as a permanent pedestrian space within four years; offering a compelling case of how such measures can reshape public opinion, local economies, and the future of urban streets.🧵
Data collected during the trial found more people were walking and cycling in the area. The street became a destination in its own right rather than simply a through route. Terraces replaced approximately 30 parked cars, while visitors lingered longer in what had become a more welcoming environment.
When the pilot was first announced, opposition was fierce. Protesters famously carried a coffin through Clifton Village, symbolising the “death” of the area if car parking and access was restricted. Yet the local council proceeded, and as the months passed, the feared collapse failed to materialise.
“The most effective approach is to build a network and to build it as quickly as possible.
But it’s worth emphasizing bike lanes alone do not make a network. In the Netherlands up to two thirds of the network is in mixed, low-traffic conditions, where the bike is the dominant mode.”
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