One Dutch City Just Beat Copenhagen to Become the World’s Most Bike-Friendly Place
GOOD NEWS IN ONE SENTENCE: Utrecht was crowned the world’s most bicycle-friendly city in the 2025 Copenhagenize Index, surpassing Copenhagen with nearly one-third of all trips made by bike, €63 per resident invested annually, and a bold vision to build the city around cycling rather than simply making space for it.
WHY THIS MATTERS: Most cities treat bicycles as an afterthought, squeezing bike lanes into whatever space cars don’t need. Utrecht flipped the equation, asking not where to put cycle tracks but whether streets need cars at all. That fundamental shift in thinking shows what’s possible when cities prioritize human-scale transportation over vehicles. As climate change forces communities worldwide to rethink mobility, Utrecht offers a working blueprint.
THE STORY:
The City Built Around Bikes
The question Utrecht started asking wasn’t “where should we put bike lanes?” It was “does this street need cars at all?”
That shift in thinking shows up everywhere. Nachtegaalstraat became a cycling street where cars are guests, not owners, with wider sidewalks, trees, and furniture creating space for the 15,000 cyclists who pass through daily. Amsterdamsestraatweg eliminated parking spots to make room for wider cycle tracks, lower speeds, and speed bumps. The Westelijke Stadsboulevard transformed from a four-lane artery into a green boulevard with safer crossings.
The 2025 Copenhagenize Index, which evaluated 100 cities across 44 countries, placed Utrecht at number one. Copenhagen came second. Ghent took third.
More Than Infrastructure
What sets Utrecht apart goes beyond the 100,000+ combined on-street racks and guarded parking spaces, though the world’s largest indoor bike garage at Utrecht Central Station certainly helps. It’s the €63 invested per resident annually. It’s the Fietsdeals program that sells refurbished bikes to low-income residents for just €30, including one year of free repairs.
“Utrecht has understood something paramount long before most others,” the Copenhagenize report noted. “The goal is no longer to make space for cycling, but to construct the city around cycling.”
Nearly one-third of all trips in Utrecht happen by bicycle. Current projects include developing a fully car-free district that will house 12,000 people.
BY THE NUMBERS:
- 1st place worldwide for bicycle-friendliness
- Nearly 1/3 of all trips made by bicycle
- €63 invested per resident annually
- 100,000+ parking spaces
- €30 cost for refurbished bikes (low-income program)
- 12,000 people in planned car-free district
- 15,000 daily cyclists on Nachtegaalstraat
THE HEART OF IT: A city that works for bicycles works for people. That’s the simple equation Utrecht has solved. When you design streets where a five-year-old can safely ride to school and an eighty-year-old can pedal to the market, you’re not just moving bodies from point A to point B more efficiently. You’re creating space for chance encounters, for exercise woven into daily life, for neighborhoods where kids play outside because the streets are calm. Cars promised freedom but delivered isolation and sprawl. Bicycles promise something different: cities where human scale matters again, where you can hear birds and conversations, where the air is cleaner and children are safer. Utrecht didn’t just build bike lanes. It built a city where life happens at cycling speed, and that makes all the difference.
OPTIMISM RATING: 5/5 stars
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