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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
@modacitylife
Dutch-Canadian authors and urban mobility advocates who strive to communicate the benefits of happier, healthier, more human-scale cities.
Delft, Nederland
modacitylife.com
Joined June 2009
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Oct 1, 2025
    The wait is FINALLY over! Our new book, “Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation”, is NOW AVAILABLE worldwide through @RIBABooks wherever books are sold. From Paris to Bogota, from Manila to Montreal—when women lead, cities thrive. modacitylife.com/women-changing…
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Jun 12, 2022
    To great uncertainty and controversy, in 2007, Ljubljana closed 12 hectares of its city center to private cars. Just 40% of residents approved. A decade later, no less than 97% were against reopening to motor traffic: “None of us can really imagine cars ever staging a comeback”.
    A car-free plaza in a Eastern European city. Church spires pierce the skyline, and the square is filled with people.
    A car-free street in a Eastern European city. Church spires pierce the skyline, and a terrace lines one side covered with umbrellas.
    A car-free street in a Eastern European city. Church spires pierce the skyline, and a terrace lines one side covered with umbrellas.
    A car-free plaza in a Eastern European city. A pink neoclassical building sits in the left, and the square is filled with people.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Oct 7, 2022
    With 58% of all trips nationally made by bike, teenagers are among the biggest beneficiaries of Dutch infrastructure. From a young age, they enjoy the freedom of a driver’s license; without the added stress, cost and danger. The scene outside our son’s high school this morning.
    A sea of hundreds of parked bikes in a plaza outside a three-storey secondary school building in Delft, the Netherlands.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Jul 10, 2022
    Last month, Germany introduced a €9 monthly pass for unlimited travel on all buses, trams, subways and regional trains. A preliminary analysis has found a clear decrease in car congestion, resulting in improved driving times in 23 of 26 cities examined. newsingermany.com/less-traffic-j…
    Two green trams sit side-by-side on a grass tramway. A row of passengers waits to board one of them.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Apr 6, 2019
    How many more people would cycle if your city’s streets were this inviting? How many would leave their cars at home if their choice was made this easy? Don't design streets that make the 5% already biking marginally safer. Build them to entice the other 95% back on their bikes.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Jun 10, 2022
    This incredible invention whisks 900 people from the heart of London to the center of Rotterdam in just over three hours. The tools needed for a low-carbon future aren’t waiting to be discovered by billionaires; they already exist and are waiting to be discovered by politicians.
    A yellow and blue high speed train sits in a station. The curved roof is made of metal trusses and glass.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Jan 27, 2019
    The Dutch invest €595 million—or €35 per resident—annually on cycling (15 times that of nearby England). Seem expensive? Those 17 million people collectively cycle 15.5 billion km.—or 912 km. per resident—annually, saving their healthcare system €19 billion (3% of their GDP).
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Mar 4, 2023
    Following the overwhelming success of the nine euro ticket experiment last summer, Germany will introduce a permanent €49 pass this spring. The monthly subscription will allow unlimited travel on buses, trams, subways, and local trains across every region in the entire country.
    A bright yellow U-Bahn passenger train waits at the platform with doors open at a station in Berlin.
    Two bright yellow trams wait at the platform side by side at the Alexanderplatz station in Berlin.
    A bright yellow passenger bus waits at a stop while passengers disembark on a street in Berlin.
    A bright yellow U-Bahn passenger train waits at the platform with doors closed at a station in Berlin.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Jan 1, 2023
    A quarter of all kilometers cycled in Dutch cities are to/from a train station. Half of all train trips start with a bike ride. Thanks to the trains, there is more cycling; and thanks to cycling, more train usage. A virtuous circle of sustainable travel. trojmiasto.wyborcza.pl/trojmiasto/7,3…
    Two cyclists—one male and one female—ride side-by-side through an underpass that travels through Delft Campus railway station. A blue and yellow train travels overhead.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Feb 8, 2021
    To paraphrase Enrique Peñalosa: A plowed and salted cycle track is a symbol that a child on a $30 bicycle is equally important as an adult inside a $30,000 car.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Dec 18, 2020
    The greatest trick the automotive industry ever pulled was convincing the world they need 2,500 kg of machinery to move 25 kg of stuff.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Oct 15, 2022
    On January 1st, 2021, Brussels introduced a 30 km/h (18 mph) citywide speed limit. Within one year, overall speeds decreased 9%, collisions 22%, fatalities 50%, and traffic noise up to 50% (depending on the surface). Journey times by car were identical or even slightly shorter.
    A close-up of a red-and-white 30 km/h speed limit sign in Brussels. A cyclist passes by on the street in the background.
    A close-up of a red-and-white 30 km/h speed limit sign in Brussels. A cyclist passes by on the street in the background.
    A red-and-white 30 km/h speed limit sign in Brussels. A cyclist passes by on the street in the foreground.
    A red-and-white 30 km/h speed limit road marking painted on a cobbled street in Brussels. A man walks in the background.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Nov 22, 2019
    81% of the Dutch population lives within a 20 minute pedal of a rail station. By unlocking the bike-train combination, residents are given access to the same housing and employment opportunities, and freed from the burden of car dependency. A cycling city is an affordable city.
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    Melissa & Chris Bruntlett
    @modacitylife
    Jun 12, 2022
    Replying to @modacitylife
    A low-car city is only as good as the infrastructure around it. Since 2007, Ljubljana has launched a free on-demand electric shuttle service, renovated and built 13 active travel bridges, launched a bikeshare system that makes 900,000 trips a year, and expanded its bus network.
    A green-and-white light electric vehicle moves through a European city. It holds five passengers, including a man with a cane.
    A concrete bridge with a glass railing stretches across green river in a medieval European city.
    A row of shared bicycles with gray skirt guard and a green logo. A woman cycles by out of focus to the right.
    A bus sits at a bus stop with an electronic sign indicating the arrival times. Passengers sit in the glass structure.