We take it for granted that the streets outside out homes are designed for movement from A to B, nothing more. But what happens if we radically rethink how we use these public spaces? Could we change our lives for the better?

Our dependence on cars is damaging our health — and the planet’s. The Dutch seem to have the right idea, with thousands of bike highways, but even then, what happens to pedestrians or people who want to cycle at a more leisurely pace? What about children playing outside their homes? Or wildlife, which enriches our local areas? Why do we prioritise traffic above all else?

Making our communities safer, cleaner, and greener starts with asking the fundamental questions: who do our streets belong to, what do we use them for, and who gets to decide?

Join journalist Thalia Verkade and urban mobility expert Marco te Brömmelstroet as they confront their own underlying beliefs and challenge us to rethink our way of life to put people at the centre of urban design. But be warned: you will never look at the street outside your front door in the same way again.

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‘Alice in Trafficland.’

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‘Why is the car still the boss in the street? In the book Movement, cycling professor Marco te Brömmelstroet and journalist Thalia Verkade show how the car is taking up more and more space. And that this is at the expense of cyclists, walkers, steppers, and skaters.’

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‘Verkade’s somewhat surprised look from the outside makes traffic professionals once again critically look at what is considered normal and the norm … In an interesting history lecture, she tells how the car, as a symbol of freedom and progress, managed to work its way from guest to boss on the street in a short time.’

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‘Movement is an important book, full of interesting examples, curious, surprised, angry, sometimes indiscriminate. It deserves a broad social discussion about the way we design our cities and streets. A discussion that will hopefully also lead to other choices. It has to be different, but that can only happen if the people who want it different join forces.’

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‘The book offers many unprecedented insights into traffic and mobility, convincingly poses the question of how important mobility actually is and suggests an answer to that. Movement is a compelling thinker.’

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‘Movement gives hope but is also a terrifying account of the power of the status quo.’

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‘Language, writes Verkade, is a filter, and in our cities we are obsessed with ‘traffic’. But why does the term not include people walking or cycling? Why do we automatically think that it applies to cars? … This book, rather than just describing the mess we’re in, also helpfully gives extensive advice on what is being done and what we can do, including being alert to deceptive and biased language, getting involved in community activism around access and mobility, lobbying governments and knowing that we have the power to choose.’