Research

Bicycling Research Symposium

Bringing together bicycling’s top academic professionals, Bikes Belong held an unprecedented Bicycling Research Symposium in Boulder, CO., on May 1, 2009. With 11 researchers in attendance from such diverse fields as urban planning, architecture, public health, civil engineering, environmental science, and public policy, the symposium provided a rare meeting of the minds to share ideas about the relationship between bike advocacy and research. 

University-based researchers in attendance
Chandra Bhat	Civil, Architectural & Envir. Engineering	University of Texas at Austin
Ralph Buehler	Urban Affairs & Planning	Virginia Tech
Kelly Clifton	Urban Studies & Planning	University of Maryland
Jennifer Dill	Urban Studies & Planning	Portland State University
Peter Furth	Civil & Environmental Engineering	Northeastern University
Susan Handy	Environmental Science & Policy	Univeristy of California at Davis
Kevin Krizek	Planning & Design	University of Colorado
Nico Larco	Architecture	University of Oregon
Anne Lusk	Nutrition	Harvard School of Public Health
Noreen McDonald	City & Regional Planning	University of Northern California
Marc Schlossberg	Planning, Public Policy & Management	University of Oregon

Special guests also included Leslie Bohm, Catalyst Communications CEO and Bikes Belong board member; Thomas Gotschi, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy director of research; Joe Lindsey, journalist; Patrick Seidler, Wilderness Trail Bikes president and Bikes Belong board member; Hillie Talens, CROW (Netherlands) project manager; and Zach Vanderkooy, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

The event helped improve communication among researchers who study bicycling, it pinpointed key topics that warrant additional research, and it generated a better sense of what bicycling advocates need to make the case for additional government funding. The group also took a bike tour of Boulder, led by the city's Martha Roskowski, to learn how it became a platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community. The full agenda is linked at the bottom of this page.

The symposium attendees rated the current state of bicycling research in a number of areas including economic impacts, health benefits, safety, influences on road congestion and more. The average ranking for these areas of research was a D . Demographics research received the highest score; bicycling's influence on road congestion received the lowest mark.The full State of the Research document is linked at the bottom of this page.

The quality and quantity of bicycling research will continue to be a key factor in convincing Congress and other key politicians and community leaders about the benefits of bicycling. These performance-based facts and outcomes will be especially important in determining bike program funding in the impending renewal of the federal transportation bill.

Bikes Belong hopes to reconvene the group annually to foster a steady dialogue between the research and advocacy sides of bicycling.