Adding a Touch of Dutch to Eugene’s Streets

The Dutch are renowned for their innovative and forward-thinking approach to urban design, and consequently their livable, sustainable, and safe cities. Their urban spaces are frequently organized along woonerven (living streets), which prioritize cyclists and pedestrians over motorized traffic. The corresponding impact upon the morphology of urban environments and streetscapes in the Netherlands is profound. The prevalence of cycling contributes to aesthetically pleasing streetscapes and encourages mixed-use, compact development. The Dutch cycling lifestyle has become a model for other countries looking to promote sustainable and healthy transportation options and offers a blueprint for creating cities where cycling is not just a mode of transport but a way of life. 

The contrast with America’s car-centric mindset—and with it our unsustainable way of life, urban sprawl, and absence of walkable neighborhoods—could not be starker. A radical paradigm shift is necessary if U.S. cities are to become more sustainable, but helping people understand why prioritizing healthier modes of transportation and development patterns has proven challenging. 

The Netherlands Tourism Bureau has developed an AI app called Dutch Cycling Lifestyle that allows users to reimagine a street by replacing road space for cars with pedestrian pathways, bike lanes, street furniture, landscaping, and/or event-friendly spaces. The online app is accessible to anyone for free. You simply type in an address or select the GPS option to choose a location to be reimagined. The AI then uses Google Street View to create a “Dutch” version of the scene, with four different results produced. The idea is to provide users with a means to show what your own community would look like if planned with happier and healthier streets in mind. 

The app’s default is to entirely abolish accommodations for automobiles in favor of cobblestone-paved pedestrian pathways, tranquil bike lanes, and perfectly manicured plant beds bursting with vibrant colors and fragrant blooms. Every picture is worth a thousand words, which is certainly beneficial when it comes to sharing grand ideas. The more compelling and attractive these images appear, the higher the likelihood the ideas they illustrate might find traction. 

Here are some before and after examples of Eugene streetscapes I asked it to reimagine: 

Willamette Street near E. 26th Avenue, looking north.

Willamette Street reimagined.

West 11th Avenue near Seneca Road, looking west.

West 11th Avenue reimagined.

Chambers Street near W.17th Avenue, looking south.

Chambers Street reimagined.

I’m an advocate for AI imaging tools and their potential to help designers save time and effort, particularly when it comes to communicating concepts that are otherwise a challenge to effectively illustrate. That said, it’s clear the Dutch Cycling Lifestyle app is glitchy. Some of the results are positively bizarre, with wildly distorted perspectives that remind me of stills from the Paris-folding sequence in Christopher Nolan’s movie Inception (Indeed, the website includes a disclaimer that says “Seeing some unusual results? That’s because our AI is new here and he’s still learning.”) Additionally, the app translates images of Eugene low-density streetscapes into misleadingly pastoral tableaus that ignore realities confoundingly at odds with the emulation of Dutch-style development patterns. 

Unfortunately, the current shortcomings of Dutch Cycling Lifestyle undermine its utility. Playing with Dutch Cycling Lifestyle may be fun, but its practical value is extremely limited. It’s patently unrealistic to push a button and proclaim a solution to an urban design problem can be the result. Generating pretty pictures is far from enough. The challenge is vastly more complex, and the solutions are not facile. 

Changing a deeply ingrained cultural norm takes determined leadership and political will. Resistance from those who rely heavily on automobiles must be met with empathy and understanding. Incremental transformations in infrastructure and policy are necessary to shift a populace’s mindset. Such a shift will not happen overnight, but with concerted effort and a focus on the benefits of sustainable transportation, it will be possible to change the way people regard and use roadways in North America. Public opinion can and will evolve once the benefits of that change are evident.