Using NL as an example here is a major stretch... NL has been designed around non motorized transport; itβs like using Venice as an example for why gondola based transit is a good idea for North America <>
There's no natural law that says that NL had to be bike friendly. Within my lifetime it wasn't[1]. Paris wasn't a good place to bike in and that is rapidly changing[2]. There's no reason urban environments can't be bike friendly. Suburban environments, which are prevalent in the US, have one root problem: zoning for lack of density and land-use segregation. If locales were allowed to build up, public transport would be more efficient because it would service more people in smaller area, and if shops were intermingled with housing you would be able to walk to get groceries, instead of driving for 10 minutes to get milk or bread. A big problem is that because of land-use segregation all the jobs are in one place while all the people are spread out and for political purposes and historical reasons, urban environments cater to the mobility needs of people going to work, not those that live within cities.
