Book Review: Cycling Pathways: the politics and governance of Dutch Cycling infrastructure, 1920–2020 by Henk-Jan Dekker

good reasons. Both cities were major centres of the car industry and became the quintessential motor towns of the UK and Japan. The urban historian Simon Gunn develops a highly convincing narrative of the cardominated transport and town planning in the second biggest city in the UK. Designs to rebuild Birmingham as a car-friendly city and the anticipation of future mass motorization already started in the 1930s. Plans for the construction of a multi-lane inner ring were designed in the first years after World War II, but not fully implemented until 1972. As a consequence of a car-friendly infrastructure policy, Birmingham and its centre became conveniently accessible for motorists. But the price for Birmingham’s urbanity was considerable: The inner-city ring caused urban blight and separated the central business district from the surrounding residential areas. Nagoya was a special case among the metropolitan areas of Japan. The construction of multi-lane streets and urban motorways was conducive for a late, but steep growth of motorization during the 1960s. Unlike the UK, the European pioneer of individual motorization, Japan was a latecomer in individual car ownership. The authors do not elaborate the question why Nagoya’s town planners did not learn the lessons from Jane Jacobs and other critics of the car-friendly American city and repeated the mistakes of their American counterparts. In both cities, the construction of traffic infrastructure and the urban environment followed the paradigms of traffic engineering and the purpose of an uninhibited flow of cars. The relationship between town planning and the car were surprisingly similar, probably because both cities were home of the biggest national car manufacturers, of BMC and Toyota. The authors describe the growing public concern about the adverse effects of individual mass motorization in urban areas during the 1970s. The awareness of noise and air pollution and the destruction of the urban fabric superseded the beneficial effects of swift and convenient car use. The British and the Japanese public discovered the adverse ecological effects of mass motorization at the same time. This highly recommendable book presents highly stimulating insights into the history of urban planning, mass motorization and traffic and their interlocking relation.