With Bicycle User Experience (BUX), I bring attention to the experience people have while riding a bike. While cities are building out bike lanes with good intentions, they unfortunately oftentimes end up as uncomfortable, uninviting places that an everyday person would not ride on.
In this post, I give three practical uses of learning about people's cycling experiences. For cycling and urban mobility practitioners, these are benefits of integrating people-centered design methods into your work:
Why practitioners should consider the human experience
Why does human experience matter for planning and designing for cycling?
1. (To understand) Modal choice Why are people moving through a space with a certain mode of transportation? Studying the human experience can help us understand if this is an environment that everyday people would choose to ride a bike in. 2. (To inform) Street design By examining people's experiences riding a bike, you can conceptualize what triggers certain emotions or elements of the experience, and then begin to understand what makes a pleasant environment to ride a bike in. With that knowledge, you can adjust your street designs to be attractive for cycling. 3. (To develop) Communication & marketing The human experience gives you a look inside people's heads. It tells you about people's pain points and what they enjoy. With this, you can craft communication and marketing that speaks to them.
Learning about cycling experience is a multipurpose endeavor. By following a people-centered design process, you can for example progress in each of these three areas concurrently.
Convinced you need to learn more about cycling experience? Check out our online and in-person courses. Want professional guidance to help your organization make use of this? Check out what BUX offers to help you make the transformation.
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