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Review: Building the Urban Environment: Visions of the Organic City in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, by Harold L. Platt

The introduction of the book positions bikeshare as a means of transport within the larger context of urban transport systems and unsustainable trends of car dependence in cities. Bikesharing is one possible solution to improving the sustainability of urban transport systems. With only six pages each, Chapters 2 and 3 provide cursory overviews of the history of bikeshare and the (exponential) global growth of bikeshare since about 2005. Chapters 4 through 7 introduce the benefits of bikeshare, user demographics, as well as an overview of bikeshare technology and challenges associated with different types of technology—in particular, problems of parking bicycles in bikeshare systems without docking stations. Chapter 4, one of the longer chapters of the book, presents the many potential benefits of bikeshare including reduced car use in cities, more transport options, better public health, and greater traffic safety. Chapter 5 assembles the current limited state of knowledge on demographics of bikeshare users. Chapter 6 provides an overview of technological trends and how different technologies enable different types of bikeshare services—such as GPS capabilities on bikes that facilitate bikeshare without docking stations. Chapter 7 highlights the big challenge of bicycle parking faced by dockless bikeshare systems. The chapter also provides some practice-tested suggestions for solving or abating the problem. Chapters 8 through 12 provide detailed insights into the business and the operations of bikeshare systems. These chapters will be of greatest interest to practitioners working for local governments, consulting companies, and bikeshare providers. Chapter 8 presents important information about bikeshare contracts, finance, and rebalancing of bicycles within bikeshare systems to meet demand. This chapter includes first-hand business insider information from managers of bikesharing companies as well as the author’s experience with bikeshare system operations worldwide. Chapter 9 is a great addition to chapter 8 because it highlights cases where bikeshare systems failed. The chapter explores reasons for the failures—important information for bikeshare operators and local government officials planning to launch bikeshare systems. Chapters 10 to 12 provide excellent insight into planning for successful bikeshare systems identifying factors determining bikeshare use, planning for bikeshare station locations, contracts for bikeshare operation, the geographic size of rider catchment areas around docking stations, bikeshare system network design, as well as a summary of key factors for successful bikeshare systems. The book’s short concluding chapter passionately argues for more sustainable urban transport systems and highlights bikeshare’s potential role in improving urban transport systems. In sum, Bike Share presents cutting edge research findings. Reference lists at the end of each chapter guide readers who wish to explore in more detail. However, the main strength of the book is the combination of academic research findings with the author’s detailed knowledge about bikeshare technology and operations. Insights into determinants of successful (and unsuccessful) bikeshare systems in the United States and Australia make this book invaluable for local transport planners and city officials interested in launching or retooling their bikeshare system. A key shortcoming of the book is the fast-paced change in bikeshare and micromobility in general. Even though the book presents the latest research on bikeshare available prior to the book’s printing, bikshare and micromobility evolve very rapidly. For example, in many U.S. cities usage of dockless electric scooters (e-scooters) has surpassed bikesharing ridership and many micromobility companies have switched from providing dockless bikeshare to focus solely on e-scooters. E-scooters have many similarities with dockless bikeshare systems. Therefore, some of the book’s lessons may apply to them. However, e-scooter systems are different from dockless e-bikes so that lessons should not be transferred directly. Overall, Bike Share is the most up-to-date go-to book on bikesharing for academics and practitioners.