Latvian cycling activists have taken back the streets in Riga, by painting in bike lanes on a main artery, where city officials had previously rejected the concept owing to inadequate space.
The successful use of the bike lanes by locals on the morning they appeared demonstrated the validity of citizen knowledge and experience in contributing to effective urban design. Bicycles and vehicular traffic were able to share the road safely, and the dedicated lanes encouraged cyclists off the pavements and onto the roads.