I have often thought about the role that urban development plays in one's daily life, and the life if the city, as well as the environment. One of the biggest ways people can help global warming is by riding their bikes, thereby driving less. Many people won't ride their bikes, especially in hilly geographical conditions, because of the hills. However, there are ways that city developers and mass transit workers can work around these problems. Let's take Trondheim, Norway for example. Trondheim is a university of city with over 30,000 students, 90% of whom ride their bikes as main transport. This has gotten the local government to design with bicycle transport infrastructure in mind. One such example is the Trampe.

The Trampe is a bicycle lift, much like a ski lift found in skiing areas. By entering a card into the reader, the reader sits on their bike and puts one leg on the "step" which carries them up hill. See a video of this in action.

The number of people bicycling in a community would increase enough to warrant the construction in these in many U.S. Cities. Since the opening of the Trampe in 1993, it has pushed more than 220,000 cyclist up the hill. Also, according to a user survey 41% of the lift users claim they're riding their bikes more often since the installation of the Trampe.

For more information on the Test Site Report about the Bicycle Lift, read the UTOPIA Test Site Report of the Bicycle Lift in Trondheim.