City Deal Cycling for Everyone: bringing policy to life through visuals

Our approach

At Flatland, we often work at the intersection of policy and practice. Together with our clients, we distill complex stories down to their essence and translate them into visuals that everyone can understand and use.

Govert, visual designer at Flatland, worked on both subprojects within the City Deal. “What Govert is really good at,” says program manager Monique, “is translating a complex policy question into a sketch you can build on together. He has no ego about his work; he keeps refining it until it fits exactly what we need. That’s why the final result truly feels like our story.”

The first project explored how cycling can contribute to inclusion and health. The data and insights were translated into an accessible visualization that can be used widely — in leaflets, presentations, and on the website.

In the second subproject, the focus shifted to bicycle depots: places where removed bicycles are stored. Together with Iris, Deal Maker for the Urban Agenda Program at the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Flatland developed a visual that shows how such a depot can be much more than a storage facility where bikes simply disappear. “Many municipalities currently see bike depots as a burden — a cold warehouse at the edge of town,” Iris explains. “We wanted to show that they can also serve as hubs for the circular economy, social workplaces, and even training centers for bike mechanics, which is a profession at risk of disappearing. That story is incredibly dense in text, but the visual made it suddenly imaginable – and far more convincing.”

Together with Govert, Iris worked out the step-by-step plan in a clarity session: from vision to concrete actions municipalities can take. “We quickly arrived at the metaphor of a bike path you ride through,” she says. “It makes the route from policy to practice literally visible. It’s playful, but also very clear — you can see right away which steps are needed.”

The result

The visuals are now being used in all kinds of ways:

• On the City Deal homepage, as a hero image and recognizable style for the program.
• During workshops and presentations, such as the National Cycling Conference.
• In conversations with municipalities that are not yet part of the City Deal but have shown interest.
• Even internationally: the first visual has been translated into English and is now used at conferences abroad.

“It has almost become our visual identity,” says Monique. “Flatland’s first visual forms the foundation of how we present our program. Everything developed afterward builds on that. It creates continuity and recognizability.”

Municipalities themselves also see the added value. Iris: “I’m always asked: can we use this in our own organization too? Because the visual helps bring colleagues and partners on board. With a single poster or slide, a civil servant can explain the idea far more quickly than with a long block of text.”

The impact goes beyond communication alone. Municipalities have actually begun setting up innovative bicycle depots. In doing so, they’re not only encouraging cycling but also contributing to poverty reduction, sustainability, and local employment.

“There are already depots that are both profitable and socially valuable,” Iris says. “Young people learn bike maintenance, people with a distance to the labor market find work, and bikes that would otherwise be discarded get a second life. Visualizing that story makes it truly compelling.”

Collaboration

Both project leads describe the collaboration with Flatland as exceptionally pleasant. “Govert literally draws along while you talk,” Monique says. “You see the story taking shape right before your eyes. That creates energy and makes it truly our shared product.”

For Govert – who also loves cycling – this project had a personal dimension as well: “Cycling is something typically Dutch. We often take it for granted, but it brings so many benefits, for health, sustainability, and accessibility. I love being able to contribute to that.”

A shared future

The City Deal Cycling for Everyone will continue until October 2027. What began with a single visual about the bicycle as a connector has grown into a visual language that guides a large collaborative program.

“For me, using visuals is a no-brainer,” Monique concludes. “In a policy environment, you can keep talking and writing endlessly. But if you truly want to bring people along, you have to show it.”