The War on Cars PREVIEW: Women Changing Cities with Melissa and Chris Bruntlett
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Jan 27, 2026 Chris Bruntlett, urban mobility expert and author on cycling and tactical urbanism, and Melissa Bruntlett, author focused on people-centered city design, discuss women reshaping cities. They cover pandemic-driven street experiments, Paris pop-up bike lanes, Montreal pedestrianized commercial streets, Barcelona Superblocks, Sydney’s rapid bike network, and gendered safety initiatives like Delhi’s crowdsourced reporting.
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Female Leadership Drives Street Reclamation
- Cities led by women often prioritize reclaiming public space from cars for people.
- Melissa and Chris argue female leadership correlates with ambitious urban transformation.
Pandemic As A Tactical Urbanism Window
- The pandemic created a low-risk, high-reward window for cities to reallocate street space.
- Cities seized the moment to trial tactical changes that proved scalable and politically feasible.
Montreal's Seasonal Street Pedestrianization
- Montreal pedestrianized 11 arterial commercial streets seven days a week from May to September during the pandemic.
- The Bruntletts visited two years later and saw sustained public-space activation and business engagement.
