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Many large and rapidly growing cities are facing profound difficulties in urban mobility. These difficulties are related on the one hand to a rapidly increasing mobility demand caused by population pressures and increasingly complex urban spatial structures and activity patterns, on the other hand to insufficient quality and levels of infrastructure resulting in a shortage of capacity in the urban transport system as a whole. The increased motorization of urban mobility in combination with a rapidly growing population and greater travel distances has led to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions and severe environmental degradation in many urban areas. 
Courtesy B.C. Korteweg
The role of Non Motorised Transport (NMT) - cycling and walking in particular - as a cheap and environmentally friendly transport mode is increasingly being recognised as of great potential importance to reduce emissions and create more sustainable urban environments. The further expansion of NMT however is severely hampered by a combination of political, institutional, social and technical factors. The root problem is a lack of knowledge and understanding on how to shape and implement sustainable transport policies and systems in our urban areas that rely to the largest extent possible on NMT This lack of knowledge is pertinent in areas such as integrated spatial planning, policy and legal development, institutional development, transport system integration and others.
Currently, a comprehensive body of scientific knowledge on cycling is absent, particularly in relation to fast urbanising areas in developing countries. As a result, knowledge transfer to stakeholders in urban development and transport is limited and cities in developing countries remain in a disadvantaged position to develop and implement policies to promote cycling inclusive planning.
To this end the Cycling Academic Network (CAN) has been established.
Its aim is to apply, further develop and transfer knowledge on how Non Motorized Transport systems contribute to sustainable urban transport development. This is done through a network of universities and institutes of higher education, in cooperation with local government , Civil Society Organisations, the private sector and knowledge institutes.
The specific goals of CAN are:
- Development of a research agenda.
- Providing a state-of-the-art of applied and scientific research
- Acting as an innovative and motivating research environment for young researchers
- Contribute to capacity building through knowledge dissemination to practitioners
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