Cyclists are not a homogenous population group. While studies highlight distinctions between gender or age, there are significant nuances within such groups. When it comes to children, rapid developments from year to year makes it impossible to consider this portion of the population as a unified group, which poses a challenge for planners seeking to encourage young people to cycle through their teenage years and into adulthood. While young children’s mobility patterns are heavily influenced by their parents, pre-teens and teenagers, in their growing agency, also gain more freedoms and opportunities to move through their living environments as they choose.
This planning memo focuses on the unique and dynamic aspects of adolescents in cycling within the Nordic Region. We provide a review of Nordic-based academic studies on adolescents and their mobility trends and behaviours. This is followed by a summary of how several Nordic cities and regions have considered this age group within their cycling strategies. We also explore some cross-Nordic comparisons with regards to legal age restrictions and other regulations that can be both a support and a barrier to adolescent cyclists and micro-mobility users. The planning memo concludes with several key takeaways for planning and policymaking.
From a review of 26 academic articles, we identified seven main trends with regards to adolescents in cycling: (1) younger adolescents are more likely to cycle compared to older adolescents, (2) time and distance influence adolescent travel behaviour, (3) the built environment influences adolescent travel behaviour, (4) active school transport works when it is also a social activity, (5) the role played by parents is mixed, (6) there is a positive relationship between active transport and health, and (7) traffic and other safety remain concerns for adolescents, but this is not exclusive to cycling.
A review of local cycling strategies shows that, while cities and regions emphasise the importance of children cycling, there remains a lack of definitional clarity for this age group and a gap in initiatives set forth to attract older adolescents to use the bicycle for travelling to school and leisure activities. Even so, common themes emerge across the strategies, including young people’s travel to and from educational institutions, children’s safety when cycling, and the need to encourage higher levels of cycling among younger populations. In addition, several strategies outline specific projects aimed at promoting cycling among children and young people, such as school competitions where students gain points for active commuting or cycling education programmes starting at a young age.
During a workshop among Nordic cycling planners, safety and age restrictions were common points of concern that emerged. A cross-Nordic comparison reveals a high degree of variation in national regulations with regards to helmet usage, cycling on sidewalks, and age restrictions for cycling alone or riding an e-scooter. Nordic cities and regions also have a range of local bike and e-scooter sharing systems, most of which are inaccessible to younger adolescents due to age requirements set by private companies. National regulations and ride-sharing company policies also differ within countries and among service providers.
To improve health, reduce negative environmental consequences, and reach modal share goals, cycling planners and policymakers can consider a range of actions in relation to adolescents in cycling. These include improving cycling and walking network density between schools and youth activities as well as promoting and enabling cycling as a social activity among teens. While local strategies account for the unique perspective of younger cyclists, more research is needed to learn how to combat the dip in older adolescents cycling when alternative mobility options are made available, especially when their built environments and culture encourage driving over active mobility. Further research is needed around how planners can enable young people to cycle while maintaining safety among all traffic users, including measuring the impact of national regulations versus private policies for young cyclists and micro-mobility riders.
This is the third publication in a series summarising research and policy concerning bicycle planning in the Nordic countries. With each memo, we provide practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and other actors with insights from academia, highlights from Nordic cycling strategies, and other relevant findings to support informed decision-making for transport planning in the Nordic Region. The content of this memo was developed based on desk research as well as inputs from an online workshop held in February 2026 among the Nordic Cycle Network—a network of practitioners from around 20 cities and regions across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.