International summit VéloCity shows how to grow cycling in cities and towns

Campaign member Sadhbh O’Neill is kindly representing the Campaign at this year’s VéloCity conference.

VéloCity is an annual conference on the use of bicycles for transport, organised by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF). Four days long, the conference can attract many thousands of transport engineers, city managers, policymakers and advocates for sustainable, healthy transport.

The theme of the conference this year is Energising Solidarity.

Sadhbh is an environmentalist and currently leading a project at the National Womens’ Council for Feminist Communities for Climate Justice; Sadhbh has filed this report:

Why Gdánsk!?
Who are these Citizens Against Virtually Everything?
How do we tackle Bikelash!?
In God we trust

Why Gdansk!?

This year’s world cycling summit – known as Vélo-city – is taking place in the Polish coastal city of Gdańsk. The city’s history as the home of the Solidarity movement in the 1980s draws thousands of visitors every year, but the city deserves tourism regardless of one’s vintage. I grew up watching the collapse of the Soviet Union on television, triggered in part by the striking dock workers of Gdańsk in 1980. Like many, I was mesmerised by the inspiring Lech Walesa who eventually became the President of independent Poland. (Later, he dared suggest that Poland become part of Germany again, which has considerably tarnished his legacy!) However, there are more yachts than striking dockers visible these days along the quays. Aside from some very bumpy and cobbled surfaces, Gdańsk is a great cycling city, a funky mix of old and new, its iconic dockyards still dominating the city skyline. It is lively, modern and friendly, and has a public transportation system that boasts 11 tramlines for a population of less than half a million (again putting Dublin and our regional cities to shame). Its shared bike scheme mostly offers e-bikes, but what is great about it is that they are very easy to come by, and also cheap.

Gdánsk has seen many pasts and identities come and go – some forgotten, some butchered and some superimposed. Very little of the city’s built fabric survived the second world war, which saw unspeakable atrocities meted out by the Nazis against the Polish Jews, resistance and civilians. Before the war, Gdańsk was a Prussian city with a majority German-speaking population vastly outnumbering Poles. After WWII and the destruction of over 90% of the city, almost all the German population fled as determined by the Potsdam Treaty which gave the territory back to Poland. It was decided to rebuild the city to symbolise the reconnection with Poland rather than Germany, so not an entirely authentic reconstruction. But who could blame them?

Who are these Citizens Against Virtually Everything!?

Speaking at the opening plenary session, keynote speaker Gil Peñalosa pointed out that making cities sustainable should not be viewed as a “political” act. He argued that successful leaders have a political vision rooted in what their voters have demanded, but they implement it with everyone’s needs in mind. In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s interventions were designed to “green” the city, for which its inhabitants had expressed a clear appetite. However, for other cities, especially poorer ones such as Bogota in Columbia, projects should be “for people and for health” and thus not about the bicycle per se but treating it as a means to those ends. Framing the argument is key, especially to defuse anticipated opposition. Peñalosa drew laughter at his acronym to describe those who block change: CAVE – Citizens Against Virtually Everything. Irish cities have a few of these lurking in the dark, damp parts of our collective imaginary!

Despite mounting evidence of the impact of pollution and the benefits to people’s health and wellbeing as well as local economies, Peñalosa reminded us that just one in 10 trips in European cities is made by bike. While cities in the Netherlands and Germany showcase what is possible, most cities lag far behind and many projects run into considerable opposition despite their relatively low costs. He recommended that cycling advocates must campaign for two things that are essential for any sustainable mobility strategy to succeed: low traffic speeds (30km/hr) and a minimum grid or network of connected bike routes. Piecemeal approaches just don’t work, he said, and efforts to save them exhaust leaders and decision-makers of political capital in the process.

How do we tackle Bikelash!?

At the ‘Bikelash’ session later that morning, we worked in groups to analyse and consider solutions for several specific, real-world scenarios. At my table we were considering the opposition to a bike lane in Bologna, Italy, which drew opposition from conservationists, students using the street for overflow parking, businesses, disabled drivers and the usual sceptics. It was a tough one. We recommended pulling back and engaging with the university separately to get them to address the unmet needs of students and disabled people with a mobility management plan, as well as gathering data about the potential additional footfall arising from the proposed cycle lane. A project that didn’t meet the needs of disabled people shouldn’t go ahead. One of our group was from Nicosia, Cyprus where the city has spent €20m on pedestrianising a main shopping street only for the newly elected city council to cancel the project and seek the return of cars. Everywhere (except Paris) it seems, progress is slow, and stories of reversals are particularly disappointing. Some of the case studies we looked at even had cyclists (the sporty kind) opposing bike lanes too!

In God we trust. Everyone else, bring data!

By way of contrast, later on I attended a research session on using data and information systems to improve safety and route designs. It was fascinating to see the many potential uses of technology and AI to help argue for improved connectivity. Without adding anything to the bikes themselves, because we all carry smart phones with us all the time, data can be collected and correlated with traffic and collision data to assess safer routes (e.g. to schools – as they’re doing in Zurich) and in Germany, there is a panel survey ongoing every year with 10,000 individuals whose data informs mobility policy and route design. And if you want to argue with the CAVE-people, data gathered from contactless sales can help show that footfall and businesses benefit from slower traffic and more cycling. And yes, gadgets can be added to the bikes themselves too, like on cars, which can alert the cyclist to a potential hazard.

Tomorrow, Sadbh will attend sessions on themes of inclusion and social justice as well as tackling transport poverty, and the difficult relationship (sometimes) between cycling and public transport.