Greetings From Velo City

Greetings from Belgium, the host city for this year's Velo City conference, which I have the privilege to attend.

If you are receiving this email, it is because I know you have an interest in cycling related matters, and like me are inspired by what is happening around the world, how other countries and cities are adapting to climate change and as part of that response are investing in active and sustainable transportation.

I must begin by telling you that my time here has been very worthwhile so far - a dizzying array of international contacts as well as old friends. Andy Clarke, CEO of the League of American Bicyclists is here and we have been commiserating since we our dinner discussion last evening. Also, Andreas Rohl who was a keynote speaker at the League Summit in Washington is also here. Of course you would expect Copenhagen with their enviable modal share of 35% to have a significant presence here - and they do. But they are the host of next year's Velo City and of course, they are hosting the world in September for the Climate Change Conference to discuss the post-Kyoto global response. Andreas and I had a vibrant conversation this afternoon and he has begun discussions with colleagues at the City regarding how they can send a speaker to our Bike Summit. This was further to a request I put to him in Washington about sending us an expert on snow removal. Of course, this is an issue in a number of our municipalities but it is a special request from Dan Egan at the City of Toronto and so, there is a strong chance that a colleague of Andreas' will join us in September. Stay tuned!

Today's conference began with opening remarks from our host and an explanation of the conference theme - "Re-Cycling Cities". This theme brings the conference back to its stated purpose - looking at cities and urban environments in a rapidly changing world challenged by climate and economic instability. Against this backdrop, inspiring speakers today included:

  • Transportation experts and urban planners from Oxford University, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Intermodal transportation, equity, freedom of choice and the necessity of providing it were key themes of the opening plenary. And I had a fabulous conversation with the head of Cycling Planning for Amersterdam and an invitation to visit and a personal bike tour. Those Dutch - so friendly, so welcoming - so fabulously intelligent in their approach. Oh sigh. We do have lots to do!
  • Closer to home the Mayor of Portland outlined their progress and plans for the next twenty years - very exciting
  • I attended a morning session on "Pro-Cycling Legislation" in the morning with speakers from Brussels and Lisbon. Of particular interest was the Belgian speaker who talked about how they grew their network of "contraflow" movement - something we saw a lot of in Apeldoorn. That is, allowing for cyclist traffic on one-way streets. Very interesting data. Did you know that this initiative does not actually cause a rise in the number of collisions - -contrary to popular belief? Great presentation.
  • In the afternoon I attended a session on "Becoming A Cycling City". Inspiring lessons from Santiago, Seville and if you can believe it Estonia. The last guy was such a riot (from the city of Tartu in Estonia) - he showed us powerful images of how "not to do" infrastructure, and roads to nowhere. Yet, some inspiring progress from a country which received its independence only 18 years ago. Heck, if they can do it - cycling that is - so can we!

Finally, it is just wonderful to be here with so many inspiring colleagues and to hear some common themes and to be inspired by so much ingenuity.

Thanks for reading. I hope to send you more tomorrow.

In the meantime, have to run. Off to dinner with Andy and the Mayor of Portland - who says he'd love to come to Ontario. Perhaps an invite is in order?

Take care, talk soon.