As we finish an unprecedented month of March, and enter into a socially-distant April, many of us are locked-down and spending hours on end home alone fighting the urge to go stir crazy. We know how important it is to stay connected to one another and share ideas during these times of uncertainty, to keep everybody thinking about the world beyond their apartment and how life might be different after the global pandemic.
In that spirit, on Friday March 27th we hosted our first virtual reunion for the past participants of the Master Class by Copenhagenize. We were thrilled to see more than 70 participants from around the world join us from the last 6 years of sessions we’ve been hosting in Copenhagen. We had friends log in staying up late in Yokohama and Perth with a beer in hand, while others in Chile and California were tuning in with their morning coffee. Not only was this an excellent chance to reconnect, but we also learned of developments all around the world in cargo bikes, all-season cycling, cyclo-tourism, and hilly-city bicycle planning.
João Camolas presenting
The two-hour programme included:
A Mayors Guide to Cargo Bikes
James Thoem (Copenhagenize Team)
James introduced how municipalities and other levels of governments can foster greater cargo bike usage among both public and private groups. Turning to case studies across multiple sectors, he demonstrated how decisive policy measures can directly encourage cargo bike ridership.
Planning for Four Seasons: Cycling in Helsinki
Oskari Kaupinmäki (Class of 2017)
Oskari works as a project manager for the City of Helsinki and collaborates with the Handshake project where three EU pioneering cycling cities share their cycling solutions with ten aspiring EU cities. Oskari shared his knowledge on how Helsinki has made winter cycling a realistic transportation mode, giving examples of how other cities can take advantage of their bicycle infrastructure in all seasons.
Bicycle Tourism in Northern Italy
Giuliana Ganzini (Class of 2019)
Working as the manager of a boutique hotel in Udine, Giuliana has been pushing to leverage growing bicycle tourism infrastructure to better connect to cities in the regional community. Giuliana shared her experiences lobbying for change among a group of like-minded professionals pushing for more bicycle-friendly cities in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.
Empowering Commuters for All Season Cycling
Andrey Zhukov (Class of 2018)
As a technologist and Founder at BikeTo.se, Andrey and his team have developed an app that allows municipalities to crowdsource information on urban cycling patterns. Andrey shared his experience working in the Swedish city of Gävleborg, where their app has helped the City better understand and facilitate winter cycling habits.
The City of Seven Hills: Promoting Urban Cycling in Lisbon
João Camolas (Class of 2016)
Despite Lisbon being such a hilly city, and cycling seemingly impossible to some people, João presented the ambitious cycling policy of the Portuguese capital. As an advisor of the City of Lisbon for the past 10 years, João has been working in communication and urban cycling to create better conditions for active transportation. He is focused on building a safer cycling network and improving the public bike share system in order to help increase the cycling modal share in the city. To recognize the recent efforts to transform Lisbon’s streets and to encourage continued innovation, the City of Seven Hills will host the Velo-City conference in 2021.
A group photo of a past Master Class in Copenhagen
The Copenhagenize Master Class alumni family is full of passionate practitioners from all around the world committed to making our cities better places to live and using the bicycle to leverage positive change. Stay tuned as we share ideas and stories from our network in these times of isolation and upheaval, showing what cities around the world are doing in lockdown and how the bicycle might help us return to some semblance of normalcy.
A big thank you to everyone who joined us last week. It was truly heartwarming to have the chance to reconnect with you all. We wish you good health and hope to be pedaling and planning more bicycle-friendly cities with you all very soon!