Draft:Velo-city 2009 Brussels

Sam Adams speaking at Velo-city 2009 in Brussels

The Velo-city 2009 took place in Brussels, Belgium on 12 – 15 May 2009 at Tour & Taxis. The site is a former industrial storage depot which has been fully restored and is now used for all sorts of events from major fairs through music festivals to exclusive parties. The Conference was organized by ECF and Brussels Capital Region and gathered more than 750 participants.

Aims

By organizing this event, ECF aimed at gathering a large range of cycling stakeholders such as local authorities, politicians, industrials, professionals and bicycle users. Being in Brussels added a European value with the implication of European authorities and thus bring cycling on the European Agenda.

The Brussels-Capital Region's main aims for Velo-city are to present a high-quality cycling infrastructure and to obtain renewed recognition for the role of the bicycle within a sustainable intermodal transport policy (cycling in combination with public transport and journeys on foot), along with the positive impact of cycling on health and the environment.

On a regional level, the authorities intended Velo-city 2009 to increase the number of cyclists in Brussels by getting as many of the city's inhabitants to participate in the conference as possible. To do this, several high-profile campaigns and events were organised to accompany the conference.

Program

Velo-city 2009 had a promising program to offer. Beside 4 plenary and 28 sub-plenary sessions with well-known national and international speakers, there were two excursions to Liège and Ghent. A permanent exhibition named Velo-city Expo was organized and then on Sunday took place the Brussels traditional bicycle festival, Dring Dring.

Theme-titles of the plenary sessions:

1. Visions to transport in future cities
2. Intermodal urban transport
3. A forerunner city
4. A climber city
5. Health and cycling
6. Climate change and urban transport
7. Peak oil and cycling
8. Economy and cycling
9. City planning and communication
10. Successful marketing of cycle use
11. Cycling to school
12. What can we learn from the advertising world?
13. Role of Europe
14. Debate with Members of EU Parliament

Plenary speakers: Antonio Tajani, Pascal Smet, Manfred Neun, Prof. David Banister, George Amar, Jean-Luc de Wilde d'Estmael, Tjeerd Herrema, Mayor Alain Juppé, Mayor Sam Adams, Francesca Racioppi, Prof. J-P Van Ypersele, Jörg Schindler, Philip Darnton, Helle Søholt, Frank van den Eeden, Paul Robison, Guillaume Vanderstichelen, Siim Kallas, Mayor Klaus Bondam, Antonio Rodriguo Torrijo, Margus Hanson, Michael Cramer, Saïd El Khadraoui, Reinhard Rack

Dring Dring

Dring Dring is a cycling event that has been organized for the Brussels-Capital Region since 1995 by Pro Velo, bringing together all the Brussels cycling associations (Gracq, Fietsersbond, les Ateliers de la rue Voot, Cyclo). The objectives of this all-bicycle week, taking place in May, are to encourage people to use bicycles more regularly, even inordinately, when travelling in Brussels, and to ensure better standing for cyclists in the city.

The organization of Dring Dring 2009 was connected with the Velo-city Brussels and took place from 11 to 17 May. It was the last Dring Dring to be organized as the event was replaced by the Bike Experience.

Velo-city 2009 Expo

The Velo-city Expo and the Velo-city Conference 2009 in Brussels gave an overall idea of all the topics worldwide, with regard to the cycling world. The exhibitors, speakers and participants formed a large forum for all cycling issues. The exhibition was the biggest demonstration of the members of the cycling world, with representatives from the industry, urban and transport planning institutions, volunteers and politicians.

The Expo was divided into four sections:

1. Products
2. Cycling infrastructure, expertise + information
3. Cycling friendly world
4. Cycling policy – European bodies, umbrella federations and alliances

The Charter of Brussels

During Velo-city's 2009 last day in the European Parliament, several European cities signed the Charter of Brussels. By signing the charter, cities commit themselves to invest in bicycle policy as an integrated part of urban mobility. At the same time, the charter is a call on the European Union to promote urban cycling. Among the key demands are a 15% bicycle modal share by 2020 and reducing bicycle road fatalities by 50%.

The cities of Helmond (Netherlands), Seville (Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark), Brussels (Belgium), Reggio Emilia (Italy), Varna (Bulgaria), Tartu (Estonia), Budapest (Hungary) and Munich (Germany) were the first signatories of the Charter. Up to date, more than 60 cities have signed the Charter of Brussels while the process remains open for interested authorities.