What is Velo-city?
Velo-city is generally considered to be the largest conference devoted to cycling in the world. Cycling is a good, healthy, quick and environmentally-friendly means of transport and the meetings being held during the Velo-city conference will promote cycling as both a fun and functional means of getting around.
Ever since the first conference was held in 1980, Velo-city has been growing in size. The event is aimed not only at people working in the cycling industry, but also at all individuals involved with cycling policies, who promote cycling and who work on cycling infrastructure. This mix of attendees, professions, skills and experience is one of the key reasons as to why the conference is successful.
'Velo-city' is obviously a play on words of the English word 'velocity', however, the conference title also makes explicit reference to the word 'city' given that the city, like no other place, is an environment where the bicycle has the greatest potential and where it is most effective. The name is owned by the European Cyclists' Federation (ECF). The Velo-city director is the general secretary of the ECF, Dr Bernhard Ensink.
Previous conference host cities include Paris (2003), Dublin (2005) and Munich (2007). The Brussels-Capital Region was selected as the host for Velo-city 2009.
The event generally takes place over the course of a week and tradition has it that one day is kept aside for day excursion. The conference will comprise plenary and sub-plenary sessions, 'poster sessions' and workshops. Evening events are also planned for both conference attendees and partners. About 1,000 people attended the Munich conference.
What does Velo-city mean for the Brussels-Capital Region?
Velo-city is a unique opportunity for the Brussels-Capital Region to increase its profile: Brussels can use the event to illustrate that it has no reason whatsoever to be jealous of other large cities which have had a cycling culture in place far longer. The conference is the highlight of the 2005-2009 Cycling Plan. It should therefore be the crowning event for the work accomplished over the previous years. The event itself in Brussels will be the result of work carried out on a joint basis between the communes, cyclist associations (Gracq, Fietsersbond Brussels, European Union Cyclists' Group and Pro Velo), the intercommune transport provider (STIB) and of course the Region. One of the lessons to be learnt from the Velo-city conference in Munich is that the event should be highly publicised within the city in order to have an impact on Brussels residents. Posters, flags and other media supports should be used to promote the event and activities related to the conference should also be held in the city. As such, a central location needs to be sourced where workshops can be held with schools and the communes.
To the outside world, it is clear that the conference in Brussels will in a way be the ‘Capital of Europe’s’ Velo-city. The European Commission should therefore be highly visible throughout the conference.
The scope of the Velo-city conference in Brussels will even extend beyond the regional borders given that the federal state, the Flemish and Walloon regions, the city of Ghent, the Belgian institute for road safety (IBSR), the Belgian national railway company (SNCB) and national cyclist associations will be involved in organising the conference.
Without doubt, one of the greatest challenges facing organisers will be developing the work carried out on a joint basis between the aforementioned authorities and organisations.
The process of organising the conference will motivate all the above partners to achieve their own objectives in terms of cycling policy. For the Brussels-Capital region, this will mean performing the cycling plan and developing the appropriate infrastructure (in particular completing work on the regional network of cycle lanes); for the public transport companies, this will mean improving the welcoming and transport facilities for bicycles.
The Velo-city conference in Brussels will take place from 12-15 May 2009, at the same time as the Brussels cycling week and the Dring Dring events.