ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability

The ICLEI conference is taking place in Edmonton all week - and so far it's been a flurry of interesting, hopeful people with great ideas about sustainable living. Don has been enjoying himself immensely. He has been meeting loads of wonderful people from around the world who want their local governments to start building and fixing up cities to reflect healthier, more responsible living.

I attended a session on bike-able cities this afternoon with Dexter. So proud, by the way, that Dexter has made it to his first conference on his 3 week birthday!

There were four speakers from Cape Town, South Africa; Australia; Rio, Brazil; and Hannover, Germany. Four very distinct places with distinct populations that have a common goal of making their cities more bike friendly.

I got a few main themes from the different presentations:

Infrastructure cannot continue to support the current use motor vehicles.

Driving is dangerous. Pedestrians get run over. Cyclists get run over. Cars crash into things because the drivers suck. People drive irresponsibly and often, too fast.

Cycling is considered a viable mode of transportation for people of lower economic status (I think this needs to change. The posh should likewise feel inclined to bike because it's healthy, responsible, and fun).

Education initiatives are key to getting people feeling safe on the road, and are especially important for kids so they can grow up being confident cyclists.

Building bike paths are substantially cheaper than building more roads for cars.



My favourite part was when Alfredo Syrkis (Leader of the Green Group, Rio City Council, Brazil) was giving his presentation and stated,

"Non biking engineers and architects produce idiotic projects"

Haha! So true. He also added that poorly devised bike lanes that are in no way useful to people who actually ride bikes, is often times even worse than not having a bike lane at all.

It's great that all these different cities are making cycling a priority in their city planning - let's hope we can see some good results from all this enthusiasm. Various orders of government, it's time to step it up! Funding... funding... funding...

One of the paramount concerns I heard discussed was the issue of safety. People don't think their roads are safe and in many cases, they're probably right. I know it's a tall order to ask people to start cycling given this climate of fear, but I think it's really important for every day, normal people (super athletes you need not be) to start making their appearance on the street. Biking is a culture, and changes in culture take time. Sure, it's unfair that us cyclists have to proceed with extra caution when navigating streets that don't have a strong bicycle presence, but without more cyclists, a working relationship between cars and bikes will never be achieved.

Another thing to note: motor vehicle operators should likewise drive and proceed with caution when they are on the road. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a car turn without shoulder checking. This happens even when I'm trying to cross the street pushing a big orange bassinet on a chassis... on foot. So don't give me grief about visibility, my experience is that people who aren't looking just are not looking.

So those of you riding. Keep on! Those of you who are afraid... try it. If it makes you feel better, you can always walk your bike across intersections, and don't forget to look both ways:) Also, get a bell and some lights.

Ride a bike. Change yourself. Change the world!