A Call for Cooperation Among Bicycle-friendly Communities Around the World

Guest blogger: Virginia Tech cyclist Lyndsay McKeever, intern for Transportation and Campus Services at Virginia Tech, is guest blogging this week from Velo-City Sevilla, Spain.

Yesterday at the Annual Meeting of the Network of Spanish Bicycle-friendly Communities in Velo-city Sevilla, the League signed an important agreement. The success of our nation’s bicycle friendly communities will be shared globally in order to exchange best practices, expertise, develop relationships, and identify concrete actions to promote cycling in our communities. Four key players have agreed to work together to promote bicycle mobility internationally.

• The Network of Active Communities managed by Velo Quebec (Canada) which is working with 60 municipalities in 16 regions of Quebec
• The Bicycle Friendly Community program, coordinated by the League of American Bicyclists (USA), which connects 450 communities in the United States
• The Club of Cycling Cities and Territories (France) which comprises more than 1000 communities – cities, metropolitan areas, departments and regions, and
• The Network of Spanish Cycling Cities (Spain) which comprises more than 100 cities, transport operators and communities

With the common objective of promoting bicycle use for all purposes: personal mobility, the transport of goods, recreation, competition, travel and tourism, the four networks declared their commitment to:

– Share knowledge and best practices among the communities they represent

– Promote the benefits of bicycling for sustainable and equitable transport, recreation, sport and tourism

– Meet regularly to encourage bicycle research, innovation, projects, policies and laws

Like keynote speaker, Gro Harlem Brundtland emphasized, the slogan act globally, think locally is equally as relevant as think globally, act locally. The League agrees. “The agreement is a perfect example of the benefits of international information exchange that events such as Velo-City facilitate,” said League President Any Clarke.

In a globalized world, the threats we face are interconnected, thus it is imperative we work together towards global equity and sustainability. The bicycle is this simple solution and plays a key role in achieving sustainable mobility, but only if we work together. In order to grow as a global community, we must inspire change across all countries. League is committed to sharing our U.S. successes and lessons to further ignite global bicycle success.

– Lyndsay McKeever

Bike rack in Sevilla, Spain