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With the Cyclab meeting, Bordeaux town hall delivered the goods: the organisation of an international gathering to consider the bike as a future means of transport.
On the 4th February 2010, almost 600 people, from all over Europe, gathered at the Athénée Centre in the
city of Bordeaux (in the south-west of France) in order to debate which solutions to implement to promote clean travel in towns.
Various designers, including Philippe Starck, were present in order to try to modernise the bike’s image. With a focus on prototype models, they provided a futuristic image of the bike, one that is adapted to our journeys around town.
Rethinking urban policies to promote sustainable transport CYCLAB brought together professionals, politicians, associations and users, who attended conferences and round tables. The meeting thus bore witness to the interest shown in sustainable transport, which has become a priority topic of
urban policy in sustainable development.
The public policies of large, bike-friendly European cities such as Copenhagen, Berlin and Strasbourg were praised, with the introduction of the two-way bike routes,
particulary present in Paris, at the heart of the initiatives.
Alain Juppé, Mayor of the city, reminded people that Bordeaux began its "transport revolution" several years ago, when it launched an urban plan that aimed to develop a tramway and cycle paths at the same time, as well a highway code to encourage respect between different transport users.
The
co-existence of different means of transport must, of course, be thought through upstream of public policies.
Moreover, the day ended with the "Bordeaux Appeal", which wants
the highway code to be rewritten in order to rethink the co-existence between various means of travel, based on a sharing of urban space and access to bike use for all.
For Michel Duchène, Deputy to the Mayor, who, among other things, is responsible for urban strategy, traffic and parking, the project should be repeated: "Bordeaux is becoming the reference in France in terms of bikes. We should maintain this position. Maybe a CYCLAB every two years?".
That will be a sustainable mobility meeting to look out for…
