Presentations at Habitat III about Public Space and Cycling

Between the 17th and 20th of October the future of urbanization was discussed at the UN Habitat III conference. We were in Quito for our project “Ruta de la Experiencia” and also organized two presentations/debates at the venue. Cycling was the topic of the first presentation and the public space and how to develop this public space was the main theme during the second presentation.

On October 18th, we invited two speakers and a moderator to present their ideas and discuss how cities and countries can stimulate cycling.

– Galo Cardenas of BiciAccion spoke about their bottom-up cycling projects in Quito and Ecuador.

– Camila Pinzon Cortes of URBANOS presented her ideas about the cultural, physical and organizational approach to get everybody on their bikes.

– Bernhard Ensink of theEuropean Cycling Federation spoke about the European policies and how cycling is integrated in the New Urban Agenda.

Florian Lorenz of Smarter than Car moderated the meeting.

The Public Space was discussed on October 20th. Public Space is essential for liveable cities, but local governments often don’t have the resources or skills to develop this public space. The importance of public space was discussed during this meeting and ways to develop this space.

– Inge Kok Postma of LIFTcities spoke about the importance of public space.

– Pepijn Verpaalen of URBANOS explained the project “Ruta de la Experiencia” and showed examples of projects in which groups of companies, neighbourhood associations or NGO’s led the development of public space and the role our office had during the process.

Both presentations were well visited and led to a lively discussion and are a good impulse to continue with making cities more human and bike friendly. The New Urban Agenda that was adopted at UN Habitat III also emphasizes the role of people in cities and explains that slow traffic can help to improve the quality of life and environment in cities.