05/18: Lecture - Learning from Bicycle Cultures in Beijing and New York

There is a lecture coming up in Vienna which will feature STC's ongoing research on bicycle culture in Beijing and STC's comparative work on international policies supporting bicycle life. STC researcher Florian Lorenz will give a talk in the public venue of Vienna's Department of Urban Planning (MA18) on May 18th.The venue is called 'Planungswerkstatt' which translates to 'planning workshop' and describes a place where new planning ideas for the city can be discussed, prepared and realized. In this sense we hope that Florian's lecture will inspire Vienna's city government to support local bicycle culture with innovative strategies. This may be a very important step for reaching the city's goal of doubling the modal split of bicycles from currently 5% to 10% until the year 2015 (ambitious).

The translated outline for the lecture:

The support of lifestyles integrating an intensive bicycle use can be vital to creating livable and culturally diverse urban landscapes. The lecture presents examples from Beijing and New York as a creative contribution for the development of Vienna’s bicycle culture. In Beijing the NGO Smarter Than Car investigates lifestyles and economic strategies tied to the bicycle; specific bicycle infrastructure and the high diversity of bicycle uses. An investigation in New York shows a bicycle culture based strongly on local community which is supported since the recent past by the municipal government’s progressive strategies. The Comparison of bicycle cultures and legal frameworks should allow for a discussion about the (future) positioning of Vienna’s bicycle culture.

This is the link to the event (german).