Dreams On Wheels

On the occasion of COP15 Brussels will be in the sign of the bicycle on Tuesday the 1st of December. The Danish exhibition “Dreams on Wheels” will be officially opened at the Brussels-Luxembourg station at the same time as the new bicycle point “point-vélo” where you can rent a bicycle or get you own repaired. In the afternoon a seminar on cycling policies and sustainable urban planning will take place in the Parliament of the Brussels region.

Dreams on Wheels; experiences from Denmark
With Danish bicycle culture as a starting point Dreams on Wheels is an exhibition that promotes cycling as an alternative means of transport in the cities. The exhibition shows best practises from Denmark for example in relation to innovative industrial design and sustainable city planning. Dreams on Wheels is part of the public diplomacy framework of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has become an official prelude to COP15. “We are happy to open this exhibition here in Brussels just a week before the climate conference begins”, says Jørgen Molde, the Danish Ambassador to Belgium.

Secretary General Bernhard Ensink, ECF, State Secretary of Brussels Capital region Bruno De Lille, Danish Ambassador Jørgen Molde and Urban Designer & Curator Thomas Ermacora, just before all take of to the Brussels Parliament by bike

There will be several speakers at the opening, among others Jannie Haeck, CEO from SNCB , Bruno De Lille, Secretary of State on Mobility, Thomas Ermacora, the curator of the exhibition and Jørgen Molde, the Danish Ambassador. Refreshments will be served before everybody bikes together to the Brussels regions’ parliament (for those not in possession of a bicycle JCDecaux will provide Villo! city bikes) where the Danish Embassy in cooperation with the Brussels region has organised a seminar that will examine what is being done in matters of urban sustainable city planning and how to get more people to use their bicycle. There will be speakers from the European Union, experts from Denmark and ministers from the Brussels region.

Curator Thomas Ermacora opening the exhibition

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The exhibit will coincide with the United Nations International Climate Conference set for 3-14 December in Copenhagen.

San Francisco— The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in conjunction with the Embassy of Denmark , Washington, D.C. will bring the acclaimed exhibit Dreams on Wheels to San Francisco City Hall beginning November 19. Developed by curator Thomas Ermacora in collaboration with Danish architect and urban design consultant Jan Gehl, Dreams on Wheels showcases Danish cycling culture and Denmark’s commitment to sustainability via urban design that promotes active transportation.

“The SFMTA is proud to share this exciting exhibit on bicycling with San Francisco and the Bay Area,” said Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., SFMTA Executive Director/CEO. “We know that it will be of great interest to our growing bicycling community.”

The Dreams on Wheels exhibit has made an international journey, most recently stopping in London and Portland, Oregon. The exhibit merges urban cycling culture, design intelligence and environmental consciousness and features case studies on how cycling has affected Danish culture. It also considers the history and social development of biking as a viable transportation alternative.

Read the SFMTA NEWSLETTER Fall 2009

Press release from Embassy of Denmark, Washington DC of 17 November 2009

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The Danish Cultural Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and various cycling organisations is presenting the Danish cycling exhibition, “Dreams on Wheels” in response to Denmark is hosting COP15 – the UN Climate Change Summit – in December 2009 in Copenhagen.

Dreams on Wheels is an exhibition originally created by Thomas Ugo Ermacora - and is a conceptual arena for promoting urban cycling as a viable transport alternative. The exhibition is a showcase for the Danish cycling tradition, bicycle design, and urban planning, and has among other places been shown at The Danish House in Paris, harbour-front Toronto, Danish Design Centre and in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.

Press release from The Royal Danish Consulate in Spain 8 November, 2009

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The title of Last Thursday’s Manifest event, Dreams on Wheels, captured the magical, childlike quality of cycling. And for a small group of us it was kicked off in the same vain – a group ride from City Hall to the site in the Pearl.

To me nothing captures the childhood fun of cycling as a group ride and I felt that same delight as Mayor Sam Adams, Mikael Colville-Andersen, Roger Gellar, Bike builder Tony Pereira, Slate Olson with Rapha, Tom Miller, Jonathan Maus, and I headed down the street with our red bike lights flashing. Upon arrival Mikael Colville-Andersen, Denmark’s cycling Ambassador, set the stage for the Q & A session by opening the evening with a presentation describing “cycling” in Denmark and how Copenhagen achieved getting its population to take 55% of all their trips on bicycles.

In Mikael’s humorous and engaging presentation he shared with the audience that “cyclist” in Denmark are in fact not cyclist at all, they happen to be people who ride their bikes everyday to get to where they’re going. He also shared that the general public in Copenhagen is polled every two years to inquire as to why people ride their bikes and have found that:

56% ride because easy and fast
19% ride to get their daily exercise
6 % ride because it is cheap
1 % ride to for environmental reasons

Amongst all the hard numbers – the statistics and the data – the magical quality of riding a bike got buried. Granted, Mikael was preaching to the choir, but he left out the main reason I ride – it’s fun. Yes, riding my bike to work everyday is faster than taking the bus and it sure is a lot cheaper then paying for gas and parking to drive downtown, but it’s fun. For a set time everyday I get to experience movement – the world glides past me as my legs are in motion setting the pace. Simply fun. For me riding my bike has always retained some of that magic I experienced the first time I rode without training wheels on a sunny Saturday afternoon, my Dad chasing after me to make sure I was going to be okay.

Though magical experiences are not always synonymous with dreams, it brings me back to Portland’s dream on wheels: that 25% of all trips are taken by bicycle by 2030. To turn a dream into reality there must be a plan and the proposed Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 outlines how Portland can turn its dream into reality. And speaking of dreams, my personal dream is a little different: the next time my mom comes to visit that she and I can go for a bike ride together. I have a distinct feeling the Portland Bicycle Plan can help achieve it a well. So what exactly does the Portland Bicycle Plan propose?
You can read the Draft Plan to find out more. The public comment period is open until November 8, 2009.

The plan recommends expanding the network of planned bikeways based on 3 key strategies:

1) Introduce safe, comfortable, attractive bikeways that can carry more bicyclists and serve all types and all ages of users, building on the best design practices of great bicycling cities around the world.
• This includes considering children and senior bike users. Check out Safe Routes to School program
• Also check out Sunday Parkways an amazing community building activity that reached out to the Burmese immigrant communities.
2) Construct dense network of bikeways so that all Portland residents can easily find and access a route
3) Create a cohesive network with direct routes that take people where they want to go.

A few highlighted strategic implementation recommendations:

• Develop a street design guide that includes bicycle design guidelines
• Expand encouragement programs that provide services and equipment, support behavior changes, raise awareness and provide incentives that increase bicycling
• Build as much of the bicycle transportation system as possible, as quickly as possible
• Fund and construct projects in areas underserved by the bikeway network that score high in indicators of disadvantage

By Katja Dillmann, Press release from the Danish Embassy in Washington DC

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Dreams on Wheels — a major exhibition of Danish cycling culture and its impact on urban design, transportation and society — is coming to Portland in October.

The exhibit is being brought to Portland through a collaboration between the City of Portland, the Danish Embassy, and organizers of the six-week Oregon Manifest event. Dreams on Wheels is a traveling exhibit that, according to a press release “merges urban cycling culture, design intelligence, and environmental consciousness”. The exhibit features case studies on how cycling has affected Danish culture and society.

Portland’s bike story will also be featured in the exhibit. City officials and event organizers are putting together a display to feature photographs and other visual representations of Portland’s bike culture.

The Portland stop is a coup for Oregon Manifest organizers, who have expanded their event way beyond just the focus on custom bicycle builders it had last year. Jocelyn SyCip, director of the event says “Oregon Manifest has expanded this year to broadcast the many ways cycling can impact our lives.”

The exhibit is set to open in Portland on October 9th with a special reception and opening festivities that will be attended by the Danish Ambassador to the U.S., Friis Arne Peterson. Also coming to Portland as part of Dreams on Wheels will be Danish filmmaker, photographer, and journalist Mikael Colville-Andersen of the popular blog, Copenhagenize.
Dreams on Wheels has previously made stops in Paris, Tokyo, Edinburgh, Moscow and London. In Portland, the exhibit will run from October 2nd to November 8th at the Oregon Manifest’s Pop-Up Bike Union Storefront located at 539 NW 10th in the Pearl District.

More info at Oregon Manifest .

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The Royal Danish Embassy, The Danish Cultural Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and various cycling organisations is presenting the cycling exhibition, “Dreams on Wheels” in response to Denmark is hosting COP15 – the UN Climate Change Summit – in December 2009. The exhibition will be on show in VAM Design Centre,Kiraly utca 26, from 4-25 September.

Dreams on Wheels is an exhibition originally created by Thomas Ugo Ermacora- and is a conceptual arena for promoting urban cycling as a viable transport alternative The exhibition is a showcase for the Danish cycling tradition, bicycle design, and urban planning, and has among other places been shown at The Danish House in Paris, harbour-front Toronto, Danish Design Centre and in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.

The intention of the exhibition is to promote cycling as an alternative form of transportation and to show how the benefits derived from it relate to important topics such as climate change, energy conservation, the environment and health. The exhibition will be on display with the title “Green Design from the Baltic Sea”. The Green Design is also part of the “Baltic Sea Festival” organized by EUNIC in September 2009.

Denmark is using bicycles the most as an integrated part of the transport system. This is partially an education effort, a result of very high car prizes, but arguably mainly the result of the development of bicycle friendly infrastructure, bi-cyclepaths along roads, independent bicycle-roads, preferential position at road-crossing etc. etc.

Budapest and Hungary as such, one might say, is not quite there. There is – arguably – still a lot to do. One really positive development is, though, that still more of the inhabitants of Budapest chose to bike. The exhibition illustrates Danish cycling culture and shows how to design infrastructure with a view to promoting cycling. Besides a comprehensive collection of photos and posters, a variety of bicycles are displayed. These range from the ordinary to the more curious kinds.

As a follow-up to the exhibition in the framework of European Mobility Week, the organizers will together with the Municipality of Budapest host a conference “KERÉK-VÁROS -TERVEZÉS KONFERENCIA” on the 21 September 2009 at Budapest Technical University. The theme of the seminar will be how to facilitate the use of bicycles through Urban Planning. An one day conference where experts in urban planning from Hungary and Denmark approaching the theme of Bicycle-friendly urban planning each their starting point. The outcome of the conference would be a number of concrete positive suggestions for what to do next in developing bicycling friendly urban planning in Budapest. During the run of the exhibition The Royal Danish Embassy and The Danish Cultural Institute will together with Cyclechic, BuBiFeszt and Skandináv Ház Alapítvány be arranging a series of cycle-related events for the public.

Calender of activities:
4 September: Biking in Budapest in partnership with BuBiFeszt and workshop in VAM. Christiania in Art and a different kind of urbanization in partnership with BuBiFeszt
5 September: Livable Workshop at Toldi Mozi in partnership with BuBiFeszt
19 September: Bicycle picnic arranged by Skandináv Ház Alapítvány
21 September: 9 am-1 pm Conference at the Technical University in partnership with European Mobility Week Budapest. Title: “Urban design and traffic planning”. Participants: Mr. Miklós Hagyó, Deputy-Mayor of Budapest, Mr. László János, Chairman of MK, Danish Photographer Mikael Colville Andersen and many others.
22 September: CAR Free Day and Open Day at VAM. Biking in Budapest with the Danish Urban designer Mikael Colville Andersen on the Christiania bike

The exhibit is supported by: Municipality of Budapest, European Mobility Week, Cycling Embassy of Denmark, Magyar Kerekparosklub, Konkam Studio, The Danish Cultural Institute & Etikstudio.

Press release from Embassy of Denmark, Budapest of the 28th August 2009

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For devoted or even those less passionate and occasional cyclists, Dreams on Wheels presents a view of contemporary urban cycling culture and examples of what can be seen and more importantly experienced in London and Copenhagen. For those of you who are yet to experience your city on two wheels, it will give you a chance to reconsider your options for daily commuting and leisure time.

© Mikael Colville-Andersen

Dreams on Wheels aims to get more people cycling around their city. It surveys best practice from Copenhagen and London, from cultural habit to innovative industrial design and city planning.

The London version of Dreams on Wheels is part of the prologue to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Previously, other versions of Dreams on Wheels have been shown at the Danish Design Center, Copenhagen and internationally in Canberra, Edinburgh, Riga, Paris, Toronto, Tokyo and Moscow.

© Mikael Colville-Andersen

Come along and get your hands on some unique designer bicycles, learn about the future of cycling in London and get inspiration for your new riding outfit!

Dreams on Wheels is curated by Etikstudio with photographic contribution by Mikael Colville-Andersen and is organised by the Embassy of Denmark, London in partnership with the Greater London Authority. It is supported by Transport for London and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Press release from Embassy of Denmark, London of the 24 August 2009

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In May 2009 Denmark’s Ambassador to Japan, Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin, set out on a cycling tour covering 9 Japanese cities. He asked ordinary Japanese people to join him and together they would send a message to Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard with the hope of a good result at the UN Climate Conference later this year in Copenhagen. The Tour was called: “COP15 Cycling Tour” and 3,000 Japanese people joined the Tour.

The bicycle was an obvious choice as catalyst for gathering support for this message. It is environmentally friendly and contributes to alleviating already overburdened city infrastructures.

So, the bike sends a green message, but there is much more to it than that. Cycling is also a fast and practical means of transportation, it’s healthy, and recently it’s considered cool and trendy.

The Dreams on Wheels exhibition followed the Tour around to three different locations – Tokyo, Fukushima and Kyoto – and it undoubtedly hit nerve among Japanese people: Many nodded their way through the explanations of Danish city planning and infrastructure. The lyrical cycle-quotes by famous people sparked smiles and laughter, but the photos were truly surprising to many. Traffic lights for bicycles, bike lanes, and cargo bikes are new to most people and impressed many, whereas photos of people biking through rain and blizzards are just too far out: Those Danes are Crazy!

Well, we probably are, and on top that most of us Danes are oblivious of that fact that our cycling culture is rather unique; we just want to get from point A to B. Simple as that.

The combination of the COP15 Cycling Tour and Dreams on Wheels presented a complicated message to the Japanese people in a down to earth fashion: It is important to get a good result at COP15 in Copenhagen. Cycling is one way of achieving this. Look to Denmark for inspiration!

For more information, please have a look at the homepage COP15 Japan.

Press release from Embassy of Denmark, Japan of the 8 June 2009

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DAY OF DENMARK 29.05.09 at The Central House of Artists, Moscow

For the annual architectural fair, ARCH Moscow, The Royal Danish Embassy in Moscow was privileged this year to present the Danish exhibition Dreams on Wheels which was displayed together with the architectural exhibition, Instants of Architecture. Dreams on Wheels was presented with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, which made it possible not only to bring the exhibition, but also to invite the curator Thomas Ermacora, together with the traffic planner Troels Andersen and the journalist Michael Colville-Andersen.

A full day at the Central House of Artists was dedicated to the two Danish exhibitions under the tagline: “Day of Denmark”. The grand auditorium of The Central House of Artists, which holds 600 seats, was filled with bicycling enthusiasts. Thomas Ermacora, Troels Andersen and Michael Colville-Andersen held lectures about the Danish bicycling culture and how the experiences of Denmark could be achieved in other countries and cities all over the world.

During the day, the audience was invited to take part in discussions, and many took the opportunity to ask how these experiences could be implemented into the context of Moscow and Russia. The Danish ambassador to Russia, Per Carlsen opened the “Day of Denmark” together with the party leader of the political environmental party “Jabloko”, Sergei Mitrokhin and the director of Central House of Artists, Mr. Vassily Bychkov.

After the lectures and discussions at The Central House of Artists the Danish cycling experts had hearings in the Moscow Duma. They were invited by the Commission on Environmental Policy, the Commission on urban and housing policies and the Commission on future development and urban planning who all had prepared specific questions for optimizing the bicycle infrastructure of Moscow. These hearings went to show that the interest from Russian authorities to create a stronger bicycling culture in Moscow is very present. And the timing for these initiatives is impeccable. The new Moscow city plan is approaching; more and more articles about bicycling are getting column space in the newspapers, further more the youth is yelling for more sustainable transportation solutions, such as cycling.

The interest from the young Muscovites during the bicycling events was more than evident. The young audience was very visible during the lectures and after a short reception in the evening at the ambassador’s residence; the Danish guests went to join 200 happy young Muscovites at the new architect gallery “Mel” 1 km from The Kremlin. The gallery “Mel” hosted a Copenhagen Cycle Chic party (link) where a bike ride of more than 50 people was arranged. The Danish journalist and filmmaker Mikael Colville-Andersen shot video footage while the young crowd was riding around the factories of “Red October” and showing their beautiful bicycles for the whole city to see. Two short movies were made about the event (video 1 & video 2), and after the bike ride, the Danish cycling experts gave a short summery of the events of the day, after which the Russian architect and founder of the cultural platform theoryandpractice.ru, Mr. Askar Ramazanov, explained his view of the differences between Russia and Europe in the context of cycling.

For more information, please have a look at the homepage Embassy of Denmark, Moscow.

Press release from Embassy of Denmark, Moscow , June 2009

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During my many meetings with foreign visitors I am often confronted by the same question: “What is the secret of Danish cycle culture and how do we learn it?”

A simple question which takes a number of second thoughts to answer. One thing is that Denmark isn’t a paradise for cyclists. It’s so windy that a world-famous wind turbine industry has grown rapidly thanks to a well-based home market. And Danish cities are not as densely populated as in Holland, where 2-3 people live in the same space as one Dane. So even though our cities are rather flat, we do have much longer distances to cope with than the Dutch. In general there’s a limit of 25 minutes in each direction to and from work where most people are willing to consider cycling as an option. This often equates to 7-8 kilometres, and our major cities are much more spread out than that.

This is why green waves and lots of priority projects for cyclists have been implemented in some of the most cycle-friendly cities like Odense and Copenhagen - to enlarge the catchment area for potential cyclists.

Another issue is our informal clothing - even in banks, ties aren’t always required and sporty clothing is widely accepted for daily use. Showers are possible in many workplaces - otherwise a clean T-shirt will do in most cases.

We all cycle and almost everyone has a bike. Theft is a widespread problem - but statistics say that you may wait for 30 years to get your bike stolen. And in some cases it’s your own fault because you didn’t lock it well enough. Our basic insurance always covers bike theft, and someone could see this as an opportunity to get a new bike…

So is all this the secret of Danish cycle culture? - no, not quite. Similar Danish cities vary widely in their proportion of cyclists - some have double that of others. The reasons are many: a lack of local cycle policy and cycle promotion, car-oriented traffic planning, too easy access to car parking and no official high status for cycling. So cycle culture is what you make it - even though we do have a fine basis for cycling, Great Britain should have just as many cycle trips per capita as we have - but that’s another story!

by Troels Andersen, Cycling Consultant to the City of Odense

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