Since 12 June the exhibition Dreams on Wheels is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city learns now that cycling is not only about sport and can be a pleasant way of mobility in such a beautiful city as Rio de Janeiro. Through the Danish Cultural Institute and the Danish Embassy in Brazil, that brought the exhibition, there were activities regarding the theme of the exhibition such as a seminar, speeches and bike rides. The list of activities included a visit to one of the cycling paths of the city and a check list was made. After the visit, participants could discuss the points that needed to be changed from the user´s point of view.

A report with these suggestions will be delivered to the mayor of the city. Almost two hundred people attended the opening night, including the Secretary of Culture of Rio de Janeiro. Also people from other states, non-governmental organisations and the society in general. Families were able to teach children how cycling can be healthy for the environment, to the city and themselves. At the end of the exhibition, visitors saw how one of the oldest means of transport could be transformed into the most current, practical, modern and convenient ally in urban mobility and increase the quality of life in Brazilian cities as well.

The schedule – Rio de Janeiro: The exhibition is on show at Centro de Arte Municipal Hélio Oiticica Rua Luís de Camões, 60 Centro – Rio de Janeiro
12 June – Opening cocktail
13 June – 20km bicycle ride from Copacabana Beach to the Exhibition Centre . A speech by Zé Lobo, director of the NGO Transporte Ativo about urban mobility and cycling
16 June – Seminar ‘Bicycle and the cities’ Lectures and discussions about urban mobility, urban design and city’s for people
17 June – Visit to one of the bicycle paths of the city (Botafogo-Lagoa). Discussion and elaboration of a dossier suggesting improvements to the path and the neighborhood
08 July – Speech ‘A Carioca (person from Rio de Janeiro) clycling in Copenhague) by Zé Lobo, director of the NGO Transporte Ativo
25 July – The exhibition travels to Brasília

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The exhibition takes place during Bike Week in the Civic Offices Atrium, Wood Quay, from 14-18 June 2010. Do you find it normal that in the middle of a snow storm a lady rides home with her groceries and a baby on her bike. Or could you picture yourself racing beside two lanes of cyclists to work? What about taking your cello or even a Christmas tree with a trike from A to B? Danes do… that is what makes Denmark so special: being liberated from the gloomy prospect of having to choose a form of motorised transport for lack of a better option… Danes enjoy this freedom to the full and have been doing so since the 1960s, when they revived their cycling culture after a period of car domination in the post-war era.

Fashion on Wheels at Dublin City Hall

In collaboration with the Dreams on Wheels photographer and cycling culture blogger per excellence, Mikael Colville-Andersen and Copenhagen Cycle Chic, the worlds first fashion show on two wheels was staged. DUBLIN CYCLE CHIC was showcasing both Danish fashion and product design at the prominent location of Dublin City Hall.

Dublin Cycle Chic was framed by platform of Dreams on Wheels -the exhibition that shows what the Danes have done, what their concept of lifestyle is and how this type of “slow living” integrates efficiency with environmentalism so naturally. First shown in Paris in 2002, this exhibit has traveled the world promoting urban cycling as a viable personal transportation alternative. It provides examples of Urban Planning strategies, designer bicycles that fit your needs, and hint at the philosophy behind making it possible for everyone to partake in the sport of commuting without harming our blue planet.

Full details at Dublin City Cycling Blog, press release from 10 June 2010.

The exhibition will show how people can contribute to combating climate change and take an active part in their city and take an active part in their health! During the event, there will be seminars on cycling and energy efficiency, cycling and sustainable infrastructure and cycling and health. The seminars are a platform to investigate the benefits of cycling, what it means for the environment, for the city and for the people, but also what cycling can bring to a city like Saint Petersburg. Dreams on Wheels is linked with the month of festivities in the city, which is celebrating its birthday on 30 May, where there will also be a bike ride.

Press release from The Royal Danish Consulate General St. Petersburg 26 April 2010

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MAY 2010 “MONTH OF CYCLING”

Dreams On Wheels shown as a part of ‘May 2010 – Month of Cycling’, Embassy of Denmark, Ljubljana.in cooperation with the Municipality of Ljubljana presents the exhibition ‘Dreams on Wheels’ which will be displayed at the Ljubljana City Hall’s Desni atrij until 10 May 2010. The official opening will take place on 3 May 2010 at 16:30 at Ljubljana City Hall. The exhibition consists of a bicycle variety, ranging from functional bikes to funny and modern bikes as well as a comprehensive collection of photos and posters. Furthermore, it showcases Danish cycling tradition, bicycle design, and urban planning. The intention of the exhibition is to promote cycling as an alternative form of transportationIn Ljubljana, the Dreams on Wheels exhibition is a part of “May -Month of Cycling”. Enthusiasts and the curious are welcome to join! The programme includes:

Monday, 3 May 2010
00.00 “Troikas Cycling To Work”
15.30 – 19.30 “Design Your Own Helmet”
Location: In front of Ljubljana City Hall.
16.30 - Dreams on Wheels Danish Cycling Culture for Urban Sustainability
17.30 – 18.30 “Through baroque to pile-dwelling and further to modern urbanism”
Location: In front of the Ljubljana City Hall.

Monday, 10 May 2010
15.00 – 18.00 “Move for Health Day: Are you fit enough for cycling?”
Location: Fužine Castle

Wednesday, 12 May 2010
9.00 – 11.00 “Cycling not driving”
Location: MFA Courtyard

Saturday, 15 May 2010
9.00 – 11.30 “Bicycle repair shop free-of-charge”
Location: Beginning of Cankarjeva cesta

Friday, 21 May 2010
9.00 – 12.00 “A Cycling Insight on Spica and its surroundings from Denmark”
Location: Ljubljana City Hall, Velika sejna dvorana

Saturday, 22 May 2010
9.00 – 11.30 “Bicycle repair shop free-of-charge”
Location: Beginning of Cankarjeva cesta

Thursday, 27 May 2010
16.00 – 20.00 “Cycling is cool”
16.00 – 19.30 “Design Your Own Helmet”
18.00 - 19.30 “Open Air Coffee-Shop on Breg: Higher culture, safer cycling”
24.00 “Troikas Cycling To Work”
Location:Promenade on Breg

Saturday, 29 May 2010
9.00 – 11.30 “Bicycle repair shop free-of-charge”
Location: Beginning of Cankarjeva cesta

Thursday, 3 June 2010
17.00 “Cycling all year around”
Location: Ljubljana City Hall.

Press release from Embassy of Denmark, Ljubljana

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Jan Gehl’s urban quality firm Gehl Architects, which he founded with Helle Søholt in 2000, is the world’s leading urban space planning company.

With 40 years of practice, Gehl has now transformed Copenhagen’s city centre into a bustling and lively pedestrian strip where shopping and entertainment go hand in hand with playfulness and environmental consciousness. Melbourne, London and now New York have also called upon the firm to help improve urban quality and re-emerge from the “car invasion”. Gehl’s methodology is unique and sharp and is anchored in statistical and sociological analysis.

Learn more through the Exhibit !

ABOUT GEHL ARCHITECTS : RESEARCH AS FOUNDATION

The work and further research of Gehl Architects is based on Jan Gehl’s four decades of extensive research carried out at The School of Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The research is the basis of worldwide urban quality consultancy and reflects Gehl Architects’ viewpoint that working in the public realm requires a multi-disciplinary approach, as the field of work encompasses not only architecture and planning but also psychology, anthropology and sociology to truly understand how people experience and use the city.

Life - Space - Buildings

Gehl Architects believe that a good city is one where attention is paid to human scale city planning. A city should open up, invite and include people, having different activities and possibilities and thereby ensuring multiplicity and diversity. To achieve this, design solutions are based on the close relationship between people’s natural use of the public space and the physical character and form of the built environment. Their design solutions begin with formulating a vision and comprehensive programme based on the type of life - its activities and attractions - that is inherent in a given area. The next step is to develop a public space network that can support public life through scale, form and climate. Finally we envision how buildings can contribute to our aspirations for public life in terms of height, massing and scale as well as their functions and interaction with the public realm.

Jan Gehl, b.1936

Jan Gehl is an Architect and Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He is also the founding partner of Gehl Architects –Urban Quality Consultants. His research on public spaces and public life began in Copenhagen,but was quickly applied to many other cities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. His ideas and approaches to design for public spaces incorporate the cutting edge of technology without losing sight of what best supports and enhances people’s experience of everyday life in the public realm. In 1992, he received an honorary doctors degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. In 1993 he won the Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize - for exemplary contributions to Town Planning and Territorial Development from the International Union of Architects, and in 1998 he received the EDRA/Places Research Award from the Environmental Design Research Association, USA. Jan Gehl is a Honorary Fellow of RIBA, The Royal British Institute of Architects, of AIA, American Institute of Architects and RAIC, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Gehl’s publications include Life between Buildings, Public Spaces- Public Life, and New Urban Spaces, which have been translated into multiple languages.