Co-authored by Froso Christofides & Alessia Di Muro.

Taking place at the modern City Hall of Deinze, this year’s edition of our Cities & Regions for Cyclists (CRC) Network Day was co-organised by ECF together with the City of Deinze, a CRC member and was kindly sponsored by Arup for the second year in a row.

Bart Van Thuyne, Deputy Mayor of Deinze gave a warm welcome to the participants, highlighting the importance of holding such an event in the city, and bringing together local and regional authority representatives from across Europe together in Deinze. ECF President Henk Swarttouw also welcomed participants and thanked the City of Deinze for their hospitality, as well as Arup for their continued support to ECF and its activities. 

Jan Vermeulen, Mayor of the City of Deinze and ECF Treasurer, gave a thorough presentation of Deinze’s latest cycling developments. The city leadership had acknowledged early on that the first step in making cycling a viable means of transport for all is to ensure safe, comfortable and direct cycling infrastructure to the city's main attraction poles. To this end, Deinze put a lot of effort into its cycling infrastructure development, transforming its entire city centre and whole streets with cycle bridges, tunnels over cycle paths, cycle streets and cycle zones. A plethora of smart innovations were introduced as complementary measures. These include the reversal of the direction of travel on Tolpoortstraat, introducing one-way traffic on Poelstraat, and providing a Car Free Hour on Tolpoortstraat - the city's main shopping street, but also the main access route for cyclists to the city centre. Deinze now counts one million cyclists per year!

ECF CEO Jill Warren gave a presentation on ECF’s advocacy highlights at the national, European and global levels. In particular, she highlighted the historic milestone of the recently adopted European Declaration on Cycling, the most ambitious EU initiative for cycling to date, constituting a roadmap for further actions. It represents the biggest advocacy breakthrough at the EU level, and indeed, this Declaration reflects many of ECF’s longstanding policy demands.

Arup was represented by Tiago Oliveira, Associate Director & Transport Planning Leader and Martin van Oosten, Team lead of Sustainable Transport Planning. They showcased several of Arup’s impressive projects over the last period, including but not limited to the development of the Thimphu Active Travel Strategy in Bhutan, the Tactran Regional Active Travel Network, supporting the implementation of the Leiden Zero Emission Zone by integrating active mobility and promoting bike sharing schemes, contributing to the policy planning and design for Brisbane City Council and much more. Arup is a global collective of designers, consultants and experts dedicated to sustainable development. They collaborate with their clients and partners using imagination, technology and rigour to shape a better world. Arup’s active travel programmes develop walking and cycling solutions, contributing to healthier, more resilient and enjoyable places to live.

Finally, the morning agenda concluded with the CRC Exchange Session, with network members presenting their own recent cycling attainments and future efforts. Bart Christiaens, Cycling Policy Coordinator for the City of Rotterdam, presented on the cycling revolution that is going on in the city, with cycle parking projects, infrastructure improvements and a focus on creating a city designed for pedestrians and cyclists. Signe Helledi, Head of Office for the Cycle Superhighways of the Capital Region in Denmark, presented on the region’s Cycle Superhighway and its effects. There are more than 850 kilometres of cycle highway, resulting in a 55% increase in cycle traffic, with an average commute distance of 12km and a clear shift from car to bike for regional travel. Finally, Rafal Glazik, Secretary General at the Polish Union for Active Mobility (PUMA) and member of the council for mobility and transport at the Mayor’s office of the City of Gdansk, introduced the ideas at the heart of Velo-city 2025 Gdansk under the theme Energising Solidarity with a view to support Ukraine in its rebuilding process to sustainable development by fostering partnerships.

The CRC Network Day concluded with a technical tour by the City of Deinze, which revealed new and well-established cycling infrastructure, including parts of the cycle highway, scenic routes and new cycling bridges.

Cities & Regions for Cyclists is a network bringing together local and regional administrations, actively working to promote the bicycle as a mode of transport and leisure. For more information on how to join, visit our Cities & Regions for Cyclists page.