We continue our mini-interview series with the Velo-city 2019 Keynote Speakers! #VC19Keynote #MeetTheSpeakers #CyclingForTheAges

Karen Vancluysen was appointed as Secretary General of the Polis network in September 2014, after having been the network's Research Director for 8 years.

Polis is the leading European network of cities and regions on urban transport innovation. Since 1989, members have been working together to develop sustainable and innovative urban mobility solutions for the city of today and tomorrow. The network also engages in debates around topical issues such as active travel, shared mobility services, MaaS, automated transport, electromobility and innovative governance approaches. Prior to joining Polis in 2004, Karen was Network Manager at ACCESS-EUROCITIES for a New Mobility Culture and project manager at Langzaam Verkeer, a Belgian centre for mobility management. Since 1998, she has been involved in European urban transport networking and policy activities and many EU research and innovation projects covering a wide range of urban mobility topics.

What does cycling for the ages mean to you?

To me it means that cycling is a transport mode which is of all times, as well as for all people, young and old. It’s healthy, it’s easy and it’s simply the best, cheapest, greenest, and often fastest mode to get around in cities. And the good news is that cycling is booming these days, whether you’re using your own bike, a docked or free-floating shared one, electric or not electric. We have not by far exploited the full potential of this mode yet, to help give our cities back to people and have citizens move around sustainably.

How will the city of the future look like taking into consideration the gaps in the developing and developed world?

The bicycle will play an instrumental role in solving the key challenges cities are facing, i.e. air and noise pollution, congestion, and safety risks. We also need to drastically rethink the design of our cities. Urban space is scarce and valuable and cities have the power to decide how much space they allocate to a transport mode. Giving more space to cycling and walking and providing safe infrastructure will allow these modes to thrive even more in all their forms. I hope that cities in the developing world will learn from and not repeat the mistakes we made in the developed world, where today cities are still recovering from the primary role they generously offered to the private car decades ago.

What do you expect from Velo-city 2019 Dublin?

Velo-city always offers a unique opportunity to dig deeply into the topic of cycling and look at it from all sides, and from a worldwide perspective. The conference has built up an amazing community of cycling experts throughout the years. Moreover, I’m delighted that after Arnhem-Nijmegen two years ago, another Polis member city is hosting the event this time! I look forward to not just talk about cycling but also actually cycle around Dublin,… and to the party of course. 

Karen Vancluysen is a speaker in the second plenary session of Velo-city 2019 Dublin, entitled “Policy - is it catching up with Technological Development?” to take place on Tuesday, June 25th 2019 at 17.00-18.00.
For more information on the Velo-city Programme, Exhibition and Registration go to: https://www.velo-city2019.com 
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