Every week leading up to Velo-city Global Adelaide 2014, the leading global conference on cycling, we're going to get you acquainted with one of the fantastic conference speakers. This week:

See bicycling in a new light with Bojun Bjorkman-Chiswell

Bojun Bjorkman-Chiswell is a Melbourne/San Francisco based multi-media freelance journalist and award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. Since 2006 Bojun has specalised in blogging, writing, filming and photographing on the politics, culture and fashion of bicycles globally.

Her most recent project is a series of short documentary films capturing the global story of the bicycle - The One Billion Bicycles Project. In its first year of production (June 2012- June 2013), Bojun traveled solo across 5 continents, 32 countries and 62 cities to interview over 140 bicycles experts, politicians, dignitaries, bicycle works and the public.

This is her first Velo-city conference - so she is not too sure what to expect, "but I'm certainly honoured to have been invited to speak".

In 2013 Bojun founded The Bike In My Life - an online bicycle magazine for women, by women, about women, and The Bicycle Bootique - an online shop sourcing the world's best bicycle fashion and accessories for women, from around the globe.

Bojun's indie films and co-productions have received a number of awards, and her articles have featured in Australia and New Zealand's major media.

Prior to 2011 Bojun worked as a Media/Strategic Communication/PR consultant with some of Australia's leading social and political change organisations including OurSay Australia, The Greens Australia, Live Below The Line Campaign, International Ranger Federation and Centre for Educations and Research in Environmental Strategy.

Bojun is pragmatic about getting more people on bikes. "Nothing needs changing, we have everything we need to use the bicycle everday." Bojun sees a need to recognize that bicycle sport and car industry's marketing campaigns have been collapsed with city planning. "If we un-collapse city planning and advertising we will be freed to make planning decisions that promote ease of use, freedom to travel and economic stability".

Her favourite cycling memory? "Being dinked home on the handle bars of my boyfriend's bicycle on a midsummer's night". For those of us not familiar with the term, dink is a colloquial Australian word for getting a ride on someone's handlebars.

For Bojun, a big step to get people cycling is to distinguish between the lycra-wearing crowd and the bicycle commuter. "Distinguishing cycling from bicycling and bicycle commuting will begin to create conversations that forward the kind of cities that work for people instead of cars". Bojun sees a current confusion between those in lycra and helmets and leisure or transport cyclists. This conflation "leaves most people intimidated, uninterested and unable to conceive of how to access the bicycle in a manner that speaks to them and their needs".

Register today for Velo-city Global 2014, and hear more from Bojun Bjorkman-Chiswell and the other fantastic speakers in Adelaide.

 About the Author

Zoé Kruchten is a Communications Assistant at the European Cyclists’ Federation. She has a BA in International Relations and has worked in the past as a bike mechanic.