Velo-city 2015 in Nantes was an incredible gathering of international and European delegates, contributors and exhibitors. It was also gathering point for the World Cycling Alliance, where the Steering Board met in person for the first time since its inauguration at Velo-city Global 2014 in Adelaide, and had its Annual General Meeting (AGM). The time together in Nantes provided an opportunity to see how far the WCA has come in one year, and where it will grow in the next coming years. 

Celebrating a first year anniversary!

It has been a year since the WCA initiative was launched at Velo-city Global 2014 Adelaide, Australia. So where is the WCA now? It has ten Steering Board members representing all six continents, three members in the core team at the ECF office (ECF Secretary-General, Project Officer, Project Assistant), and 97 members (and counting!) from around the world.

A calendar of success

(so successful in fact that this is just a selection of the impact WCA has had this past year)

• UN Secretary-General Climate Summit (September 2014 – New York, USA): invited by Ban Ki Moon due to ECF’s proposal to acknowledge the commitment to build up a World Cycling Alliance; involved in UN-Habitat UEMI; joining meetings on Voluntary Commitments from the transportation sector. [Read more]
• African Sustainable Transport Forum (October 2014 – Nairobi, Kenya): Board Member Amanda Ngabirano presented on “Policy and public initiatives towards promoting walking and cycling in African cities”. [Read more]
• COP20 (December 2014 – Lima, Peru): ECF/WCA was a supporter of Transport Day (Side event of COP20; organized by SLoCaT). WCA represented by Board Member Lake Sagaris and Secretary-General Bernhard Ensink. [Read more]
• Asian Cycling Forum (March 2015 – Taipei, Taiwan): Board Members Manfred Neun, Thongchai Panswad, DV Manohar and Christian Haag invited by Taipei City to attend and represent WCA. [Read more]
• Preparatory Committee II (April 2015 – Nairobi, Kenya): WCA Project Officer formally addressed the UN Habitat council on a plenary session on the importance of having cycling in the New Urban Agenda. [Read more]
• International Transport Forum (May 2015 – Leipzig, Germany): ECF/WCA Secretary-General presents Voluntary Commitment initiative. [Read more]

Velo-city 2015 gets a global boost

The calendar of success doesn’t end there! In June 2015 cyclists, advocates, policy-makers and planners descended into Nantes to celebrate Velo-city 2015. WCA had a strong role among them, with presentations by Board Members Amanda Ngabirano, Lake Sagaris, Jean-Francois Pronovost and DV Manohar. WCA members Velafrica and Bike Anjo were also among the presenters. There was a huge Brazilian delegation in attendance at the conference, with many Brazilian speakers and representatives, thanks to WCA Board Member Ze Lobo’s great promotion work. You can watch some of the plenary sessions and TV shows online here.

Where to next?

The ball is definitely rolling, from Belgium to Uganda to Thailand  to Chile to USA to Australia to India to Canada to Brazil to Holland (and everywhere in-between). Membership requests keep coming in and the role of WCA is starting to really take shape. Let’s see what the next year brings! Inquiries? Contact us! wca@ecf.com  

About the author Zoé Kruchten is the Velo-city Series and World Cycling Alliance Project Assistant within ECF. When not working at Rue Franklin, she is probably fixing a bicycle, or riding a bicycle, or dreaming about bicycles.