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

Dr Matthew Philpott is Executive Director of European Healthy Stadia Network. He is responsible for the overall operations and growth of Healthy Stadia, including partnership development and programme management, and liaises directly with key partners at UEFA, EU and European public health agencies.

Prior to this, Matthew worked in the private sector in the area of marketing and communications, working on a number of national public health accounts in the UK. Matthew originally worked as a doctoral and post-doctoral researcher at University of Warwick, gaining a PhD in Philosophy and Psychology in 2001. His research is widely published and has included working with a cross-section of professionals from the health sector, local/national government, voluntary sectors and professional sports agencies, including national and European governing bodies of sport.

What does cycling for the ages mean to you?

People need to move – to work, to school, to shops and between town and cities. It is well recognised that motorised transport, in particular individual car ownership, is an unsustainable mode of movement between different settings, and that cycling offers a significant solution to the problems of carbon emissions, congestion and air quality within the context of mobility. Cycling for the ages can be understood as cycling for all ages, for all abilities, and for all genders; a democratisation of cycling as an everyday mode of transport. From the perspective of health and wellbeing, cycling for the ages brings huge benefits across the life course, contributing to a physically active and more productive society. 

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

Is it too difficult to think of city centres in the near future as car-less? Whilst cycling is seen by many in the developed world as simply a leisure pursuit, it is now incumbent upon governments at both local and national level to develop urban environments that support walking and cycling as an everyday form of transport. City planners have the task of ‘de-motorising’ and ‘re-greening’ urban environments in favour of low and zero-emissions public transport such as trams, electric buses and of course underground metros. On an individual level, walking and cycling will surely play a critical role in the future shape of our cities, not simply more cycle pathways to share with cars, but whole street systems built for cyclists in city centres. This is not an aspiration, this is a necessity.     

What do you expect from Velo-city 2019 Dublin?

Three words: Inspiration, partnerships…perspiration!

Dr. Matthew Philpott is a speaker in the third plenary session of Velo-city 2019 Dublin, entitled “The Importance of Being Happy & Healthy” to take place on Wednesday, June 26th 2019 at 9.00-10.00.
For more information on the Velo-city Programme, Exhibition and Registration go to: https://www.velo-city2019.com 
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