On 29 April, Velo-city unveiled its extended programme, with more than 350 high-level speakers. The four-day event will feature more than 60 sessions, seven plenaries, technical visits and, of course, the annual Velo-city bike parade. From national cycling strategies to beating the bikelash, creative campaigns for more cycling and innovative placemaking practices, this year’s cycling summit will host a wide variety of voices from the sustainable mobility scene.

To help you plan your ideal conference schedule and so you don’t miss any of your favourite speakers, sessions, and topics, we have compiled some conference highlights for you to help give you a sense of what’s in store for attendees in Ljubljana this 14-17 June:

Jan Gehl, Velo-city 2022 keynote speaker

Jan Gehl, the world-famous architect, and leading voice within people-centred urban planning, will give the opening speech at this year’s world cycling summit.

“For many years Copenhagen has followed a “Bicycles first” strategy. This is good for commuting to the city (49% on bicycles) and gives great mobility for the children who start bicycling in the city at age 5 (in company with adults) and from age 12 they can bicycle all over the city. A good bicycle network provides this valuable freedom” – Jan Gehl, founder of Gehl Architects, Denmark.

Plenary sessions

The four-day conference is set to host seven high-level plenary sessions, convening some of the biggest names in sustainable mobility and transport from around the world to discuss the most important topics in cycling.

Open plenary: Cycling The Change

After kicking off with a keynote from Jan Gehl, our opening plenary will focus on the main topic of Velo-city 2022: Cycling The Change. High-level speakers, such as former EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, Emmanuel John from the Africa Urban Cycling Organisation, Heather Thompson, CEO of ITDP and bike-sharing initiator Jean-François Decaux will share their insights and experience of cycling as a driver of change.

"It's exciting to see cities supporting safe cycling as a meaningful, healthy transportation solution that is accessible for people and families of all income levels. Cycling cities help us reach global climate targets, save money, and create jobs. Now is the time for more cities to follow this important trend."  – Heather Thompson, CEO of the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, USA.

Plenary 2: Policies for More Cycling – from National Strategies to Traffic Reducing Measures

Our second plenary will focus on policies that foster #MoreCycling with leading politicians that have taken brave steps to transform their cities into more liveable and thriving places. Participating speakers in this session are Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General of the Polis Network, Line Barford, Deputy Mayor of Copenhagen, Georges Gilkinet, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Filip Watteeuw Deputy Mayor of Ghent, Janez Kozelj, Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana Oliver Luksic, German Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, Robert Thaler, Vice-Chair of the THE PEP and Simona Larghetti, City Councillor of Bologna.

“Safe and comfortable cycling infrastructure is key to support cycling. Pushing back the car is the easiest and cheapest way to do this. You don’t only change the modal shift, but you create a safer, healthier, and more agreeable space for everyone. And above all, you reinforce the connection between people.” – Filip Watteeuw, Deputy Mayor of Mobility, Public Domain and Urban Planning in Ghent, Belgium.

Plenary 4: Focus on Citizens, Stakeholders and Community

In this session we will analyse the role of cyclists' associations with Ana Carboni from UCB, Ann-Kathrin Schneider from ADFC, Sarah Mitchell from Cycling UK, Jenn Dice from PeopleforBikes, ECF CEO Jill Warren, Saskia Kluit a Senator for the Greens in the Dutch parliament and president of the Dutch Passenger Federation and Edwin Heesakkers from EIT Urban Mobility. They will discuss how citizen engagement helps the growing acceptance of positive change in our cities.

“Bikes are the solution to many of the challenges our societies face today. If we replaced fossil fuel driven transport with bikes wherever possible, we would have better air quality, less emissions, more space for people in our cities and we would be less dependent on oil imports. And: cycling is fun, healthy, and affordable. We therefore demand better laws and regulations to promote active and environmentally friendly forms of transport, such as biking.” – Ann-Kathrin Schneider, CEO of ADFC, Germany’s largest cycling Federation, Germany.   

Join us this summer in Ljubljana 14-17 June. Together, we will lead the way in defining the inclusive cycling environments of the future!

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