On the 16th to 17th January my friend and collaborator Agartha Frimpong (lovingly known as Mama Agatha and initiator of Stichting Women Motivation Integration), my colleague Mary Elbech and I participated in the Transforming Transportation 2020 conference co-hosted by the World Bank and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, in Washington DC. Agartha and I had the opportunity to participate in the session that deals with the role of walking and cycling on the way to Zero Emission Mobility. In our contribution we highlighted the contributing factors in the success of cycling in the Netherlands, with special attention for making cycling equitable across the country, and what building blocks there are to implement similarly successful programming around the world.
The session was held in a nice, spacious room in the upper regions of the building and it attracted a nice crowd.
Because we know that not everyone was able to make it to Washington, Mary captured a video of what was said in our part of the session. You can click on the video’s below to watch them. Also, you will find the two slides that we showed below the video’s.
If you would like to see the full version of the documentary Mama Agatha, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzdyTnO39fw
At the end of the 2nd video, our excellent moderator Claudia Adriazola-Steil (Director, Health & Road Safety, WRI Ross Center For Sustainable Cities) asks the audience to take 2 minutes to talk with their neighbor and discuss whether they think that it is possible to bike for everyday purposes in the city in which they live, discussions that we have on a daily basis with people from around the globe!
After this part of the session, the panel continued with inspiring presentations by Bronwen Thornton (Chief Executive Officer of Walk 21), Patricia Mercado (Senator, Congreso de la Unión de México), Shreya Gadepalli (South Asia Director, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, India), Paula Manoela dos Santos (Active Mobility Manager, WRI Brasil Ross Center For Sustainable Cities) and Felipe Targa (Senior Urban Transport Specialist, World Bank). The following Tweets highlight the topics that were discussed and show that the conversation resonated with the audience.
Finally, we would like to thank Claudia Adriazola-Steil for inviting us to participate in the Zero Emission Mobility panel. It was a good opportunity to connect with people from all over the world!
If you’d like to learn more about cycling facts and figures, policies, planning, and programming in the Netherlands, feel free to get in touch.