At the 12th Austrian Cycling Summit 2019 in Graz, held under the motto Cycling Connects from 27 to 29 May 2019, Deputy Mayor prof. Janez Koželj presented good practices from Ljubljana.

Over 450 cycling experts and enthusiasts took part in the cycling summit with the aim of exchanging good practices in the field of sustainable mobility.

Established cycling summit

The city of Graz in cooperation with the Austrian mobility research institute Forschungsgesellschaft Mobilität (FGM-AMOR) and the Department of Geoinformatics Z_GIS at the University of Salzburg invited us to present good practice cases in Ljubljana at this important cycling event.
The cycling summit (Radgipfel) is an established meeting comprised of a conference segment (lectures, consultations, workshops), a fair, exhibitions, a cycling parade and other accompanying events, in which every year several hundred experts, academicians, representatives of companies, governmental and non-governmental organisations in the field of mobility as well as city and country representatives take part.

Shared traffic space »works«

Prof. Koželj as the main speaker on Wednesday, 29 May, impressed the audience with his description and presentation of the introduction of a shared traffic space and common surfaces in Ljubljana – a move taking into consideration all traffic participants and the quality of life.
The title of his presentation was »Sharing (public space) is caring« demonstrating especially with the example of the traffic regime change at the main section of Slovenska cesta and the renovations of the surrounding area that in Ljubljana respect, co-living and understanding in the common public space work well.

Impressed by Ljubljana

Several participants approached him after the presentation wanting detailed information on how we were able to make the change. Some of them have promised they want to see the »incredible progress« in Ljubljana with their own eyes and that is why they are already looking forward to visiting our capital city.
Prof. Koželj also took part in a mass cycling parade with, in spite of bad weather, several hundred cyclist spinning pedals on a 19-kilometre route through the city. Last day he also saw the exhibition »Let’s Bike!« (Fahr Rad!) in the Graz House of Architecture presenting progressive infrastructure measures for the promotion of cycling in select cities around the world.

Innovative tandem bicycle made of bamboo in Ljubljana

Also taking part in the event in Graz were Ewa and Roland Kloss, the well-known Tandem Crossover Team, who are as non-governmental spatial planning experts from Austria and Poland building a European network of initiatives and cities striving to develop city cycling. With their special tandem bicycle they themselves made out of bamboo with the aim of promoting cycling they are riding through Europe and encouraging mayors and other senior city representatives to further develop cycling for a better future.
They have cycled over 7,000 km and on Thursday, 30 May, they visited Ljubljana where they were welcomed by prof. Koželj. He went on a ride with this innovative bicycle and discussed with them and their partner Jonas Eberlein, traffic planner and cycling infrastructure expert from Darmstadt, how Ljubljana promotes cycling and sustainable mobility.