Creating inclusive cities is a process that requires interdisciplinary actions and a deep understanding of the different realities of those who live in and move through them. It is essential to consider these realities when making decisions about urban planning and the design of mobility solutions.
In order to these decisions and solutions to truly meet the needs of all people—regardless of their age, gender, abilities, or social background—it is crucial to complement action with knowledge. Inclusive education and research play a key role in this process, as they help to highlight existing issues and ensure that all voices are heard in urban planning. The collaboration between ZICLA and the Urban Cycling Institute (UCI) was born from this need to connect knowledge with action.
What is the Urban Cycling Institute? How does it work to create inclusive cities?
Meredith Glaser, CEO, and Shefali Bharati, Head of Communications and Public Relations, tell us in the following interview.
What is Urban Cycling Institute’s main activity?
Established in 2015, the Urban Cycling Institute is an impact-driven non-profit organization dedicated to advancing research and education to transform urban cycling environments. Our mission is to facilitate the transition toward healthier, more just, and active cities.
Our work is driven by three key issues:
● Shifting away from car-centric planning.
● Bridging the gap between science and practice.
● Advocating for urgent action.
We address these issues through our research and education and use cycling as a lens to explore challenges, identify solutions, and redefine local environments. We believe that by creating a platform for sharing actionable knowledge we can drive policy and practice shifts that foster safe, inclusive, and vibrant urban spaces. The institute promotes the outputs and insights gained from our work through online dissemination, events, and collaborations.
We work directly with cities across Europe and the USA and engage with a global audience across five continents through our events, online programs, summer schools, and more! We have a thriving online community of nearly 600,000 cycling enthusiasts engaging with our work.
How do you work with local governments?
We recognize that governments and cities play a critical role in enacting change. By empowering key stakeholders, we accelerate the transition to sustainable urban mobility. We collaborate with city officials through education programs, projects, and partnerships, offering essential resources and tools for urban planners, transport professionals, and policymakers.
One of our flagship programs, the Transition Readiness Program, provides an immersive learning experience that integrates city-to-city exchanges. This initiative enables participants to explore leading examples of cycling infrastructure, policies, and planning strategies through city visits in the Netherlands and participant city, expert discussions, creative workshops and lived experiences. To date, we have worked with over 60 city officials across eight municipalities in Europe.
How does the Urban Cycling Institute work to create and serve inclusive cities?
At Urban Cycling Institute, we strive to shape inclusive cities by offering resources and research that empower urban planners, transport professionals, educators, policymakers, businesses, and community leaders worldwide. Our pathways to change include:
● Education: We deliver transformative learning experiences through various programs designed to rethink human-scale, multimodal mobility systems and governance. Our teaching philosophy is rooted in experiential and inquiry-based learning, using the urban environment as a real-world classroom.
- Online Courses: The Urban Cycling Institute proudly offers free online courses, ensuring accessible learning for individuals worldwide, regardless of location or financial status. These courses are central to our mission to promote inclusivity, empower marginalized communities, and engage with the Global South.
● Action Research: Our independent, open-access, interdisciplinary research explores the spatial and social dynamics of urban cycling. We engage directly with urban planners, engineers, elected officials, and nonprofits to translate findings into actionable solutions.
● Insights: Our articles feature contributions from global authors covering a wide range of mobility, cycling, and policy topics. Our website and Substack platform host blogs and researched articles to foster knowledge-sharing and critical discussions on urban transport.
● Events: We organize and participate in knowledge-transfer initiatives that empower networks of researchers and practitioners dedicated to understanding and driving change in urban mobility. Our events promote city-to-city learning, collective exchange, and problem-solving in the cycling ecosystem.
Can you recommend any books, documentaries, or films about urbanism, inclusive cities, or sustainable mobility?
Our website hosts an extensive collection of research articles and blogs covering diverse topics in cycling and mobility systems. Additionally, we have multimedia resources for an engaging way to learn more about urban cycling and sustainable transport solutions.
Check them out here.
The collaboration between ZICLA and UCI.
As part of our commitment to creating inclusive streets, at ZICLA, we take into account the needs of all road users to create complete streets. Therefore, we collaborate with relevant associations and institutions that represent inclusiveness values, such as UCI. They play an essential role in the design process of our street safety solutions and their continuous improvement. The UCI is an excellent reference for prioritizing inclusivity on the streets, and we strive to uphold the principles of inclusivity when designing our solutions and supporting their implementation in cities.
This is why this collaboration with UCI, which began two years ago, aligns perfectly with our mission, and we want to support and strengthen the inclusivity perspective that UCI integrates in its work to create fair and just mobility systems.
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