In 2017 Minsk Cycling community took part in several foreign cycling conferences and organized two international cycling conferences in Minsk.
In the frameworks of the project "Development of urban cycling for public benefit in Belarus", financed by the European Union, two international conferences and one education camp for activists were organized in 2017 by the Minsk Cycling Community.
Bicycle conference of Belarusian cities
On May 12, 2017, a day before Viva Rovar bicycle carnival, a cycling conference of Belarusian cities was held in Minsk. The organizers of the event were the Minsk Cycling Community and the Minsk Cycling Club. The purpose of the conference was to discuss with the city administrations the current state of the development of urban cycling. Along with speakers from Belarus, foreign guests from Sweden (ECF Viсe President Lars Stromgren), Lithuania (Vilnius bicycle officer Anton Nikitin) and Russia (representative of Moscow Transport Department Olga Maltseva) made their presentations at the conference. Presentations from the conference can be found here.
Education camp for activists at ‘Veloslet’ festival
Within the framework of ‘Veloslet’ festival, which took place on 19-20 August 2017, education camp for activists was organized. Cycling activists from all over the country for 3 days were attending lectures and discussions on different cycling topics, mostly focused on cycling promotion, organizing events, and managing work of NGO. Besides Belarusian speakers from cycling NGOs and ecological organizations, we invited speakers from Kyiv Cyclists’ Association, 'Teple Misto' platform from Ivano-Frankivsk, Moscow project ‘Let’s bike it’. We also had interesting guests from Latvia – representatives of SIA Velokurjers and Latvian Cyclists’ Union. Due to our guests and official speakers, the camp and the festival was very informative and useful for our activists and our foreign guests.
Photo: Alexey Basalay
Forum ’PraRovar’
The largest cycling conference dedicated to the development of cycling at the city and national levels was organized on 24-26 November in Minsk. 3 days of forum included public lectures, master classes, round tables, discussions and a bike excursion. The topics of the conference included overview of the current level of cycling development in Belarus, national bicycle concept, financing of bicycle project, cycling business, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle tourism, NGOs. The conference was attended by city authorities, representatives of State Road Police, cycling and ecological NGOs, activists, technical experts, transport analytics. The conference’ speakers were from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Germany.
More information about the conference can be found on the website rovar.info. The material from the conference can be found here (in Russian).
Photo: Alexey Basalay
Representatives of the Minsk Cycling Community also attended several conferences abroad.
International Cycling Conference in Mannheim
On 19-21 September, representative of the Minsk Cycling Community attended the International Cycling Conference in Mannheim, Germany. The organizer was the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), in cooperation with the city administration, ECF and other partners. The conference aimed to celebrate 200th anniversary of bicycle prototype invention by Karl von Drais in Mannheim.
The aim of the conference was to “bridge the gap” between research and practice in cycling. Scientists, representatives of city authorities, transport institutions, cycling projects and NGOs presented their researches in cycling infrastructure, behaviour change, public health, policies and strategies, economics, digital and data, road safety, electric cycling and bike-sharing. The conference gathered around 292 participants from all around the world.
Some of the presentations from the conference are available via the link (in English).
Veloforum-2017 in Mykolaiv
On October 6-8 the international conference Veloforum-2017 “Cycling as a catalyst for urban changes” took place in the city of Mykolaiv, Ukraine. It was attended by more than 100 participants from more than 8 European countries. Representatives of the Minsk Cycling Community shared with participants our successful experience in the development of cycling in Belarus and gained more knowledge and experience for improvement of our work.
Photo source: Veloforum facebook page
Internship in Germany and the Netherlands
From October 29 to November 4, Minsk Cycling Community organized an internship for the representatives of the State Traffic Police, Belarusian Association of Transport Experts and Surveyors, NGOs VeloGrodno and ‘Brest for Bicycle’ in the bicycle organizations of Germany (Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club e.V). and the Netherlands (Fietsersbond). The aim of the internship was to learn the European experience of creating cycling infrastructure. The internship took place within the framework of the project "Urban cycling in Belarus", financed by the European Union.
