The cycling movement needs more doers

Gil Penalosa speaking at the Velo City Global 2010 conference in Copenhagen

The message from this mornings pleanary speaker, Gil Penalosa, was clear: The world needs more Janett Sadik-Khans; the world needs more ‘doers’!

The cycling movement needs more doers to make the change that the ever-growing cities of this world are facing, was the fundamental message, Gil Penalosa tried to bring home on the audience. Judging by the massive applause he received after his talk it seemed as if he had made his case heard

Gil Penalosa, stepping in for his brother, Enrique, former mayor of Bogota, who had not been allowed to enter Denmark at the airport, is the former comissioner for parks and roads in Bogota, and is now heading the 8-80 Cities that he also founded. He is also a senior consultant to Gehl Architects, collaborating with Gehl Architects on several projects in South America.

He gave a tour-de-force talk about the need to change the way we think about cities. Quality of life for all citizens, should be top of the agenda in cities, not simply the convenience and well-being of cars and motorists.

Gil Penalosa: "Quality of life for all should be at the heart of our ambition."

“Streets are the most valuable space in any city,” Gil Penalosa stated, and said that the issue of streets is not a technical issue. If we want better cities, the issue is political. The will needed to transform our cities to cities for people, is political will. He took the audience on a tour of good examples from all around the world, showing how cities like Copenhagen, Odense, Bogota, New York and Paris have and are transforming themselves to make the city a place for all and places of quality, where quality of life is at the heart of any decision being made about the public realm.

“The general interest must prevail over the interests of the individual,” Gil Penalosa stated, and therefore politicians and administrators must show courage and will and determination, to make the changes that cities need to see coming. Referring to the recent swift changes in the streets of New York, administered by the Department of Transportation of New York City, under the leadership of Commissioner Janett Sadik-Khan, and carried out for fairly little money and with the main tool being painting of the streets to make cycling and walking more visible in the cityscape, Gil Penalosa said: “It is not a question about money! It is a question about will! Therefore the world needs more Janett Sadik-Khan’s, who is a doer.”