Reshaping cities to improve quality of life and to strengthen climate resilience can be daunting.

It calls for political leadership to engage directly with people and businesses to ensure creating and owning a shared vision of the future, backed by extensive strategic plans, integrated policies, effective governance, long-term commitment, and funding. But when the vision becomes reality, the results are transformative: beautiful and vibrant public spaces for people, healthy lifestyles, better quality of life, good vibes, and a comprehensive network of sustainable urban transport solutions.

The strength lies in the delivery. Making the urban dream come true – from vision to action.

Built to Inspire: Designing Beautiful Urban Environments 

Increasing active mobility makes it possible to reclaim public space currently occupied by private vehicles. This helps reimagine urban places while improving the quality of the streetscape and other urban areas.

Cultural and historical heritage sites also benefit, since they are all too often besieged by parked vehicles or are used to accommodate road transport needs. Let’s create uplifting spaces that prepare our cities for the future!

Cycling for Life: Promoting Healthy Lifestyles

Cycling and walking help people live healthier lives by reducing the risk of diseases associated with sedentary lifestyles. Moreover, cycling improves air quality. Health and transport policies need to go hand in hand to increase life expectancy and reduce the economic burden on health budgets allocated to treating diseases that could be addressed more efficiently by investing in active lifestyles.

Therefore, policies and strategies that encourage a modal shift towards active mobility need to be implemented at all governmental levels. 

Travel Reimagined: Advancing Sustainability & Tourism

Cycling allows us to explore cities and places in a natural, active, yet gentle way. This enables the discovery of cultural heritage and nature, enhancing citizens’ sense of community and care for their city and its surroundings.

While the development of cycling tourism routes and services often improves everyday cycling conditions, it provides tourists with a unique way to experience the places they visit while reducing the environmental impact of transport activities. The rise of e-bikes and ongoing innovations are making cycling more accessible to a growing number of people.

Good Vibes: Championing an Inclusive Transition

Inclusion means belonging and feeling welcome. The diversity of opportunities cycling offers for better inclusion and people’s empowerment is remarkable. Yet the rise of cycling and the reallocation of street space to active mobility also faces opposition and bikelash.

It is crucial to leave no one behind in the transition by cultivating kindness-driven communities, while addressing the needs of different road users and dealing with motonormativity. Engaging with citizens and working with media and communication are key.

Multimodality: Building Integrated Transport Systems

In order to offer a real alternative to car ownership, cycling needs to be part of an entire chain of seamless transport options. The combination of walking, cycling, public transport, on-demand and shared mobility is essential to compete with the convenience and cost structure of private cars.

However, the growing adoption of multimodal travel behaviour also brings new challenges and needs.

Every year in September, ECF and the host city launch an international general call for abstracts as well as an academic call for abstracts (curated separately by the ECF Scientists for Cycling network).

At the same time we provide guidelines with information on the priority topics to ensure submissions are aligned with the conference theme and subthemes. All presentations must be submitted through the online platform.

After both calls close in early November, all submitted abstracts undergo a two-step evaluation process based on the review of 80 international mobility experts. During this process, each abstract is reviewed by three different experts. The rewieving results come in December and the assessment team meets in January to build the programme integrating the highest rated abstracts in conference sessions with different formats. Abstract holders were informed about their abstract status in February.