The Life-Sized City Blog

Oliver Green and his daughters. Photo: Courtesy of Oliver Green. UPDATE: MONDAY 02 APRIL 2012 Here's the latest update from Oliver: Last update before heading out for the Easter break. I finally received a call from the town hall - the Councilor for Safety from the ruling People's Party wants to meet with me together with the Head of the Municipal Police to discuss my complaint. They're gonna have to wait till after the holiday though as we're heading out later today. I had a productive meeting with David Cierco councilor and spokesperson for the local Socialist Party group in Pozuelo. Like the UPyD they too have cycling and bike lanes high on their agenda ( http://www.gmspozuelo.org/pozuelo-dinamico/ ) but is is very hard to get through in this town as the PP has had an absolute majority for the last 30 years... What I really found quite surprising was their claim that the PP in Spain is anti-bike because they see the car as progress and as central to their ...

I've returned home from after a brilliant journey to Brazil. It was a full programme and every moment was rewarding. Last year, in July 2011, I was invited by the City of Sao Paulo to speak about Copenhagenize Design Company's Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling. On that visit I had the opportunity to meet with the Secretary of Education for the city - Alexandre Schneider and his advisor Daniel Guth, who is the coordinator for the project. The Education Secretariat is responsible for the education of 1.2 million children in Sao Paulo. A mindboggling number. I pitched them the idea of placing bicycles in their schools as a way for the Education Secretariat to be the 'missing link' for childrens relationship to the bicycle. Most of them still learn to ride but their options for continuing to do so are limited because of lack of safe infrastructure and the explosive and continuing growth of car culture. I explained that bicycles have been on the curriculum in Dan...