European Cyclists' Federation

Velo-city is an annual world cycling conference that brings together civil society organisations, academics, experts and industry to discuss and share the latest ideas and developments from the world of cycling for transport and leisure.

Main exhibition hall Velo-city 2021 Lisboa

Velo-city began in 1980, and has played a part in the promotion of cycling ever since. The Velo-city conferences bring together all those who are involved in the policy, promotion and provision of cycling. This mixture of people, professions, skills and experience is a valuable component of the events' success. Since 2010, Velo-city has taken place every year internationally. The first Velo-city Global took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2010. Since then conferences have taken place in numerous locations, such as in Seville in 2011, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 2012 and Vienna in 2013.[1] Adelaide in 2014[2] and in Nantes in 2015, in 2016 it was held in Taipei and in 2017 in the region Arnhem - Nijmegen. In 2018 it was held in Rio de Janeiro and in the following year, it returned to Europe and was held in Dublin, Ireland.

2020 host city Ljubljana was forced to postpone the 2020 edition of Velo-city to 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 saw the return of Velo-city after a year's absence. Velo-city 2021 Lisboa was successfully held in the Portuguese capital in September 2021 with COVID-19 safety protocols being adhered to by organizers and attendees. Velo-city 2021 Lisboa also featured a considerable online and digital element for the first time that included live streaming and session recordings within a dedicated mobile app.[3]

Furthering Less Congestion by Creating Opportunities For More Walking and Cycling or "FLOW" takes a trans-disciplinary approach to congestion reduction, and aims to create and implement a new state-of-the-art by integrating the FLOW methodology and congestion assessment tools into the current standard transport impact analysis process.[4][5]

The Scientists for Cycling group works to exchange their knowledge and research in order to improve cycling. The main aims of the network are: to build a strong academic community doing research on cycling-related topics; to bridge the gap between the research on cycling issues, cycling advocates and decision makers; to disseminate the latest academic publications on cycling; to assist in developing the Velo-city conference program; to build up a more research based approach to cycling advocacy and policy.[6]

The Cycling Industry Club (CIC) was created at EuroBike in 2011, and has since become the biggest player on Europe's advocacy scene. It is working with ECF.[7]

ECF raises awareness and carries out research about returns of investment for cycling infrastructures; job creation (and its benefits); and the economic impact of cycling.[8]

ECF underlines the fact that cycling generates also positive externalities in the field of health. Therefore, it supports a number of projects that ECF Member organizations have set up like the "Bike to Work" and "Bike to School" plans.[9]

ECF's main target is more and safer cycling in Europe. According to Eurobarometer,[10] 7.4% of European citizen used the bicycle as their primary means of transport in 2010. By 2020, ECF seeks to see the level of cycling at 15% of the modal split. At the same time, the risk of a serious or fatal accident should decrease by 50%.