Summit Preview: What It’s Like to Bike in Latin America

The 2022 California Bicycle Summit will include an exciting breakout session featuring bicycle activists from Bogotá and scholars of Latin American urban studies. Presenters will include:

• Daniel Rodriguez, professor of city and regional planning and the interim director of the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley. 
• Lorena Romero Fontecha, director and project manager for the BiciActiva Foundation based in Bogotá. BiciActiva is a Bogotá-based organization that sponsors BiciActiva Radio, which runs a station for and by bicyclists. 
• Additional presenters will be announced later.

Rodriguez is one of the coauthors of the chapter on cycling trends in Latin America in the indispensable reference, Cycling for Sustainable Cities. He and Romero Fontecha, along with Carlos Felipe Pardo and Raphael Navarro joined CalBike for an Advance Symposium in December 2021; if you want a preview of this session, you can view the recording.

The value of Latin American experience for California bicycle advocates

Bike advocates in the U.S. often look to the cycling cities of Europe such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and now Paris, when we want examples of what might be possible here. However, California, with its diverse population and relatively new cities, may have more in common with our neighbors in Latin America.

For example, the movement for Open Streets began in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and the city’s Ciclovía program remains a model that U.S. cities can only dream of. Founded in 1976, Ciclovía happens every single Sunday, from 7 am to 2 pm, and covers 75 miles of city streets. And Bogotá has a bicycling mode share of 6.6% that only a few California cities can top.

Engaging across borders

Part of the mission of BiciActiva and BiciActiva Radio is to connect the Bogotá bicycling community with people who ride bikes around the world. At the December Symposium, we were joined from the Netherlands by BiciActiva member Raphael Navarro, who was spending time there to report about cycling in Holland for the organization. The organization has invited three CalBike staffers to experience bicycling in Bogotá this March, continuing the cross-border exchange. 

We’re excited to welcome these bicycle activists and scholars to share success stories, aspirations, and inspiration from Latin America. It’s a session you won’t want to miss.

Join us at the 2022 California Bicycle Summit for 32 breakout sessions, 5 bike tours, 3 parties, and much more.

Register for the California Bicycle Summit Now