Velo-city World Cycling Summit awards four European cities as the best in class for 2023

This is the largest conference of enthusiasts, NGOs and policymakers, all dedicated to promoting cycling as a prime mode of transportation

Today is the last day of the Velo-city World Cycling Summit, organized by the European Cyclists’ Federation in Leipzig Germany. This is the biggest event of its kind with over 1,500 visitors, representatives and speakers from around the world – all united under the same goal of making cycling a more attractive mode of transportation.

During the event, the European Cyclists’ Federation announced the awards winners for Velo-city 2023. These were Helsingborg in Sweden, Oslo in Norway, and Essen and Heidelberg, in Germany.

The awards aim to celebrate the promotion of cycling throughout the world and oftentimes try to award recent progress rather than overall achievements – serving as prestige points to popularise cycling. At the same time, most of the awards were sponsored by private companies related to cycling.

These were JobRob – a bike leasing company, Geveko Markings which are in road markings and Eco Counter, a company making machines which can count cyclists on the street.

The laureates and their achievements

The city of Oslo won the Road Safety Award because in recent years it has made incredible progress towards becoming one of the safest cities for road users in the world. In 2014 only 9% of respondents considered the city safe for cycling while now that number is 31%,

The city has also implemented various traffic calming measures like a 30 km/h speed limit. Additionally, in 2019 they became the first to achieve Europe’s Vision Zero – with zero road deaths in 2019.

Helsingborg in Sweden received the award for Cycling Infrastructure for the Varvsbron Bridge – stretches of cycling and pedestrian bridges snaking over the city’s docks, up-and-coming neighbourhoods and the city centre in a very natural, meandering and sloping style.

Germany’s Heidelberg received the Cycling Improvement Award as around 40% of its residents use bikes as the main mode of transportation for inner-city trips. In 2022 alone, the city reported a 17% increase in the number of cyclists. Local authorities also subsidise bike purchases and have a programme for creating cycling connections between urban and rural areas.

The city of Essen, in Germany, won the Cycling Friendly Employer Award for sponsoring local organisations promoting cycling, certified by the European Cycling Foundation.