Plenary Speakers

Handpicked for their expertise in cycling’s global potentials and challenges, the plenary speakers at Velo-city Global offered new, valuable and comprehensive insights.

You can view images of the plenary speakers - click here or view short video interviews - click here or here

Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard As Mayor of the Technical and Environmental Administration of the City of Copenhagen, Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard is a strong advocate of urban cycling.   He sees this as one of the key elements in making Copenhagen the most livable city in the world.   Although Copenhagen is one of the forerunner cities on cycling, Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard does not see this as an excuse to rest on one’s laurels. He is determined that Copenhagen keep finding new innovative solutions to make it even easier for Copenhageners to choose the bicycle as their daily means of transport.

Photo by Christoffer Regild

Connie Hedegaard Connie Hedegaard is the European Commissioner for Climate Action. She holds a Masters in Literature and History and has worked as a journalist and anchor person. She has been active in Danish politics for many years and has served as Minister for the Environment and Minister for Climate and Energy. Collaboration is a key word in her work. In December 2009, she brought leading politicians from across the globe to the negotiation table at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. She now works to ensure that the EU invests in efficient and climate friendly technologies. Connie Hedegaard is well aware that strengthening cycling is an important step in tackling the challenges of global warming. She is herself an enthusiastic cyclist and readily cycles to and from work both in Brussels and when she was minister in Denmark.

Ciarán Cuffe Ciarán Cuffe is the Irish Minister of State with special responsibility for Sustainable Transport, Horticulture, Planning and Heritage. He has degrees in architecture and town planning from University College Dublin and has lectured in urban planning at the Dublin Institute of Technology prior to his election to the Dáil. He has made the case for proper planning instead of urban sprawl.   He campaigned to save the Shankill Bray green belt from development and supported the Sutton to Sandycove cycleway around Dublin Bay. He was one of the first to call for a modern tram system for Dublin in 1991. He is a keen cyclist and has ridden his bicycle coast-to coast across the United States.

Frank Jensen The welcome will be made by Lord Mayor of the City of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen. His vision for his city is a green and cycle-friendly Copenhagen which has obtained carbon neutrality by 2025, and fewer cars and more cyclists are key to this development.   Frank Jensen is himself an avid cyclist and bikes to and from work at City Hall everyday thus setting a positive example for his fellow Copenhageners. As a result, he has just been named Cyclist of the Year.

Jan Gehl Jan Gehl is a Danish city planner. He is the founder of Gehl Architects - Urban Quality Consultants, a Copenhagen-based firm offering expertise concerning the human dimension in city and site planning. For many years, Jan Gehl was head of the Department of Urban Design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and has been visiting professor in Canada, the US, Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Norway.

Janette Sadik-Khan  Janette Sadik-Khan is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation where she has served since April, 2007. She is behind an ambitious strategy to make New York City more green and accessible to cyclists and pedestrians alike. This includes 200 miles of on-street bike lanes, closing off segments of Broadway to construct a pedestrian plaza, and much more. Janette Sadik-Khan was previously a Senior Vice President of the international engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff. Her current positions include that of President of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and others. She has also published extensively on issues regarding transportation policy and planning.

John Whitelegg John Whitelegg is visiting Professor of Sustainable Transport at Liverpool John Moores University and Professor of Sustainable Development at University of York's Stockholm Environment Institute. Research interests encompass transport and the environment, definition of sustainable transport systems and a sustainable built environment, development of transport in third world cities focusing on Calcutta and the relationships between sustainability and human health, implementation of environmental strategies within manufacturing and service industry and development of environmental management standards. John Whitelegg is the Managing Director of Eco-Logica Ltd, a transport consultancy based in Lancaster. He has recently added a law degree to his qualifications and is researching the legal implications of a shift to low carbon procurement, local sourcing and the interaction between human rights and environmental quality.

Lake Sagaris Lake Sagaris is a Canadian urban planner and journalist living in Santiago, Chile, since 1981. She holds a Master of Science in Urban Planning and Community Development and is currently working on a PhD. She is president of Ciudad Viva, a citizen-led organization formed in 2000 in the wake of a strong local movement opposing and significantly changing a highway project, which was to run through Santiago’s beautiful Bellavista neighborhood. Ciudad Viva is working to improve the quality of life, sustainability and equity among the people of Santiago by incorporating walking and bicycling in urban planning. Lake Sagaris helped organize Santiago’s first car-free day in 2003 closing down the main street in Bellavista, and she started a green map project of Santiago inviting citizens to help pinpoint green living, ecological, social and cultural resources across Santiago.

Mikael Colville-Andersen Mikael Colville-Andersen is probably one of the world's best-known bicycle culture bloggers. He is the creator and editor of the two blogs www.copenhagenize.com and www.copenhagencyclechic.com, street-style blogs focusing on cycling as a mainstream and fashionable lifestyle.

Pan Haixiao Pan Haixiao is Professor and Director of Land Use/Transport Studies at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. Traditionally, the bicycle has been a very common means of transportation in Asia, but with the current explosive growth in cities such as Shanghai, new challenges arise as more and more people buy cars, and the population density increases. Pan Haixiao is often consulted for his expertise on the development of sustainable solutions which includes a strengthening of the infrastructure for bicycles. He closely collaborates with local governments in China on various urban and transport planning projects. He has also been a leading advisor for the City of Shanghai in connection with the coordination of transport during the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Pecha Kucha Plenary The Pecha Kucha Plenary presents 6 young artists and creatives who will present funny, poetic and creative cycling innovations. The Pecha Kucha format consists of 20 slides x 20 seconds and forces the presenter to get to the point in a precise, fast-paced and entertaining way. The presenters are:   Emma Jorn: Urban rain clothes Anders Bendixen: The reason we cycle Henriette Aartsen: Cycling the city: a closer look at urban bicycle cultures Kristian Lindhardt Nørhave: Bike grassing Anthony Siracusa: Building Bicimaquinas, Building Communities Anders Rosenqvist: Karmakanonen

Vandana Shiva Dr. Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned Indian environmentalist and philosopher who has contributed significantly to setting the agenda in the development debate advocating diversity, localization and equal access to resources. She is a famous speaker and also presented at the Klimaforum09 - The peoples climate summit in Copenhagen last December. Dr. Shiva holds a PhD in physics from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. In 1984 she founded Navdànya, an organisation promoting biodiversity, farmer’s rights and organic farming. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum of Globalization which stimulates new thinking, joint activity and public education. In 1993, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award also known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize. Vandana Shiva sees the bicycle as an instrument of democracy and as an essential element of green mobility.