The CHAMP project 2011-2014
Why do some European cities have a much higher share of cycling compared to other cities with the same characteristics? This is one of the main questions the CHAMP project addressed. This European project, which kicked off in October 2011 and ran for three years, brought together seven of the most experienced European cities in the field of cycling: Bolzano, Burgos, Edinburgh, Groningen, Kaunas, Ljubljana and Orebro.
By looking at their counterparts in Europe and analysing successes and failures, the CHAMP cities wanted to find ways to further upgrade and optimise their cycling policies as well as collect new ideas for making the bike an even safer and more attractive transport mode. The CHAMPs also reached out to less advanced cities with clear ambitions, to help them pave the way towards becoming cycle champions themselves.
3 questions
- Why do some European cities have a much higher share of cycling compared to other cities with the same characteristics?
- How did cities like Groningen, Bolzano and Örebro become the leading cycling cities they are today?
- How can the successes and failures of the CHAMPS help other cities from all over Europe to become cycling champions themselves?
6 objectives
- To raise awareness amongst decision makers in European cities on the economic, ecological and energy efficient benefits of cycling
- To improve expertise on integrated cycling policy through capacity building and exchange of experiences
- To increase cycling in the CHAMP cities by 10 %
- To reach a 1-5% reduction in energy consumption from passenger transport and a reduction of 1-5% in greenhouse gases in the CHAMP cities
- To improve the quality of life within the cities through decreasing the use of motorised traffic and a better coexistence between cyclists and pedestrians
- To decrease the dependency on fossil fuels by stimulating an economically beneficial transport mode available to all citizens and competitive to motorised traffic
4 outputs
- A performance analysis-tool to assess successes and failures
- A "learning by doing” exchange programme
- The implementation of at least 2 innovative measures in each of the CHAMP cities
- A CHAMP catalogue with inspiration, "DO’s and DON’Ts” and good examples of successful cycling policies for dissemination to other countries across Europe
The conclusions and recommendations can be found here
You can read more about the CHAMP project in our presentation in the document section below.
Cities
The CHAMP project brought together 7 cycling cities which wanted to further improve their cycling policy and collect new ideas for making cycling more attractive and safer for their citizens.
The cities were:
- Orebro (SE)
- Groningen (NL)
- Burgos (ES)
- Bolzano (IT)
- Edinburgh (UK)
- Ljubljana (SI)
- Kaunas (LT)
In addition, Shkodra, the leading cycling city in Albania, was an associate city in CHAMP, acting as a transferability advisor and role model to climbing cycling towns in Southeast and Central Europe.
The CHAMP cities are very different when it comes to the modal share of cyclists, but had all been working on cycling policies for a long time when they joined CHAMP and are all leading cycling city in their country and/or at European level.
Even though they are already champions in cycling, these cities wanted to continue to improve the conditions for cyclists, the volume of cyclists and the level of satisfaction among local cyclists.
Other partners
To assist the CHAMP cities the CHAMP partnership also included experienced cycling consultants, an academic institution and a network of European cities and and a region. The other partners were:
- Traject (Leadpartner) (BE)
- Tractebel Engineering (BE)
- VEKSØ Mobility (DK)
- Oko-institute (IT)
- POLIS
- UIRS (SL)
- Edinburgh Napier University (UK)
- Government of Flanders (BE)
