Signing of MOU with the Dutch Cycling Embassy on the 22nd... First Agreement by a Local Government in Korea
Expanding International Cooperation to Promote Bicycle Use... A Step Toward a Bicycle-Friendly City
Nowon-gu, Seoul (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Dutch Cycling Embassy to promote bicycle use.
As a local government leading carbon neutrality, the district is implementing various policies to participate in and practice the demands of the era of carbon neutrality.
This agreement was prepared as a measure to practice carbon neutrality in the transportation sector, making the creation of a bicycle-friendly city a key task of district administration, and to strengthen practical international cooperation to promote bicycle use.
The signing ceremony will be held in Utrecht, Netherlands, with Chris Bruntlett, International Relations Manager of the Dutch Cycling Embassy, in attendance. The Dutch Cycling Embassy is a public-private network that provides consulting on bicycle-centered transportation policies and infrastructure development to cities worldwide, and this agreement with Nowon-gu is the first case among domestic local governments.
The agreement will include ▲ discovering and sharing excellent policies to promote bicycle use ▲ exchanging knowledge and policies for creating bicycle-friendly infrastructure ▲ supporting exchanges of professional personnel and material resources.
The district plans to further specify bicycle-friendly policies and promote practical policy improvements based on the advanced bicycle policies and successful cases of the Netherlands.
In particular, it is expected to create synergy in cooperation not only in expanding bicycle convenience facilities and creating a safe riding environment but also in the operation plan of the currently under-construction ‘Bicycle Culture Center.’
Last October, an international symposium was held to set policy directions for promoting bicycle use. Chris Bruntlett, who attended the signing ceremony, and researcher Han Seung-hoon, who devised the ‘Paris 15-minute city’ concept from France, participated in the symposium, sharing successful bicycle policy cases from the Netherlands and France and discussing international trends in depth.
From January 18 to January 25, the district conducted an 8-day, 6-night overseas training program on “Carbon Neutrality and Urban Planning Policy Development” in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Major destinations included Amsterdam City Hall, Delft University of Technology, Utrecht City Hall in the Netherlands, the European Living Network in Brussels, Belgium, and the German Bank Green Tower in Frankfurt, Germany. Through this training, advanced policies in buildings, energy, and transportation (bicycles) for implementing carbon-neutral leading cities were benchmarked.
Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “The Netherlands is a country with a world-class model for bicycle policies,” adding, “Taking this agreement as an opportunity, we will incorporate the Netherlands’ bicycle policy know-how to create a sustainable bicycle culture.”
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