Wecyc Week – A Danish story of green commute
On the occasion of the Wecyc (We cycle) Week 2022, hundreds of people in Hue city joined the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam, Thua Thien Hue Institute of Development Studies (HueIDS) and Ashui.com in a campaign to promote cycling culture in Vietnam’s municipalities.
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| Wecyc Week, which takes place in the first week of June every year, aims at promoting cycling culture in municipalities and changing their residents’ travelling habit by cars and motorbikes into safe and environmentally friendly cycling trips. |
Wecyc Week, which takes place in the first week of June every year, aims at promoting cycling culture in municipalities and changing their residents’ travelling habit by cars and motorbikes into safe and environmentally friendly cycling trips.
The campaign, which is a joint initiative of the Embassy of Denmark, HueIDS and Ashui.com includes an early morning group cycling around Hue citadel, an exhibition titled ‘Copenhagen - Livable City - Cycling City’ and a seminar on ‘Biking - A Story of Green Commute’ with participation of keynote speakers from Copenhagen, Tokyo, Hanoi and Hue city.
In his remarks, Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen, Ambassador of Denmark to Vietnam, said: ‘I am very happy to be back Hue city with this encouraging initiative to support Hue’s efforts to transform the city into a Cycling City".
According to Ambassador Kim Højlund Christensen, biking is a popular, natural and practical solution for most Danes. In Copenhagen, half of all trips to work and educational institutions are done by bike. This is a result of more than half a century of continuous efforts, planning, determination and commitment from all layers of society, not least the political level.
"I hope that the stories, innovative ideas and experiences gained from different Danish and Vietnamese experts at the seminar and exhibition will be inspirational and helpful to the people of Hue and beyond. I wish you all the best in achieving your ambition of becoming a Cycling City in the near future", he said.
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| Danish Ambassador to Vietnam Kim Højlund Christensen introduced the exhibition ‘Copenhagen – Liveable City – Cycling City’. |
For his part, Mr. Cung Trong Cuong, Director of HueIDS, stated: "HueIDS is very thrilled to be part of this meaningful campaign as it is a good opportunity for Hue to gain access to Danish experts and experiences on biking promotion, since Denmark and Copenhagen are quite ahead of us in this field. I hope that this cooperation will sustain until Hue becomes a Cycling City as we are striving for."
The exhibition ‘Copenhagen – Liveable City – Cycling City’, opened to the public on June 7th 2022 along the bank of the Huong river. It illustrates Copenhagen’s efforts over the past 20 years to transform the city into one of the most liveable and cycling friendly cities in the world.
Audiences to the exhibition will find innovative and bold projects, e.g. an artificial skiing slope on top of a waste treatment plant, the idea of transforming a traditional bridge into a highly popular public hangout place by expanding sidewalks with additional benches and bike paths, or building various beautiful and unique cycling bridges that connect different areas on the two sides of the capital city’s canal.
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| That is a good opportunity for Hue to gain access to Danish experts and experience on biking promotion. |
Further, a seminar on ‘Biking – A Story of Green Commute’, held on the same day, established a forum to connect and facilitate exchanges of experience, knowledge and innovative ideas between Danish experts from the Danish Cyclists’ Federation and Vietnamese experts from HueIDS, the National Traffic Safety Committee and local decision-makers, experts, researchers, representatives from various community organizations and media.
The campaign is part of the Embassy of Denmark’s long-term cooperation with Vietnam in supporting the country’s green transition and its endeavors to reach net zero emissions by 2050 as pledged by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at COP26 in Glasgow (UK).
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| Hundreds of people in Hue city joined in a campaign to promote cycling culture in Vietnam’s municipalities. |
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| The campaign is part of the Embassy of Denmark’s long-term cooperation with Vietnam in supporting the country’s green transition. |
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| Hue is aiming to become a Cycling City. |
| Some key facts about Danish Biking Culture: ∙ Nine out of ten Danes own a bicycle. ∙ Cycling accounts for 26% of trips under 5 km and 16% of all trips. ∙ Half of all trips to work and educational institutions in Copenhagen are done by bike (49% in 2018). ∙ On average, citizens of Copenhagen own five times more bikes than cars. ∙ On average, citizens of Copenhagen bike 3 km a day. ∙ Approximately half of all Danish children aged 11-15 bike to school. ∙ From 2009 to 2014, more than 268 million Euro were invested in 338 bicycle projects, both infrastructure and campaigns, across Denmark with the help of the Danish national Cycling Fund. ∙ In 2018, the number of cyclists crossing the city centre of Copenhagen exceeded the number of cars. ∙ The cycling “super highways” in and around Copenhagen consist of 45 routes with a total length of 745 km, and is estimated to have a socioeconomic surplus of 765 million Euro for a total price of 295 million Euro. |
