Bicycle Culture from Copenhagen to Portland with Mikael Colville-Andersen, Mayor Adams, and Jeff Mapes
An Evening honoring the Danish Embassy and the City of Portland
Danish photographer of the “Dreams on Wheels” exhibit and film maker, Mikael Colville-Andersen, will be joined by Portland City Mayor Sam Adams and Jeff Mapes (author of Pedaling Revolution and Senior political reporter for the Oregonian) for a panel discussion on progressing the bicycle movement.


Mikael Colville-Andersen is Copenhagen’s leading bike culture ambassador. For over three years he has been documenting Copenhagen’s unique bicycle culture in photographs and films. He lectures around the world about Marketing Bicycle Culture and is the author of two popular blogs: www.copenhagencyclechic.com and www.copenhagenize.com.

Colville-Andersen’s talk will explore Copenhagen’s journey toward establishing the bicycle as a feasible, acceptable form of transport, as well as touch on the importance of marketing bicycle culture to the average citizen.

He explains how the 500,000 people on bicycles each day in Copenhagen are not “cyclists,” nor are they “environmentalists;” they merely choose to ride because of an existing safe, quick infrastructure. 30 years of traffic and urban planning have transitioned the bicycle from an instrument of sporting equipment to a democratic tool that has liberated the people of Copenhagen from cars, and created the foundation for one of the world’s most liveable cities.

Portland Mayor Adams will share the City’s initiative toward the adoption of a new and expanded Bicycle Master Plan. For more than three decades Portland has received international recognition for promoting cycling. The City of Portland’s ambitious Bicycle Master Plan aims to see 30 percent of residents using active transportation by the 2030.

Jeff Mapes, the author of Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities, will talk about how a small band of bike advocates – against all odds – persuaded officials in several cities to start treating bikes as a legitimate form of transportation. In just the last few years, the movement has started to reach new heights, with cities from Portland to New York City building extensive bikeway networks that have boosted ridership and made biking a mainstream form of transportation. The U.S. still remains far behind the best European cities, but Mapes sees several positive signs that America is indeed beginning its own Pedaling Revolution.

Mapes is also the senior political reporter for The Oregonian and writes the “Mapes on Politics” blog. He lives in Portland and has been enjoying his latest transportation purchase: a cargo bike rated to carry up to 400 pounds.

Oregon Manifest Bike Union : 539 NW 10th at Hoyt : 7PM
$10. Complimentary Hopworks ale and and an hors d’oeuvre-athon from some of the Pearl’s finest restaurants.