Nantes, France, will host the 2015 Velo-city conference, a meeting of more than 1,000 bike advocates and planners from around the world. The conference is hosted by the European Cyclists’ Federation and will be held this year in Vienna, Austria, and in 2014 in Adelaide, Australia.
“We’d like to congratulate the city of Nantes and Nantes Métropole on winning the Velo-city conference for 2015," said Bernhard Ensink, secretary general of the European Cyclists’ Federation. "They were up against some impressive cities and it was not an easy decision.”
The city was chosen in part due to recent commitments to become more cycling-friendly. The region of Nantes will spend an estimated 40 million euros ($53 million) on cycling between 2009 and 2014, with the share of trips by bike increasing from 2 percent to 4 percent between 2008 and 2012. It was also the first French city to allow for “right turn on red” lights for cyclists.
The last time Velo-city was held in France was in Paris in 2003.
