Cities are hubs of cycling innovation and expertise, pioneering measures that are making urban environments suitable and safe for bikes. Yet this knowledge does not always reach other cities. HANDSHAKE, a new Horizon 2020-funded project under the CIVITAS Initiative, is seeking to change this.

HANDSHAKE will support the take-up and transfer of successful cycling measures developed by three world-class cycling cities - ICLEI Member Copenhagen (Denmark), Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Munich (Germany) - to ten other EU cities.

An innovative knowledge transfer process and mentoring programme will facilitate the intensive intercity learning between the three Cycling Capitals and ten Future Cycling Capitals (FCCs). The FCC cities are comprised of ICLEI Members Bordeaux (France), Helsinki (Finland), and Rome (Italy), alongside Bruges (Belgium), Cadiz (Spain), Dublin (Ireland), Greater Manchester (UK), Krakow (Poland), Riga (Latvia), and Torino (Italy).

The cities are supported by a steering group of experts who will help share knowledge and shape best practice.

At the beginning of October, the HANDSHAKE group gathered in Copenhagen for the project's kick-off meeting and a study tour. A poster session gave cities the opportunity to interact and present the cycling situations they face, whilst the tour took in Copenhagen’s recent cycling infrastructure developments.

Drawn from diverse geographical contexts, socioeconomic conditions and planning cultures, the HANDSHAKE group are united in their desire to nurture a new set of cycling champions and strengthen international knowledge sharing in the field.

These common goals should help HANDSHAKE achieve its main objectives, which include: inspiring the creation of holistic cycling visions and concrete transfer approaches; improving cycling modal share and safety; realising cycling's potential to relieve congestion and improve public health.

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