Vanaf vrijdag 11 september zullen drie dagen lang twee teams gaan strijden om de beste duurzame mobiliteitsplanning van een stukje Manhattan. Gemengde teams bestaande uit Amsterdamse en New Yorkse gemeentelijke deskundigen aangevuld met New Yorkers en Amsterdammers die de alledaagse verkeerspraktijken kennen. De mobiliteit in Amsterdam bestaat uit 40% fiets en andere vormen van duurzame mobiliteit; en New York wil hier van leren.

 

De teams presenteren hun resultaten aan het publiek op zaterdag 12 september. Het publiek bepaalt wie de beste resultaten heeft. Het event wordt feestelijk afgesloten met DJ Kosmo uit Amsterdam.

 

Op zondag 13 september om 12:00 u vindt de feestelijke prijsuitreiking plaats door burgemeester Cohen van Amsterdam alsmede een filmverslag om de Jumbotron op het podium in Battery Park. Daarna is het gezellig feesten op Governor’s Island.

 

 

DRAFT MEDIA ADVISORY / INVITATION TO PRESS CONFERENCE

(Thursday, September 10, 2009; place and time to be announced)

 

Four hundred years after Henry Hudson's arrival in Manhattan, two teams of Dutch and American planners & designers face off in a battle for the future of New York City transportation. Their challenge: find ways to bring NYC cycling up to the level of the Netherlands, the only country with more bikes than people.

 

Spread over four days, the New Amsterdam Bike Slam is a live design battle, a dance party, a world-class transportation summit, a bridge across the Atlantic, and a path forward.

 

New Amsterdam Bike Slam is an initiative of Amsterdam Cycling to Sustainability, produced by Vélo Mondial and Transportation Alternatives, with funding from Transumo and the City of Amsterdam.

The New Amsterdam Bike Slam will be part performance art and part moderated debate inspired by the concept of a “poetry slam,” a form of performance art that pits poets against one another in a competitive event. Judges decide whose performance was the best, and one performer is chosen as the winner. American in origin, poetry slams have spread all over the world. The Bike Slam will combine the creativity and inventiveness of a poetry slam with the logic and reason of a debate to reveal the best vision for bicycling in New York City, and more specifically in the New York Harbor District.

 

Two teams will participate in the New Amsterdam Bike Slam. The teams will prepare for three days, then “battle” each other on the evening of September 12 to defend their plans outlining how to employ “best practice” examples to surmount the barriers to increased bicycling in New York.

 

At the end of the New Amsterdam Bike Slam, one team will emerge the winner for having the most creative – and practical – vision for making New York Harbor a bicycle friendly area with good quality public spaces. The winning team will present convincing solutions combining a host of disciplines, including but not limited to urban design, marketing and traffic safety.

 

On the evening of September 12, 2009 an audience of hundreds will convene at the Cielo nightclub to witness and judge the New Amsterdam Bike Slam.

 

The New Amsterdam Bike Slam (www.newamsterdambikeslam.org) is a live debate “battle” between two teams with competing visions for how to dramatically increase bicycling in New York City in the years to come, and how to plan the New York Harbor District as part of this achievement.

 

September 13 (the day after the battle), Mr. Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam, will award a prize to the winning team on the waterfront in Manhattan.

 

New York and Amsterdam, like many other global cities, face challenges regarding mobility and requiring immediate solutions. An urgent look at necessary changes in mobility is the objective of the symposium ‘Global trends in sustainable mobility.’ For that purpose we have invited speakers to debate ideas that would further our thinking about cities and mobility.

 

How did Amsterdam and New York get to where we are now with regard to mobility and what analyses can we bring to the table? What are the systematic differences in urban planning between New York and Amsterdam? Do these differences only exist in the field of mobility or has it other psychological and cultural backgrounds? What makes cities not only livable, but attractive to live in, and what good can mobility bring or bad by making things disappear? Can cities live with less or no petrol cars at all and what does such an idea do to the economy? How will public transport play a role in the triangle with emission rich mobility and more sustainable modes of transport?

 

This issues will be discussed in the program: Global Trends to Sustainable Mobility

 

When: Friday, September 11, 9 am - 5 pm

Where: Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, Manhattan

What: Presentations by and conversations with some of the world’s leading experts on innovative transportation policy, including Frans Timmermans (Minister of European Affairs, The Netherlands), Adnan Rahman (ECORYS Transport), Willem de Jager (RABO Bank), and Ruth Oldenziel (TU Eindhoven and University of Twente). In the afternoon, workshops with Pieter de Haan (Institute for Shared Space), Herman Gelissen (OV FIETS), Arjen Jaarsma (Balancia), Paul White (Transportation Alternatives), and Pascal van den Noort (Velo Mondial: Amsterdam Cycling to Sustainability)

 

Where: Cielo nightclub, 18 Little West 12th Street, Manhattan

When: Saturday, September 12, 10 pm - 4 am

What: New Amsterdam BIKE SLAM design teams face-off at Cielo nightclub to pitch their visions for making lower Manhattan and Brooklyn a bicycling area on par with Amsterdam.

 

The BIKE SLAM begins in front of a live audience and celebrity judges including Alexandros Washburn (Chief Urban Designer for New York City Department of City Planning), Renaud Dutreil (Chairman of LVMH), David Lewis (Principal, LTL Architects), Sergio Palleroni (Founder, Basic Initiative) and Deborah Marton (Executive Director, Design Trust for Public Space). The SLAM is followed by a late night dance party at this renowned club in the Meatpacking District and the deep house beats of DJ John 'Julius' Knight and the Dutch DJ, DJ Kosmo. Advance tickets available from http://newamsterdambikeslam.org/

 

When: Sunday, September 13, 11:45am

Where: Battery Park, Castle Clinton Stage

What: As part of the Harbor Day celebrations, winners of the New Amsterdam Bike Slam receive their awards up on stage: free Dutch bicycles, courtesy of Workcycles.

 

Pascal van den Noort, Amsterdam Cycling to Sustainability

1-347-836-0031 operations@velomondial.net

 

Wiley Norvell, Transportation Alternatives, New York

Communications Director

(646) 873-6008

 

PRESS RELEASE BOOK LAUNCH:

 

‘RIDE WITH ME NYC’, THE FIRST BIKE GUIDE FOR NEW YORK CITY

NEW YORK CITY

 

 

New York City’s first bike guide, created and published by Dutch artist and bike lover Roos Stallinga. Bicycling in New York is the best. You get to places far beyond the subway stops and are free to go wherever you want. It is exploration in its purest form. Biking in New York is like being in a movie, as the sights, sounds and smells of the city blended together pass by. Biking in New York is like meditation; a great exercise in focusing, relaxing, and being patient.

 

‘Ride with me NYC’ is for New York City lovers, by bike or yet without, providing:

• Ten newly created bike routes across the five boroughs

• Comprehensive bike maps

• Dinner and drinks trips from locals

• Personal interviews with NY bikers to share their tips and experiences

‘Ride with me NYC’ provides a unique mixture of photographs, art, maps and text that breathes the energy and sense of endless possibility of biking in the city. In this guide, Roos shares her love for biking and New York City and inspires readers to go out and explore themselves, discovering new places and experience the city from a new perspective. Biking can be an exhilarating experience, whether it’s a warm summer evening across the Brooklyn Bridge, a crisp early morning commute along the Hudson, or a nightly ride bedazzled by the lights of Times Square.

 

Biking in New York is the fastest growing means of transportation in the city. In the last three years, local government and advocacy groups like Transportation Alternatives have worked together to create 200 miles of bike lanes in the city. The Zeitgeist is all about two wheels. Biking in New York is hot and fashionable. People express themselves via their bike. It is becoming a movement, a very positive one.

 

About the author: ‘Ride with Me NYC’ is created and self published by the author Roos Stallinga. She grew up in the Netherlands, so bikes have always been part of her consciousness: “to me biking is the greatest way to really experience New York. And it’s fast, it’s green, it’s healthy, and it’s fun!” Having lived in New York City for 5 years, Roos feels as much at home in New York as in Amsterdam, with a bike. Roos used her network of bike loving friends for entertaining personal stories, insider tips and local expertise.

 

Ride with Me NYC is now available in selected stores as well as online. For more information, please see www.ridewithmenyc.comand / or contact Roos at 347-756-1768 (NYC) 31614114855 (NL) or roos@ridewithmenyc.com.