Do you remember the first time you learned how to ride a bike? Chances are that you do, and if you kept on kicking those pedals, you might have some fond memories about the (daily) adventures with your bicycle. But… although biking ticks almost all boxes when it comes to urban sustainability, health, livability, affordability and accessibility, our cities still do not unfold the full potential of how urban biking can make our neighbourhoods better places.

My guest today, Josip Rotar from the Maribor Cycling Network, is one of those who pushed for change in the city. Find out how advocacy for urban biking led Josip to take a political role and why urban biking is competing with the SUV of your neighbourhood (or your own?).

Find out more about Josip and the Maribor Cycling Network here.

Josip and the Maribor Cycling Network was part of the first round of Driving Urban Transition’s Urban Doers Community. We recorded this conversation just before the ACT NOW Mayor’s Conference in Vienna.

Urban rewilding is more than planting trees. It’s about reshaping cities by de-sealing land and inviting nature back in. In this episode, we head to Ghent to explore REWILD, a bold project funded by the European Urban Initiative that breaks up concrete, engages residents, and creates space for ecosystems. With Linde Vertriest and Annelies Sevenant, we talk about the barriers and challenges and touch upon the 1 Mio dollar question: what does it take to rewild a city?

🔗 www.rewildthecity.eu

🔗 Read more: Where the pavement ends. Can Ghent become a truly rewilded city?

🔗 Rewild is an European Urban Initiative Innovative Action: https://www.urban-initiative.eu

Today we go back to the City of Mechelen, to find out how nature is making a comeback in Mechelen’s old town, why that is not only good for house sparrow, eels, and otters but for everyone living and working in the city and how residents are part of the journey for cleaner water, more biodiversity and green in the city.

Healthy rivers and rich ecosystems cool our cities, filter our air, and offer places for both people and wildlife to thrive. Yet, for decades, urban waterways have been neglected, covered, or polluted, breaking the vital link between cities and nature.

We have Michiel van Mele who is the City Ecologiest of Mechelen and Marteen de Jonge who is the head of the lab department of the Flanders Environmental Agency on the show. Tune in to find out more...

This episode is part of the Johannes' work with the City of Mechelen's WATSUPS project, a New European Bauhaus demonstrator. WATSUPS is an Innovation Action funded by the European Urban Initiatives. More information here:

• European Urban Initiative
• WATSUPS - Water as the Source of Urban Public Spaces project

In case you missed it: To dig in deeper into the amazing work of Mechelen's, you might want to give these past episodes a listen.

• Reimagining Mechelen Pt. 1 - Water as the Source of Urban Public Space with Nicole La Iacona
• Reimagining Mechelen Pt. 2 - Nature as a Stakeholder in the Revival of the River Dijle with Mark Van der Veken