Cycling promotion – newcomer with distinction

Mayor Rolf Kieser from Brackenheim can be proud: the local council of the town in Baden-Württemberg more than held its own in the nationwide Stadtradeln competition, a campaign to protect the climate as well as promote cycling. The city council won the title “Best Newcomer” in the category “Most Bicycle Active Local Parliament” at the first attempt. 19 of the 30 local politicians covered a total of 3,662 km on 21 consecutive days between May and September. And the citizens of Brackenheim were also hard at work.

City cycling for the promotion of cycling

Until now, Brackenheim has been known primarily as the birthplace of Theodor Heuss, the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and as Germany’s largest red wine community – it is even the world market leader for the Lemberger variety. The hilly landscape with its sunny and productive vineyards gives no hint that Brackenheim, together with seven other sub-municipalities, likes to get on their bikes and is committed to promoting cycling at the municipal level. In the traditional car state of Baden-Württemberg, this also seems to be the exception rather than the rule. We still remember the fierce protests against an amendment to the building code by the state government that made bicycle parking mandatory for private houses and apartments.

“Among the eleven award-winning municipalities, Baden-Württemberg has so far been represented only once – by Brackenheim,” says climate protection manager Thomas Königstein, who is responsible in the town hall for implementing Local Agenda 21 for sustainable ecological-social urban development. The projects here range from psychosocial support and the “Citizens Against the Right” campaign to the design of attractive hiking and biking trails around the sub-community of Haberschlacht. Once a week, a cycling group of Agenda activists meets, in which all interested people can participate. In addition to numerous individuals – from schoolchildren to senior citizens – around 40 teams took part in this year’s city cycling event, some of which covered several thousand kilometers in an environmentally friendly manner.

With all joy over the recent success of his council colleagues his boss appreciates then also above all the commitment of the citizens: half Brackenheim was in the summer on the legs and/or on the wheel, so the mayor, the more than 88,000 by the bicycle covered kilometers are for him an “impressive value”.

Next year, Brackenheim’s climate protection manager is already letting people know that he wants to surpass the 100,000 kilometer mark and even become the German champion as a municipal council, “because we will no longer be newcomers.

There is a recognizable competitive spirit in the Swabian community. After the excellent start, one would like to achieve even more.

Climate protection and cycling promotion

Stadtradeln is a campaign developed on the basis of the Nuremberg model by the Climate Alliance, the largest network of cities, municipalities and rural districts for the protection of the world’s climate, to which more than 1,700 members in 26 European countries belong. The city cycling program serves to protect the climate and promote cycling and can be carried out or used by all municipalities (cities, communities, counties/regions) throughout Germany on 21 consecutive days – freely selectable in the period from May 1 to September 30.

The campaign provides municipalities with a proven, easy-to-implement measure to become (more) active in the important area of communication/public relations for sustainable mobility with relatively little effort and resources. Further info and registration: www.stadtradeln.de