bike

Seville gets mean on green

At a time when unemployment is enemy number one across the country, April saw the launch of a new monument to Seville which cost a grand total of 123 million euros - 70% more expensive than first chalked. Things don't look good before local elections take place in Spain on 22 May. But there is some future somewhere, and the capital of Andalusia has some green goods despite its bad municipal management. Between solar energy successes, local organic producers and the increase in bicycle lanes in the city, there is definitely a case to be made for green economy in Seville. That doesn't mean it's the place for greenwashing though. Fifth edition in a 2011 monthly series, ‘Green Europe on the ground’ (Image: (cc) Franie Frou Frou/ Flickr)

• Read the special edition Seville gets mean on green
• Organic Seville: too many exports, not enough young workers or local mouths
• Rolling down 120km of bike lane in Seville
• Seville’s photovoltaic energy, as invented by Archimedes
• Seville: growing organic produce on Spanish asphalt

Rome was not built in a day...nor for bikes

I am a devout cyclist who first rode a bike by chance. I come from Strasbourg in eastern France, a city in which the two wheels reign supreme, so I did all I could to get hold of a bike in Rome. 'It’s suicidal!' those around me squealed, but after four days alone in a city dominated by cars, I realised that cycling can also look like a kamikaze mission

by Tania Gisselbrecht @ // 12/04/11

bike, italy, civil society, ecology, public transport, lifestyle, rome