Shkodra Cycling CityGreat tradition-Bright future

Presented by: Entela Shkreli GO2 NGO

Shkodra General data

114.000 inhabitants

flat and compact city

proximity to Shkodra lake

three rivers

25 km from Adriatic Sea

40 km from Albanian Alps

near Montenegro and Kosovo

Shkodra – Northern Albania

Shkodra: lake, mountains, plane , seaside

Shkodra: tolerance & culture

Shkodra: urban pattern, topography and urban travel distances are ideal for walking and cycling

2 km

2 km

Boulevard structureShkodra’s urban identity

Cycling is still mainstream travel mode within the city and in the flat areas of the Shkodra Region

44 %24 %

29 %

Shkodra’s Cycling Culturein the “early days”

First bicylcle introduced by Consul of Sweden at end of XIX century

Cycling instantly adopted by citizens as a way of Moving and posing

Mostly Italian bicycles and French bicycles

First woman to cycle employed in Austrian Consulatein 1910’s

Shkodra’s Cycling Culturein the “early days”

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edShkodra’s Cycling Culture in the ‘early days’

Mobility Revolution (Communist Era)

Car ownership was forbidden

Cycling everywhereIn Albania

Shkodra remained“the Capital of Bicycles”

Mostly Albanian and East European BicyclesAfter 60-s a lot of China produced bicycles

Mobility Revolution(Communist Era)

Wide Boulevards:

• Wide sidewalks for walking

• Asphalt for cyclists

• Zebra crossings made no sense

Mobility Revolution (Communist Era)

Tirana 1987

Mobility Revolution (Communist Era)

Shkodra 1987

From Revolution to Repollution?

PostcomunistEra (after1991)

Open Market

Trying to Modernizethe Country

Car seen as status, asWestern, as Freedom, as Progress

and Bicycle as a symbol of poverty and non-modern

Everything done during Comunism times became “outdated” and wrong

From Revolution to Repollution?

Postcomunist Era (after1991)

Economy in Transition

Tirana and other cities lost their cycling culture

Mercedes everywhere and the raising number of cars became a matter of pride

Car oriented policies

From Revolution to Repollution?

Why Shkodra did preserve its cycling culture?

established cycling culture

excentrism and selfconfidence

Pragmatism

But also : lack of economic development

Floods in Shkodra 2010

From Revolution to Repollution?

Local government : lack of confidence and confusion regarding policies on mobility

Proud of cycling, but investments in road s modernization (car oriented)

Extention of promenades, but not seeing urban mobility as a city wide challenge

Road infrastructureseen as a magnetfor investments

Municipality of Shkodra 2010

Shkodra’s modal split , 2011

44 % Walking29 % Cycling3 % Public Tranport

73% Active, Clean and sustainable transport

44 %

24 %

29 %

Household travel survey School & company travel surveysand BYPAD Audit REPORT

Shkodra’s phenomenon of

Sharing urban streets

Sharing urban streets in practice in Shkodra

Sharing urban streets: a matter of equilibrium between two opposites

respect & tolerance

survival of the fittest (strongest)

arroganceself –confidence & pride

Sharing urban streets: a matter of equilibrium between two opposites

Perceived safetyFlexibility

Sharing urban streets: a matter of equilibrium between two opposites

to active modes streets belong to cars

Sharing urban streets : a matter of equilibrium between two opposites

stressed behavior

relaxed behavior

Sharing urban streets: a matter of equilibrium between two opposites

Semi-segregating

integrating

Sharing urban streets : a matter of equilibrium between two opposites

Behavior by prescribed legal rules

Behavior by social adaptation and mutual respect

Sharing urban street rules in Shkodra

Cycling on sidewalks perceived as ‘rude and unpolite behavior’ !

Parking on sidewalks is OK! (plenty of bike racks)

Cycling on the promenade full of people is arrogant

Counter flow cycling is accepted by police

Don’t cycle too fast

Shared space rules in Shkodra

Zebra crossings looks nice on asphalt

When you’re totally wrong, raise your hand (as a sign between “sorry & hi”) and smile.

You see the driver, but pretend you don’t see him, so he will care for you (he will stop and let you go).

This license plate is dangerous

Respect drivers! (not cars)

How does it work?

Are these informal “strict” rules effective?

How does it work?

Are this “strict” rules effective?

There is still space for improvement, but they rock as Hell!

How does it work?

What does the traffic planners pretend...

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How does it work?

What does the traffic planners pretend...

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cars

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cars

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How does it work?

Cyclists “squat” what already is theirs!

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e cars

How does it work?

Shkodrans takes traffic very personally!

Everyone is a cyclist, pedestrian and often driver too (if not himself, friends and relatives)

How does it work?

They believe in (traffic) tolerance

In general the drivers in Shkodra are respectful and understanding due to high cycling share and culture

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Sharing urban streets (Strength)

Transforming junctions into squares

Conflictual in appearance, but very communicative

City center functioningfine

Sharing urban streets (Strength)

Sharing urban streets (Strength)

Fits perfectly well with local culture of cycling

Traffic engineers tend to introduce segrating measures

Sharing urban streets (Threat)

Car traffic growing

Problems with parking and raised number of accidents

Sharing urban streets (Threat)

EnforcementNo “immunuty” against irresponsible drivers

Sharing urban streets (Threat)

Cyclists may be soon on defense Cyclists may be soon marginalised (cf Tirana)

Fragile co-existence at growing car traffic

2000 2012 2020

?

Future urban mobility scenarios (1)

Segregated urban travel behaviour ?or Sharing urban streets? or Semi segegration?

Future scenarios – Existential dilemma for our cycling culture

Preserve the sharing urban street behavior in the city centre?within the city center

or ?

Future scenarios – Existencial dilemma for our cycling culture

Go for segregation ?(Naively popular solution)

Future scenarios – Existencial dilemma for our cycling culture

Why not segregation?

It’s not actually working

Will definitely raise the conflicts in road traffic

Road accidents’ number will rise

Future urban mobility scenarios (1)

Segregated urban travel behavior ?or Sharing urban streets? or Semi segegration?

• Sharing space in car restricted city centre + 30 km/h

• Seperated cycle network towards the city and on ring road

• safer ring road crossings

Future urban mobility scenarios (2)

Trend scenario ? (doubling / trippling of cars)or

SUMP scenario ? • preserve ‘compact city ‘• car access restriction• maintain high ‘active modes’ level• Public space rehab • Paid parking & parking management • Ring optimization

Other challenges...

Still the economy is going low

Local cycling team is practically ran by passion. No wages for sport cyclists.

The same thing for our mobility NGO “GO2”

Still waiting if Shkodra wins an IPA project for SUMP

Modernization of cycling infrastructure needed

Thank you!

For choosing bicycle to fly in our city!

Shkodra Cycling Airways