Insert a coin for your bike wheel, thanks

The environmental fight in cities is waged on wheels. For months, city councils and social agents have been considering measures against vehicles that emit polluting particles into the atmosphere. Public bicycles are installed, roads are narrowed, motorized access is restricted. To avoid pollution, prohibition is not enough. There is a whole network of possible remedies that include citizen habits, urban layout, and road education. Germany, one of the countries often mentioned by experts when referring to the "sustainable mobility" combo, has one of its cities as a flagship of this relentless future in favor of the environment.

We are referring to Freiburg, the fourth largest city by inhabitants (220,000) in the Baden-Württemberg region, in the southwest corner of the country. Its policies have made it the "capital" of ecology. How? According to the website faircompanies.com, Freiburg promoted the use of bicycles since the seventies, when this contraption was still considered "a product of underdevelopment." 500 kilometers of lanes were enabled, and by 1999, bicycles were already used for daily commutes by 17% of the population. This was not the only measure the city took. Instead of dismantling the tram networks, it expanded them; it maintained 40% of forest on its territory (15,300 hectares); it encouraged the construction of energy-efficient buildings (through solar panels or materials that prevented waste) and, along with carsharing, established supervised bicycle parking at peripheral stations.

This is how Florian Hertenstein, a 35-year-old ecologist and resident of the city, sees it: "There are no tobacco machines, but bike camera machines," he comments while sending a photo by phone of a blue cubicle in the middle of the street that, indeed, does not have candies, cigarettes, or soda cans, but rather cases with replacement tubes for bike wheels. According to him, "30% of the roads are reserved for bikes and 30,000 people move daily by this means of transport." "Most approve of no cars in the center, especially tourists. Besides, it's faster to go by tram or bike." Hertenstein also highlights the fact that Freiburg is a "compact city": "it uses space to offer what is necessary without the need for transport: shops, leisure, work." Just the opposite of the "diffuse cities" that exist in many other places and that are now studying how to join the fight for sustainability.

Written by: Alberto García