The Life-Sized City Blog: Sweet Swiss Sensibility

One of our readers in Geneva, Benoit, brought this new campaign from the city of Geneva to our attention. It is aimed at encouraging more people to choose ‘soft’ transport forms like walking and bicycling but also the bus and the tram.It is fantastic in it’s simplicity. The poster above reads, roughly translated:

"There is always a moment where you have to take the first step."

Ahhh, l'amour...

Then there is this poster, which is the payoff for the first.

"By bicycle. On foot. By bus. By tram.
A new step in [for] life"

The slogan for the campaign is, in my interpretation:

"Change is in the air!"

It's a prime example of how to promote cycling positively as a normal, everyday transport option for regular citizens. Geneva, like so many other cities in Europe is seeing an increase in the number of cyclists. The metropolitan area hosts 812,000 citizens and since 2005 the number of people cycling has increased by 11% in the summer and 28% in the winter.The campaign focuses on the improved air quality gained by more people choosing soft transport forms. Thumbs up from Copenhagenize.com.

See the City of Geneva's website - in French - here.

To wrap it up, there is also a video advert to accompany the campaign. Absolutely splendid:

If only we could see this kind of positive bicycle campaign here in Denmark - and everywhere.


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