European Cyclists’ Federation’s Velo-city conference series is widely considered as the premier international planning conferences on cycling.

The conferences are designed to encourage cycling as part of daily transport and recreation. Velo-city began in 1980 in Bremen, Germany with deep ties in the founding of the European Cyclists’ Federation. Since then conferences have been held in cities including Copenhagen, Brussels, Seville, Vancouver, Vienna, Adelaide, Nantes and Taipei. Velo-city conferences are now attracting about 1,500 delegates from more than 65 different countries.

Velo-city conferences bring together those involved in policy, promotion and the provision of cycling facilities and programs. Engineers, planners, architects, social marketers, academic researchers, environmentalists, business, and industry representatives join forces with government at all levels ranging from municipal politicians, policy makers and educators in knowledge sharing in order to build effective trans-national partnerships to deliver benefits worldwide.

The host city for Velo-city 2018 is Rio de Janeiro, June 12 – 15, 2018

Rio, being the host city of the World Cup in 2014 and of the Olympics in 2016, will now also be host of ECF’s annual global summit on cycling Velo-city, the largest international bicycle planning conference. “After taking Velo-city from Europe, to North America, Australia, and Asia, the ECF Board made an unanimous decision to have a South American edition of Velo-city: and Rio was the clear choice” according to ECF President Manfred Neun.