green — British journalist in Munich, Germany

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but Munich in the past year or so seems to have become a lot more impatient in its wait for the city’s transformation into a more sustainable place to live. From the ‘save the bees’ vote (which the bees won, I’m happy to say) to the regular FridaysForFuture gatherings at Marienplatz, it is clear that Münchners want a greener, more sustainable city. The current big initiative is the Radentscheid: the bicycle referendum.

In a recent interview with me for a magazine article about how sustainable Munich is, Fabian Norden, a political advisor to Green politician Markus Büchler, told me that Munich has a ‘bike usage’ of around ‘18 per cent’. It’s below smaller cities with lower populations, he noted, such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen. But, ‘It’s up near the top for a city of more than one million people.’

Cyclists signing the bicycle Munich referendum (picture from Radentscheid München: https://www.radentscheidmuenchen.de/presse/)

As the Radentscheid indicates, however, with all we know about climate change, and our experience of trying to bike along streets packed with cars and other motorised vehicles, much more needs to be done to make the Bavarian capital more enticing to potential bike riders.

The aim is to radically transform cycling in Munich in a number of ways: creating ‘safer, wider and more convenient cycling paths’, for example; and a ‘city-wide, continuous and dense cycling network’. Clearly, claims that Munich is already a bicycle capital (German) is wide of the mark, something the referendum is aiming to help change.

Check out the Radentscheid München (English) website to find out more, including where to sign the referendum.

December 2019
- Dec 16, 2019 ÖDP's Sonja Haider interview: sustainable Munich & European Green Capital Award Dec 16, 2019
October 2019
- Oct 16, 2019 Munich city council reveals first plans for cycle path round Altstadt Oct 16, 2019
August 2019
- Aug 30, 2019 Let the train take the strain (out of travel) Aug 30, 2019
July 2019
- Jul 24, 2019 A coal-free Munich by 2020? Jul 24, 2019
- Jul 17, 2019 Munich CSU and SPD overturn 2022 coal referendum result Jul 17, 2019
- Jul 15, 2019 Extinction Rebellion rebel in Munich Jul 15, 2019
- Jul 9, 2019 SPD and Greens need to deliver on Munich cycling transformation Jul 9, 2019
June 2019
- Jun 24, 2019 Munich's historic old city petition hits target for referendum Jun 24, 2019
- Jun 24, 2019 Munich, cycling backwater to cycling capital? Jun 24, 2019
May 2019
- May 8, 2019 Munich modernises but is it modernisation without joined-up thinking? May 8, 2019
- May 5, 2019 Munich: carbon neutral or net zero? May 5, 2019
- May 3, 2019 Munich also needs to declare a climate emergency – now May 3, 2019
April 2019
- Apr 20, 2019 Extinction Rebellion in pictures Apr 20, 2019
- Apr 20, 2019 Extinction Rebellion comes to Munich Apr 20, 2019
- Apr 17, 2019 Munich aims to sign up cyclists Apr 17, 2019
- Apr 17, 2019 Munich Green Apr 17, 2019

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