Sven Prince and Jorrit Spoelstra chose five major cities for their documentary, Genre de Vie, but they need money to make it
For some reason, Nanni Moretti's hypnotic tour through Rome on his Vespa in the film Dear Diary popped into my mind when I first read about Genre de Vie, an upcoming documentary looking at how major cities around the world are changing as bicycles become a fundamental part of their transport infrastructure.
It's the brainchild of a pair of cycle couriers in Rotterdam, Sven Prince and Jorrit Spoelstra, who started taking pictures of their city from their bikes and posting them online. About six months ago, they decided that something more ambitious was in order and now plan to visit five cities around the world and talk to people intimately involved with city planning about how urban spaces are changing. "The idea is to have people tell their stories by talking about bikes and their relationship to the cities," says Spoelstra on the phone from his home city. The pair's premise, that the view of a city from any sort of bike is unique, isn't a new one, as Moretti's film shows. But which cities are they planning to feature, and why?
Top of the list is Copenhagen. "It's the bicycle city of the world," says Prince. "Amsterdam, by contrast, has had a bicycle culture for a long time. But the interesting thing about Copenhagen is that it's a very recent phenomenon." Other cities on their itinerary include New York ? intriguing, they say, because it's a cycling city in a country that normally has, at best, an ambivalent attitude to bikes ? and they also have their eye on Barcelona "because the climate is nice but for some reason there isn't much interest in cycling".
Istanbul is on the hit list too but for a different reason. "They're promoting themselves as a world city but making no effort whatsoever with bikes. They're not building any bike lanes," says Spoelstra.
Whether we ever get to see their intriguing idea come to fruition depends, to some extent, on us. They need ?26,400 (�23,000) ? they currently have ?1,000 ? and are particularly interested in corporate sponsors. If the idea floats your, or your company's, boat you can help here (or here if your Dutch is up to speed). And in the meantime tell us which cities, good and bad for cyclists, you think they should visit. And why.
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