In the latest article in our Urban Pioneers series, Eurocities sits down with Francesco Iacorossi to learn about his role as BYCS’ Rome Bicycle Mayor.
Over the course of his career, Francesco has worked with several EU-funded projects focused on mobility. This journey led him to Eurocities, where he now serves as the Project Coordinator of UPPER, a project aimed at strengthening public transport.
He admits like most Romans, he wasn’t “born on a bicycle.” His affinity with the bike and active mobility was first sparked when he began working on the EU-funded project, PASTA (Physical Activity Through Sustainable Transport Approaches) in 2013. He cites this project as a major breakthrough in his career and for mobility research as a whole. The PASTA team is even responsible for coining the term ‘active mobility.’
He first met BYCS’ co-founder and CEO, Maud de Vries, when he was working on another ‘velo-relutionary’ EU-funded project called Handshake. De Vries introduced him to BYCS’ Bicycle Mayor Network, its initiative to keep cycling issues front and centre and accelerate cycling in cities. Although not linked to the municipality itself, Bicycle Mayors are appointed by BYCS and serve as a champion of cycling within their city and then brings those findings back to share with the wider Bicycle Mayor Network.
Francesco became BYCS’ Rome Bicycle Mayor in 2019. In this role, he acts as a catalyst of cycling culture operating between the community, government, and industry to provide a unique on-the-ground perspective. As Bicycle Mayor, he has faced a global pandemic, shifting political will, and negotiating the reallocation of space with resistant motorists, but his determination to transform his city into a healthier and more sustainable place keeps him advocating for active mobility.
What are you trying to achieve in your position?
In order to achieve all we work on, a cultural change is needed. Many factors will contribute to this success if we are to win this struggle. Cycling and pedestrian infrastructure will put more people on bikes. When I was first introduced to Handshake, I had a profound chat with the Amsterdam Bicycle Manager. He shared two insights that have stayed with me.
He said when you plan cycling infrastructure, don’t plan it for those who cycle already, but for those who are reluctant to cycle. The next question to ask yourself is: Would you let your loved one cycle on the infrastructure you have just planned? These two simple sentences enable you to truly understand and evaluate the quality of your intervention.
What’s your personal motivation to do this job?
Rome is an auto-centric environment where the bicycle is mostly used for recreational activities like going to the park. Streets were – and still are for the most part – conceived for and dedicated to motorists.
If you want to properly develop cycling and walking measures in your city, it is unthinkable not to have a Bicycle Mayor. I am driven to reconstruct the cultural concept of a society in favour of active mobility. I think it is crucial to strengthen partnership and collaboration with world-class cycling cities to share cycling solutions. In Rome, I am motivated to take back our streets!
What are your main challenges?
Everything is there for us, we have literature galore. We are overwhelmed by data. It’s not like 15 years ago where we were trying to collect data to convince those sceptical. No, we have all the information we need.
The PASTA project had a comprehensive geographic scope. It involved Rome, London, Barcelona among other cities. It gathered data from more than 10,000 citizens in its course. It is possibly the most major study that ever took place in the EU. The data gathered fed into literature and studies are still being produced based on what was gathered.
The vast majority of these studies prove that active mobility is the solution. The materials are free to be distributed to administrators, mayors and other key stakeholders who are key to changing behaviours. They are key to changing the way people think about their neighbourhoods. If you can talk to residents about changes to their built environment, and have literature that backs up its benefits, that is highly valuable. We have no excuses anymore these days, it’s about political will.
When was the last time you felt that your position had a positive impact on your city’s inhabitants?
Citizens are still quite far away from completely implementing active mobility in their everyday lives. Every time we try to implement something on the topic of active mobility, it causes some degree of backlash as it often involves measures such as reducing parking spots or preventing double-parking. All these ‘wrong-doings’ are well-established privileges people have become accustomed to and, if you take them away, they get upset. There is always a transition phase needed, and a strategy to make people aware of the benefits.
We managed to react quickly in the face of the pandemic. We were fast and pragmatic. We worked rapidly and had already prepared an extensive transitory bike plan. Although we knew paint wasn’t the end-all solution, it proved to be reliable, safe and quick to implement. One of the solutions we used was moving the parking lines two metres aside which gave us a quick way to expand the cycling network and provide cyclists with more protection.
In many ways, Covid-19 streamlined the process. I had been preaching about active mobility since 2013, so the idea that we needed a pandemic to highlight the wrong way we had been living was bittersweet for me.
If you had a magic wand, what could significantly improve the way you do your job?
What we still lack is long-lasting political will. As a Bicycle Mayor, I can bring best-practice ideas to the table, promote initiatives, campaign, and lead by example. However, I am not powerful enough to put them all into practice alone. It takes courage to develop these ideas further.
Pitch your job to other local, regional, national or European governments.
The many benefits of cycling and active mobility are very well known nowadays. Despite that, car dominance is still yet to be defeated. We need to keep fighting to reclaim our space on the streets. It’s crucial to raise awareness among urban residents about the diverse transportation options available, highlighting their convenience and benefits.
Everyone, whether a child, an elderly citizen, a person with disabilities, a pregnant woman, a delivery worker or anyone else, should be able to safely, comfortably and happily cycle throughout our cities. Creating a Bicycle Mayor position will surely contribute to supporting and achieving the change we all deserve!
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This interview is part of ‘Urban Pioneers,’ a Eurocities series published every second and fourth Monday of the month spotlighting innovative and original job positions in municipalities across Europe. Each article in this series highlights a job position aimed at improving wellbeing, health conditions, society and the environment in cities. From tackling the urban heat island effect to countering gender imbalances to encouraging sustainable mobility, ‘Urban Pioneers’ showcases how cities are leading by example and breaking new ground in enhancing people’s quality of life. ‘Urban Pioneers’ jobs can inspire national, regional and EU authorities to create similar positions in their own structures, multiplying across Europe’s regions and nations the positive impact that started in cities.
Article one: Officer for Basic Research in Women´s Issues in Vienna
Article two: Malmo’s Skateboarding Coordinator
Article three: Amsterdam’s Bicycle Mayor
Article four: Brussel’s Bouwmeester Maitre Architecte
Article five: Munich’s Head of the Equal Opportunities Office for Women
Article six: Vienna’s Integration Officer
