Traffic is the main source of nitrogen dioxide emissions. It causes 80% of noise pollution and is a major generator of fear and stress for drivers and pedestrians alike. Around the world, on a daily basis, 93% of children breath air that affects their physical and mental health.

 Bicycles are a means to begin to gain a different understanding of cities. They steer us away from the seemingly immovable idea that cities are made exclusively for cars. And they are one of the tools we can use to build a different and more human urban environment that entices people to walk and use public transportation. Cities that are more sustainable, with more green areas, more pleasant, calmer, quieter.

The FestiBal with a B for Bike is an initiative created by Viernes to promote the use of bicycles as a means of transportation. In 2017, the Festival drew 60,000 attendants. It stands as collective action in response to pollution, the climate emergency and social inequality in the city with a view to making Madrid a more human, kinder, healthier place.  

 FestiBal came about in 2011, thanks to a collaboration with Matadero Madrid and the support of its then director Pablo Berástegui. Its goal was clear and ambitious: help make Madrid a city for bikes. But how could such a feat be achieved? We began by misspelling the world FestiBal to draw attention by straying from the norm, by trying to fit the bike in where it hadn’t been before in order to normalize its use, to become accustomed to it. You have to start somewhere.

 Over the years, FestiBal gradually took hold as an encounter for artisans, entrepreneurs, families, youth, seniors and ordinary residents of Madrid who long for a city with a different model. One weekend a year, Matadero Madrid was filled with a host of activities: games and non-competitive comedy contests for people of all ages: Slowrace; the fair to promote local business hinging around bikes; the Banco de Bicis (Bicycle bank); zona BMX, coordinated in collaboration with various urban biking groups; aventures and creative workshops specifically for girls and boys; art interventions, shows and performances; opportunities to reflect through talks, conferences and encounters; and, of course, music.

FestiBal grow in parallel and witnessed a slow, timid but considerable improvement in how bikes were treated. But the current situation has taken a radical turn in the opposite direction. In Madrid, leading the ranking of European cities with the highest mortality associated with nitrogen dioxide emissions, several segregated cycle lanes have been eliminated to give priority to cars. The public bicycle system is being neglected. Public support has been withdrawn and there have even been counter-bicycle measures taken, depriving the city of a true cycle route system. Unfortunately, we have lost the opportunity the pandemic would have afforded us to implant bike mobility just as Milan, Brussels and Paris have done. 

 We need to develop the ability to envisage other worlds if we want to change our own. And FestiBal with a B for Bike is a great exercise putting people’s imagination to work towards an immediate future that is possible, recognizing the bicycle as a vehicle that can truly transform the world, changing the perceptions we have of our cities and their dwellers. Through creativity, music, games and humor we experience the joy of meeting, recognizing each other and relating.

 This collective vision brings together slow races, dancers on bikes, intergenerational games, walking and breathing classes, surrealist attractions and bike congas. A dream for the people in cities where everyone rides bicycles and walks. If we can imagine that, who knows what we’ll be able to achieve?