Brussels

motorists aren't nearly so aware of cycles in brussels as they are in ghent, so it was a bit unnerving cycling there, but i avoided any accident, and at the end of my three day stay i was getting used to it. Johan goossens cycled down from duffel in his velomobile to join me for some of the time (and let the green architect Luc Schuiten have a go in it - see the video) - we attended a conference on local environmental initiatives which included a presentation on transition Bielefeld (Germany) from Gerd Wessling - i will be visiting when i pass through germany in late october.
While I was in Brussels I also met Xavier van der Stappen, an anthropologist who has travelled from Dakar to Paris in an electrically assisted velomobile, and plans to go from Copenhagen to Cape Town next spring. He is doing this to demonstrate a new form of mobility, and this combination of pedal power with green electricity has the great advantage that it improves your health as well as helping the planet. We visited an exhibition on climate change and I photographed him standing on a giant map of Africa