Taking it to the streets

One of our goals for We Walk, We Cycle, We Vote this year was to promote more positive campaigning that gets ideas out of our social media bubbles and out into the real world. Sometimes this can be a substantial effort, such as our Firestarter Festival Popup Park (of which more later) – but sometimes it can be as simple as a stencil, some chalk, and a little bit of overnight action.

This Valentine’s Day we joined forces with Walk Cycle Vote supporters the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, GoBike, Cycling Dumfries, Bike4Good and a few assorted volunteers to ‘love bomb’ some of our favourite bits of cycling infrastructure with a (temporary and ecologically friendly!) “Insert Loved one Here” #ILOH heart tag .

The point was to highlight the benefits that the best quality infrastructure brings – the routes you’d be perfectly happy to see any of your loved ones using, young or old, fit or not.

It didn’t have to be something big – sometimes a couple of well placed dropped kerbs make all the difference

And if it triggers a bit of friendly rivalry between cycle campaigns (and councils) then all to the good …

The campaign was inspired by the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, whose online “Insert Loved one Here” tool launched last year to highlight the dangers of poor quality cycling infrastructure. Go Bike then took the campaign out onto the streets of Glasgow, with striking effect:

But we wanted to make sure that we didn’t just complain about the things we didn’t like – we need to be clear about what we do like. And both Go Bike and Cycling Dumfries took up the baton despite snow and freezing temperatures.

Thanks to everyone who ventured out on a baltic night to spread a little infrastructure love! And if you missed the fun, don’t worry – you can take part online with the updated version of the Cycling Embassy tool, which now lets you flag up the best conditions with a positive heart …

Even if you might have to cross the North Sea to find the very best examples

By the way  if you’re interested in refreshing your campaigning skills, sharing ideas or networking with other campaigners, then do sign up for our Campaigners’ Day in Glasgow on Saturday March 3rd.  More details to follow!