The World Bike Forum is a yearly cycling activism event in which the topics of bicycle urban mobility and the planning of cities made by and for the people are discussed. According to its creators the WBF began as an answer to an automobile driver deliberately colliding with around 20 cyclists that were participating in a Critical Mass event in Porto Alegre on February 25, 2011. The first edition of the WBF took place during the first anniversary of these events. The WBF is composed of different events that include discussion panels with invited speakers, self-managed workshops, cultural activities including art and video exhibitions, artistic performances and several cycling events. Beyond the discussion, the WBF tries to strengthen the social networks among participants from different cities and countries, to encourage permanent changes in the venue city and, through the sharing of experiences and practical workshops, to stimulate an immediate personal change of the participants. The WBF has been held in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba. In 2015 Medellin, Colombia, was the first city outside of Brazil to host the event. The 2016 edition of the event took place in Santiago, Chile, from March 31 to April 05, 2016. The 2017 edition was held in Mexico City, Mexico April 19 to 23 2017, with the theme 'Handmade Cities'. The 2018 edition was held in Peru, Lima. The 2019 edition will be held in Quito, Equador 25th to the 28th april, with the theme 'MINGA'. The 2020 edition will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Guiding Principles
Freeness: All activities within the Forum must be completely free for any interested person. Also, the access to other services without cost such as lodging or the lending of bicycles is sought.
Horizontality: The planning and organizing is done through volunteer work, with all information being public and no hierarchy within the involved personnel
Self managed: Except for the main conferences and some special events, most of the proposed activities are self managed.
Made by the people: Although many partnerships and communication channels are established among institutions of diverse backgrounds, the work is ultimately done by individuals, with no appropriation by private enterprises and free of publicity, logos or trademarked brands.
Previous editions
Curitiba - FMB2014
The 3rd edition of the WBF took place between February 13 and 16, 2014 under the motto "Cidade em Equilíbrio". In this edition the WBF had a strong growth with the attendance of international guests such as San Francisco's Critical Mass co-founder Chris Carlsson, San Francisco based Swiss artist Mona Caron, independent publisher focusing "on feminist nonfiction about bicycling" Elly Blue, and Danish architect and urban planner Lars Gemzøe. Nearly 80 self-managed activities took place Crowdfunding was used for the first time and a registration form, both online and live, was introduced in order to estimate the number of assistants and create communication channels among them. The event had a total of 1359 online and 243 live registrations. Presumably, since registration was not mandatory, the total number of assistants was larger. Representatives of 20 out of the 26 states of Brazil and at least 10 different countries led at least one activity or conference during the event. Among the assisting organizations were União de Ciclistas do Brasil, Clube de Cicloturismo do Brasil, CicloIguaçu, Ciclocidade, ViaCiclo Florianópolis, Rodas da Paz, Pedala Manaus, BH em Ciclo, Transporte Ativo, Associação de ciclismo de Balneário Camboriú e Camboriú, Associação Blumenau Pró-ciclovias, Associação de Ciclistas de Porto Alegre, Ciclovida UFPR and Bikes Not Bombs. Concurrently the film festival "Festival Ciclecine" took place with a strong attendance
