Wiki Wednesday: Ciclovía

With New York’s big Summer Streets premier less than 72 hours away, this week we’re highlighting the StreetsWiki entry on the mother of all car-free events, Bogotá’s Ciclovía. Actually, the phrase “car-free event” doesn’t quite do justice to a weekly gathering of a million people along 70 miles of streets. And as the authors note, much more goes on at Ciclovía than the name alone implies:

­Bikes dominate the name and the landscape of Ciclovia, but there is
a lot more to it than that. Ciclovi­a days in Bogota are combined with
Recreovi­a (pictured at right), a program of free public exercise
activities in parks and other car-free areas.[7] Activities include
dancing, yoga, and aerobics, led by professionals who are paid by the
city and accompanied by festive music.

It also provides tremendous business to vendors who serve Ciclovi­a participants.[1]

Credit for this entry goes to Meg Saggese, Lily Bernheimer, Corey Burger, Nathan Schneider, and Paul Cone. Feel free to get in there and edit, if you’d like.

On a related note, I’ve noticed an uptick in user-submitted entries on StreetsWiki lately. Thanks for depositing your knowledge with the Livable Streets Network, Streetsbloggers. Keep it coming and watch for your contributions on Wiki Wednesdays.