- Civic
-
Groene Hub
- Youth
- Impact template
-
- 0
Cycling is truly a Dutch phenomenon. We cycle to school from a young age, even receive cycling lessons at school, and remain active on bikes well into our later years. It is a well-known fact that cycling is a sustainable way to get around. The municipality of Amsterdam actively promotes the use of bicycles because cycling is healthy, contributes to cleaner air, and helps make Amsterdam a more liveable and accessible city. What many people may not know is that there is a bike culture that originated in America and with the hip-hop movement that is gaining traction in the City. Bike Life!
Bike life represents a life where being healthy takes precedence, and where one strives to live life from a position of strength. This involves both physical and mental well-being as well as a solid connection with other Bike Lifers. There is a collective cultural mindset that drives everyone to contribute to fun, challenges, development opportunities, and creativity. Bike Life provides opportunities for creative expression, freedom of choice, and community in the neighborhood by moving, working and doing tricks on bikes together (especially stunts and wheelies on BMX bikes).
However, owning a bike is not a given. For some people, having a bike is an expensive affair. In addition, repairing a bike can also be costly. In Holendrecht, having a well-functioning bike is not possible for everyone. As such some of our neighbors actively engage in repairing bikes for people in the neighborhood.
One such person is Glenn Pengel, a handy man who has been repairing bikes in Holendrecht for people, especially kids, for free for years. Glenn approaches neighbors he sees walking or biking whose bikes have issues and addresses the problem immediately. Due to his approach and the easy rapport he has with his neighbors, Glenn is asked regularly by residents to repair their bikes. Glenn wants to continue helping his neighbors but lacks a space to work. By collaborating with multiple parties to support Glenn's needs, a space has been created in the Groene Hub to start a Bike Kitchen, in collaboration with Bartendaz, the Municipality of Amsterdam, and UvA. The Kitchen is now equipped, and has enough space for multiple neighborhood bike mechanics to use as their repair shop.
Bike Doctors
Simultaneously, there is a municipality initiative to refurbish neglected children's bicycles. Consequently, the "bike doctors" initiative is now in place. The idea behind this project is to repair 1000 bicycles in Amsterdam by next year, specifically those belonging to primary school children. The approach involves sending the community workshop "bike doctors" to local schools to repair the children's bikes. By establishing a neighbourhood workshop – the Bike Kitchen – at the Groene Hub, our neighborhood bike mechanics are employed to fix as many bikes as possible. We coordinate with the municipality to assist in restoring 150 children's bicycles in 2023. By participating in the Bike Doctor project, the neighborhood bike mechanics have the opportunity to share their knowledge with local youth and inspire them to consider becoming a bicycle mechanic as a profession while engagine in the Bike Lifestyle from an early age. The municipality project aims to 1) provide resources for activities in the Bike Kitchen and 2) generate practical knowledge as well as scientific evidence about its functioning and impact.
