Collective Choices
Our future is based on our choices. The ones we make as individuals and also the ones we make as groups, countries and as a species. A peaceful and plentiful future is only possible if we agree on making sustainable choices together. Collective Choices is a podcast that aims to explore both possible solutions to some of our current issues and also the process of reaching agreements for the common good. As more and more people live in cities, these are the key centers that define economic models, political decisions, consumer behavior and mindset shifts with all the eventual global consequences, so we will talk quite a bit about how we can improve life in urban spaces. I am Doru Oprisan, a radio journalist and photographer who loves to ride his bicycle in Stockholm, Sweden.
Collective Choices
Ep. 16 - How Paris transformed itself, a look behind the scenes
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Charlotte Guth is the former Head of the Cycling Mission for the City of Paris and has overseen lots of the changes that have made Paris a very different city from the congested metropolis that it was a few years ago. A long journey from possible to enjoyable.
We talk about:
- starting from "Paris will never be a cycling city"
- is the bike even a legitimate means of transport?
- the surprising times when the right wing was pro cycling
- big ambitions, but how do you build fast in a congested city?
- shifting from patchy infrastructure to functional network and high quality
- why moving cars is easy for engineers, but moving bikes is hard
- bike lanes as political statements
- what is not yet done?
- planning for heatwaves, challenges
- more cyclists, but who exactly?
- how it feels to cycle in Paris
The picnic reference is about the movement that started in Brussels with the "Picnic the Streets" protest on June 2012 in Place de la Bourse:
https://bral.brussels/en/artikel/picnic-streets-ten-years-later-0
This episode was recorded during the Sweden’s National Cycling Conference in Stockholm, 25-27 August 2026. Thanks Stockholms Stad and Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner for having me.
Collective Choices is a podcast by Doru Oprisan, exploring sustainable choices for a better future and the process of agreeing on those choices. Thanks for listening and sharing!
Get in touch:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doruoprisan/
www.doruoprisan.com
