蜜芽传媒

The city of Oulu in northern Finland is just below the Arctic Circle and it has snow on the ground from November to the end of April. But that does not stop people from cycling: 42% of residents regularly use their bikes throughout the winter. It is a lot more than other cities with a similar climate; in Winnipeg, Canada, for instance, only 6% of the population cycles in the winter. What鈥檚 the secret?

Journalist Erika Benke (who now lives in Oulu), spoke to Pekka Tahkola, an urban wellbeing engineer. He says, "Minus 11, -12, that's nothing extraordinary. Average temperatures might be a tad bit colder. My job is to make the conditions better so that people want to use their muscles to move about in their daily lives... waking, cycling."

"It's about the maintenance and the quality of the infrastructure that makes people want to cycle and walk. In Oulu alone we have over 950 metres of separated, segregated bicycle path" he says.

Pekka Tahkola insists the people of Oulu are not "hardcore". "We are just regular wimps who are blessed with good infrastructure and maintenance." he says.

(Photo: A bicycle rickshaw carries old people in the snow . Credit: Erika Benke)

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