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The future of bicycle civilization from Micro Mobility.By Jan-Nan Chen, IBDC JurorIBDC has been searching for great designs from all over the world for 13 years. Since 2007 which is the 12th year of IBDC, %u201cMicro Mobility%u201d has been used repeatedly as a main theme. Whilst IBDC is still the only design competition in the world for bicycles only, why has the concept been so important, and what is the real meaning of %u201cMicro Mobility?%u201dWell, %u201cMicro Mobility%u201d represents a trend of how bicycle design is to be developed in future as well as a start of brand new bicycle culture. I personally think that it at least incorporates four of the following elements:1. Light Weight. Bicycles represent a tool for individual mobility. A light weight bicycle means greater portability and smoother pedalling for consumers, and for the whole industry, it is a breakthrough of material, design and manufacturing processes. The bicycle company, Scott, for example, has recently been promoting a carbon fibres road bike %u201cAddict LTD%u201d which weights 5.9kg only. Although many have found it quiet unbelievable, there is no doubt that a less-than-5kg bike will soon be published as the current bicycle technology is advancing rapidly.2. Scale Down. Alex Moulton from UK first started selling his own design of small-wheeled bicycles in 1962. Since then, bicycle industry had been very keen on minimising sizes effectively for easy folding and storage without affecting riding comfortableness. We have then seen the folding bike by Brompton from UK in 1975 and Dahon from USA in 1980 on market. After almost half century of refinements and improvements, folding bikes no long appear as basic as it first looked like and have become a fashionable mobility tool for individual in metropolis. We can even feel heat of the wave ever since the trend of smallfolds (eg. Nickname for folding bikes) first emerged in Taiwan in 2007.3. Connection with Public Transportation. Following the effects of global warming and newly emerged eco-trend of cutting carbon dioxide emissions, using private automobiles as means of day to day transportation is no longer anticipated. Public transports which have the important elements of riding together and sharing have been heavily promoted and encouraged. Coupled with the characters of Light Weight and Scale Down as mentioned above, bicycles offer tremendous potentials for individual to move about easily with the combined use of public transports. In fact, in addition to the environmental friendly character, bicycles also increase the usage effectiveness of public transports in unban cities.4. Private Domain into Public Domain. The transferring of bicycles' property right from private to public increases the usage effectiveness of bicycles. The Velib a public bicycle scheme in Paris of France provides one fine example. It allows great convenience for transferring in and between public transports, of which raises the usage of public transportations. This has further helped to ease traffic problems in Paris, created topics of green and environmental issues, and even helped in promoting Paris's urban image and its tourist value. In fact, such scheme may also be adopted in many places such as sightseeing scenic areas, amusement park, shopping center as well as campus to create positive images for the areas in terms of mobility convenience for individuals. There is definitely a great potential in the development and application of public bicycle scheme.The above-mentioned is my humble view on %u201cMicro Mobility%u201d that was formed from being an IBDC judge in the past years. I do hope it can spark more creative and valuable thoughts, which can provide a basis for more outstanding designs in IBDC in future.IBDC News