Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:36:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
For anyone who's looking at being an advocate for livable cities, know your why, have a support system and stay consistent. Consistency is the most crucial part of advocacy. If you started today, you stop and then you come back three months later. People will forget that you were doing something. So back when I took over, I made a decision that critical mass would be every last Saturday of every month, whether it's raining, whether it's sunny, whatever, whatever is happening out there.

00:00:36:07 - 00:00:38:29
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Critical mass will happen every last Saturday of every month.

00:00:39:00 - 00:01:06:15
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that was Cyprine Odada Mitchell, the executive director, outgoing of the critical mass in Nairobi, Kenya. We're going to be talking about the tenure that she has had there and, hinting a little bit about to the work that she'll be doing in the future. But before we do that, I just want to say, if you are enjoying this content here in the active towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador.

00:01:06:16 - 00:01:28:28
John Simmerman
Super easy to do. Just click on the Active Towns link down below. Active towns.org. Click on the support tab at the top of the page and there's several different options, including becoming a Patreon supporter. Patrons do get early and ad free access to all my video content. Okay, let's get right to it. With Cyprine.

00:01:29:01 - 00:01:33:05
John Simmerman
Cyprine, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.

00:01:33:08 - 00:01:36:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

00:01:36:07 - 00:01:45:05
John Simmerman
So I love giving my guests just an opportunity to say just a few words about themselves. So who the heck is free?

00:01:45:08 - 00:02:15:29
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Well, Cyprine is a Jacquelin of many trades, but, in somewhat to summarize, I am an urban planner by profession. I am an active mobility advocate. I have been in advocacy for the past, over a decade, and I love it. I love the work that we do, trying to get people back on the street to show different show, to showcase, cities in a different light, and just to be a spokesperson.

00:02:16:04 - 00:02:21:23
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I love being a spokesperson. For different road users.

00:02:21:26 - 00:02:30:15
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. And, And why don't you share? Where are your located? Where are you from? Where are you joining us from?

00:02:30:18 - 00:02:39:25
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I am based in Nairobi, Kenya. A lot of people don't know where Kenya is, but it is somewhere in the eastern part of Africa.

00:02:39:27 - 00:03:06:22
John Simmerman
Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. And I'm so excited to be, speaking with you here today. You and I have mutual friends out in the advocacy world. Many women who are doing some pretty awesome things out there. And and I love the spirit that you have and, and the work that you're doing, and really just it comes from the the heart of wanting to create more people oriented places.

00:03:06:25 - 00:03:33:15
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes. Well, thank you so much for that compliment. Sometimes I beat my head on the wall. I hit, I hit my head on the wall, trying to figure out if what we are doing actually makes sense. And then I meet someone whose life has changed because of the work that, the work that I've been doing. And it just gives me that reassurance that what we're doing, all this talk and fight and showing up even when no one wants to hear, makes sense.

00:03:33:15 - 00:03:39:27
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
When someone comes to you and tells you my life is better because of the work that you're doing. So that makes me so happy.

00:03:40:03 - 00:04:05:06
John Simmerman
Yeah. And over the past decade, you've been on nearly a decade, you've been, you know, really advocating you mentioned it in your, in your introduction, advocating for active mobility, more people oriented places and, safer streets. And that's manifested in this organization. So, tell us about what you've been doing over the past nine years there in Nairobi.

00:04:05:09 - 00:04:31:07
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Thank you. So for the past nine, actually, I'll be I should be clocking ten months in in April, but I couldn't make the ten month my ten year mark, not ten. My ten year mark. So I, I've been the CEO of Critical Mass Nairobi. I took over the convening of Critical mass back in 2015. And back then we were just a handful of cyclists.

00:04:31:07 - 00:04:54:14
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I think the biggest number we had was around 1015 cyclists and when I joined the group, unfortunately it was dying. And I didn't want that to happen because I just moved to Nairobi and I didn't I didn't know that many people. I was lonely, I wanted to exercise, I didn't have a job. So I was still hustling for work.

00:04:54:17 - 00:05:23:01
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And I found a community, among the cyclists. And I didn't want to let that go. And so I asked the founder if I could just take it over. And so that's exactly what I did. I took over and I ran with it. I decided that I'm going to make everybody fall in love with cycling just as much as I had, because it gave me a sense of purpose and also a community that I really longed for.

00:05:23:03 - 00:05:49:08
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And also being an urban planner, it gave me a different lens. I was now looking at the city from, from from a lens that I was never taught in school. In fact, the opposite happened. I started seeing all the mistakes other planners were making. And so through my, through the work that I was doing with Critical Mass, I was highlighting all the issues that, vulnerable road users, were facing, specifically pedestrians and cyclists.

00:05:49:11 - 00:06:18:00
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And I wanted to bring attention to that so urban planners could start fixing or correcting the mistakes our, our, our profession is responsible for. So for the past ten years, we've managed to make cycling, household mobility at home in Nairobi. And it has transcended to other cities in Kenya. And also, I think it has also started doing a lot of cycling, advocacy, but also projects.

00:06:18:00 - 00:06:20:12
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So it's been it's been a fantastic ten years.

00:06:20:14 - 00:06:49:13
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And we see in this fun little, you know, opportunity for a photo op here, you know, some of the taglines. It's like cycling for better cities. And so it's it's really, you know, connecting, riding a bike, which is can be a fun activity, but also connecting that to what you're talking about, which is that passion for, you know, what cycling can do to to help create better communities and better cities?

00:06:49:15 - 00:07:12:00
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Absolutely. And if you can read the tagline, that's something that I started saying back in 2017 and it's slowly but surely we are transforming our city into a cycling city. And that's because nobody believed that we could do it. Everybody said it's impossible. Everybody that all the doors we knocked on, nobody, nobody opened doors for us and nobody held our hand.

00:07:12:00 - 00:07:49:19
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So I wanted to prove people wrong. And so this tagline is something that I've always I started saying, but I started by saying, slowly but surely we shall transform it into a cycling city. And now I can confidently say, slowly but surely we have transformed, transformed into cycling city. There's so many cycling, groups that have now popped up to the point where I am confident that if I walk away from, from the work that I've been doing, there's no slowing cycling down, and our city is reaping the benefits of, the advocacy work that myself and several other people have been doing.

00:07:49:22 - 00:08:25:02
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And I just want to point out that the gentleman that you see on the photo, in the frame with me, is actually audio impaired, who cannot, speak. And he uses sign language, sign language to communicate. So as a cyclist, he feels having a community of, people riding bicycles has made it safer for him to cycle, but also brought some joy into his life because it's very difficult to be a, deaf or a mute cyclist in Arabic because you use your mouth a lot to communicate to other road users.

00:08:25:03 - 00:08:58:11
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
This tagline makes me so happy and you know, cycling for better city. It also makes me so happy because that's exactly what we are doing. We are not just telling people ride bicycles as a mode of transport for the sake of riding a bicycle, but telling people that you're actually changing. We actually changing the way our city is being designed by virtue of us just doing something as simple as riding a bicycle, having old, people in, let's say over 60, riding bicycles with young people, people from different economic backgrounds, riding bicycles together.

00:08:58:11 - 00:09:21:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
We are changing that. We are changing the, fabric of the city. We are showing people that it's possible to have communities in cities, and that's something that most cities grapple with because it's it's easy to isolate yourself or to stick to people within your own economic or social background. But we need to divide. We need to break that divide because cities need we need to come together.

00:09:21:04 - 00:09:25:07
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And I've found bicycles to be the easiest way to bring people together.

00:09:25:09 - 00:09:38:29
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And, kind of scroll through a couple of photos here, you know, with the group out riding, how big is Nairobi? What sort of a scale of a city are we talking about here?

00:09:39:02 - 00:10:04:23
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So, Nairobi. Let me see how Nairobi has changed over time. The colonial city is no longer. What do we have today? Is not like the, colonial city. And I don't remember offhand how big the city is, but what happened in the in 2010, we had the peripheral towns that were now, engulfed in the city.

00:10:04:23 - 00:10:36:09
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So we have so these Nairobi city, and then we have Nairobi County. And much of our activity is beyond the city boundaries. We have, rides that go up to, we have to the surrounding counties and the work that the cyclists we will come to critical mass sometimes can come from the neighboring counties. So, I don't have that number off the top of my head, but.

00:10:36:09 - 00:11:24:22
John Simmerman
We can see a little bit on the scale here from the photos that we're seeing. As we can see, you know, at least some of the streets are incredibly car, car dominated. In other words, there's a reason why critical mass is necessary and needed. In and the advocacy is needed and, and we can see, you know, the groups coming together and riding through that environment in, in you obviously have plugged yourself into this international world of, of bike advocacy and, and advocacy for more people oriented places and, and really creating places that can be vibrant and supporting of all ages and abilities, just like you mentioned with the gentleman, you know, that that,

00:11:24:24 - 00:11:35:05
John Simmerman
is mute. So it's like, yeah, it it's incredibly important to understand the context of, of why this is so necessary.

00:11:35:07 - 00:12:01:14
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes, absolutely. Have it to, to to to talk about this for just for a second. I have a very serious face. I have a very serious face in this photo. And it's because I'm actually working as a marshal. And what we we've done different, how how our critical mass is different from other critical masses is we have marshals and sometimes security.

00:12:01:14 - 00:12:29:18
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And that's because our roads are not the safest. We have very aggressive road users. Our infrastructure is also not very accommodating to cyclists. We have to have a I have a team or I had a team of brave soldiers who help me, control traffic. And, you know, it's us putting our lives on the line for other people to enjoy this activity and what it has done.

00:12:29:18 - 00:12:51:09
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
It has also other people seeing us, this, that confidence, instill this sense of safety in them. And a lot of people started coming up and forcefully advocating for their right to be on the street. So now cyclists are not just being pushed over or pushed out on the streets. Now they know they belong on the street and they have a right.

00:12:51:11 - 00:13:15:11
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
They can confidentially they are on the road as long as there is no cycling lane, provided that road is theirs. And in this photo we have, a marshal protecting a child or riding next to a child. And again, it's mostly because our roads are not designed with cyclists in mind. So this child being out there by themselves would be like a suicide mission.

00:13:15:11 - 00:13:35:14
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
But the fact that we have a confident cyclist next to them gives them the confidence to ride, and also shows motorists that there is some order in what we are doing or there's order in what we are doing. So yeah, it makes it difficult for them to interfere with our, cycling with our bike rides.

00:13:35:16 - 00:13:51:05
John Simmerman
Yeah. And there's the pink here. We were joking about that because you said that your favorite color is pink. And there you are. As we say, as as the saying goes, pretty in pink.

00:13:51:08 - 00:14:18:19
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes. And my pink is actually very intentional. I wanted people to know that I am a female riding a bicycle and also not for motorists to know that I am a female riding a bicycle, but also cyclists to know that I am a female leading the the movement. Because being in a cycling is a male dominated field and a lot of women, struggle to find footing, but also their place in cycling.

00:14:18:19 - 00:14:45:12
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So when other women see this woman in pink, colorful, always. My helmet is pink, my handlebars are pink. They feel like they they are welcome in this activity. At the beginning, when we were back in 2016, 17, 18 and we noticed that very few women were riding bicycles or starting to ride bicycles, and that's when I decided to make that shift.

00:14:45:14 - 00:15:00:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I started being more colorful, more. Sometimes I ride in dresses or skirts just to make women feel like they are welcome, and they can do it. They can ride bicycles in whichever attire they feel most comfortable. And it has worked.

00:15:00:07 - 00:15:30:06
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. That's fantastic. And that's what I meant by, you know, I know that you're sort of, in tune and engaged with some of the, the network of powerful women who are advocating right now in this world of active mobility and, and people friendly cities in all ages and abilities, environments. So that's that's fantastic. Now, earlier you had alluded to the fact and you spoke in past tense, that you have moved on.

00:15:30:09 - 00:15:32:19
John Simmerman
So bring us up to speed.

00:15:32:21 - 00:15:55:05
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes. It was time, ten years leading this lovely movement. I think it was time for me to hand over the mantle to somebody else. Yeah. So we I wanted to give other people a chance to take this movement to whichever direction they could take it. I cannot be the only voice or the only, champion.

00:15:55:12 - 00:16:31:18
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I also wanted to do other things beyond cycling advocacy. I know my cycling community will not be very excited about me saying that, but I'm an urban planner. I, I Livable Cities, advocate. I want to advocate for other things beyond cycling. I'm very passionate about pedestrians, particularly children, and I want to use my voice to advocate for safe streets for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, but also generally just advocate for cities that are, that would allow everyone to thrive, not just cyclists.

00:16:31:21 - 00:16:48:21
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So, back in January, I made the bold move to start something else, which I will share soon, but it's still an, nonprofit organization, but one that allows me to do broader advocacy.

00:16:48:24 - 00:17:31:15
John Simmerman
Yeah, I love it, I love it. And one of the things that I try to emphasize here on the active trans channel two's, it's not about making our cities to be quote unquote, bike friendly as much as it is leveraging what the bicycle can do to to make the city a more livable place in, in, in general. And so it's one component of the other things that you were just mentioning, including, you know, how easy is it for somebody to be able to walk to meaningful destinations and, and be able to have really people, friendly places and streets and, and really trying to, you know, improve and enhance the overall livability of these places

00:17:31:15 - 00:17:53:06
John Simmerman
that especially in some of the images that we saw, have become so car dominated and almost hostile and violent in nature. And so transforming that for being not so much about what we're trying to do to enable cyclists, but what we're trying to do to make the overall community more welcoming for all ages and all abilities.

00:17:53:09 - 00:18:23:18
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes, I think they agree. And I think even beyond livability, something that upset me a few years back was learning that actually, in a city like Nairobi, where we have so much daily sunlight, we have children, there's, there's a rise in, children having rickets. How can we have rickets in Nairobi? And that's because children are not outside walking, cycling or playing.

00:18:23:18 - 00:18:51:09
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
We don't have safe streets for children to do what children should be doing because they're in houses, parking lots, they're in school, and the schools are shaded or don't have playgrounds. And it really hurt. It really hurt my feelings. I'm a mom to two small kids, and I. I have this burning desire to make my city better for my kids, so by the time they're adults, they can do anything they want on the streets.

00:18:51:09 - 00:18:54:01
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Well, within the confines of the law.

00:18:54:04 - 00:18:56:29
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.

00:18:57:01 - 00:19:20:02
John Simmerman
I we see a photo here that really leans into that of, of this is really about trying to make our communities more welcoming. And open to childhood independence and being able to have kids be able to get to their meaningful destinations, whether that's to school or down the block, to play with a friend, etc..

00:19:20:04 - 00:19:45:26
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yeah, no. Children, in my opinion, should be allowed to be children. And the easiest way for us to plant a seed of independence is through walking. If they can't get to their neighbor to their friend's house, they will stay in the house and they will not, and they will not know what it feels like to be free. The photo that you're sharing is one of my best photos, and it's a photo we took from one of the kids cycling events that I started.

00:19:45:28 - 00:20:13:03
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I called it totems, which is a Swahili word for child. So instead of that, instead of critical mass, which is the global time for cycling, the kids critical mass, I change it to total mass. And we've, we've so far it's, we've done around 7 or 6, total mass rides. And every ride we've had new children together with their parents or caregivers.

00:20:13:06 - 00:20:34:07
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And the thing that I love most about having children on the street is the impact it has on other road users. And just how much love and attention they get. It's so impactful that we even have the traffic police show up and give the children VIP escort. We don't even need to do anything. They call and ask, when are you going to have the ride?

00:20:34:09 - 00:21:00:17
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I'm bringing my child and that's not something about able to to get with the the bigger critical mass which has over 500 cyclists. But these little children create a bigger impact and have a bigger ripple effect than adults riding bicycles in the community, but also in their household, because we've seen that children whose parents don't know how to ride bicycles are challenged now they want to ride bicycles.

00:21:00:17 - 00:21:26:15
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And when parents learn to ride bicycles, the neighbors see them having fun with their children and they want to learn how to ride bicycles. So I've told the incoming director that this is the winning ticket for our cities adults. People think adults are resilient. They can handle anything. But when people see young children on striders or tricycles, navigating streets in Nairobi, motorists slow down.

00:21:26:17 - 00:21:34:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
All the chaos. Just calm down, comes down and base their smiles on people's faces. It makes me so happy.

00:21:34:06 - 00:22:05:23
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. So one of the things that that I love to see when I see these types of programs, these are what I call, the, the software activity assets, these are the things that are happening that are programing in nature. They're enhancing the awareness of issues and enhancing awareness of, the joy of of getting out and and being in one city, being able to, to get out on a bike and, and be able to walk to school.

00:22:05:23 - 00:22:34:21
John Simmerman
These are the types of programs that help to, you know, engage the community and enhance awareness of the overall community. The hardware activity, assets is becomes the built environment, the stuff that we actually start realizing that we need to transform the built environment to support, especially kids to be able to walk and bike to school safely. Are you starting to see that also transforming in Nairobi?

00:22:34:21 - 00:22:55:23
John Simmerman
Is the built environment starting to nudge in that direction? Obviously we look to the world best, you know, infrastructure in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Or do you get the sense that that momentum is now building, that the community wants to see safer places for people to be able to walk and bike?

00:22:55:25 - 00:23:18:10
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Absolutely. And I can say that with confidence, because the city, I think after a lot of the advocacy work that we've done, not just critical mass, but a lot of advocacy that has been done the past few years has now started building more footpaths or sidewalks and, bike lanes that are still struggling on the bike lanes.

00:23:18:12 - 00:23:44:13
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
But I will give them credit, for incorporating footpaths on different, roads in the city. And there's still a there's now a lot of push for the road agencies and the city to design better and connected, walking and cycling infrastructure. In the past we've had we've had we have we've had, cycling lanes that start from nowhere and end up nowhere.

00:23:44:13 - 00:24:07:26
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So they're not really usable or footpaths that, you know, are just in the city center. Most people in in Nairobi don't live in the city center, so they don't get to enjoy that infrastructure. But now I would say the city's doing something. And they also have they, they we have, non-motorized transport, policy in Nairobi, which was adopted in 2015.

00:24:07:26 - 00:24:46:16
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
But walking infrastructure never had a budget line. So there was no funding at, there's no there was no funding attached to what they had proposed in the in the policy. But now the city made some changes and indeed there is some money, going towards walking again. Cycling. We are still working on it. And that's something that I wanted to mention back in when I started doing this, this kind of advocacy, I used to hear the argument that we are not built this road agency and the city cannot build bike lanes because we don't have cyclists in Nairobi.

00:24:46:18 - 00:25:11:29
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And I always argued that we have cyclists. You just don't see them. So with the work that we've done, we've now made cyclists more visible. Nobody can say they cannot see at least 20 or 30 cyclists in the city. Every single day. We now have a lot more people commuting on bicycles, and it will only push the city and the road agencies to to start catering to those new road users.

00:25:12:03 - 00:25:39:03
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I mean, they're not new. They've always been there. They've just not been, visible to the naked eye. And I also argued with the road agencies about how they collect mobility data or transport data or how they conduct research, and it's always limited to whatever data they can collect on, vehicular traffic or, or the vehicles motorized traffic.

00:25:39:05 - 00:25:59:19
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And now we are pushing for them to also collect data on other road users. They need to know how many pedestrians are walking on that stretch of road that they want to build, going to expand the carriages for cars, they need to know how many cyclists are using the road. If they cannot do that, we can't continue doing the same thing and expecting different results.

00:25:59:23 - 00:26:00:21
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yeah.

00:26:00:24 - 00:26:25:17
John Simmerman
Now, earlier you had mentioned, that know you love wearing pink out there and you love sending that message. The, you know, the feminine side of of yes, women do ride bikes. And I love this little, photo that you sent on. This is a great graphic. Tell us about what this was all about. This is back in November of 2024.

00:26:25:19 - 00:26:47:29
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes. This was a fantastic event. So. And a critical mass, I came up with an, an initiative called Kenya Cycling Women. And this one is for all female cyclists in Kenya, not just Nairobi. And we even so, we created a WhatsApp group for the female cyclists. And it's the most vibrant and most enjoyable WhatsApp group to be in.

00:26:47:29 - 00:27:14:22
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And it's only for female cyclists. So this ride that you see here is I think it was the fourth ride. Previously we had a pink ride, a red ride, white ride, black white, right. We did several events, but last November we partnered with Women Mobilize Women, which is, a branch of, gazelle. And we wanted to showcase that, you know, it's okay to be a woman on a bicycle.

00:27:14:22 - 00:27:32:08
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And we wanted women to showcase it in whichever way they felt comfortable. So we decided on skirts, and a lot of female cyclists came with side skirts. And it was really it was a it was a lot of fun. And creating this poster was also so much fun. I used AI to design this poster.

00:27:32:11 - 00:28:02:12
John Simmerman
Very cool, very cool. Is there anything that we haven't covered yet that you want to make sure that we, we address for the audience about either, you know, the past work that you've done or what you without teasing out exactly what you're doing because I know you haven't announced it yet or what you what you feel that you know, what are you going to be doing in the future in terms of, like, what you want to do in terms of the passions?

00:28:02:14 - 00:28:27:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Well, what do I want to do in the future or currently doing that need to continue on is from the experience that I've had the past for the the past decade, learned that a lot of policymakers do not actually know how to develop good policies. I will soon be a graduates or an alumni at the London School of Economics, where I was studying.

00:28:27:07 - 00:28:48:15
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Sorry, elective masters in cities. And from there I learned a lot about cities, how to design good cities, how to come up with actionable strategies for cities and come up, develop good policies. So that's what I want to do. I want to help cities come up with good policies and policies that they can actually implement within whatever budget they have in Africa.

00:28:48:15 - 00:29:18:06
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
We have, and not just Africa, but in most cities across the world, cities do not know how to incorporate the needs or the desires of their diverse stakeholders and also budget for those needs accordingly. So my future looks like that kind of work where we are working. I will be working with different organizations to support cities, either in Africa or globally, to chart sustainable futures forward.

00:29:18:09 - 00:29:27:14
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Speaking of which, I suspect that we'll see more of this type of thing for you speaking internationally as well.

00:29:27:17 - 00:30:02:14
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I hope so. This was, in Germany, Hamburg, where we were supporting the, rather signing the charter. Mohamed, the Hamburg festivals, Sea Charter and the leaders from all over the world. And I was absolutely honored to be considered so highly to sit amongst some of the top global, leaders in transport and mobility. And that's now the direction I would like to go to continue advocating for better cities, not just locally, but globally.

00:30:02:16 - 00:30:16:04
John Simmerman
Yeah. You know, and if I remember correctly, out on LinkedIn, you were identified, and selected as part of like a, an upcoming leadership group. Is that correct?

00:30:16:06 - 00:30:43:16
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes, yes. Well, I'm waiting for my visa, but I should be in I should be in London in, end of this month, I'll be together with, several other thought leaders working to hoping to develop some, strategies for, for the UN and other cities globally. I called the other city because it, it operates like a city.

00:30:43:18 - 00:31:10:08
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So the workshop that I'm going to in, well, I'm hoping to go to in London, it's a multistakeholder workshop towards the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport, and it will be supported by look at and fun fact about look at when I was just starting in my transportation journeys. Look at picked up on the work that I was doing.

00:31:10:08 - 00:31:26:27
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And in 2020, remember it was Covid 2019 and I was awarded a young leader in sustainable transport. So yeah, so that's what I'll be doing in a later this month.

00:31:27:00 - 00:31:46:03
John Simmerman
Fantastic. Also see here to out on LinkedIn that you've been selected to join the list or. Yeah Elsie International Development Review and the editorial team. You'll be part of that powerful group right there. What's this all about?

00:31:46:06 - 00:32:27:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So this is me trying to be an academic. I love reading, I love, doing research. I love understanding what what is happening across the globe. And this role gives me that opportunity to review papers, research papers or opinion pieces from academics or authors from all over the world. It's under the London School of Books, which I'll soon be an alumni, which I'm very proud now to do something that wonderful institution that opened my eyes to things that I never, knew.

00:32:27:07 - 00:32:38:06
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
A lot of things that I need to know. So this year you'll have four issues. There's a main issue, but the one that I will be leading is that the issue on cities.

00:32:38:08 - 00:32:42:17
John Simmerman
Fabulous. LSE, London School of Economics. Got it.

00:32:42:19 - 00:32:51:14
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes, yes. And fun fact, it was voted as the best university in, social science in the whole world.

00:32:51:17 - 00:33:19:18
John Simmerman
Oh, well, congratulate nations. That's fantastic. You know that you that you have had that opportunity. I do want to go back to some of the the wonderful initiatives that you've been involved with there on the ground, with the critical mass. And it it kind of brings to mind when we were talking about how the city being able to see and appreciate that, yes, there were people out riding bikes.

00:33:19:18 - 00:33:46:12
John Simmerman
Yes, there are people who want to, to, to walk and bike to their meaningful destinations. It brings to mind the fact that that's part of the origins of what Critical Mass was all about. It's like coming out in a critical mass to indicate, to send a clear message to the city leaders that, you know, people do want to be able to get to meaningful destinations under their own power by walking and biking.

00:33:46:15 - 00:34:14:06
John Simmerman
And so it it helps to reinforce. And these programs help to reinforce that, you know, when you see, you know, this this image of, you know, the kids that that are out here, you know, there is a need, there's a need for that transformation of public space into becoming a more walkable and bikeable place, a transformation of the actual built environment.

00:34:14:09 - 00:34:35:22
John Simmerman
The other thing that kind of goes along with this is, is it's not just enough to, like, pull together the fun events, you know, that happen when you come together as a group. And 500 people can go out or 50 people or whatever. It's also what you can do to to help, you know, support people in making this a part of their life.

00:34:35:27 - 00:35:01:01
John Simmerman
And I think that's where the other types of training that you all have been involved with, such as, you know, learn to ride and other, you know, programs out there of like how to fix a flat tire, those sorts of things. Because in your empowering people, at the individual level, to feel like this can be part of their, their lives and they have that confidence that, oh, now, now I know how to ride.

00:35:01:01 - 00:35:11:04
John Simmerman
Now I know how to fix a flat. And it, you know, empowers them to to feel that self-efficacy that that they can do this.

00:35:11:06 - 00:35:35:14
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
That's completely true. Yeah. So we what we wanted to do with the critical mass was to make it a part of our culture, but also make people independent in a way that we want to fall in love with cycling and then start becoming cyclists. But also once you become a cyclist, you can continue being a cyclist.

00:35:35:16 - 00:36:06:28
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So we have one of the, one of a steps to getting people there is training people. Like I mentioned previously, we have a lot of mothers, a lot of moms and dads who are now start asking to return to asking if they could learn how, if they could be taught, how to ride bicycles. And what we realized was there are a lot of people who never had access to bicycle, and a lot of millennials who never had had access to bicycles because of many reasons.

00:36:06:28 - 00:36:27:29
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
But the main reason is they just didn't have bicycles or their neighbors didn't have bicycle, so they didn't have the privilege to ride, to ride bicycles. So this program is one amongst the different training programs that we have. So this specific one, we are also we partnered with an e-bike company where we are teaching people about e-bikes.

00:36:27:29 - 00:37:05:26
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
They're now starting to come in to Kenya. Not many people have used touch or even seen an electric bicycles bicycle. So this program allows them to experience, what it feels like to use to operate, to ride the bicycle. And this, I wanted to also talk about something, the mentality that we as urban planners or, and a lot of policymakers have about when it comes to infrastructure and the argument we've always had is just build it and they will come.

00:37:05:29 - 00:37:27:23
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
But yes, sometimes that's that sometimes that's the case. You can build it and people will come. But if people don't know that they are welcome, they will not show up. If people don't know that they belong in that space, they will not show up or they will use it in different ways. So we wanted people to. So we did the reverse.

00:37:27:26 - 00:37:39:19
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
We wanted people to fall in love with bicycle, with cycling, so that if in infrastructure comes, they know how to defend, protect and appreciate that infrastructure. We have a lot of

00:37:39:21 - 00:37:41:09
John Simmerman
Yeah, in.

00:37:41:12 - 00:38:15:03
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Places that we have footpaths and even bike lanes currently we have a lot of misuse of that infrastructure, and that's because people don't feel like they own it. They don't feel like it's there. They don't know if they should defend it, they should occupied. So we are making people have that sense of belonging and ownership so that when that infrastructure comes and somebody wants to put up, shop on the bike lane, they will be quick to tell them that's not allowed.

00:38:15:06 - 00:38:30:01
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And then that's another phrase that I like using, putting the cart before the horse or the horse before the cart. You hard to tell with. We don't know if we are the horse or we are the cash.

00:38:30:03 - 00:38:57:04
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, it's I'm glad you mentioned that too, because it's a really good point about the build it and they will come mentality. And I like to say that yeah it you have to do both. You have to do the hardware and the software and they have to work together. And different cities are at different stages in their evolution of, you know, becoming a more livable place.

00:38:57:07 - 00:39:19:19
John Simmerman
And a part of that is sometimes it's the demands of the people because they're coming together en masse, and they're saying and demanding and saying, we want this. And so then you're you're getting that. So the way I looked like to look at it is, you know, the the, the, the community comes up and really communicates to the city that, hey, this is what we want.

00:39:19:19 - 00:39:40:06
John Simmerman
We want more walkable and bikeable places here. And the city, you know, starts building it. But that's not enough. You still have to activate it. And as you mentioned, you have to increase awareness and education and all of that. So it's not as simple as build a bike lane and then, you know, sit back and look at it and see, see I told you nobody's riding there.

00:39:40:13 - 00:40:05:24
John Simmerman
It's like, no you can't do that. It's got to be both. So yeah, it's it's going to be the that really supportive environment of education and awareness and engagement. And then that creates that positive flywheel effect of the more people who are using this, the more people who feel empowered to it. And, and it just gets better and better and better and more folks moving forward.

00:40:05:27 - 00:40:17:12
John Simmerman
Now, you sent over a few photos, that I want to make sure that we address here and walk us through what we're looking at here.

00:40:17:14 - 00:40:44:09
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So this is something that I did, what we did back in 2024. Last year, we had a lot of rain, lots of floods in Nairobi. And I remember when, when it when it started flooding, I was actually in London in class and I was miserable. I one point I had to tell my professor, I'm sorry I, I'm struggling to concentrate because people are suffering back at home.

00:40:44:12 - 00:41:08:11
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And while I was in class, I thought, oh, what ways? How can I help? What is it that I can, what is it? What can I do to to to help, to help my community. And so this idea came to mind, using, I thought about working with the cycling community to support those who, adversely affected.

00:41:08:13 - 00:41:31:23
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And so I reached out to different bike shops in Nairobi. I put out a call asking if, someone, if anyone with a bike shop, would like their bike shop to be, pick up or a drop off point, and a lot of bike shops volunteered, this is not even the full list. And when I came back, which was almost, I think two days later, I hit the ground running.

00:41:31:23 - 00:42:10:09
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So the previous photo that you, you showed was one of the areas that were, flooded, but also demolished. So the government came back, the city came back and flattened the houses. Those the houses, granted, they were on riparian land, but I think the timing was just a bit harsh. So we mobilized, the donations collected funds, and we collected enough donation to help so many families, so much that we had enough to share with the with, communities outside of Nairobi.

00:42:10:11 - 00:42:35:00
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I feel like this is one of the proudest moments that I have ever. This I could not believe that we had so many donations. And it wasn't just cyclists donating, it was entire Nairobi. Because people have people have friends, people have families who want to help, but they just didn't know how to help. There's even someone who offered their helicopter.

00:42:35:03 - 00:43:03:04
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I didn't even know someone could do that, but they offered the helicopter as, for evacuation. Yeah, this it was a it was a good strategy, but it was also very emotional. It was very painful seeing all those people suffering. But I was really proud of the cycling community and how they took this on. And they got their neighbors and their friends and whoever to donate.

00:43:03:07 - 00:43:29:16
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. So after nearly ten years, you were at the helm of doing this. What advice would you have for other communities and other advocates that want to do something, get something going in their community and make a difference, and creating a more livable community.

00:43:29:19 - 00:43:57:23
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Well, let me start with anyone who wants to be an advocate. You know, this kind of work is not easy. The truth is it's very it's very tiresome. It's very exhausting. It's also very isolating the days where you want to quit. But it's important to know your why. Know why you're doing what you're doing. For me, it was I always felt like what I'm doing, it's bigger than me and it needed to be done.

00:43:57:26 - 00:44:19:18
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
And if I didn't do it, why would I expect somebody else to do it? I had a vision of what I wanted with this movement, and I, I made a pact with myself that I will do it and I will stick to it. No matter what. I did it because it was important for me and for my city.

00:44:19:21 - 00:44:42:10
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So know your why and also surround yourself with people who will will support your vision doing crazy things like this. Me wearing this long dress. You need. You need a support system to, to encourage you and tell you I know you. It will look crazy, but it makes sense because somebody will see the humor in this and you want to join.

00:44:42:10 - 00:45:22:22
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
So for anyone who's looking at being an advocate for livable cities know you, we have a support system and stay consistent. And consistency is the most crucial part of advocacy. If you start it today, you stop and then you come back three months later. People will forget that you were doing something. So back when I took over, I made a decision that critical mass will be every last Saturday of every month, whether it's rainy, whether it's sunny, whatever, whatever is happening out there, critical mass will happen every last Saturday of every month.

00:45:22:24 - 00:45:50:12
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
That said, the days when it rained heavily and we had to stop or we couldn't have rides or we had political issues or that the so yeah, the political things going on, we couldn't have the right. But if there was no if there are no, external factors that are beyond our control, we had arrived. I don't even know how many rides we've had, but minus the Covid years, we've had many rides.

00:45:50:14 - 00:45:58:01
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Now, what message would you have for city leaders and politicians?

00:45:58:04 - 00:46:22:25
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
For politicians? It's hard to tell because I don't if conditions are driven by different things, the politicians who are driven by the desire to change their, their country, and there are some who are driven by personal interests. But I would say to anyone who is in leadership or who has the mighty power of the pen. Do the right thing.

00:46:22:27 - 00:46:44:13
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes, it's easy to, you know, close your eyes and just assume things will work out or might not work out, but you have the mighty power of the pen. It's important for you to leave and leave a legacy that even your children will be proud of. This, the photo that you're seeing is, one of the MPs who was kind enough to.

00:46:44:15 - 00:47:10:02
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
After lots of trying, we finally found a politician who was willing to sponsor a bill that we drafted to amend a law in Kenya. We wanted walking and cycling infrastructure to be embedded in law, because right now it's not it's neither here nor there. It's easy for road agency to omit them from from designs because it is not mandates.

00:47:10:02 - 00:47:35:02
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
It is not it is not mandated. They can just do whatever they want. So we wanted to change the law so that if pedestrians are demanding for our footpath, cyclists are demanding for bike lanes. It is their legal right to get that vital infrastructure. Yeah. So for politicians, it's important to put your to wear shoes, to wear the shoes of other, vulnerable road users.

00:47:35:04 - 00:47:57:07
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And it's something I try to emphasize a lot here on the channel is that. Yes. We need to come together as a group, as a community and en masse. And then we need to send that message to our leaders, our city leaders, that this is important to us. Because if we just kind of assume that somebody else is going to send that message to them, they may not ever hear that message.

00:47:57:07 - 00:48:19:21
John Simmerman
Maybe the only message that they're hearing is from the car driving public. And, certainly when changes start happening to the environment, that's who they hear from. Or people who don't want to see a change in the status quo of drive everywhere for everything. So, yeah, it's very, very important for us to have both the bottom up as well as the top down.

00:48:19:21 - 00:48:24:13
John Simmerman
And the only way the top can hear and can know is they need to hear it from us.

00:48:24:16 - 00:48:51:09
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Absolutely. I do agree it's time for Livable Cities Champions, not necessarily to be lobbies, but to also lobby for these things. We cannot just take this soft approach all the time and expect change to happen. We have to speak to politicians. At the end of the day, they're the ones making the decisions. We cannot just write reports and expect the reports will get to the desks of politicians.

00:48:51:09 - 00:48:58:17
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
We have to engage them. We have to speak to them. We have to knock on those doors and hopefully something positive will happen.

00:48:58:19 - 00:49:14:18
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. Are there any last things that you want to share with the audience before we, we part ways and then we we must schedule a, an encore presentation at some point when you're in your new role.

00:49:14:21 - 00:49:35:06
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Yes. This has been this has been good. I usually bite my tongue when I, when I have interviews, but this has been good. Any parting shots? Parting shots from me on to say. I would say I think everyone should be an advocate for livable cities, including children. And personally, that's something that I'm trying to do with my children.

00:49:35:06 - 00:50:03:28
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
I'm teaching my children about walking and cycling and even what advocacy looks like. But for a young child, so much that I have written or I am in the process of writing a children's book and into it, it will be based on this child who wants to walk to school but is unable to walk to school because the roads are unsafe, and she keeps prodding the mom, asking the mother if she could walk to school.

00:50:03:28 - 00:50:32:06
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Eventually, the mom, petitions and forces the mayor or the city to build, footpaths and bike lanes. And then the child is now ready to walk to school. I think all of us should speak to our children about what kind of a city they would like to live in. And slowly and surely we will have. We will have cities that are enjoyable to live in.

00:50:32:09 - 00:50:39:12
John Simmerman
I love it, I love it. So when you get that book done, that's what we need to do. The next time we'll profile your book.

00:50:39:15 - 00:50:42:18
John Simmerman

00:50:42:20 - 00:50:49:16
John Simmerman
Yeah. Again, thank you so very much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast. This was so much fun.

00:50:49:18 - 00:50:53:02
Cyprine Odada Mitchell
Thank you for having me. I look forward to the next one.

00:50:53:04 - 00:51:08:15
John Simmerman
Hey, thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, be honored to have you subscribed to the channel. Just click on the subscription button down below and be sure to ring that notification bell.

00:51:08:17 - 00:51:34:16
John Simmerman
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00:51:34:16 - 00:51:59:15
John Simmerman
So I appreciate your support and thank you so much for tuning in here today. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers. And again, just want to send a huge thank you to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel financially via YouTube memberships YouTube super thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and joining my Patreon, every little bit adds up and is very much appreciated.

00:51:59:21 - 00:52:01:02
John Simmerman
Thank you all so much!