On the 6th March 2010 DUBLIN COMMUNITY TV is launching its latest TV series – The Pedal Project, consisting of 3 hours of material filmed in Dublin, London and Amsterdam. A fast paced, visually and musically polished piece looking at cycling culture and how to create cycling friendly cities the series will be simultaneously broadcast on television and released on the internet.

From the street level view of ‘One Less Car’, to the Dublin city cycling officer going to Amsterdam and London to see what they’re doing in ‘Three Cycling Cities’ to the thinking that is going into making Dublin a ‘Two Wheeled City’ DCTV’s innovative new series on cycling is must viewing for anybody interested in how our city and transport systems function.   It’s a chance to see what the targets about cycling and transport mean and what the current thinking is in our local authorities, in our universities and amongst the residents of Dublin.

The small community station based out of The Liberties, revitalised the documentary form to make the series.  This is not dumbed down simplistic television but the start of a much needed conversation both within and about the cycling movement, as well as a sharp rebuttal to traditional notions of how TV is made and the priorities of a post-boom Ireland.

“As Dublin has grown wealthier we have become carcooned basing our personal and city transport system on the car” said director Barra Hamilton. “We know this isn’t working – but what is the alternative and how do we get there?  That’s the question we set out to answer with this documentary.   We spent months talking to academics and elected officials, council planners and staff, campaigners and cyclists – and through the production process of TV we’ve constructed a convincing case and viable plan to recast Dublin as a cyclable city.”

“The Pedal Project is an ongoing debate emerging into public view in all its complexity and variety for the first time” said co-director Rob Carr.  “We are inviting people to contribute to the process.  From the reasons we should, and shouldn’t, insist on cycling helmets to how we design our roads to create dedicated spaces for cycling while ensuring ‘permeable’ road systems with a mix of transport forms – The Pedal Project offeres a tool for people to use in instigating wide ranging discussion on what we want from our city.”

Fashion, politics, health, quality of life all show up as Dublin Community Television brings its own unique style of media making to the issue. The programme will be broadcast and distributed through all media on the 6th of March with simultaneous Internet, DVD and Cable TV releases.  Released under a Creative Commons license the residents of Dublin are invited to make their own copies, organise their own screenings and host sections of this important debate themselves.

This will start on Tuesday 2nd March when a selection of viewers will meet in the DCTV studio to view and discuss the material, the role of community media in supporting these discussions and what needs to be done to make Dublin a Cyclable City.