One of 31 projects supported by the European Union’s Civil Society Support Programme, an initiative that is part of the Negotiation Framework Document, which constitutes the basis of the negotiations of Turkey’s accession to the European Union (EU).  Turkey has an underdeveloped bicycling infrastructure, while EU countries such as the Netherlands have advanced ones. The report is intended to “guide the local government units that want to support and improve cycling as an urban commuting mode and the CSOs that want to support this cause.”
The report consists of four sections:
- The importance of communications capability and capacity to the success of civil society organisations (CSOs), e.g., how to advertise bicycling campaigns effectively
- Best campaign practices in a variety of cities worldwide (e.g., Amsterdam and Boston)
- Bicycling campaigns in the Turkish cities of İzmir, Eskişehir and Lüleburgaz
- Recommendations: (a) understand the problems your audience faces; (b) present bicycling as an “everyday activity,” not something just for the athlete; (c) communicate that bicycling is an egalitarian activity that works for both men and women; (d) demonstrate that bicycling makes cities more livable; and (e) employ a positive tone in messaging.
While the report is focused on improving the bicycling infrastructure of Turkey, its perspective on what communication is and how to accomplish it is classical methods of Aristotle’s rhetoric. Paraphrasing:
If we want to persuade someone to change their attitude-stance, we have to demonstrate: (a) Ethos — the person-institution communicating should be seen as legitimate and trustworthy by the audience; (b) Pathos — the communication should appeal to the audiences emotions through stories; and (c) Logos — achieving consistency between the campaign’s suggested solutions and the actions proposed