Jean Schmit

Matrix agent Schmit is a virtual citizen of @DigiLuxembourg. His real world avatar cycles every day in the streets of the capital @CityLuxembourg. Friend of everyday cyclists, whose tweets provide virtual ubiquity to challenge the statu quo, their @luxembourgize account on Twitter is part of the clicktivism phenomenon in social media.

On September 20th, 2013, the famous danish urban cycling advocate Mikael Colville-Andersen‏, who visited Luxembourg several times already, tweeted “Luxembourg is fantastic. Their bicycle infrastructure is not.” Therefore, @luxembourgize is acting as devil's advocate on Twitter in matters of existing or planned cycling infrastructure.

A quote of Mikael Colville-Andersen in a speech about Bicycle Culture by Design at TEDxZurich (2012) brings it to the point “It sometimes feels like we're all characters in The Matrix. Cities around the world can't even put in a separated cycle track, widen a sidewalk, implement traffic calming measures or lower speed limits – because it doesn't fit into some computer-generated mathematical model down in the engineering department. Is there a way out of The Matrix? Urbanization is on the rise again, now more than ever. We need new solutions in a hurry.”

The fully independant & privately run Twitter account @luxembourgize is obviously named in reference to Danish cycling's advocacy company @copenhagenize, indicating that @CityLuxembourg is undergoing a process of making it more bike friendly.

Twitter is a place of free speech. Retweets may or may not be endorsements. Same for favorites, which can be simple bookmarks, reading notifications or also expressions of agreement (you'll probably know out of context). Tweets can sometimes contain sarcasm or mockery (hey, we are on Twitter), but are as a self-imposed rule focused on argumentum ad rem.

Everyday cycling in Luxembourg is also advocated for over 30 years now by Lëtzebuerger Velos-Initiativ http://www.LVI.lu, and more recently by @CycleLuxembourg http://www.cycleluxembourg.lu/, http://www.verkeiersverbond.lu @mobiliteit_lu, http://www.criticalmass.lu & http://www.bike-info.lu

Copenhagenize Design Company http://www.copenhagenize.com/ @copenhagenize & The Matrix movie franchise, freely referenced to by @luxembourgize, are copyrighted trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact @luxembourgize: please send a direct message on Twitter.