The Life-Sized City Blog

Das Strike Bike Annie, one of the owners of Christiania Bikes , just visited a bike factory in Nordhausen, Germany and sent me a mail about it. I had heard about the striking bicycle workers, but that was ages ago. Turns out they are still at it. 135 colleagues in the Bike Systems GmbH factory, faced with a factory closure, decided to protest and try to save their jobs. This was back in July 2007! As I understand it, the union rules in Germany dictate that only a union can call a strike, and not the workers themselves. Their union wasn't game so the workers decided to hold a "professional meeting" to discuss the situation. They are allowed to do so. There are, however, no rules dicatating how long that meeting can last. So their meeting went on and on and on. Brilliant move. In order to prevent the factory being dismantled they kept it occupied in three shifts. Eventually an idea was formed. Self-management of the factory and production. A product was needed and they came...

There's a behavourial campaign at the moment with car doors placed around town and the message "Catch the cyclist with your eyes, not your door". Pretty straightforward campaign. No real fear-mongering at play. Just a good reminder for both motorists and cyclists alike. Nevermind the fact that I have never heard of anybody getting smacked by a car door. Most of the bike lanes are wide enough to avoid this. But hey. At least the campaign helps motorists [most of whom are cyclists, too] remember the bicycles. Thanks to Kristoffer for the photo.

Here's an interesting list of 28 reasons to ride your bicycle , as compiled by the University of Central Florida. It is based on Orlando but the sources are broad and thorough. There is a link at the bottom of the page to the sources of their research. Or just click here . In addition, I just watched this interesting PBS show about commuting and petrol prices. I couldn't embed it, so click on through to see it. 28 Reasons To Ride your Bicycle 1. Increase in local property values. 2. Correlation with Overall Wealth. The notion that more cars equals more wealth is really more myth than reality. In fact, some new research shows that high and increasing levels of car dependence actually harms an economy. In a report to the World Bank, researchers from the Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) in Perth, Australia showed that there are "diseconomies" associated with car use. Auto dependence can drain an economy of its wealth…. It found that, among cities in th...

We posted a while back about the bike rack design competition in New York City. As it happens, the winners were announced and the design duo from Copenhagen won the contest. Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve’s design reflects a modern simplicity that will greatly enhance the City’s streetscape. The rack is round with a horizontal crossbar, evoking an abstracted bicycle tire. Constructed of cast-metal, the design is elegant yet sturdy enough to withstand the harshest street environments. Congratulations. According to plan these racks will be the official bike racks of NYC and will be set up around the city. There were also indoor bike parking designs in competition. Have a look here to see the winners. Thanks to our reader Sean for the heads up.

The world's first offshore wind farm, at the head of Copenhagen harbour. Denmark has long been a world-leader in wind energy and now the country will act as a laboratory for the development of infrastructure for electric cars, using wind power to charge the new vehicles. The main reason is that in five years Denmark will have wind turbine capacity enough for 1 million homes. This goal will be reached when the world's largest offshore wind turbine farm opens in 2012, between Anholt and Djursland. The offshore farm will look like this new one off the coast of Copenhagen. The colossal amounts of energy generated will also be used to power cars, in order to exploit the wind energy as best possible. The energy generated at night, when usage is low, will be used to charge the cars for use the next day. The island of Bornholm will be the first test area and Peder Andersen of Energinet.dk believes there will be 100,000 electric cars in Denmark in five years. It will be considerably ch...