The Life-Sized City Blog

Tel Aviv Cyclists, by Thomas Schlijper. Last year Israel implemented an all ages helmet law for it's citizens, despite the fact that helmet laws appear to becoming less popular over the past couple of years. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation has now decided to support a bill that would modify the law to exclude adults cycling in urban areas from being forced to wear a helmet, The Jerusalem Post reports. Israeli Coalition to support helmet-less bike riding within cities The Ministerial Committee for Legislation threw its support on Sunday behind a bill which would remove the requirement for adults to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle in the city. The bill, sponsored by MK Sheli Yehimovich (Labor) repeals part of the Helmet Law which was passed last year. Instead of requiring a helmet for intra-city riding, Yehimovich's bill would leave that decision up to the adult rider. Children, those riding off-road or those biking between cities would still be required to wear a ...

The focus on the cycling life of Denmark in general and Copenhagen in particular came out of nowhere when Copenhagen Cycle Chic and this blog launched a couple of years ago. The international focus on reestablishing the bicycle as a feasible, acceptable and respected transport form has increased steadily and shows no sign of diminishing. The result is that cities, towns, cycling groups and even nations are become hungry to learn about the experience of cycling friendly cities, towns and nations and how they achieved their goals. They are knocking on the doors of Denmark and Holland and arriving on study trips. I've had the pleasure of meeting a few hundred people over the past year or so who have come to Copenhagen to see what we do. We've gone for bike rides around the city or sat in cafés and discussed. Based on this intense interest, it's natural that the Cycling Embassy of Denmark has gotten onboard. The embassy is comprised of various stakeholders in the cycling comm...

Here's a quirky thing in our bicycle culture here in Denmark. It's no surprise that January and February are the slowest months for the business of selling bicycles. What many - and I mean many - bike shops do is transform themselves into fireworks shops. In Denmark you're only allowed to sell fireworks between December 1 - 31 each year, in the run up to New Year's Eve. Bike shops are major sellers of the gear, like this one in the photo. Not only are January and Feburary slow months, there is also tough competition. A couple of years ago I counted 27 bike shops in my neighbourhood - with a 7 minute bike ride from my flat. That number is now 40+, as I've discovered more and more . Most bike shops are small and earn their wage repairing bicycles, more than selling them. In January and February, even though 80% of Copenhageners cycle all winter, there are fewer people needing repairs. An innovative, unique way to muscle up the sales figures before the Janu...

Friday night bicycle traffic in Copenhagen. The European Cyclists Federation [ECF], present here in Copenhagen for the conference, sent a letter to all the members of European Parliament's delegation to the Climate Conference. It is short and sweet and to the point. Dear Member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to Copenhagen Summit, Urban traffic is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions. Transport is part of the problem. Cycling is part of the solution. A tripling of cycling (*) in Europe at the expense of individual motorized trips, would save 49.1 million tons of CO2 or 5% of CO2 transport emissions. [*] See The Charter of Brussels . You can read the letter to the MEPs here, as a pdf . Brilliant. The European Cyclists’ Federation was founded in 1983 by 12 bicycle user associations. It has now 60 member organizations in 37 countries. In another recent newsletter email from the ECF they announced the work of the ECF's Helmet Working Group . The ECF Helmet Working Group i...

Photo: Finn Frandsen/Politiken The police confiscated a number of so-called 'war bikes' last night, on the eve of one of the main demonstrations during the climate conference. They raided The Candy Factory, where the bikes were being prepared for the demonstration and... well... took them away. I blogged about The Bike Bloc a couple of weeks ago and it's a shame that the bikes were taken. The police say that they are illegal bikes and may be used illegally at the demonstration. The police spokesman, when pressed, couldn't answer in any detail what he thought the bikes could or would be used for. Via Politiken [in Danish] - and this article They're Taking Our Bikes !

The Copenhagen version of the White Van Man . A lot more relaxed.

I'm way behind on so many things. I finally had the chance to edit this little film that I shot in San Francisco in October 2009. By fantastic coincedence, my lecture tour was on the same day as the Halloween Critical Mass bicycle ride. I took part with some friends , riding my Biomega borrowed from the W Hotel . I was meant to borrow a Danish Bullitt cargo bike from Erik Zo , who was kind enough to offer it to me, but not knowing where I'd end up in the course of the evening, or with whom and what not, I decided against it. I didn't want to be the man who got the bike stolen. :-) In lieu of borrowing the bike, Erik gave me a lift from the lecture back to my hotel. The bicyle ride was quite brilliant, I must admit. It was definately more 'in your face' compared to the critical mass I was in in Budapest in September, but it certainly wasn't aggressive at all. The whole Halloween angle, with people dressed up in crazy costumes added to the festival atmosphere. T...

So I heard that some bike lanes were removed in New York. Over a year ago I blogged about the Hasidic communities objections to bicycle lanes over at Copenhagen Cycle Chic . As the New York Post reported back then and as only the Post can formulate it: "It's the Hasids vs. the hotties in a Brooklyn bike war. Leaders of South Williamsburg's Hasidic community said yesterday that bike lanes that bring scantily clad cyclists - especially sexy women - peddling through their neighborhood are definitely not kosher. The red-faced religious sect is calling on city officials to eliminate the car-free lanes on Wythe and Bedford avenues, and to delay construction of a new one planned for Kent Avenue." The lanes were removed because of alleged appeasement from Mayor Bloomberg up to the recent elections. Now the NY Post is reporting: Hipsters repaint bike lanes in brush off to Hasids Groups of bicycle-riding vigilantes have been repainting 14 blocks of Williamsburg roadways ever si...

I've called Copenhagen and Amsterdam the Romulus and Remus of modern urban bicycle culture before. Another analogy applies to Denmark and Holland. These two countries are, in many ways, the Galapagos Islands of modern Bicycle Culture. We're different species of Darwin's Finch , yet we both love to fly on human-powered wheels. These two countries and the main city in each have evolved in each their own way over the past thirty or forty years. Many of the details are interesting anthropological observations that would probably be difficult to trace to the root. Here are some of them. Very generally, pannier bags are used in Holland whereas front baskets are the norm in Denmark, usually wicker. This is all very general, of course, but often when the Dutch do have a basket it's a sturdy plastic crate. And you do see pannier containers in Denmark, too. We all agree that carrying stuff on a bike is paramount, but it's fascinating to see how these two standard forms dev...

Photo courtesy of and © Copenhagen City Museum / Københavns Bymuseum . This is not a photo of my dad. I wish it were. I wish I could have found a photo of him while perusing the photo archives of the Copenhagen City Museum but those odds are quite astronomical. While it's not him, it almost could be. During the Second World War my grandmother - my dad's mum - died and one of his aunts took care of him. He moved from Northern Jutland to Roskilde, near Copenhagen at the age of 15. He got a job, like many Danish boys, as a bike messenger boy in the town. Not long after, he got a job in Copenhagen, working for a green grocers on Gothersgade. Again, he was a bike messenger, riding out to the so-calle 'Vegetable Square' - where shops stocked up on wholesale greens and fruits in the morning - on a Short John like in the photo or a large three-wheeler. He also delivered goods to customers during the day and he lived with the family who owned the shop. So this photo, for me, is ...

In a previous post I explored how we are motorizing children by presenting a German car rush hour board game for your consideration. At the Copenhagen by Bicycle exhibition at the Copenhagen City Museum there was this Six Day Race board game on display. Didn't actually catch the date on it, sorry, but it is from at least the 1950's, if not earlier. No idea how to play it so don't ask. But the Six Day Races are iconic in Danish history. They used to draw massive crowds. There is still one main race in February here in Copenhagen but the folksy appeal is no longer.

This Danish advert promoting everyday cycling is from 1995. It's interesting from a marketing perspective and not a little rare. Usually well-known racing cyclists are enlisted to sell 'gear' and cycling as a sport. This advert features the Danish racing cyclist Jesper Skibby . By the way, he's the only Dane and one of few professional cyclists to have won stages in the Big Three - Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. In Danish the Vuelta is called Spanien Rundt, or All Around Spain. The advert rhymes in Danish so my translations are often rendered lame but here goes: " It's hard to ride all around Spain [hard to ride the Vuelta is what that means]" " And healthy to ride all year round " Next to Jesper is the text " Jesper Skibby, winner of the 9th stage of the Vuelta a Espana ". I like the way that a racing cyclist and an everyday cyclist - in the form of the iconic Cycling Girl so well known in Danish history -...