The Life-Sized City Blog

Thanks to our reader, Tim, for sending us the above photo of Australian sheepshearers on their bicycles. The bicycle is credited rightly with improving the human gene pool in the way that it increased the mobility radius for people not only in cities but also in rural areas. After the invention of the bicycle and the subsequent bicycle boom in the late 1880's, family names that were previously rooted to specific towns or regions started showing up in the registries of (relatively) far-flung parishes in the UK. The same is true for rural America and Australia. The inexpensive independent mobility that the bicycle provided allowed men and women to travel farther further in the search for work and... well... TLC. These photographs are from the Flickr photostream of the State Library of New South Wales . Stanmore, NSW, Australia. May, 1946. Albury, NSW, Australia. December, 1938. NSW, Australia. June 1937. An explanation is probably needed: "Tom Morris, who will attem...

1966 – Bikes at Blundell Elementary School. Continuing the series of bicycle photos that show cycling as a normal transport form in cities, we have moved on to Vancouver, Canada. I used to be seen in the city, riding a crappy bike in regular clothes down from Lynn Valley and North Van, over the Lion's Gate to work downtown in the late 1980's. Or riding around downtown and Kitsalano in the early 1990's.  1943 – Canadian Youth Hostel bicycle hike at the grizzly bear cage in the Stanley Park Zoo. 1943 – Bicycle hike at Douglas Park. 1940s – A boy examines his new bicycle license. 1943 – Lumberman’s Arch. 1932 – Acrobats at the Vancouver Exhibition (now, PNE) 1943 – July 1st celebration in Richmond. 1890s – Bicycle racers and friends at Brockton Point.

It was lovely to see bicycles in action at Barcelona Zoo , used by the staff to get around the park. Like many zoos, each exhibition has it's own bicycles. Above, the sticker, refers to a marine exhibit. This chap works with primates. It was interesting to see a Danish Acrobat cargo bike from Esimex at the zoo selling ice cream and soft drinks. The solar panel sticking up was a bit wobbly and I wouldn't want to ride the trike in wind, but hey, it is perfect for riding or pushing the trike around the zoo. Here is a Copenhagen version of the Primate exhibit's bicycle. Sturdy front rack for carrying gear. Every bike at the Copenhagen Zoo is equipped with practical front and/or back racks. At left it is lovely to see that cycling is sociable even at the zoo. And here is a fleet of ice cream bikes, from Acrobat, at the Copenhagen Zoo. As far as I recall, the Sushi Bike that serves the beaches in Copenhagen is also the same brand. Even the humble Tapir exhibit at...

Readers may recall the post about the City of Copenhagen's respect for citizens' Desire Lines. The above photo shows a temporary bicycle lane on a stretch of sidewalk that bicycle users kept using. The City tested out a bike lane there. The original post is here: Subconscious Democracy and Desire , where you can read about the concept of Desire Lines, too. The temporary Desire Line has now been made permanent and bicycle users on this stretch are no longer rolling over the traffic laws. Instead, their Desire Line has been made legal. Desire Lines can be big or small. Here's another little example near Dybbøls Bridge. Cyclists coming down from the bridge would invariably roll down the bank here, instead of carrying on to the intersection 100 m, or so, behind the camera.

Photo: Theis Mortensen for Copenhagenize.com The City of Copenhagen in collaboration with Atkins Denmark have started testing Flex Parking zones in Copenhagen. Starting with the street outside Ingrid Jespersen's High School in Ndr. Frihavnsgade (that's a street name). We recieved info about the project from Niels Hoe-Svendsen from Atkins, formally in charge of the City of Copenhagen's bicycle parking. The primary goal is to create a safe environment for cycling to school. Many schools built at the turn of the last century in Copenhagen have space problems regarding bicycle parking in the school yards or on the street. Thus this new pilot project called Flex Parking. Flex Parking lets cycling citizens and motorists share street space. During school hours the street space is reserved for bicycles - from 07:00-17:00. The rest of the time it is reserved for car parking Instead of removing car parking spots and turning them into bicycle racks, the idea is to exploit t...

The preparation for this year's Svajerløb - Danish Cargo Bike Championships on 17 September, 2011 at Carlsberg is well underway. We're bustling about at Copenhagenize Consulting to get things up and running together with our collaborators. The races will feature the usual Two Wheeler, Three Wheeler and Team Relay races but we're adding a Vintage Cargo Bike race, a VIP Race for political parties as well as a Mini Svajerløb for small kids. We'll be getting the info about the day out shortly. However, in relation to the last event, the Mini Svajerløb, we have arranged for five mini cargo bikes from the Danish bike brand Winther . They'll be sponsoring the chariots of fire for the kids. You may have seen our earlier post about Early Learning in a Cargo Bike Culture about the many mini bikes and trikes and toys at most Danish schools and daycares . Winther is a family-owned company founded in 1932 and is a tradition-rich brand in Denmark. They are no stran...

A reader pointed us to a forum discussion at a website called CycleChat.net regarding infrastructure for bicycles. A poster on the forum named Tommi published a post about the positive aspects of implementing bicycle infrastructure. He did so, we gather, as a counter to the tiresome rants of members of cycling's secret sect who continue to oppose infrastructure for bicycles because it interferes with their testosterone thrill of 'running with the bulls'. We thought it highly appropriate to republish Tommi's search results here on Copenhagenize.com. They deserve a wider audience. This is on the same day that David Suzuki published this piece calling for infrastructure . Here's what the post at CycleChat.net looked like: Well, I did some digging and it seems Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Wales, as well as UK and US and OECD believe cycling infrastructure (cycle lanes and cycle tracks) incr...

Vintage shots from Canberra. Photos that some avid cyclists and most car lobbyists DON'T want you to see in case you get the idea that cycling is a normal, everyday transport form performed in regular clothes and on any ol' bicycle. God forbid. One of our readers found a film in the national archives and these shots are a screen grab. They feature Vintage Cycle Chic on the streets of the Australia capital in the 1950's. The shots feature office workers heading out from work for their lunch break. When I'm travelling and speaking I always encourage local bicycle advocates to get digging in their local archives to find similar photos of the bicycle's role in the history of the city. Simply because such images have been forgotten for more than a generation and they serve to bring the reality of bicycle transport to the surface once again. Using the past to illustrate the future.

Peter contacted us last year with this song that he had written and recorded called I Bike CPH. Inspired by Copenhagen's bicycle culture and the glorious bicycle traffic that he rides in every day. He has now put it on YouTube. Brilliant. It's in Danish but we've translated the lyrics (roughly, for context) below. Thanks, Peter! I cross The Lakes, I know I'm just a statistic We bust the myth that there are only egos in the traffic Don't have any rosy dreams of travelling away I'm staying in Copenhagen - 'cause I Bike CPH Push hard on the pedals, the energy is within me Overtake pensioners, but there is room for them, too. Chill out, from the moment the sun goes to work Roll out into the nightlife, where everyone wobbles piss drunk Down Nørrebrogade and everyone can see a flock of iron horses parked outside Café Louise Everyone is in the saddle, even the elected and the well-paid Your snobby aunt and snotty kids Some take up too much space o...

When we at Copenhagenize were discussing the title of the photo exhibition Monumental Motion we got onto the subject of actual bicycle monuments or sculptures. Permanent artistic works celebrating the bicycle and/or Citizen Cyclists. At many festivals - Burning Man comes to mind - temporary bicycle-related sculptures are constructed. Then there are monuments, large and small, dedicated to cyclesport racers . That's all well and good and brilliant, but we were thinking about permanent works - monuments, if you like - that were commissioned and paid for and that serve as a permanent symbol and celebration of the bicycle. We figured we dish up our Top Five Bicycle Monuments. Let us know yours. Add a comment or use the Twitter hashtag #bikemonument . #1 - Aseaströmmen Location: Stora Torget (Main Square) in Västerås, Sweden . Artist: Bengt-Göran Broström (1947-2004) Date: 1989 Aseaströmmen has long been a favourite of ours. It commemorates the thousands of cycling workers who...