The Life-Sized City Blog

Copenhagenize is proud to launch an exciting new intiative today! With all of these Bike to Work Days/Weeks/Months proliferating on the internet we thought we'd take it to the next level. In a classic case of oneupmanship, we're proud to be the official sponsor of the launch of: Bike Century! For obvious reasons Copenhagenize was unable to sponsor the first Bike Century - one of the most successful events of any kind in human history. Launched in the 1880's it was scheduled to run until 1999. Unfortunately, the rise of the automobile rained on the parade and the event petered out all over the world in the 1950's, despite a fantastic start over the first 60-70 years. There was a brief revival in the early 1970's but people just didn't seem to be involved in the event anymore. Now we're launching the second Bike Century which encompasses a family of events including Bike to Work Century / Bike to the Cinema Century / Bike to the Supermarket Century / Bike to t...

Five Wheels, Three Arms , originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness] . I waited behind them, snapped a shot. But then as i waited I was wondering why the chap would choose a tricyle. He looked all dapper and casual in his suit and scarf and even engaged the girl next to him in a charming exchange of words and smiles. I figured it was a style choice, that bike. Fair enough. It's a trendy European city. When the light changed, he cycled away, keeping his right hand in his pocket. Or so I thought. It was then i realised that he was missing his right arm. Of course. That's why he pedals around on a tricycle. And how wonderful and Copenhagenesque that he still chooses a bike over other transport forms. And looks sharp in doing so. There are so few reasons not to ride.

15 accidents per year in Copenhagen's most dangerous intersection has been reduced to just one. The results are quite concrete after Copenhagen City redesigned the intersection at Gyldenloevsgade and Soegade by The Lakes in inner Copenhagen a year ago. In Copenhagen, many intersections have both traffic lights for cars and separate ones for bikes . The solution was coordinating the bike traffic lights to change to green a couple of seconds before the cars. A simple solution. It is worth noting that the intersection is a major cycle artery for bike commuters. Over 25,000 cyclists a day on weekdays cross the intersection. If you calculate that there are 260 weekdays in a year, that means that 6,500,000 million bikes cross the intersection annually. With that in mind, 15 serious accidents is not a bad statistic. Reducing that to one is spectacular. The intersection in question: Via: DR P4

The City of Copenhagen's biannual Cycle Report [the link is to a pdf and it's in Danish] is a goldmine of great statistics regarding our bicycle culture. Even though our bike infrastructure is highly-advanced, the City is constantly revising and reviewing all the issues regarding integration of bikes in the streets. It is an ongoing, long-term affair. Bikes have equal access everywhere in the city, but there are as a rule dedicated bike lanes on most roads with traffic. When Copenhagen builds new bike lanes on a stretch of road, there is a bicycle traffic increase of 20% and a 10% decrease in car traffic. Bike lanes subsequently increase cyclists' safety and perception of safety, encouraging them to ride more. The flipside of this is that there is a tendency for more accidents at intersections. The use of blue painted bike lanes across intersections is on the rise, as they help cyclists and motorists see the bike lanes. Having one blue painted strip of bike lane leading ...

"Everytime I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells Let's get one thing straight. While we're not banner-waving activists, we think activism is fantastic. We're all for it, especially the activism towards creating bike culture and infrastructure like we have in Copenhagen in other cities in the world. We just feel the need to play devil's advocate regarding the Critical Mass movement. Certainly the style of Critical Mass prevalent in, for example, North American cities. Rides that feature an aggressive, in-your-face tone. There are many positive examples of protest rides that are calm, cool and accepted. Budapest comes to mind. Even the rides in Prague - where they changed the name from Critical Mass to something akin to 'bike ride' in order to remove themselves from the North American versions. Generlally, it's a brilliant concept. Democratic to the core. Celebrations, even. Even if there ar...