The Life-Sized City Blog

I'm reading an amazing book at the moment, after a correspondence with a reader.. It's called The Bicycle and the Bush - Man and Machine in Rural Australia . The author is Jim Fitzpatrick Books about the historical role of the bicycle are always a fascinating read for me. Just when you think that everything has been uncovered, nuggets of historical goodness are dug up, cleaned and polished for all the world to see. At first glance, the title seems a bit optimistic. Surely there can't be THAT much to write about on the subject. The Bicycle and the Bush, however, is filled with brilliant stories, anecdotes and historical references. Australia is in no way a shining light for bicycle culture in a modern context but what an astonishing role the bicycle played in building the nation between 1890-1920. It never ceases to amaze me when writers produce a work that requires so much research. In addition to a constant flow of nuggets, the book is richly illustrated. At left...

Laughed out loud more than once.

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.

Our reader Rachel took this shot in Adelaide, Australia and fired it off to us. Thanks so much for that, Rachel. I quite like it. It reminded me of something completed unrelated. There is an old Danish superstition that if you light a cigarette directly from a candle flame, an Icelandic sailor dies. You can, however, save his life if you quickly light a match, let it burn halfway, grab the burnt end and let it burn the entire length, without breaking it. On a vaguely more related note, Icelanders believe in fairies and elves. They actually reroute roads to avoid rock formations where they may be living in colonies . And this in the most literate country in the world.

Since posting about mass-produced motoring helmets and later Protective Helmet-ish headbands for motorists I was curious to learn more about the latter, produced at the University of Adelaide. It's taken a while but I finally recieved the study done in 2000 at the Road Accident Research Unit at the U of Adelaide , called CR 193: The development of a protective headband for car occupants (Andersen, White, McLean 2000) . A chap at Road Safety Policy, Department of Infrastructure & Transport in Australia was kind enough to send a link to the Australian Government website wherein the study is presented. I don't think cyclists should be bullied with helmet promotion and threatened with legislation when there exists a very real and present danger to car occupants. I think that the car lobby as well as the general population should be presented with more data and facts about the dangers of driving. It's only fair and logical. From the Australian report we can ...

One of our readers in Australia, Peter, sent us this article written in 1989 by Alan A. Parker. It's an interesting backward glance to the days when Australia were debating mandatory helmet laws. The latter half of the article is interesting. In it, the author discusses motoring helmets and, indeed, calls for them. I found this bit to be enlightening: "There is an embarrassing silence from the police and the police unions about their willingness to enforce bicycle helmet laws but, in the closing days of 1987, they went public with the proposal that motorists should wear helmets which they regard as a worthwhile change in the law that they are prepared to enforce." Hadn't heard that one before. That the police went public backing motoring helmets. A little piece of the puzzle falls into place. Our article from back in May 2009 about Australian motoring helmets - "The World's First" - produced by Davies Craig was greeted with chuckles at first....

Bicycles outside Palace Cinema in Cairns, 1937. We all know that it's too hot to ride a bicycle in your regular clothes in Queensland. You need all manner of special clothing and a lightweight bicycle to be able to tackle the heat and topography. And an electric assist motor if you can get your hands on one. Everybody knows that. That's why nobody ever rode bicycles in the state until 1975. Or maybe we just have short term memory loss. It's actually called "generational forgetting" - how we have little regarded for what came before us. Here are vintage photos from the State of Queensland, Australia that show the bicycle was a normal transport form all over the state for decades. Bicycles parked outside the City Baths in Maryborough. 1940s. Bicycles parked in Mackay, 1948. Bicycles parked outside the Lands and Works Office, 1904. Bicycles parked outside the Hotel Boyd in Mount Isa, Queensland, 1952. Unidentified father and son posing with a bicycle for a trav...

Here's an interesting film by Mike Rubbo, documentarist turned bicycle advocate, who traveled north to Darwin, Northern Territory to explore the territory's unique bike helmet excemption law. The Northern Territory mandated helmet use along with the rest of the country in the 1990's. Like the rest of the nation, they saw cycling levels drop. In an attempt to get people to ride again, they repealed - or rather adjusted - the law and allowed for helmet-free cycling on footpaths and bike paths. The result? It's in the film and in Mike's post over at his SitUp-Cycle.com blog . It's been 20-odd years since I was last in Darwin. Maybe I could find a travel agency specialising in Rationality Destinations and get me a ticket to the 'top end's' bicycle paradise.

On my trip to Melbourne I arrived on the Monday and was scheduled to give my talk on the Saturday. Felix and I were picked up at the airport, together with another chap who was also speaking at the State of Design Festival . A car designer. Former head of design for BMW. His name is Chris Bangle . Charming and personable with great humour. He gave his talk on the Tuesday at the BMW Edge venue at Federation Square. I was looking forward to hearing about car design - all design is interesting to me - and it was going to be interesting to hear how the automobile industry and its designers are tackling the needs and moods of this new century. According to the State of Design programme's text about Bangle we would hear all about how: "We are becoming more aware of ‘personal mobility’, the choice we make for moving around. However, Bangle perceives the need to consider ‘personal emotional mobility’ if we are to seriously tackle behaviour change and develop more sustainable mobility ...

Gerry from Infodesign in Australia sent us this great - and visionary considering the situation in Australia - example of how Sydney is putting some thought and money into promoting A2Bism as a way to encourage cycling in the city. Cycleways - To get us all home faster. More bikes. Less traffic. Check out the Sydney Cycleways website to see examples of other rather interesting slogans in use for the campaign. All and all it looks like a refreshingly modern and progressive campaign. Far from the traditional bike advocacy stuff you see. A great approach to sell the idea of infrastructure - and bicycle transport in general - to the broader - and sceptical - population.

I had a brilliant week in Melbourne as a guest of the State of Design Festival . Loads of interviews and events that all culminated with my keynote speech on the Saturday. There was, however, an event on the Saturday morning - July 26, 2010 - that was extremely interesting to be a part of. A group of citizens, rallied together by filmmaker and bicycle advocate Mike Rubbo , decided to go for a bicycle ride together on Melbourne's new bike share system bikes. A splendid idea. Melbourne's bike share system is shiny new, although unlike most cities in the world with a bike share programme, only 70-odd people are using them each day. In Dublin, by contrast, there are over 30,000 subscribers. Not to mention the cracking successes in Paris, Barcelona, Seville and most of the over 100 cities with such systems. So, a group of people, many of them Copenhagenize.com readers, fancy a bike ride. Sounds lovely enough. They met up at the bike racks at Melbourne University. Hired the bikes wi...

Australian cyclist goes to court to fight ticket for cycling without a helmet. Cyclists have been fighting for their rights for more than a century. It has largely been an uphill battle but in some countries, like Denmark and the Netherlands, political lobbying has paid off and the bicycle is a main feature on the urban landscape. Much of the battle has been waged from the grassroots angle. In Australia there is a woman named Sue. She has always cycled and when Australia passed mandatory, all-ages bike helmet laws in the 1990's, Sue kept on cycling while many Australians parked their bikes in the garage. Despite the helmet laws, Sue continued to cycle without a helmet and she has never felt as though she needed one. It took the better part of 15 years before Sue was finally stopped by the Austalian police earlier this year and ticketed for not wearing a helmet. After the formalities, Sue struck up a conversation with the policemen: "One of the policemen expressed interest in w...