The Life-Sized City Blog

Thanks to reader Felix Feldhofer for the photo and the heads up about this story. By and large, history is repeating itself as we work towards making cities better. We are returning to many of the ideas that made cities human - before the automobile appeared. It's often a very good thing. Which makes what is happening in Cologne, Germany, even more comical, bizarre and stupid. It is absolutely shocking. A stunning example of Ignoring the Bull . We've written before about The Anti-Automobile Age in the early years of the 20th Century. In this article, you can read about the "jaywalking" concept , basically invented by the automobile industry to keep the streets clear for their cars and get the irritating, squishy obstacles out of the way. I highlight this in my Bicycle Urbanism by Design TED x talk . We know it was crazy. We know that it was a desperate - and successful - ploy by the automobile industry to claim the streets for themselves, despite the fact t...

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you'll know all too well about what we call " Ignoring the Bull ". How in this car-centric society, non-motorised victim blaming is the norm. The status quo. You may also know the media tendency - mostly in non-cycling countries - to report about cyclists killed or injured in collisions with motorised traffic. "Hit by a truck/fast moving vehicle.... wasn't wearing a helmet." Written by journalists who are hopelessly uninformed (and perhaps uninterested) about a helmet's limited industrial design capability in collisions with vehicles . They never seem to write "Man fell from 3rd floor. Wasn't wearing a helmet." You get the point. What we're seeing lately is how the everpresent Culture of Fear is encroaching on our lives in a new(ish) way. The safety nannies and their lackies are now desperately trying to dictate what you, the citizen, wears. They are trying to make fashion choices fo...

Cities use various methods in order to draw attention to themselves. Tourism campaigns, posters on busstops to advertise events or municipal services. City Branding is also a thing . Countries and organisations do the same. Usually the money is spent on highlighting positive angles. What often goes unnoticed is that cities have a tendency to spend taxpayer money on broadcasting the sad and undeniable fact that they are completely inept at keeping the streets safe. They try, unsuccessfully, to thinly disguise their incompetence as "safety" campaigns. Consider the simple idea of school crossing guards. It's a concept well-known around the world. Hey, I used to be one back in the day (and I remembering hating having to do it). I was waiting at the crosswalk by Lulu and Felix's school in Frederiksberg yesterday morning. Waiting for the lovely kids to step out and block the cars and bicycles to allow us to cross. Then I realised... the concept of school crossing g...

This is what we like to see when we check our inbox after a summer holiday. A colleague at the Norwegian Road Directorate attached this poster from the city of Trondheim in an email. Beautiful. It advertises the opening of a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge in the city that links two neighbourhoods - Lade and Dalen. The text reads: "Old Love Never Rusts" "They met at the Student Club. He had brylcreem in his hair and danced swing like a god. She looked a little like Grace Kelly. But she was from Lade and he was from Dalen. Then they met again, in the middle of the bridge." "We have reunited Lade and Dalen." "We're building a safer and more secure bicycle city" Two neighourhoods separated by railway lines and roads are now reunited, thanks to a new bridge - Dalenbrua. Mobility is improved. More convenient and safer for bicycle users and pedestrians. Not a dry eye in the house. Well done, Trondheim. The link was financed ...

Photo by Jaime Dieppa from Citibici.es This sign is currently positioned along the City Hall in Copenhagen. It's from the City's DoT and Bicycle Office and uses the behavourial communcation template Copenhagenize Consulting developed a few years back. It reads: " Hi, Cyclist! Soon you'll be able to ride safe and secure along the City Hall Garden on a 2.80 metre wide cycle track with a curb. " This stretch along the City Hall is one of the few stretches of main streets left that doesn't have a separated cycle track. It's been a painted lane next to a bus lane, which is next to six lanes of traffic. So now it's getting redone so it adheres to the Best Practice in the rest of the city. And that 2.80 metre width is one way, of course. There are about 20,000 cyclists - in both directions - on this artery and making it safer will encourage more to use the route.

They're at it again, those New Yorkers. The city's DoT has chucked another bunch 'o money at a fancy ad campaign aimed at maintaining the status quo of the automobile's role in society. Seriously... I can't think of any other city on the planet in recent times that has spent so much advertising money on finger-pointing and "behavioural" campaigns aimed at the vulnerable traffic users of their city. Desperately trying to cement, in the public consciousness of it's citizens, the rather outdated philosophy that cars rule supreme and everyone else are mere pawns to be swept aside without regret. Stand in the way of a Queen, you're stupid. You'll get taken. And you know what? We can afford to lose you. This New York Postian attitude from the DoT towards a city that otherwise has great potential for being much more pedestrian, public transport and cyclist friendly is the primary reason why New York is so far off reaching any sensible level of ...

This is a recycled campaign that returns regularly but we approve of it simply because it places the responsibility on the motorists. No ignoring the bull in society's china shop here. "Catch the cyclist with your eyes - not your door" is what it says. These car doors are on posts in various locations. This one was captured by Sandra from the brilliant Classic Copenhagen blog . Sure, people get doored anywhere there are cars and that includes Copenhagen. I know a few people who have experienced it by I personally have been lucky to never have been even close to it in 17 years in Copenhagen. Motorists know to watch for cyclists, to expect them. I know that in the few times I've been in a car with my kids (my kids spend about five hours in a car each year), you always find yourself saying "watch for bikes" when they're getting out. It's a mantra that every kid hears. When getting out of cars, crossing the street, at bus stops, you name it. Iro...

It's be three and half years since I first blogged this video, made by students at the Dutch Film and TV Academy. I'm surprised it only has 5424 views on YouTube. It deserves so much more. The dialogue goes like this: Motorist is shown an ink blot. Doctor: What do you see? Motorist: Car. Doctor: (Voiceover): The first phase is denial. Motorist: Car. Motorist watches bicycle films. Doctor: (Voiceover) You have to present the addict with the cure for the problem. Motorist gets onto stationary bicycle. Doctor: (Voiceover) Then they have to take their own initiative. Motorist outside on bicycle. Doctor: (Voiceover) When they can do it on their own, we'll let them go. Car addiction (or slavery) is a underestimated problem. We have to help these people. Doctor's last line: Yeah, somebody has to do something about traffic jams. Then there's this one. Italian asks how the guy got there today and replies, "Bicycle". Italian men laugh....

The area surrounding the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, is a labyrinth of construction as the City is renovating the on-street facilities and making it a nicer place. The result is that there is less space available so the City of Copenhagen has these signs up on Købmagergade, near the station. We are always thrilled to Copenhagenize Consulting's "Hej Cyklist" behavourial communication template in use. This campaign was developed for the City by the consultancy Atkins Danmark . It reads: Hej Cyclist! Can't you find your bicycle? It's now parked in Rosenborggade. In order to create space for everyone, we've drawn a bicycle parking zone here on Købmagergade. Bicycles parked outside the zone may be moved to the bicycle parking zone in Rosenborggade. They include a little map so you can find your bicycle. How lovely. Around the corner, here are the bicycles that have been moved. A cool design of the photo that combines the bicycles on th...

First reference to "jaywalking" - Kansas City Star, 30 April 1911. I've posted about the brilliant book " Fighting Traffic - The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City" by Peter D. Norton before but I just can't get enough of it. Previous posts are The Anti-Automobile Age and what we can learn from it and Fighting Traffic . The Canadian writer, Chris Turner, wrote today about how there are no jaywalkers on sustainable streets over at Mother Earth Network . Here's some back-up for that brilliant article. The very term "Motor Age" was invented by the automobile industry as a promotional term aimed at turning public opinion away from the massive societal protest at the appearance of cars on city streets. The term "... carried a built-in justification for overturning established custom. It combined rhetorical closure and problem redefinition, just as similar phrases have been used in more recent years to justify workplace smokin...

These posters are up all over the city of Frederiksberg at the moment, where I live. They read, quite simply: "Idling your motor - Maximum 1 minute - When you idle your motor your car emits chemicals dangerous to health. Show consideration and turn off your motor." Hmm. Your car does it. Like it's alive and has a mind of it's own. Why, oh why, can it not just state that YOU emits dangerous chemcials when YOU idle your car? It's the motorist who is doing it, controlling the situation. Let's slap that responsibility on that motorist with a simple rewording, for god's sake. With THAT said, there have been rules in place for many years in Danish cities regarding how long you can idle your motor. They don't apply to traffic jams, but just when you're sitting there... um... idle. The regulations in Frederiksberg for this one minute limit have been in place since 1989, based on recommendations from the Environment Ministry back in 1982. Poll...

In stark contrast til General Motors' "Stop pedalling, start driving" campaign, here's a film from what appears to be the 1970s that was produced by General Motors. "I Like Bikes". It's a weird film and with its 13+ minutes, it's a bit of a snore, although strangely appealing in a zen-like way on a Saturday morning with a hangover. Like watching snooker on Eurosport. I used to teach storytelling and screenwriting and in that talk I highlighted the evolution of the length of storytelling and the journey from the dawn of the television age to brevity in our dramaturgy. In the 70's you could spend almost 14 minutes explaining what we would, today, compress into 3 minutes or less. Watching the film is like listening to a looong story told by an inebriated, aging member of the family at a dinner party. No clear beginning, middle or end. Getting to the point, if there is one, is like pulling teeth. But hey. I have absolutely no idea what it's...

Here in Denmark, the summer's silly season is replaced by scary season. As the air gradually cools and the leaves fade to yellow, the people who produce "safety" campaigns start firing up their stoves to cook up a new batch of car-centric fear gulasch. The new kid on the block is the Vejdirektoratet - Danish Road Directorate with their VejKryds.dk campaign that hopes to raise awareness about right-turn collisions. We blogged about this campaign back in May when one of our readers - by chance - was invited to a feedback session hosted by Megafon.dk aimed at testing the campaign on a panel of citizens. You can read about the preview here: Fear Campaign Sneak Preview . The campaign is now on the streets. Compared to the original proposal it is clear that the Road Directorate listened - slightly - to the feedback panel and toned down the campaign a bit. It's still corny as hell with a "rhyme" theme. The main tagline is "Du tror du bli'r set, me...

You see these warnings aimed at pedestrians in many places in Barcelona. It is, of course, a classic "Ignoring the Bull" tactic that places the responsibility wrongly on the vulnerable traffic users. I learned, however, something that wasn't THAT suprising. These warnings are sponsored by an automobile organisation and the city actually lets them paint them on the streets. There are no corresponding warnings for motorists. The warnings are sponsored by FIA Foundation - slogan: "For the Automobile & Society ". According to their website, the " FIA Foundation was established in 2001 with a donation of $300 million made by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the non-profit federation of motoring organisations and the governing body of world motor sport ". An automobile organisation promoting automobiles "for society" is a bit spooky. A well-funded one is downright scary. The FIA Foundation also spons...