The Life-Sized City Blog

I made the above graphic back in 2008 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the return of Copenhagen's separated cycle tracks. Now it's 31 years on, but the anniversary is timeless. It was in June 1983 that the Copenhagen cycle track returned to Copenhagen. Meaning cycle tracks separated from cars on one side and pedestrians on the other by curbs. For the record, there were cycle tracks prior to this. Historically, separated cycle tracks criss-crossed Copenhagen but many were removed during the brain fart that was the 50s and 60s where planners decided the car was a good horse to back. Here are the first bike lanes being marked out back in... 1915. Here is a cycle track being constructed back in ... 1930. But the return of the physically-separated cycle track in the modern era is a landmark. The City of Copenhagen made a visonary choice in implementing them. Cycling levels plummeted through the 50s and 60s from a peak in the late 1940s. By the late 60s, the modal...

A car blocking the bike lane/cycle track. The source of much irritation and many social media photos. This photo, however, is from Denmark and that is a car that we WANT driving down the cycle track. Cities like Copenhagen and Aarhus don't just build the necessary infrastructure to encourage cycling, keep people safe and help make people FEEL safe, they regularly measure the quality of the infrastructure. Citizens always say in polls that the quality of the cycle tracks and bike lanes is of utmost importance to them when they are considering to commute by bicycle. So, specially adapated cars like these are regularly sent down the cycle tracks to measure for bumps and smoothness, among other factors, using laser technology and recording the data. There is a veritable armada of vehicles designed to operate on cycle tracks. Street sweepers, municipal garbage collection and, not least, snow clearance vehicles like those in our classic article: The Ultimate Snow Clearance Blo...

We have a tendency to give cities human character traits when we describe them. It's a friendly city. A dynamic city. A boring city. Perhaps then a city can be arrogant. Arrogant, for example, with it's distribution of space. I've been working a lot in North America the past year and I've become quite obsessed with the obscenely unbalanced distribution of space. I see this arrogance everywhere I go. I see the insanely wide car lanes and the vehicles sailing back and forth in them like inebriated hippopotami. I was just in Calgary for five days and from my balcony at the hotel I watched the traffic below on 12th Ave. A one-way street that was never really busy at all. From above, the arrogance of space was very apparent. Even more so than in a car driving down the lanes. The photo, above, is the car lines divided up with their actual width. Watching for five days - okay, not 24/7 ... I have a life after all - I didn't really see  any vehicles that filled out t...

Oliver Green and his daughters. Photo: Courtesy of Oliver Green. UPDATE: MONDAY 02 APRIL 2012 Here's the latest update from Oliver: Last update before heading out for the Easter break. I finally received a call from the town hall - the Councilor for Safety from the ruling People's Party wants to meet with me together with the Head of the Municipal Police to discuss my complaint. They're gonna have to wait till after the holiday though as we're heading out later today. I had a productive meeting with David Cierco councilor and spokesperson for the local Socialist Party group in Pozuelo. Like the UPyD they too have cycling and bike lanes high on their agenda ( http://www.gmspozuelo.org/pozuelo-dinamico/ ) but is is very hard to get through in this town as the PP has had an absolute majority for the last 30 years... What I really found quite surprising was their claim that the PP in Spain is anti-bike because they see the car as progress and as central to their ...

The seeds of bicycle culture in Denmark were first sown 120 years ago. We found a fascinating article about some of the historical aspects of Danish bicycle infrastructure history and thought it relevant to include it here. The first bike lane in Denmark was constructed on Esplanaden in 1892 and in 1896, Copenhageners were allowed to cycle on the side of equestrian paths. Marking out bike lanes in Copenhagen, 1915. Bike lanes along roads weren't, however, constructed back then, despite the rising number of cars on the streets and the rise of the bicycle as transport. There was a battle for space in the cities. Between bicycle users, trams and horses and carriages. It was in 1923 that bicycle users and pedestrians were first allowed to use the one metre wide shoulder on country roads. Nevertheless, many bicycle users chose to avoid the shoulder because of the refuse that collected there, choosing instead to ride farther towards the middle of the road where the coast was cl...

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.

I really should get out more. I rarely get to the provinces - whether Danish or otherwise. That's just me. I prefer cities. Once in a while, however, I find myself out there. In the Danish town of Frederikssund last summer I spotted these two simple traffic calming measures. Simply narrowing the street with islands and only allowing for one way traffic through the squeeze. The bicycle lane, of course, allows for free passage. In a small Danish town like this there is often a combination of painted lines, as above, and physically separated cycle tracks - depending on the traffic volume of the street. On a trip to small town in Jutland for a football tournament that my son was playing in, it was reassuring to see that along every road there were cycle tracks - and they were cleared of snow even way out there. Again, bi-directional tracks in some places and - if the traffic volume is sufficient - a track on either side of the highway. With over 10,000 km of bicycle lanes, path...

Just spotted this yesterday on the approach to Knippels Bridge over the harbour. Rumble strips for bicycles. The reason is simple. The curb between the bus island and the bike lane is low here, only a couple of centimetres. Low enough for a cyclist not to notice but just high enough for it to catch a wheel, sending the cyclist tumbling onto their bottom. So... rumble strips. There is a lot of traffic on this street - 20,000 bicycles a day - so in the morning rush hour there are certainly bicycles spread out wide, close to the curb. Good vibrations. And speaking of bus islands, this is a common feature in Copenhagen. At the top right you can see a zebra crossing for pedestrians/bus passengers to use to cross the bike lane when the coast is clear.

One-Way - Cyclists Excepted The City of Copenhagen is currently working on some small but important changes on our cityscape that will make things a bit easier for the city's cyclists. There is a network of one-way streets in the city - both the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods - which is mostly directed at motorised traffic. In some instances the one-way restriction applies to bicycles. Not that it means much. Bicycles regularly follow these desire lines. The City is now tidying up and legitimising bicycle traffic in the opposite direction down one-way streets. This is, of course, the norm in many bicycle-friendly cities. From left: Vienna, Prague, Paris Here's an excerpt from the City of Copenhagen's press release: Small sign on the road - big help for cyclists It's not just bicycle bridges and massive intersection redesign that make the city better for cyclists. Often a simple sign or a small piece of bicycle lane can make things better ...

Update - March 03, 2013: Brilliant resumé about the history of Stevenage's cycle network and the visionary who planned over at Roads Were Not Built for Cars . I found this in a book at the library a couple of years ago - can't remember the book - about Danish/Dutch style bicycle network in... Stevenage. Yes. Stevenage. Anyway, I believe the book was from the 60's or early 70's. From the photo, it looks promising. I haven't been to Stevenage recently so I was wondering if any of our British readers could tell us tales of promise from this hidden bicycle culture pearl. What's it like in Stevenage these days? Is this intersection still around?

I was on a photo shoot for the Danish Cancer Society a couple of weeks ago. Cycling along the old defences of Copenhagen, taking pictures of recreational bicycle infrastructure. The Cancer Society is focusing a lot on cycling and exercise as preventative measures against cancer in this sedentary world. The route took me over a motorway section that I'd only ever driven over in a car. Sjællands Bridge, which is the main motorway if you're heading to Sweden from Denmark. Needless to say there is a wide cycle track over the bridge. There are fewer commuters on this route during the week, compared to parallel cycle tracks along other motorways leading into the city , but the weather was nice - 35 degrees - and there were many people going for bike rides. On either side of the bridge the bike route runs parallel but more separated by trees - it's a motorway for god's sake, who wants to ride next to it? - but above is a lovely detail. There is an overpass leading bicycles and...

The City put in a traffic calming measure on this street next to Saint Hans Square in the Nørrebro neighbourhood. It was a perfect opportunity to plant some bike racks on the raised curb sections. This area is a hotbed of bars, cafés and restaurants so both the narrowed street and the bike racks are fantastic details. I also enjoy the symbolism of a car being forced to slow down and navigate past long rows of bicycles. It's like a sandwich.

It boggles the mind. It really does. These signs appeared on our bike lanes over the past couple of days, when you're approaching a side street. It reads, "Keep your eye on the side streets." It's the latest car-friendly campaign from auto industry's favourite national traffic safety council - Rådet for Sikkertrafik . They've been protecting the car industry for decades and they're at it again. Upon seeing the spray-painted sign I rolled up to the side street and looked for a corresponding warning sign for the motorists approaching from this direction. Nothing. No brightly-coloured signs or posters or painted warning on the street reading, "Watch out for cyclists and pedestrians!" No in your face billboard warning them of the fact that it's cars, driven by motorists, that kill. Classic Ignoring the Bull from people who should know better. Here's a previous post about behavourial campaign challenges . If the warnings on the...

I like details like this. Even when you have a big, bad-ass book featuring all the Best Practice for bicycle infrastructure - ( How many cars on that street each day? What's the speed limit? Right... turn to page 86 for your bicycle lane, please ) - there is often the need and possibility for details that fit one particular spot. It's where bicycle traffic planners get to be creative. This bicycle turn lane is in the Danish city of Roskilde, outside the train station. Like every other Danish city, there are bike lanes. Separated or painted, depending on the traffic volume. Most traffic here continues straight on but there are those who need to turn left. Take out a little piece of sidewalk and wiggle in a turn lane. Sweet. This one features a button for the cyclist to press when they need to turn. There's no irritating waiting time, it's a quick, efficient process. Perfect for Citizen Cyclists on their way through the town.

The city of Malmö, Sweden is no stranger to bicycle infrastructure. Just across the bridge from Copenhagen, Sweden's third-largest city has over 40 miles of bicycle lanes. Now those are Swedish miles, mind you, and a Swedish 'mil' equals 10 km so even I can figure out without a calculator that we're looking at 400 km of bicycle infrastructure. (The City of Copenhagen has about 350 km although Greater Copenhagen has over 1000 km of cycle tracks and bike lanes). The point being that Malmö , with a population of about 300,000 plus the metro area, is quite a brilliant cycle-friendly city. Anyway... this is the GPS age. The City of Malmö decided that many bits of bicycle infrastructure should be given names so that they can be plotted into GPS gadgets. It doesn't apply to cycle tracks that run along streets - those streets have names already - but the City has named a long list of bits and pieces of infrastructure that are separated from traffic. Paths that run do...

I experienced a strange little behavourial shift in myself recently. I use my two bicycles rather equally - the Velorbis and the Bullitt cargo bike. When not transporting kids, the Bullitt cargo bay is a respository for my bag. I just chuck it in, instead of having it slung around my shoulder. I discovered that I missed this ease-of-use when riding the upright Velorbis. I stuck the bag, Copenhagen-style, on the back rack under the rat trap. Which is what I've always done and, indeed, what most people without baskets do. Then I got a front rack put onto the Velorbis. These front racks have been a main feature for over a century, especially on Short Johns or delivery bikes/chimney sweep bikes or whatever you want to call them. Interestingly, they're experiencing a bit of a revival these day in Copenhagen. As soon as mine was on, I noticed that I was just slapping my bag onto the front rack and securing it with a bungee cord. Super quick and easy. Then I realised that the damned t...