The Life-Sized City Blog

Earlier this year I was working in Rotterdam, a city I had never visited before. You get the impression from Dutch people in the rest of the Netherlands that Rotterdam isn't really Dutch. Generally, the attitude is that Rotterdam isn't very cool. The only way to figure it out is to go there. I was invited to do a spot of Copenhagenizin' at the City of Rotterdam. A brainstorm session about how to promote cycling and perhaps develop a brand for the City's cycling intiatives. A great day with great, positive people. A real pleasure. I was excited to get a Rijkspas - "Kingdom Pass" upon arriving the offices: But soon realised that it was a golden pass to the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands that would get me free beer and cheese and... uh... bouquets of tulips. Just coffee and lunch, but hey. Copenhagenize Consulting was hired by De Verkeersonderneming, a consortium of partners aimed at improving traffic conditions in the city . The partners include the C...

The newspaper MetroXpress had an article today about a group of foreign students studying in Denmark who drew drawings about their impressions of Copenhagen and Denmark. A kind of cartoon response to the Muhammed cartoon saga . Winnon Brunson Jr, above, is an American student at the University of Copenhagen. He explains the idea behind his drawing: "The drawing shows the Danes' effectivness and ability to multi-task. The man on the bicycle isn't just cycling - he's sitting on the toilet and taking a shower with the run-off water from the umbrella at the same time. On the back of the bike is his child who is providing a bit of green energy from a windmill. Danes can manage many different things with very little time and space - that's what the drawing hopes to express. But Copenhagen is also a very environmentally-friendly city where the citizens take part in sustainability. That has really amazed me. The thinking is very progressive and very unique ...