The Life-Sized City Blog

Los Angeles. 1900. Spring St. near 8th. The latest installment is from a city that enjoyed a modal share for bicycles of 20% at the turn of the last century and built impressive protected bicycle infrastructure like this 10 km, elevated cycle track back in 1900 . Alas, the bicycle disappeared from this area that was described like this in an 1897 newspaper article: " There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling. " Thanks to our reader, Rick, we found these photographs showing the bicycle as an accepted and respected part of life in Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Public Library archives . We all know what happened when the car industry went after another competitive transport form . Burbank. 1908. First Street looking east from Yale Avenue in Claremont in 1915. Los Angeles. Ca. 1890. 632 South Broadway. Balboa. Newport...

When we at Copenhagenize were discussing the title of the photo exhibition Monumental Motion we got onto the subject of actual bicycle monuments or sculptures. Permanent artistic works celebrating the bicycle and/or Citizen Cyclists. At many festivals - Burning Man comes to mind - temporary bicycle-related sculptures are constructed. Then there are monuments, large and small, dedicated to cyclesport racers . That's all well and good and brilliant, but we were thinking about permanent works - monuments, if you like - that were commissioned and paid for and that serve as a permanent symbol and celebration of the bicycle. We figured we dish up our Top Five Bicycle Monuments. Let us know yours. Add a comment or use the Twitter hashtag #bikemonument . #1 - Aseaströmmen Location: Stora Torget (Main Square) in Västerås, Sweden . Artist: Bengt-Göran Broström (1947-2004) Date: 1989 Aseaströmmen has long been a favourite of ours. It commemorates the thousands of cycling workers who...

I'm way behind on so many things. I finally had the chance to edit this little film that I shot in San Francisco in October 2009. By fantastic coincedence, my lecture tour was on the same day as the Halloween Critical Mass bicycle ride. I took part with some friends , riding my Biomega borrowed from the W Hotel . I was meant to borrow a Danish Bullitt cargo bike from Erik Zo , who was kind enough to offer it to me, but not knowing where I'd end up in the course of the evening, or with whom and what not, I decided against it. I didn't want to be the man who got the bike stolen. :-) In lieu of borrowing the bike, Erik gave me a lift from the lecture back to my hotel. The bicyle ride was quite brilliant, I must admit. It was definately more 'in your face' compared to the critical mass I was in in Budapest in September, but it certainly wasn't aggressive at all. The whole Halloween angle, with people dressed up in crazy costumes added to the festival atmosphere. T...

A reader mentioned pedestrian flags in Berkeley, California in a comment and added "I'm serious!" so I thought I'd check out this fantastic example of victim blaming in Bubble Wrap Society. He was serious. Is that scary or funny or both? Not sure. Flags are placed near intersections and the idea is that pedestrians pick one up and hold it when they wish to foolishly exercise their human right to safe urban mobility . Most of the flags have been stolen and few use them apparently. Ironically, 48 hours after these went into [non]use, a pedestrian was hit by a car. Here's what Berkeley City Councilwoman Polly Armstrong said about it at the time: "We hope over time - when drivers are paying a little more attention than that driver was - that the flags would be helpful." She added that, "Pedestrians have to be on guard and aggressive with their flags." "After hitting the pedestrian, the driver swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with ...

I've not seen such cool bike parking in ages. At my hotel in San Francisco - the W Hotel - they have three Danish Biomega bicycles for guests to use free. Okay, three isn't much, but it's what they do with them that counts. It's like a museum the way they hang them up on the wall like that. You ask the valet for a bicycle and he walks over with a crank and proceeds to lower - slowly and cerimoniously - the bicycle to the ground. Now THAT is style over speed! I rode the bicycle during the Halloween Critical Mass and the next day, too, with some friends. A one-speed on the hills of San Francisco. Easy peasy. Here's what other bikes I've been riding whilst travelling .