The Life-Sized City Blog

Friday night bicycle traffic in Copenhagen. The European Cyclists Federation [ECF], present here in Copenhagen for the conference, sent a letter to all the members of European Parliament's delegation to the Climate Conference. It is short and sweet and to the point. Dear Member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to Copenhagen Summit, Urban traffic is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions. Transport is part of the problem. Cycling is part of the solution. A tripling of cycling (*) in Europe at the expense of individual motorized trips, would save 49.1 million tons of CO2 or 5% of CO2 transport emissions. [*] See The Charter of Brussels . You can read the letter to the MEPs here, as a pdf . Brilliant. The European Cyclists’ Federation was founded in 1983 by 12 bicycle user associations. It has now 60 member organizations in 37 countries. In another recent newsletter email from the ECF they announced the work of the ECF's Helmet Working Group . The ECF Helmet Working Group i...

Photo: Finn Frandsen/Politiken The police confiscated a number of so-called 'war bikes' last night, on the eve of one of the main demonstrations during the climate conference. They raided The Candy Factory, where the bikes were being prepared for the demonstration and... well... took them away. I blogged about The Bike Bloc a couple of weeks ago and it's a shame that the bikes were taken. The police say that they are illegal bikes and may be used illegally at the demonstration. The police spokesman, when pressed, couldn't answer in any detail what he thought the bikes could or would be used for. Via Politiken [in Danish] - and this article They're Taking Our Bikes !

The famous Tivoli Gardens in the centre of Copenhagen plans to be the world's first amusement park to be powered by wind energy. Tivoli Gardens were opened in 1843 and, with the exception of Bakken north of Copenhagen which opened in the late 1500's, it is the oldest amusement park in the world. It inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland. In collaboration with DONG Energy [Danish Oil & Natural Gas], Tivoli aims to be wind powered by 2010. Next year, in December 2009, the world will descend on Copenhagen for the UN Climate Conference - also called COP 15 . It will be time for the countries of the world to sign a new climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Agreement. There is enormous focus on this climate conference. There will be many environmental projects launched between now and then and we're going to cover what we can here on Copenhagenize. Focus on bicycle culture, of course, with a bit of sustainability thrown in. And hopefullly a load of good things involving ...