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...

We always have a bunch of ideas kicking around at Copenhagenize Consulting . We are always working on individual, tailor-made solutions when we work with other cities - every city is unique - but last month we decided to try out some ideas right here in Copenhagen. In our own backyard. Earlier this year we blogged about how Copenhagen tries to keep Holding On To Cyclists by placing railings and footrests around the city to let bicycle users rest against them whilst waiting at red lights. Brilliant idea and we love it. The text on the footrest is a communications template we developed for the Bicycle Office . These railings, are, however, limited in that these railings can only be implemented in certain locations where they don't interfere with pedestrian mobility. There are eight of them around the city now. Copenhageners, however, will lean up against anything they can at red lights. We have a whole photo series dedicated to it . Have a look around the city. The metal pol...

Much is written about the Danish urban planner and architect Jan Gehl with regards to creating segregated bike infrastructure in cities in order to keep cyclists safe and to increase the number of cyclists in the urban landscape. It's worth mentioning that it's not all about the bike lanes. They are a fantastic symbol of intelligent urban planning, but Gehl's thoughts and experiences with urban planning in general are far-reaching. His consultancy company Gehl Architects continue his important work. I like this excerpt from an interview with Metropolis Magazine : "One of the interesting things about Copenhagen is the gradual approach. "Public Spaces, Public Life" is the first ever recording of the life of a city. Every city counts its traffic one or two times a year, but hardly any city knows about what people do in a city and how the city is being used . "In Copenhagen we've pioneered this as a working method: study what's going on, look at the...