The Life-Sized City Blog

Copenhagenize Design Company has had the pleasure of hosting architect and urban planner,  Ahmed Tarek Al-Ahwal, on an exchange from Egypt made possible by the support of the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute . He curated these photographs highlighting a long and proud history of using the bicycle as transport in his country. By Ahmed Tarek Al-Ahwal Egypt's President Sisi has been on a bike ride or two, like this one in 2014. He has said that Egyptians should cycle more and that the country can save 16 Egyptian pounds for each 20 km cycled. He has, however, failed to provide any infrastructure. In the recent memory of some Egyptians, cycling used to serve a much wider group of users than today. Residents in Port Said, a port city on the Suez Canal, are proud that cycling used to be their main mode of transportation. Indeed, during rush hour, the ferries were loaded with the bicycles of employees going to work. It´s a narrative that is heard in many other cities, u...

There are numerous ways to measure how citizen cyclists feel about cycling in a city. We know that there is no chicken or egg - there is only Best Practice infrastructure. Keeping cyclists safe but also giving them the all-important sense of safety. I have cycled in over 60 cities around the world. In safe cities like those in Denmark and the Netherlands and cities that struggle to emerge as bicycle-friendly cities. In the latter I am rolling through a lion's den, often forced subliminally to speed up because of the pace of the motorised traffic. In these old-fashioned cities that have failed to provide safe infrastructure for cycling, I am quite sure I have never yawned. Too much intensity, too much adrenaline. If we look at revealed preferences, as opposed to declared preferences (asking people in surveys), the urban cycling yawn has to be the ultimate indicator of the state of a city's progress towards being bicycle-friendly. If you don't see people yawning regu...

Found this photo in a book at the Texada Island Library book sale yesterday. Even in 1910, the bicycle offered a fantastic mobility option for the citizens battling with sub-standard public transport.

Oh those Hungarians. Once again, they show the world that they are leaders in the area of bicycle promotion. Here's the latest film from the Hungarian Cyclists' Club 's Bike to Work campaign - or " Bringázz a munkába " if you want to get all Magyar-esque. The cycling NGO has an ongoing relationship with global advertising firm Young & Rubicam , who have produced some of the films. Something the rest of the geeky bicycle advocacy world can learn from. Mainstream marketing is the key. Taking this product called "urban cycling" and selling it to the 99%. Selling the simplicty of urban cycling instead of overcomplicating it. The good people at the Hungarian Cyclists Club know that sub-cultural marketing is not an effective way to sell a mainstream product. Unlike many other NGOs around the world who are seemingly intent on merely trying recruit new members to their clique, the Hungarians see the big picture and go after it year after year after ye...

Something one might expect to see at Cycle Chic, but here is the Crown Princess of Tasmania... uh... Denmark on her Nihola cargo bike riding across the palace square outside Amalienborg, where the royal types live. The tabloid's headline reads, " Mary on a bike ride. The Princess takes a day off ". Actually, it's the family's cargo bike. The Crown Prince often drops off his kids at kindergarten in it . One can question whether or not everyday is a day off for a royal. Someone produced this website that tracks the work schedule of Mary's husband, Crown Prince Frederik. Arbejder kronprinsen idag? / Is the Crown Prince working today? But hey, at least Mary is living the dream and a bicycle is under her Aussie ass while she is doing it. Nice.

This winter has, so far, been rather uneventful. No arctic deep freeze with snowstorm after snowstorm rolling in like the past two winters and many before that . It's been grey and dull and quite boring, with only The Lakes being frozen over to provide a sense of winter and the opportunity to skate. Older people - including my dad - will wax lyrical about the three legendary winters back in 1939/40, 40/41 and 41/42. It was in 1941 that the municipality of Frederiksberg - where Copenhagenize Consulting is also based - needed some new ideas about clearing the obscene amounts of snow. Horse-drawn ploughs were in use all over the nation, as well as teams of men with shovels, due to the petrol shortage during those winters. Frode Nielsen, an engineer at the city's transport department, invented the bicycle snowplough picture above. It was made from two short john delivery bikes attached together with rods. The plough was made of beech, with a 3 mm steel edge, as well as sma...

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...