The Life-Sized City Blog

My son Felix on the course of today's cyclist test for 6th graders in Denmark, in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. Today was a fun day in my son Felix' young life. Together with the other 6th grade students at La Cour Vej School, he took part in the Danish "cyklistprøve" - or Cyclist Test. The test has been around since 1947. It's not mandatory but many schools choose to do it. When kids are in the 1st grade they get a week of initial cyclist "how-to" regarding rules of the road, etc. Then, in 6th grade, they rock the test like today. In my opinion, the test is great but it's also rather symbolic. Most of these kids have been cycling in the city since they were little. Felix has rocked the cycle tracks since he was three and a half. Parents teach them the rules and, most important, give them the practice they need. By the time they get to the 6th grade, the majority have a great deal of on-asphalt experience on their bicycles. Our school chooses to ma...

This just in... hot off the presses. As always, Copenhagenize has its finger on the pulse of breaking news. A roving New York reporter covers cycling in Scandinavia. "If for nothing else the bicycle is blessed in Scandinavia because it saves time." "No other country has done more for the pleasure and comfort of its wheelmen than Denmark..." "The construction of pavements takes in consideration what best can serve the interests of cyclists, and cycle paths are provided near all cities, in some instances leading miles away from town into the country." "...ride to market on their bicycles with baskets strapped to their backs, and other baskets dangling from the handle-bars of the wheel. ... they seldom come to grief, and manage to keep their equilibrium to their journey's end." From the New York Sun. 19 February 1897. 42,979 days ago (based on today's date) (The Sun was a New York newspaper that was published from 1833 until 195...

In the interest of expediting the journey towards bicycle-friendly cities and eliminating misconceptions, Copenhagenize Design Co. has produced The Copenhagenize Bicycle Planning Guide. Based on Danish Best Practice developed over the past century, since the first separated bike lane was implemented in Copenhagen in 1915. The beauty of the bicycle infrastructure network in Copenhagen is the uniform design of the infrastructure. There are, by and large, four types of infrastructure - all represented in this graphic. Based on the speed limit for cars, you select the appropriate style of infrastructure and off you go. One of these designs fits every street in the country and, indeed, every street in every city in the world. If you fancy sending your local planner/engineer a gift that keeps on giving, this graphic is also available as a poster .

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Cyclists’ protests can be a good thing arising out of a bad thing. Confused? by Pedro Madruga The Good The number of actions protesting for more cyclist and pedestrian rights is becoming more common, large-scaled and with increased outcomes.  Most of us are aware of the protests in Denmark and Netherlands during the 70’s, aiming mostly for increased safety. If you're not aware of that then here’s a whole article waiting for you here . Back then, a message was sent to politicians: the ink was made of cyclists and pedestrians and the paper was the city hall square – as you can see in the below picture (Copenhagen). It figuratively said: “enough”. And it worked. Without violence, just pure human kinetics. Throughout history there were several protests were cyclists and pedestrians claimed for better rights. Just last year, a massive protest gathered 10 thousand cyclists in the UK and 50 thousand in Italy .  And the list goes on, whet...

« We are nourishing a monster of great potential destructiveness.» Colin Buchanan, 1960. Quote referring to the car-oriented planning in a report for the Minister for Transport, UK. It was a privilege to read, over the last few days, a thesis written by Joe Goddard - a friend of Mikael's. The thesis’ full title is “Cycle Paths and City Traffic 1945-1995” and it was a work submitted to the University of Bristol, in order to obtain the Master of Arts degree in the Faculty of Historical Studies. Amazingly, it was written back in 1995. Back then there were hardly any papers about bicycle infrastructure or bicycles at all so Mr Goddard was quite ahead of the modern curve. Dr Joe Goddard is now Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Copenhagen. His most recent book is also fascinating: Being American on the Edge - Penurbia and the Metropolitan Mi...

The seeds of bicycle culture in Denmark were first sown 120 years ago. We found a fascinating article about some of the historical aspects of Danish bicycle infrastructure history and thought it relevant to include it here. The first bike lane in Denmark was constructed on Esplanaden in 1892 and in 1896, Copenhageners were allowed to cycle on the side of equestrian paths. Marking out bike lanes in Copenhagen, 1915. Bike lanes along roads weren't, however, constructed back then, despite the rising number of cars on the streets and the rise of the bicycle as transport. There was a battle for space in the cities. Between bicycle users, trams and horses and carriages. It was in 1923 that bicycle users and pedestrians were first allowed to use the one metre wide shoulder on country roads. Nevertheless, many bicycle users chose to avoid the shoulder because of the refuse that collected there, choosing instead to ride farther towards the middle of the road where the coast was cl...

Hey! Bikes are everywhere, now cars are here... let's combine the two! Thus thought a certain Herre Holger Møller in a moment of misguided inspiration. His "Autocykel" never caught on. The design of the upright bicycle just couldn't be improved upon.

A historical photo of two classic figures in bicycle history. Two knife sharpeners. They rode about both the countryside and the city, offering their blade sharpening services to anyone who would pay the price. The usual setup was like the bicycle on the left. The back bicycle wheel was rigged with an external cog onto which a strap was attached so that they could sit stationary and pedal whilst sharpening knives, scissors and all manner of blades. The chap on the left as a similar but seemingly more complex system. The last time I saw one was in the city centre about ten years ago. Parked in a courtyard behind a trendy café, he was handed knives from the chefs through the window and he would mount his bicycle and sharpen them to perfection. Here's a more recent version from the streets of Africa. Wonderful. Thanks for the link in the comments.

Intersection in a rural area of Northern Denmark. The fully separated bike lane next to the road, typical for areas like this, is visible on the right of the photo. A travel writer friend of mine, Tom Hall, has posted his account of his cycling tour of northern Denmark on his blog . Cycling in Denmark - Aalborg to Skagen . Fits well with the recent post about the national cycling routes and downloadable maps and all that . An excerpt about the national cycle network: " The result served as the blueprint for our own National Cycle Network – and is a boon for holidaymakers. It only goes wrong when you ignore it and attempt to build your own route visiting nearby places with silly-sounding names like Pajhede Skov and Uggerby. I learnt this to my cost mid-morning, when pondering that the bloke I was passing on my left hitting golf balls looked just like the bloke I’d passed twenty minutes ago on my right. He was the same chap. Lesson learnt: stick to the signed route. Chastened, I r...

Here's a quirky thing in our bicycle culture here in Denmark. It's no surprise that January and February are the slowest months for the business of selling bicycles. What many - and I mean many - bike shops do is transform themselves into fireworks shops. In Denmark you're only allowed to sell fireworks between December 1 - 31 each year, in the run up to New Year's Eve. Bike shops are major sellers of the gear, like this one in the photo. Not only are January and Feburary slow months, there is also tough competition. A couple of years ago I counted 27 bike shops in my neighbourhood - with a 7 minute bike ride from my flat. That number is now 40+, as I've discovered more and more . Most bike shops are small and earn their wage repairing bicycles, more than selling them. In January and February, even though 80% of Copenhageners cycle all winter, there are fewer people needing repairs. An innovative, unique way to muscle up the sales figures before the Janu...

The children of Denmark started back at school yesterday. My main man, Felix, started in first grade. It's normal at this time of year that political parties clear their throats and preen themselves after the summer holidays and recommence the battle for headlines. This week has seen a flurry of proposals regarding traffic around schools. It has never been safer to cycle in Denmark as it is right now but the blossoming Culture of Fear in this country, spurred on by all-manner of scare campaigns, has created a sense of insecurity among parents. Surprisingly, many of the political ideas and comments this week are quite positive and unusually clever. Mainly because the focus FINALLY is shifting towards tackling the problem. Automobile traffic. 10 August 2009 The Socialist People's Party [SF] , the third largest party in the country, have a bold proposal. A so-called 'Safety Package ' featuring a series of ideas. In Denmark we have a system where various traffic violations,...

Desk , originally uploaded by Verisimilitude [Zakka] . I read today that 25% of Danes choose to work from home 'often' or 'occasionally'. This a record in the EU where the average among other countries is only 13%. Many workplaces encourage it and most of my colleagues have one day a week where they work from home. It's great and it helps reduce stress.