The Life-Sized City Blog

Copenhagen. 1932. Thanks to @laxbikeguy (James) on Twitter for the link. "Cyclists in hundreds - thousands (millions it seemed to our cameraman!) throng the City of Copenhagen." Wild how there was only 12 views on this film when I clicked on the link from James. Feels like archeology. :-) Here is Copenhagen in 1937. When I found this in 2011 there were only a dozen views or so. Glad it got out to a wider audience. Copenhagen in the 1950s. Copenhagen in 1923.

Great little video from Italy, made by Ivan Conte. Look what kind of inhuman cities we have created with our primitive, vehicle-based traffic engineering over the past century or so. Pedestrians are at the mercy of the motor vehicles, sure, but at the root at the mercy of traffic engineers who fail to plan for pedestrians and cyclists. Chaos ensues. Pollution runs riot. Cities are dead or dying ... unless we choose to think differently .

The Hungarians do it again. New advert for Bike to Workk campaign. As we've said before, the Hungarians are world champions in promoting cycling positively - check out this previous article about it . The message on this new one is, quite simply: "You can cure your lack of exercise. Bike to Work!" Cool style. Go, Hungary! Thanks to Aron at Hungarian Cycle Chic for the link.

Last week, on April 14, 2012, the first stretch of Copenhagen's new and long-awaited Bicycle Superhighway network opened and Copenhagenize was there for the bike ride. It was back in 2009 that we first wrote about the plans for these bicycle superhighways . The boys at Trunk films made this cool film that includes the Superhigways project . The project has taken time to develop but now the routes are getting ready for use. In addition, when we first wrote about it, there were plans for 13 routes. That has now been increased to 26. 300 km of dedicated superhighway routes when the project is complete. The 17.5 km Albertslund Route is the first one to launch. The route runs through a number of municipalities, including Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Albertslund and Rødovre. They are being called Bicycle Superhighways, but it's worth noting that the routes follow existing, separated bicycle infrastructure. There will be some improvements on certain sections and various faciliti...

Brilliantly simple and effective video about the societal costs of automobile use. Filled with nuggets of wisdom, effectively communicated. Love the bit about how cars are like gasses - it doesn't matter how large the container grows, the molecules will still occupy the whole space. Build more roads, more cars come. Welcome to Square One. Amazing how after 75 years of traffic engineers and planners failing constantly and consistently at solving traffic problems, we still give them outrageous amounts of funding to keep... failing. Seriously, what other vocation in the world gets so much money to play with without having produced ANY results for three quarters of a century? The Mexican office of the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) produced this film - in Spanish with English subtitles. Thanks to Ludwig from UITP for the link .

It's be three and half years since I first blogged this video, made by students at the Dutch Film and TV Academy. I'm surprised it only has 5424 views on YouTube. It deserves so much more. The dialogue goes like this: Motorist is shown an ink blot. Doctor: What do you see? Motorist: Car. Doctor: (Voiceover): The first phase is denial. Motorist: Car. Motorist watches bicycle films. Doctor: (Voiceover) You have to present the addict with the cure for the problem. Motorist gets onto stationary bicycle. Doctor: (Voiceover) Then they have to take their own initiative. Motorist outside on bicycle. Doctor: (Voiceover) When they can do it on their own, we'll let them go. Car addiction (or slavery) is a underestimated problem. We have to help these people. Doctor's last line: Yeah, somebody has to do something about traffic jams. Then there's this one. Italian asks how the guy got there today and replies, "Bicycle". Italian men laugh....

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...

In stark contrast til General Motors' "Stop pedalling, start driving" campaign, here's a film from what appears to be the 1970s that was produced by General Motors. "I Like Bikes". It's a weird film and with its 13+ minutes, it's a bit of a snore, although strangely appealing in a zen-like way on a Saturday morning with a hangover. Like watching snooker on Eurosport. I used to teach storytelling and screenwriting and in that talk I highlighted the evolution of the length of storytelling and the journey from the dawn of the television age to brevity in our dramaturgy. In the 70's you could spend almost 14 minutes explaining what we would, today, compress into 3 minutes or less. Watching the film is like listening to a looong story told by an inebriated, aging member of the family at a dinner party. No clear beginning, middle or end. Getting to the point, if there is one, is like pulling teeth. But hey. I have absolutely no idea what it's...

Thanks to our reader, Philip, for this great story. The fans of Eintracht Frankfurt football club decided to ride their bicycles to this year's derby match against local rivals FSV Frankfurt on August 21, 2011. The result was a fantastic and festive "football critical mass" from the city centre to the stadium. It was probably even more festive afterwards, since Eintracht Frankfurt cycled home with a solid 0-4 victory over their rivals. Back when the word 'hooligans' was splashed over the press in the 1990s, the Danish fans started calling themselves 'roligans' - from the Danish word 'rolig', meaning 'calm'. The fans in the above photos could easily be dubbed 'Roll-igans' or even 'rad-igans'. Mainly because 'Pedaligans' just sounds stupid. More photos over at Ultras Frankfurt 1997 website . Here's a film from a couple of years ago of Felix and I riding home from an FC Copenhagen match.

I recieved an invitation to an event here in Copenhagen on Thursday at KPH Projects . The event is called Views of Detroit - Exploring film in urban planning . It's about three students from Roskilde University who made a film about Detroit. The trailer is above. They'll highlight a city that was home to the Big Three - Ford, Chrysler and GM and that gave the world Motown and Techno. A city that lost half of its population in just 50 years and where this year alone 3000 houses will be torn down. A city that has the fantastic potential to be the first large city in the world to produce all of its foodstuffs within the city limits. A city that is fighting economic meltdown and brutal budget cuts. A city with a blossoming underground and art scene. The event can be found at this Facebook group . Here's the corner of Woodward Avenue and Monroe Avenue, Detroit, in 1917. Human streets, public transport. This photo features in the book Fighting Traffic - The dawn of th...

The City of Malmö is located in the south of Sweden, just across the bridge from Copenhagen. It's Sweden's third-largest city. The City's bicycle office and transport department are also quite brilliant at promoting cycling. In fact, I asked one of the communications people at the City of Copenhagen's Bicycle Office a while back who they were positively influenced by and he replied, "Malmö" without hestitation. Followed by the Dutch Fietsersbond. Which speaks volumes. They have had a successful campaign running for four years now called " No Ridiculous Car Trips ". They discovered a few years back that 50% of all trips under 5 km were by car in the city and they decided to do something about it. The campaign has been a massive success. In the film, above, you can hear all about how and why the campaign started. I like how they turn the tables in their marketing. Directing confronting that very simple fact that using cars for short trips in their ci...

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...

Here's a travel film from Copenhagen in 1937. The first third and the last third are all about our bicycle culture. What's interesting to note is that in the 1960's and 1970's, car culture was killing off cycling in the city and it was first really in the early to mid 70's that we started giving it a heart massage to get it back up to speed. We've never achieved these levels since, though. But we're working on it. Regarding the film, there's a bit of outdated speak that rings quite racist in our modern ears. The speaker mentions also that there is one bicycle for every three citizens. These days there it is 1:1 and then some. After the first couple of minutes there is a section about Copenhagen and Denmark in general and then we return to "a demonstration of bicycle traffic that is unparalled in any of the world's great cities." It starts at about 6 minutes in. Beautiful footage and watch for the sofa being transported on a cargo bike!

Copenhagen has motorways, just like anywhere else. Being the capital city and the main metropolis in the region, all roads and railways lead to Copenhagen. The geographical layout of the city located on the sea resembles an outstretched palm with five fingers of infrastructure all funnelling towards the spot on the wrist where the pulse is found. There are two main motorways leading to the city from afar. The E20 brings traffic from the rest of the nation and the rest of Europe to the south. It continues on over the bridge to Sweden and on to Stockholm. The E47 sweeps down from the north, where ferries arrive from Sweden. Then there is a network of motorways that slice through the urban sprawl, bringing commuters into Copenhagen from different directions. I rode out along the #16 Motorway the other day and the film, above, is the result. The #16 isn't that long. It starts about 30 km out, deep in surburbia near the town of Hillerød. From it's source it is already a funnel for ...

Our fine friends over at Estonia Cycle Chic posted this clip from a famous [for Estonians] film featuring a character who pedals about on his bicycle. Nipernaadi , from 1983. Lovely music, too.

This is one of the most important books about cycling I've ever read. Like another important book about cycling - Traffic - Why We Drive the Way We Do (and what it says about us) which I reviewed a while back - Culture of Fear Revisited isn't even about bicycles or cycling. The book, by Frank Furedi , Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, is a blunt, fascinating and alarming book about how The Culture of Fear has overrun our societies. It maps out the evolution of this fear culture, enabling us to see how on earth we ended up where we are today. “What we have is a more promiscuous, pluralistic form of fearing. The very important implication to this is that while my parents feared together, you and I have a more isolated, private experience. We fear on our own.” I have an earlier post about how Denmark risks developing a culture of fear , but reading Furedi's book was an eye-opener. Now I'm crap at book reviews - I read two books a week but I've never b...

It's amazing how many cyclists are getting stopped on the streets of Copenhagen this week.

One of our readers in Geneva, Benoit, brought this new campaign from the city of Geneva to our attention. It is aimed at encouraging more people to choose 'soft' transport forms like walking and bicycling but also the bus and the tram. It is fantastic in it's simplicity. The poster above reads, roughly translated: "There is always a moment where you have to take the first step." Ahhh, l'amour... Then there is this poster, which is the payoff for the first. "By bicycle. On foot. By bus. By tram. A new step in [for] life" The slogan for the campaign is, in my interpretation: "Change is in the air!" It's a prime example of how to promote cycling positively as a normal, everyday transport option for regular citizens. Geneva, like so many other cities in Europe is seeing an increase in the number of cyclists. The metropolitan area hosts 812,000 citizens and since 2005 the number of people cycling has increased by 11% in the summer and 28% in...

Had a conversation with a friend, Joel, about what would happen if we marketed cycling like we market cars. Sure, many car adverts show the vehicle driving crazy in rough terrain, making you feel like the Marlboro Man with a driving licence, but many appeal to regular people and portray the car like a desirable part of your life. The now-famous series of Renault Clio adverts from the 1990's featuring 'Nicole' and 'Papa' - one of them is featured above - portray the Clio as perfect for a handsome dad AND an attractive young woman. It's a lifestyle accessory used for transport. You could easily put Nicole on a gorgeous Batavus or Velorbis instead, portraying cycling as a normal part of everyday life. In Renault's more recent campaign for the Clio the car could also easily be replaced with upmarket bike brands. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see it. And it wouldn't be unappropriate to use the inherent flirting undertones since cycling, in Europ...

My mates at Baisikeli borrowed a custom-made bike used in film shoots for possible usage in a Canadian tv-crew that Copenhagenize.com/Copenhagen Cycle Chic are hosting this week. They're doing a documentary on sustainability that includes Copenhagen. I'm trying to get them to film by bike so we'll see what they say to this Buddy Bike. It's a custom-made bike for use in the Danish film and tv industry. One steers the bike and the and the cameraman shoots from the buddy seat, while helping to pedal. He has handlebars, too, but they don't move. They're only for resting on. There is a front rack for gear and the camera can also be placed in the middle of two handlebars for stabilisation or resting. What a cosy ride. This bike is perfect for The Slow Bicycle Movement . We were discussing how it can be used in other ways. Among the ideas were a footbath on the front rack, a bucket of ice filled with beer, etc. Any other good ideas for The Slow Bicycle concept? How co...