The Life-Sized City Blog

This article is written by Copenhagenize Design Company's former urban planner, Leon Legeland. Originally from the least bicycle friendly city in Germany, Wiesbaden, he has lived, studied and worked in Vienna, Malmö, Copenhagen and currently Berlin. He has a master in Sustainable Urban Management and is recently finished his second masters in Sustainable Cities here in Copenhagen. He now works in Berlin. Last year we covered the state of cycling in Berlin . It’s time for an update. Berlin has a quite ambitious bicycle strategy and the city administration, on some level, understands that urban cycling improves the quality of life and that it needs to be promoted and supported . As cosmopolitan cities the world over, cycling rates in the last decade have been on the rise. The substandard infrastructure built to date has been partly responsible, but in order to get the 99% on bikes, Berlin will have to turn to best practice infrastructure. Progress is painfully slow and there i...

Nice with a bit of activism and rationality on a Saturday. Thanks to our reader Jochen, who sent us some photos from the streets of Germany in reaction to a campaign from the German Ministry of Transport, above. Next to a photo of Darth Vader the text reads: "The saga continues, thanks to the helmet. Works in every galaxy. And on the bicycle." This set cyclists and activists to task. Billboard in Bonn: "Now I'm single... thanks, helmet." Photo: Jochen  In a country where only about 10% of cyclists wear plastic hats, the Ministry of Transport decided to chuck some taxpayer money into a campaign. A lazy move from politicans whose ignorance about the importance of encouraging cycling, building infrastructure and the health benefits of a cycling population has now been broadcast to the planet. They are basically using taxpayer money to advertise how ignorant they are. There's the first problem with their campaign. The choice of Darth Vader is as str...

Thanks to reader Felix Feldhofer for the photo and the heads up about this story. By and large, history is repeating itself as we work towards making cities better. We are returning to many of the ideas that made cities human - before the automobile appeared. It's often a very good thing. Which makes what is happening in Cologne, Germany, even more comical, bizarre and stupid. It is absolutely shocking. A stunning example of Ignoring the Bull . We've written before about The Anti-Automobile Age in the early years of the 20th Century. In this article, you can read about the "jaywalking" concept , basically invented by the automobile industry to keep the streets clear for their cars and get the irritating, squishy obstacles out of the way. I highlight this in my Bicycle Urbanism by Design TED x talk . We know it was crazy. We know that it was a desperate - and successful - ploy by the automobile industry to claim the streets for themselves, despite the fact t...

« 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...

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.

The final negotiations are underway about the proposed bridge from Denmark to Germany - the Femern Belt Bridge between the Danish island of Lolland and the German island of Fehmarn. Copenhagenize is wondering if we'll be third-time lucky. When the 17.5 km long Great Belt Fixed Link - linking the islands Zealand and Funen - was being planned in the 1990's, there was talk of adding bicycle infrastructure but it never gained any ground. When the bridge was completed in 1998, cyclists who previously could ride onto the ferry were then forced to take the train or a bus in order to cross between east and west Denmark. The next massive bridge project was the 15 km long Öresund Fixed Link between Denmark and Sweden , completed in 2000. Again, there were voices in the wilderness calling for bicycle infrastructure to be added to the construction. Again, nothing came of it. Cyclists who could take their bicycles on ferries from Copenhagen and Malmö now had to take the train. It must be...

Saw this photo on a Danish website reporting about which airports are open or closed. Can't see which airport it is, but it's a cool shot. And whenever I'm in the dull, dreary hell that is Frankfurt Airport, at least I always see bicycles parked or being ridden around by the staff.

Das Strike Bike Annie, one of the owners of Christiania Bikes , just visited a bike factory in Nordhausen, Germany and sent me a mail about it. I had heard about the striking bicycle workers, but that was ages ago. Turns out they are still at it. 135 colleagues in the Bike Systems GmbH factory, faced with a factory closure, decided to protest and try to save their jobs. This was back in July 2007! As I understand it, the union rules in Germany dictate that only a union can call a strike, and not the workers themselves. Their union wasn't game so the workers decided to hold a "professional meeting" to discuss the situation. They are allowed to do so. There are, however, no rules dicatating how long that meeting can last. So their meeting went on and on and on. Brilliant move. In order to prevent the factory being dismantled they kept it occupied in three shifts. Eventually an idea was formed. Self-management of the factory and production. A product was needed and they came...