The Life-Sized City Blog

A freshly paved cycle track in Almetyevsk along the city's main street, Lenina. What a difference a year makes. In October 2015, Mikael Colville-Andersen and his team were hired by the City of Almetyevsk, in Tatarstan, Russia. We were no stranger to the task - developing bicycle strategies is one of our primary jobs. We didn’t realise at the time what kind of visionary client had hired us. In this earlier article we called it the Transformation of Almetyevsk . One year on, that title seems like an understatement. The status quo in many Russian cities. No infrastructure. No protection for cyclists. We were - and are - quite familiar with the state of cycling infrastructure in Russian cities. On a global scale, Russia has struggled to reestablish the bicycle as transport in its cities. What most often lacks is real political will  in recognizing the bicycle as a legitimate mode of transportation. In Almetyevsk, however, that would prove to be the guiding strength. Ayr...

If this isn't the most beautiful magazine cover in the world, I don't know what is. The Most Dangerous Invention in the World. The Car. It's the cover of Profil magazine, out of Austria . I picked it up in Vienna earlier this year. As I understand it, Profil is a business magazine. Leafing through it, it's filled with men in suits saying stuff in German. This article, however, is beautiful for its stunning rationality. It's a bold cover and the accompanying article spells out why the car is, indeed, the most dangerous invention in the world and so destructive to our societies. Unfortunately, my German is rather dodgy but that's what infographics are for! The article features an interview with Vienna's wunderkind Vice-Mayor, Maria Vassilakou . According to this website, her splendidly complicated German titles are: Vice-Mayor and Vice-Governor, Executive City Councillor for Urban Planning, Traffic & Transport, Climate Protection, Energy and ...

My " Monumental Motion - a cycling life in the capital of Denmark " photo exhibition - produced together with the Danish Foreign Ministry's Public Diplomacy Office -  continues to travel and will do so for another year or so. It's been brilliant to attend some of the openings - when my schedule permits - and meet inspirational people in cities around the world. All the exhibitions have been great. Like any photographer it's a thrill see your work on display. The world premiere in Ljubjlana, Slovenia last year has to be the best exhibition thus far. The City has a permanent exhibition space along the river and the photos of Copenhagen's cycling life were blown up to an impressive size. The vice-Mayor of the city spoke at the opening, as did the Danish Ambassador and myself. There was also a photo competition for local photographers to take photos of their cycling city and I got to award the prizes for the best photos (bottom left). Ljubljana is a...

The Mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania goes to war on cars parked illegally in bicycle lanes. Where can I vote for this guy?

Recently the Danish State Railways [DSB] announced that bikes are now free on all the S-Trains in the Greater Copenhagen area. It was pretty big news here but DSB launched a comprehensive campaign to let the people know about it. On the busiest bicycle street in the western world, Nørrebrogade, they put up a mock S-train carriage on the bike lane. The morning bicycle rush hour on this street, which averages 38,000 cyclists a day, would find it hard to miss the advertising campaign. Whether people rode through the train tunnel or past it. On this stretch the bike lanes are double wide, around 5 metres. When the cyclists stopped at the red light up ahead, they were given a brochure about the fact that bikes are now free on the trains, as well as a free ticket for the train. Rather cool. Print adverts in a variety of themes about the new initiative feature prominently in the city these days. This advert on an outdoor ashtray, featuring beer glasses as wheels, reads: "Invite your bic...