The Life-Sized City Blog

The Bicycle as a symbol of progress, of renewal, of promising times ahead. This is not a new concept. Indeed it has been around since the invention of the bicycle. Many bicycle posters at end of the 19th century featured promising themes like liberation, progress, freedom. Here's an example: In this beautiful poster, there is a lot of metaphorical gameplay. The young woman is riding a bicycle to the future. Dressed in white and seemingly casting fresh flowers as though leaving a trail for us to follow. The old woman is looking backwards to the past as she sits in a bed of thorns, almost resigned to the fact that the future - the bicycle - is passing her by. When people in most cultures see art or photgraphy, our brain sees movement from left to right and interprets the piece based on that. The German historian and psychologist Rudolf Arnheim who wrote, among other books, " Art and visual perception – A psychology of the creative eye " noticed that the way many cult...

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 ...

So we got ourselves a new government in Denmark. When the government is formed, the tradition is that they pop down the palace to let the Queen know. She provides tea and biscuits. All very ceremonious. Here we see the leader of one of the coalition parties, Margrethe Vestager of the Radical Left (not very radical, not very left, but hey) arriving in style at Amalienborg Castle, followed by the other ministers from her party. Not a BMW/Audi/Mercedes in sight. Only elegant Velorbis bicycles for gentlemen and ladies alike. The bicycles are part of a large Velorbis bicycle fleet available for politicians to use for getting to and from meetings at various locations in central Copenhagen and are adorned with the logo of the Danish parliament. And here is Manu Sareen. This is not the first time politicians have arrived by bicycle for this, but it's the first time one of them was riding a cargo bike. In this case a splendid yellow Bullitt . Here's an earlier post about him camp...

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

Vintage tire repair box. You'll be excused for thinking that May 25th is the Danish version of April 1st. The press last week featured articles about The Danish Working Environment Authority's [Arbejdstilsynet] new rules regarding working conditions in bicycle shops. Bike mechanics are now required to wear gloves and masks when repairing punctures using the vulcanized rubber glue for sticking patches on tubes. In addition, they're required to install a ventilation system in their bike shops. These rules will effectively kill off the possibility of getting a puncture repaired in Denmark. Sure, many people can fix flats themselves. However, many local bike shops [I have 22 bike shops to choose from within a 1 km radius of my flat], earn a fair chunk of their income repairing flats. I always chuck my bike into the shop to have it done. It costs 50 kroner [$10] and if I'm on my way to a meeting, I don't fancy getting my hands dirty or risk getting oil on my suit. It...

Moscow Cyclist - from the Moscow Cycle Chic photo set . The Russian president Medvedev has just wrapped up a state visit to Denmark. During the back slapping/see-we're-best-of-friends press conference about all matter of stuff, a Russian journalist asked a question that caused both the Danish PM and the Russian president to smile. The woman asked PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen about the many cyclists in Copenhagen, " How hard was it, from an investment perspective, to make Copenhagen a bicycle-friendly city? " She then asked Medvedev what his opinion was about the bicycle as transport, as she was puzzled by seeing so few cyclists on the streets of St. Petersborg . The PM gave all the credit to the City of Copenhagen for the high level of cycling in the city and underlined that it was an effort that has taken several years. " But basically, it is the public's demand for bicycle infrastructure that makes it happen. Danes want to cycle and that puts pressure on cities to m...

Screen grab from DRs 21 Søndag news programme . The Danish Finance Minister, Lene Espersen , was on the national news last night in another attempt to sell the tax cuts the party she leads - The Conservatives - have advocated for. She did so in a photo op at a bicycle shop with the angle: " this is how I'm spending my extra cash... I'm buying a new bicycle. " The bottom line is that it's great she was using a bicycle purchase to illustrate her point and she repeated the Conservative mantra of 'buy, consume, repeat' in the interview to underline how the economy can be boosted. She encouraged us to buy, for example, a new bicycle and create a chain of good reactions in the economy. Hang on.... what's that underneath the bottom line? Ah... it's the small print. It tells a different story. Firstly, the Conservatives and the Liberal Party , who both govern Denmark at the moment, are not exactly legendary bicycle advocates. Secondly, the tax cuts are fri...