The Life-Sized City Blog

Living in Copenhagen, you're never far from the harbour or the sea. We're blessed with access to water and to fabulous beaches. Nevertheless, we feel that the harbour is currently underused. The ancient harbour of the Danish capital was decommercialised around 17 years ago and most shipping activity was moved to harbours to the north of the city, leaving a fantastic swath of urban space for the citizens. Freeing up the harbourfront led to an ongoing urban renewal, with 42 km of harbourfront to be developed. Nevertheless, I've watched the development and wondered why the actual water seems so underused through the years. It seems to be accelerating a bit over the past two years or so, but given the fact that this is a rowing and sailing nation, I would love to see more opportunities for the citizens to use the water. There are harbour baths in place now and the number of pleasure craft is rising. The Kalvebod Wave made a serious impact on harbourfront usage despite...

For one brilliant week in September 2011, the air pollution levels from car traffic in Copenhagen fell by a whopping 30%. The City of Copenhagen took a bold step in planning the Road Racing World Championships in cycling this year by deciding to close off most of the city centre to car traffic during the event. While most people have tried to calculate the massive boost the event had - and will have - on tourism, Copenhagen's brand and what not, it turns out the event improved the air quality for the citizens of the city. It didn't have anything directly to do with the professional cyclists racing around the city. The ban on cars in the city centre of Copenhagen meant that 60,000 cars and trucks were kept out and 75 streets were car-free. Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard during the World Championships. A few months before the event, I had an idea. I thought about the study done after 9/11 where temperatures were measured in the US for the five days that air traffic was...

I was thinking about my previous post about why Montreal has changed my perception of Copenhagen . I like my neighbourhood in the city of Frederiksberg, which is a municipality surrounded by Copenhagen municipality on all sides. My kids go to school and kindergarten here and you always seen people you know when you walk or cycle around. It's a bit dull if you think about liveable streets, though, as are many neighbourhoods in Copenhagen. In many ways, the reason is, in part, architectural. A majority of of the blocks of flats in the neighbourhoods surrounding the ancient city centre were slapped up in tact with the industrial revolution. Late 1800's to early 1900's. To accomodate the rush of workers who were moving to the city. Fair enough. But have a look at the map below. View Larger Map At first glance, there is a lot of green. Looks nice. But notice all those squares that surround the green spots. Those are courtyards. Nice courtyards, renovated in most cases with playg...