The Life-Sized City Blog

A reader wrote an email regarding a discussion he had on a forum about bike registration. The other chap argued that "if bikes want to use the roads then they should pay for it, just like cars have to." I was asked about bike registration in Europe and my reply became so lengthy that I figured I'd post it here. Feel free to contribute with other points of view and stats in the Comments section. This "bikes should pay" argument is not unknown to me but it is, in many ways, a rather weak argument. Regarding bike registration in Europe, there are half a billion citizens in the European Union alone. 100 million of them ride a bicycle on a daily basis according to the European Cyclists' Federation. None of them are inconvenienced by bicycle registration, least of all the Netherlands or Denmark - the two countries with most bike usage. Here's three good counter-arguments from my ragged little bag of opinions: 1. Road Usage and Wear and Tear Firstly, imagine th...

Much is written about the Danish urban planner and architect Jan Gehl with regards to creating segregated bike infrastructure in cities in order to keep cyclists safe and to increase the number of cyclists in the urban landscape. It's worth mentioning that it's not all about the bike lanes. They are a fantastic symbol of intelligent urban planning, but Gehl's thoughts and experiences with urban planning in general are far-reaching. His consultancy company Gehl Architects continue his important work. I like this excerpt from an interview with Metropolis Magazine : "One of the interesting things about Copenhagen is the gradual approach. "Public Spaces, Public Life" is the first ever recording of the life of a city. Every city counts its traffic one or two times a year, but hardly any city knows about what people do in a city and how the city is being used . "In Copenhagen we've pioneered this as a working method: study what's going on, look at the...

What a mammoth task. I don't think I realised what I was getting into. I have waded my way through scores of research studies and surfed around the net under I was blue in the face. All while trying to make heads or tails of this Bike Helmet Hysteria. I don't know where to start regarding what I've found. I'd like to thank most everyone who commented on the first post . There were so many great links and sober, level-headed comments. It's a shame that the points of view of these sensible people are rarely heard in the debate. A few things are certain, however. I no longer have to jump to conclusions after reading the facts behind the issue. Now it's small step to clear-cut conclusions. Another certainty is that virtually every bike helmet advocacy group out there quote the same statistic like it was carved in stone. They repeat it endlessly, like a broken record. No advocates question it - it is merely The Truth. The statistic in question is that " cycle he...

I just had to chuck this post up. I'm in the midst of reading reams of research studies and formulating a blog response to the world of bike helmet advocacy. Regarding the fear-mongering inherent in the whole debate, I was quite shocked to find this video. It's absolutely mad. It's from the Ride of Silence website. The Ride of Silence is apparently some kind of memorial event where cyclists honour cyclists who died over the past year with a tribute ride. Which sounds nice. They have a video on their website about last year's ride, where the ride went around a lake. Here's a link to the page - it opens in a new window and starts playing automatically . Here's what the speaker says: "This has grown way beyond anyone's dreams. No one ever saw this happening. South Africa, Scotland, England, Brazil, Greece... the list goes on and on. You'll be riding with them, 'cause there's still carnage goin' on out there on the roads. Someone's going...

A bit of strangeness on this Thursday morning. Creative Director Yorgo Tloupas of Intersection Magazine had this bike made by Max Knight. Art meets bike. Quite the funky ensemble. It actually works, too, as you can see in the video below. Perfect for commuting distances of up to 4.5 metres:

The Mayor in charge of traffic and environment, Klaus Bondam , has a new idea. He has been trying, together with the Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard , to implement road pricing in Copenhagen in order to limit the amount of motorised traffic. The problem is that the national government is of the right-wing variety and they are blocking the plans. Even though the studies from cities that have road pricing are overwhelmingly positive. So he has now proposed something City Hall calls ' Intelligent Traffic Control '. It involves setting up sensors that measure air pollution in Copenhagen and the levels of pollution they report will regulate the traffic heading into the city. If the pollution levels are too high on any particular day, all the traffic lights on the main roads into the city will turn red and stay red longer than normal. The time the traffic lights are green will be reduced by 10 percent. Motorists will be informed by the internet or text messages before they leave for work...

A Dutch study has proved, yet again, that the level of dangerous microparticles are higher inside cars than on bikes. I posted about how Traffic Kills More People Than Traffic Accidents before, but this recent survey reconfirms the science. Despite the air pollution it is healthier to cycle in traffic than sitting in a car. The levels of particles in the air are greater inside a vehicle than on the bike lanes. So even though a cyclist breathes in more air than a motorist, the concentration of microparticles is lower for the cyclist. The health benefits of cycling greatly overshadow the harm caused by breathing polluted air, the study adds. The study was carried out by Gerad Hoek from Utrecht University and presented in the magazine for the Dutch cyclist organisation, Fietzersbond. If a cyclist wishes to avoid unhealthy particles, it is recommended that he or she avoids areas with heavy traffic and rush hour periods. In particular, avoiding trucks and scooters exhaust is of...

Living Legend , originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness] . This chap is a Copenhagen legend. He rides his trike all over the city every day, visiting a long line of cafés and bars. He sells nature stamps - not postage, just decoration for your envelopes - to support a charity... can't remember which. Everyone I know has had the plastic folders with nature stamps in them thrust towards them while in town. Such a dedicated chap. He rides 30 or kilometres a day to a rotating list of cafés and bars. Remember that the next time you whine about a headwind... :-)

Japan has a bicycle culture that the UK and US, among others, drool over. I love seeing the bikes and the overwhelming bicycle culture whenever I'm in Tokyo. So very cool and inspiring. The backbone of the bike culture are the young mothers of the nation. They practice the tradition of 'sannin-nori' - or three-on-a-bike - whenever they have to transport their kids. Most kindergartens in Japan ban mothers from dropping off their kids by car, so these sturdy 'mama-chariots' are an integral part of daily life. One kid up front, another on the back and the mum in the middle. It's a sight you see often in Copenhagen, but in Japan these mothers form a formidable army of toddler transport. When the Government's new cycling laws - a giant leap backwards by all accounts - banned the sannin-nori culture, the mothers of Japan got cross. Their initial protests were heard and it was quickly suggested that they could continue riding with two kids if they rode trikes...

My American friends both here on these blogs and in real life all have theories about why bike usage in America dropped so dramatically since WW2. After viewing the above safety video from 1963, I am quite convinced that we have found the root of all evil. It is my theory, this theory of mine which is my theory that this film scared the pants off of an entire nation and effectively killed any and all desire to ride a bicycle. :-) I fear nightmares tonight. I'm staying up.