The Life-Sized City Blog

Not to be outdone in the global race to build artifical islands, The City of Copenhagen has revealed plans to build an island in the shape of a national icon - the bicycle - off the coast of the island of Amager, south of Copenhagen. The Bicycle Island - Cykeløen - as seen from space. In an unveiling ceremony at the City Hall yesterday, Copenhagen and a consortium of environmental investors and architects from Denmark and Sweden launched the most comprehensive environmental project in Scandinavian history. 'Cykeløen', or The Bicycle Island, will create much needed real estate for an expanding population in the Danish capital and will become the first Danish landmark to be visible from space. The so-called COMA region, consisting of Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden is experiencing massive growth and The Bicycle Island will act as a symbol for the wealthy region. It's proximity to the Öresund Fixed Link bridge and tunnel that connects Copenhagen to Southern Sweden is ...

I love this. There is no need for a little ramp here. It requires no great effort to get your bike from backyard bike racks to the street. Nevertheless, some Copenhagener deemed it necessary and cosy to make one. They used time and effort for this little bit of niceness. Every little bit helps. UPDATE Regarding our previous post about IKEA's collaboration with Velorbis in loaning out bikes and trailers from their big box stores , here's a little update. The first IKEA in Copenhagen to loan out the bikes is in Gentofte, north of the city. Since the programme started, IKEA reps from Sweden, Germany and China have flown in to visit the Gentofte store and to see the Velorbis bikes and trailers in action. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, so here's hoping the idea spreads quicker than a Dane can dismount a bicycle. Read more at the website for the programme FREETRAILER.DK

The Slow Bicycle Movement I'm fascinated by the growing Slow Food movement which started in Italy in 1989 and I can certainly understand its popularity. "Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world." As with all good, timely ideas, the concept has really taken off. Inevitably, the concept of Slow has spawned other offshoots. - Slow Fish - Slow Company - Slow Design - Slow Retail - Slow Planet - Slow Cities [Cittaslow] - The World Institute of Slowness - Slow Travel To name but a few. So why not start a bicycle-friendly version of the movement? The Slow Bike Movement - no, make that the Slow BICYCLE movement - the very word 'bike' is a speeded up version of the original. The very cool Icel...

Photo: Per Wadskjaer for IKEA IKEA of Denmark is now starting a new concept at their Danish stores. They did a bit of market research and found that roughly 25% of their customers rode their bikes to the stores or took public transport - even though most of then are located outside the cities in large commerical centres - some call them Big Box Districts - which are located outside the city centre. In Copenhagen we have two IKEAs. One is about 10 km from the city centre, the other is about 20 km. I, myself, have made the former trip several times on my 3-speed, carrying all manner of cumbersome goods home to the nest. It's great to learn that so many other IKEA customers ride their bikes out there, too. Doesn't surprise me, really, that so many Danes ride to such lengths for such purposes. But it is cool that IKEA respects the fact by launching a concept that celebrates the fact. And remember kids! Cyclists make better shoppers than motorists! Photo: Per Wadskjaer for IKEA IKE...

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...