The Life-Sized City Blog

Das Strike Bike Annie, one of the owners of Christiania Bikes , just visited a bike factory in Nordhausen, Germany and sent me a mail about it. I had heard about the striking bicycle workers, but that was ages ago. Turns out they are still at it. 135 colleagues in the Bike Systems GmbH factory, faced with a factory closure, decided to protest and try to save their jobs. This was back in July 2007! As I understand it, the union rules in Germany dictate that only a union can call a strike, and not the workers themselves. Their union wasn't game so the workers decided to hold a "professional meeting" to discuss the situation. They are allowed to do so. There are, however, no rules dicatating how long that meeting can last. So their meeting went on and on and on. Brilliant move. In order to prevent the factory being dismantled they kept it occupied in three shifts. Eventually an idea was formed. Self-management of the factory and production. A product was needed and they came...

There's a behavourial campaign at the moment with car doors placed around town and the message "Catch the cyclist with your eyes, not your door". Pretty straightforward campaign. No real fear-mongering at play. Just a good reminder for both motorists and cyclists alike. Nevermind the fact that I have never heard of anybody getting smacked by a car door. Most of the bike lanes are wide enough to avoid this. But hey. At least the campaign helps motorists [most of whom are cyclists, too] remember the bicycles. Thanks to Kristoffer for the photo.

Here's an interesting list of 28 reasons to ride your bicycle , as compiled by the University of Central Florida. It is based on Orlando but the sources are broad and thorough. There is a link at the bottom of the page to the sources of their research. Or just click here . In addition, I just watched this interesting PBS show about commuting and petrol prices. I couldn't embed it, so click on through to see it. 28 Reasons To Ride your Bicycle 1. Increase in local property values. 2. Correlation with Overall Wealth. The notion that more cars equals more wealth is really more myth than reality. In fact, some new research shows that high and increasing levels of car dependence actually harms an economy. In a report to the World Bank, researchers from the Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) in Perth, Australia showed that there are "diseconomies" associated with car use. Auto dependence can drain an economy of its wealth…. It found that, among cities in th...

We posted a while back about the bike rack design competition in New York City. As it happens, the winners were announced and the design duo from Copenhagen won the contest. Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve’s design reflects a modern simplicity that will greatly enhance the City’s streetscape. The rack is round with a horizontal crossbar, evoking an abstracted bicycle tire. Constructed of cast-metal, the design is elegant yet sturdy enough to withstand the harshest street environments. Congratulations. According to plan these racks will be the official bike racks of NYC and will be set up around the city. There were also indoor bike parking designs in competition. Have a look here to see the winners. Thanks to our reader Sean for the heads up.

The world's first offshore wind farm, at the head of Copenhagen harbour. Denmark has long been a world-leader in wind energy and now the country will act as a laboratory for the development of infrastructure for electric cars, using wind power to charge the new vehicles. The main reason is that in five years Denmark will have wind turbine capacity enough for 1 million homes. This goal will be reached when the world's largest offshore wind turbine farm opens in 2012, between Anholt and Djursland. The offshore farm will look like this new one off the coast of Copenhagen. The colossal amounts of energy generated will also be used to power cars, in order to exploit the wind energy as best possible. The energy generated at night, when usage is low, will be used to charge the cars for use the next day. The island of Bornholm will be the first test area and Peder Andersen of Energinet.dk believes there will be 100,000 electric cars in Denmark in five years. It will be considerably ch...

I've been spending a great deal of time thinking about how we can promote cycling positively instead of attempting to scare people. I was extremely pleased to see these posters all over Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago. This "Hej Cyklist" campaign [Hi, cyclist!] was an idea we came up with at Copenhagenize Consulting a couple of months ago. Hej Cyklist features on the city's bicycle railings/footrests. The idea was quite simple. A behavioural campaign and a communications template with which Copenhagen's Bicycle Office coulc communicate with the cycling citizens. The average Copenhagener who rides to work or school each day doesn't really pay much attention to bicycle infrastructure or even bicycles. They just ride. We all have a sense of pride about the city in which we live. Here in Copenhagen we love to hear that we've been voted the world's most liveable city and things like that. I figured that our cycling citizens should be made aware ...

Had a conversation with a friend, Joel, about what would happen if we marketed cycling like we market cars. Sure, many car adverts show the vehicle driving crazy in rough terrain, making you feel like the Marlboro Man with a driving licence, but many appeal to regular people and portray the car like a desirable part of your life. The now-famous series of Renault Clio adverts from the 1990's featuring 'Nicole' and 'Papa' - one of them is featured above - portray the Clio as perfect for a handsome dad AND an attractive young woman. It's a lifestyle accessory used for transport. You could easily put Nicole on a gorgeous Batavus or Velorbis instead, portraying cycling as a normal part of everyday life. In Renault's more recent campaign for the Clio the car could also easily be replaced with upmarket bike brands. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see it. And it wouldn't be unappropriate to use the inherent flirting undertones since cycling, in Europ...

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting 13 visitors from Portland, Oregan, USA. Foreign visitors are always lovely but this group were far from tourists. All of them were here for a single purpose: to survey and study our bike culture with the aim of gaining knowledge and inspiration for Portland. It wasn't just any ragtag group of Portlanders. It was an impressive army of dedicated and eager Portlanders. A city councilor. The Director of Portland Parks and Recreation. A county commissioner. A senior advisor to the President of the Portland Metro Council. A doctor. A professor in urban planning. The executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance - an advocacy group. Portland's City Traffic Engineer. An architect. A bicycle advocate. A manager of the planning, parks and trails development division. A corporate giving manager for a sportswear company. The owner of Portland's largest chain of bike shops . I find it amazing and impressive that such a group made the ...

A street around the corner from me in Frederiksberg is being converted from painted bike lanes to separated bike lanes, with a kerb/curb. I ride on this stretch almost every day and I've never felt like the stretch needed a physically separated lane, but I'm certainly pleased it is soon finished. You can see in the photos how they place a kerb towards the street - we use long blocks of stone - and then the gap is filled in with asphalt to complete the safe, separated cyclo-deliciousness. This is a sign straddle the bike lane at the top of the street reading "The building of cycle lanes will be completed November 2008." In the new suburb of Ørestad - as with all new development - building bike lanes is a requirement. There are also separated lanes along the main road through the suburb, but here you also get a quieter route if you wish to use it.

'Load On, Load Off' sounds like something Mr Miyagi would instruct Daniel to do in The Karate Kid. In this case it is the new loading areas along the street Nørrebrogade . The one that is now in the process of being transformed to a more liveable space, closed off to cars and with bus zones and wider bike lanes. We posted about the bus zones with their cool, graphic red dots . Since there is no stopping for vehicles along certain stretches, there are loading areas established on side streets for trucks who are delivering goods to shops. Again, cool and untraditional graphic design is in play. The signage is so new you can still see the chalk marks. I think it looks smashing. Thank you, Mr Bondam.