The Life-Sized City Blog

Here's a travel film from Copenhagen in 1937. The first third and the last third are all about our bicycle culture. What's interesting to note is that in the 1960's and 1970's, car culture was killing off cycling in the city and it was first really in the early to mid 70's that we started giving it a heart massage to get it back up to speed. We've never achieved these levels since, though. But we're working on it. Regarding the film, there's a bit of outdated speak that rings quite racist in our modern ears. The speaker mentions also that there is one bicycle for every three citizens. These days there it is 1:1 and then some. After the first couple of minutes there is a section about Copenhagen and Denmark in general and then we return to "a demonstration of bicycle traffic that is unparalled in any of the world's great cities." It starts at about 6 minutes in. Beautiful footage and watch for the sofa being transported on a cargo bike!

On a visit to Budapest last week I was taken on a tour of the oldest velodrome in Europe that is still in use. Millenáris in Budapest , from 1896. It was fantastic to hear the entire history of the place from the chap behind the bike above, Péter Tarapcsák. Indeed a storied velodrome. Kristof from KMSZ was my guide and interpreter. One interesting thing was that in the 1970's and 1980's, there were many different national teams who used the velodrome for training, up to the Olympics in Moscow '80, for example, but also other international competitions. Western nations had trouble getting visas for most Eastern Bloc countries, but not Hungary. As a result there were many times that Americans, Cubans, East Germans et al were gathered in one place at the height of the Cold War. The mood was festive and sport was prioritised over politics. The bike above is for racing behind motorbikes. Certain things were lost in translation in the storytelling, but Henry from Workcycles str...

I'll be in New York City for a couple of days from tomorrow. Speaking at two venues Monday and Tuesday. You can see where and when over at Copenhagen Cycle Chic right here . Come on down if you can.

Third installment by sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts. Fear of Cycling - Helmet Promotion Campaigns - by Dave Horton - Part 03 of 05 Like road safety education, campaigns to promote the wearing of cycle helmets effectively construct cycling as a dangerous practice about which to be fearful. Such campaigns, and calls for legislation to make cycle helmets compulsory, have increased over the last decade. In 2004, a Private Members’ Bill was tabled in the UK Parliament, to make it an offence for adults to allow children under the age of 16 to cycle unless wearing a helmet. Also in 2004, the influential British Medical Association, in a policy turnaround , voted to campaign for helmets to be made compulsory for all cyclists (for comprehensive detail on these ...

Imagine my surprise at Prague Airport when, while waiting outside to be picked up, I saw a taxi driver in the line of taxis pushing his car forward to the front of the line. Imagine my further surprise when all the taxi drivers in the long line followed suit. How completely bizarre and how completely cool. I wonder if there are similar laws in Czech Republic as in Denmark about having to turn off your engine if you're motionless for for than two minutes. Whatever the case, it was brilliant to see all these men pushing their big, fancy, late model Volkswagons. I was lecturing about Marketing Bicycle Culture in the city of Pardubice yesterday and am currently in Prague. More on the state of the bicycle union in the two cities later.

Something new here on Copenhagenize.com. We've enlisted the help of sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts. Dave Horton is a sociologist and lover of all things cycling. He is part of the Cycling and Society Research Group, which has pioneered a ‘cultural turn’ in cycling studies and which holds an annual symposium in the UK. Dave works at Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, on the project ‘Understanding Walking and Cycling’. He tries to do, to write about, and to promote all kinds of cycling, because cycling is essentially good. Fear of Cycling - by Dave Horton - Part 01 of 05 Most people seem finally to have realised that cycling is ‘a good thing’, but many still don’t cycle. So what stops them getting on their bikes? Explanations typic...

So there's me, cycling towards the City's Technical & Environmental Administration for a meeting at the Bicycle Office when I spot something strange outside their offices. I realised from a distance that it was a kind of wind turbine. For some reason, some people have issues with the sound that large wind turbines produce. Curiously, they don't seem to mind the sound car traffic generates. But when cars started appearing on the roads of the world, there were many complaints about the noise. I don't have this issue with wind turbines, personally, but as I cycled closer I was listening to hear when I'd be able to hear some sort of whine or swoosh sound. Amazingly, this wind spire, as it's called, was completely silent, even when standing underneath it. It was also a bit of a headturner as I was photographing it. People on both sides of the street stared at it and passersby read the sign. Four students rode past, girls, and one of them announced to her friends ...

With all the hype about urban bike sharing and the Vélib/Velov/Bycyklen/Bicing/Bixi/etc/etc let's send a warm thought to the forgotten city that started it all, shall we? La Rochelle , on the French Atlantic coast had a legendary mayor back in the 1970's. Michel Crepeau. He was quite the urban planning revolutionary and the rest of France thought he was quite mad. At that time progress was built in concrete and asphalt. Inspired by Copenhagen , he created pedestrian streets in the city centre and, in 1974, he started a bike share programme. Both Amsterdam and Copenhagen flirted with bike share programmes back in the 60's, but they didn't last. La Rochelle was the first city to make it stick. Until Copenhagen, in 1995, started their City Bike (Bycyklen) system and the idea started to spread. He bought a load of yellow bikes and slapped them into racks by the harbour. The original idea was merely "take one, use it, bring it back." These days you can borrow ...

Copenhagen has motorways, just like anywhere else. Being the capital city and the main metropolis in the region, all roads and railways lead to Copenhagen. The geographical layout of the city located on the sea resembles an outstretched palm with five fingers of infrastructure all funnelling towards the spot on the wrist where the pulse is found. There are two main motorways leading to the city from afar. The E20 brings traffic from the rest of the nation and the rest of Europe to the south. It continues on over the bridge to Sweden and on to Stockholm. The E47 sweeps down from the north, where ferries arrive from Sweden. Then there is a network of motorways that slice through the urban sprawl, bringing commuters into Copenhagen from different directions. I rode out along the #16 Motorway the other day and the film, above, is the result. The #16 isn't that long. It starts about 30 km out, deep in surburbia near the town of Hillerød. From it's source it is already a funnel for ...

This is so bloody irritating. On a visit to Larry vs Harry we were discussing what the world needs. We have a Cocktail Bullitt , a Newborn Baby Bullitt , a Bathtub Bullitt , a Karaoke Bullitt , a Sustainable Bullitt , a Rowboat Bullitt and a Dog Bullitt . We decided that a Stripper Pole Bullitt would save the world. Embedded video from CNN Video Then Kelly, in NYC, sent this link. It ain't a Bullitt, but damn, it's a stripper pole on a bike . It comes near the end of the CNN piece. Nice.