The Life-Sized City Blog

I was on a photo shoot for the Danish Cancer Society a couple of weeks ago. Cycling along the old defences of Copenhagen, taking pictures of recreational bicycle infrastructure. The Cancer Society is focusing a lot on cycling and exercise as preventative measures against cancer in this sedentary world. The route took me over a motorway section that I'd only ever driven over in a car. Sjællands Bridge, which is the main motorway if you're heading to Sweden from Denmark. Needless to say there is a wide cycle track over the bridge. There are fewer commuters on this route during the week, compared to parallel cycle tracks along other motorways leading into the city , but the weather was nice - 35 degrees - and there were many people going for bike rides. On either side of the bridge the bike route runs parallel but more separated by trees - it's a motorway for god's sake, who wants to ride next to it? - but above is a lovely detail. There is an overpass leading bicycles and...

Copenhagenize has recieved a leaked public service film from behind the fortified borders of North Korea that provides insight into the classic manipulative nature of a well-oiled propaganda machine. Above is a classic Communist propaganda film from North Korea showing the typical use of children in emotional propaganda praising the State and The Great Leader, yada yada. Using children is a classic - and quite regrettable - tactic in such countries. The Soviets were also well versed in using children to promote their ideology , as were most Communist states. Here is the leaked video that Copenhagenize recieved. It hails from the northern province of Northern Yoo Lan, far from the capital. An agricultural area with an adbundance of tractors and a tradition for using vehicles more than in the populated cities. Their dialect is difficult to interpret but we've learned that the propaganda film is the intiative of the People's Committee for Glorious Promotion of Farm Vehicles and Sa...

I see this lovely, elderly lady quite often in my neighbourhood. She is always walking her bicycle. More often than not with bags in the two baskets. She walks slowly and steadily along. I've never seen her ride it - she just might - but I thought that she was perhaps like many proud elderly people in Copenhagen. When their agility fades they walk their bicycles on their daily rounds, using it as support. A kind of crutch or two-wheeled walker. Nothing wrong with walkers, of course. Design and technology have offered up all manner of funky walking aids, but I like that the bicycle keeps on giving, even when you no longer can ride it.

Finally. Almost a year after the Copenhagenize Think Tank developed the rational idea that automobiles should be forced to display health warning stickers identical to those on cigarettes packs , a car was spotted in Copenhagen sending the right message. Right there, in bold letters, an indisputable truth about the nature of the machine in urban settings. Okay, okay. It's actually the company name for a tattoo parlour here in Copenhagen - Toxic Ink . But don't tell anyone that. By the way the chap from the parlour is charming and enjoys posing for photographs. Health warnings for cars are available as small stickers in the Copenhagenize/Cycle Chic shop . Slap one on your neighbour's car. Giggle.

For Copenhagenize the Velo-City conference in Copenhagen was a whirlwhind of meeting wonderful people/colleagues from all over the planet. 'Networking' is far too dull a word for it and doesn't do it justice. The League of American Bicyclists collaborated with Copenhagenize Consulting on a series of bicycle tours before and during the conference. Bike rides around the city to see the infrastructure highlights in the Danish capital. We, in turn, enlisted the help of Biomega and Baisikeli to provide the bikes. One of the tours was with New York's Dept of Tranport Commissioner Janette Sadikh-Khan and her crew. I was impressed to hear that the New Yorkers all took time out of their annual holiday leave to come to Copenhagen for the conference. What commitment. Another tour with the League and Copenhagenize was a ride to show John Burke, the president of American bike company Trek , around the city, along with some other Americans. Andrew, City Councillor from Dublin and...

By coincedence I've found myself explaining Cycling's Secret Sect to a couple of colleagues on two separate occasions over the past couple of months. Bicycle planners the both of them. Neither had heard of the group before and in both situations the discussion was whether or not countries like America and the UK would ever get on the bicycle bandwagon in any great numbers, as well as why they haven't done already. Especially considering the fact that so many cities and towns in Europe have rapidly and impressively increased the numbers of everyday cyclists of the course of two short years. The secret sect I'm referring to is known in some circles as Vehicular Cyclists and is largely unknown in most international circles. I've had a draft of this article for a while but reading this post over at Crap Cycling in Waltham Forest yesterday made me dig it out. I explained this Vehicular Cycling theory to my colleagues in brief. Saying that this group fight tooth and nail...

When I travel around with various lectures I tend to open with a crash course in understanding Copenhagen's bicycle culture. I explain how my friends and colleagues get a kick out of the demand for me to travel around the world talking about something as dull and everyday as 'bicycle culture'. I call it Vacuum Cleaner Culture. I have even made a logo to explain this . We all have a vacuum cleaner, we've all learned how to use it and we all use it. But we don't go around thinking about our vaccum in the course of a day. Only when the bag is full do we roll our eyes and sigh. Kind of like when our tire is flat/chain is loose and we chuck our bike into the bike shop. We don't have a 'stable' of vacuum cleaners. We don't buy vacuum cleaning clothes from our LVS or wave at other 'avid' vacuum cleaning 'enthusiasts' on the street. The relationship to our bicycles is the same as to our vacuum cleaners. They're both merely incredib...

The City put in a traffic calming measure on this street next to Saint Hans Square in the Nørrebro neighbourhood. It was a perfect opportunity to plant some bike racks on the raised curb sections. This area is a hotbed of bars, cafés and restaurants so both the narrowed street and the bike racks are fantastic details. I also enjoy the symbolism of a car being forced to slow down and navigate past long rows of bicycles. It's like a sandwich.

How lovely and polite, this tag placed on a bicycle at Copenhagen International Airport. "Undesirable Bicycle Parking With respect for the free passage of passengers and the emergency services, we ask you to please place your bicycle in the established bicycle racks in the future." And on another part of the bicycle was this tag: "Is this bicycle in use? Remove this tag before 16.05.2010 so we can see that it is in use. Otherwise the bicycle will be removed by the police."

There are very few things that can't be done by bicycle in Copenhagen. We often blog about the various cargo bike variations in this city. Meet Jacob - aka The Bikeman . He's a bike mechanic with a rolling workshop. He has everything he needs in his cargo box, including a portable stand for suspending bikes. He'll go anywhere you need him to on his Bullitt in the city centre. Jacob also has arrangements with various companies. He comes out during work hours and the employees can go down and get their bikes adjusted, tuned, de-squeaked, whatever you need. No need to sacrifice your bicycle for a day by chucking it into a bikeshop. Brilliant. The professional bikeshop comes to you. If you're in Copenhagen and need to get a hold of The Bikeman , ring 28 40 35 67.