The Life-Sized City Blog

I recieved an invitation to an event here in Copenhagen on Thursday at KPH Projects . The event is called Views of Detroit - Exploring film in urban planning . It's about three students from Roskilde University who made a film about Detroit. The trailer is above. They'll highlight a city that was home to the Big Three - Ford, Chrysler and GM and that gave the world Motown and Techno. A city that lost half of its population in just 50 years and where this year alone 3000 houses will be torn down. A city that has the fantastic potential to be the first large city in the world to produce all of its foodstuffs within the city limits. A city that is fighting economic meltdown and brutal budget cuts. A city with a blossoming underground and art scene. The event can be found at this Facebook group . Here's the corner of Woodward Avenue and Monroe Avenue, Detroit, in 1917. Human streets, public transport. This photo features in the book Fighting Traffic - The dawn of th...

I've continued reading the excellent Fighting Traffic - The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City by Peter D. Norton . It's a digestive book. I find myself reading a few pages at a time and then putting it down, finding it necessary to reflect. Norton has divided it up into three parts and the first part deals with the way automobiles were regarded in the public eye between 1900 and up through the 1920's. To put it mildly, automobile traffic was not popular. Almost a century on it seems that certain myths persist. That apart from some growing pains at the beginning, cars were always just a given in cities. I've been quite amazed to learn how massive the resistance to them was. Norton writes about the 'street' and the perception of what the street was for. The public at the time regarded the street much in the same way as people had since cities were first formed. It was a space for people. A place to walk, a place to play, a place to alight from a s...

Bicycles outside Palace Cinema in Cairns, 1937. We all know that it's too hot to ride a bicycle in your regular clothes in Queensland. You need all manner of special clothing and a lightweight bicycle to be able to tackle the heat and topography. And an electric assist motor if you can get your hands on one. Everybody knows that. That's why nobody ever rode bicycles in the state until 1975. Or maybe we just have short term memory loss. It's actually called "generational forgetting" - how we have little regarded for what came before us. Here are vintage photos from the State of Queensland, Australia that show the bicycle was a normal transport form all over the state for decades. Bicycles parked outside the City Baths in Maryborough. 1940s. Bicycles parked in Mackay, 1948. Bicycles parked outside the Lands and Works Office, 1904. Bicycles parked outside the Hotel Boyd in Mount Isa, Queensland, 1952. Unidentified father and son posing with a bicycle for a trav...

I headed west last week for a meeting with the Danish company Veksø , who produce urban furniture as well as the bicycle counters that featue in so many Danish cities, as well as international cities. There are 33 bicycle counters in 10 Danish cities alone. On the way to Fredericia - "Gateway to Jutland!" - the Intercity train stopped at a few stations, one of them being Middelfart. From my seat I watched three ladies in wheelchairs boarding the train. The conductor and a stationmaster worked quickly and efficiently to get each lady onto the lift, raise them to the level of the train and get them on board. This is a major route that connects east and west Denmark, there are timetables to be kept, and still Danish State Railways take the time to get three passengers with special needs on board. It was impressive to watch. In a perfect world the platforms would be level with the trains but there are different models of trains - regional and national - so this isn't possi...

Photos found on Flickr. Click on them to go to the source. The other day I recalled those classic New York signs brought to the streets during the reign of Mayor Ed Koch. Simple texts that defined the New York attitude and that became instant classics. "No Parking, No Standing, No Stopping - No KIDDING!" And, let's not forget, "Don't even THINK of parking here!" There must be millions of tourist photos featuring these signs in drawers all over the world. All well and good. I just figured that it was time to update the signs for the new millenium. I humbly offer you: And true to the entrepenurial spirit of New York City, I'm selling the fukkers. Over at the online shop . On tote bags, messenger bags and coffee cups . On t-shirts for men and t-shirts for ladies . Whaddya gonna do? Sue me.

I'd forgotten about this photo from last summer. Two postmen racing down the bicycle path on their Christania bikes after finishing their rounds. Heading back to the post centre on Finsensvej. Enjoying every minute of it. Love it.

A drawing from 1900. Road rage and motorists taking over the roads got an early start. Very a propos this recent post about the Fighting Traffic book .

One-Way - Cyclists Excepted The City of Copenhagen is currently working on some small but important changes on our cityscape that will make things a bit easier for the city's cyclists. There is a network of one-way streets in the city - both the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods - which is mostly directed at motorised traffic. In some instances the one-way restriction applies to bicycles. Not that it means much. Bicycles regularly follow these desire lines. The City is now tidying up and legitimising bicycle traffic in the opposite direction down one-way streets. This is, of course, the norm in many bicycle-friendly cities. From left: Vienna, Prague, Paris Here's an excerpt from the City of Copenhagen's press release: Small sign on the road - big help for cyclists It's not just bicycle bridges and massive intersection redesign that make the city better for cyclists. Often a simple sign or a small piece of bicycle lane can make things better ...

This. Is. Brilliant. Once again, once again it's the Dutch who refuse to Ignore The Bull and choose instead to place the responsibility on the motorists. There is the External Airbags on Cars to protect cyclists and pedestrians and now there is this. Look at that film. Not only are there speed bumps in place to slow cars (and provide the cyclists with an even surface), the LED lights warn cars when bicycles are crossing. At the moment there are LED pedestrian crossings at some 20 locations in the Netherlands. In Papendrecht there is now a variation on a roundabout for cyclists as well. According to local authorities this is intended to be a sustainably safe roundabout because of the elevated bicycle and pedestrian crossings and islands. But apparently these measures were insufficient to ensure the safety of cyclists, so additional striking LED lighting was installed in the road surface. The manufacturer provided software made specifically for this location, which would e...

Right off the bat we're going to link to a recent post featuring photos of cyclists in Copenhagen in the winter . Thanks to Eleanor for the following link. So... Hot of the virtual press of the Thunder Bay News Watch : "Cyclist hit by car. Transported to hospital". (We hope he is okay). Now the comments that often accompany bicycle-related stories in the Anglo-Saxon world are often entertaining and creative - as well as healthy, shocking reminders of the extent of our deeply-rooted car culture. The ones that follow this story are hilarious. Banning cycling in winter! Here are some of the nuggets of hilarity: The Wolf says: With all the laws new and old to protect people from themselves,why have they not made it illegal to operate a bike in the winter? The roads and conditions are hard enough to navigate in the winter never mind having to keep an eye out for someone on an unstable bike. nads74 says: I disagree, about making it a law, honestly why do we ne...