The Life-Sized City Blog

I had the pleasure to once again visit the G-spot of Bicycle Culture - Groningen in the north of the Netherlands last week. The occasion was to speak at the Let's Gro Festival and to have some meetings with the City. I decided to take my kids with me for the trip south. Because I like bringing my kids with me but also because I was curious. I wanted to see what two Copenhagen kids thought about cycling in a Dutch city or two (we also visited Amsterdam afterwards). Regular readers will remember how Lulu-Sophia (now aged six) outed herself as the World's Youngest Urbanist - and again here , as well as describing her wish for a Life-Sized City . Felix, at 11 years, is no rookie either when it comes to observing his urban theatre. He was the inspiration for my idea to get his third grade class to redesign the roundabout outside their school - as described in my TED x Talk from Zurich last year . He constantly impresses me with the conversations we have about urban planning a...

Just got this from a reader. Bicycle Map of Montreal from... 1897. From an insurance company (follow the money) but still brilliant to see the bicycle infrastructure back then. Reminds us of the maps we got from Helsinki from 1937 showing cyclist counts on certain streets . Up to 10,000 cyclists on some streets back then.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you'll know all too well about what we call " Ignoring the Bull ". How in this car-centric society, non-motorised victim blaming is the norm. The status quo. You may also know the media tendency - mostly in non-cycling countries - to report about cyclists killed or injured in collisions with motorised traffic. "Hit by a truck/fast moving vehicle.... wasn't wearing a helmet." Written by journalists who are hopelessly uninformed (and perhaps uninterested) about a helmet's limited industrial design capability in collisions with vehicles . They never seem to write "Man fell from 3rd floor. Wasn't wearing a helmet." You get the point. What we're seeing lately is how the everpresent Culture of Fear is encroaching on our lives in a new(ish) way. The safety nannies and their lackies are now desperately trying to dictate what you, the citizen, wears. They are trying to make fashion choices fo...

When you come from Copenhagen, cycling in Amsterdam is like coming home. To a different kind of home, sure, but still home. An eclectic home filled with books piled up in no particular order, funky art on the walls, maybe dirty dishes in the sink but cool music on the stereo. Different from your home with clean lines, white floors and carefully placed furniture and minimalistic art on the walls. I love cycling in Amsterdam. It's a wonderfully human experience. You meet the eyes of strangers all day long because of the layout of the city and the constantly changing infrastructure. I've often said that Amsterdam cyclists resemble swarming bees whereas in Copenhagen they are more like marching ants. This difference is largely due to the layout of the cities. In Amsterdam the streets are curvy and confusing and you perform many left and right turns in the course of a day. In Copenhagen, there are primarily long, straight stretches. Most of Copenhagen outside the medieval c...

I found this letter regarding the founding of a new cyclist organisation in the City of Copenhagen's archives. I love the name of the association. The Cycle Track Association. The association, it says on the letter, was founded on 18 May, 1897 . "At a public cyclist meeting on the 18th of this month it was agreed to form an association with the name The Cycle Track Association (Cykelstiforeningen). The goal of the association being lobbying for better conditions for road cycling in Copenhagen and surrounding area. The association will also work towards establishing cycle tracks, especially along Strandvejen (the coast road north of Copenhagen). It is also under consideration to establish, for use only by members, air pumps and repair equipment along the roads in the vicinity of Copenhagen." The fee was anything you like, as long as it was at least 2 kroner. So don't go thinking this quest for safe infrastructure for Citizen Cyclists in our cities is some n...

It's simple if you want it to be. Copenhagenize Design Co.