New film highlights cycle culture in Copenhagen
Measures to encourage cycling in Copenhagen include electronic bicycle counters (James Cridland, Flickr.com)
A new short film highlights some of the cycling developments and successes in the city of Copenhagen, where 37 percent of trips to work, school and college are now made by bike.
But it wasn't always like that – cycling started to disappear in the city in the 1960s with the rise of car culture, according to Denmark’s cycling ambassador, Mikael Colville-Andersen, who narrates the five minute film.
He says the city has spent the past 30 years working hard to re-establish the bicycle as a feasible and acceptable form of transport.
The Streetfilms clip shows various measures that have been used to encourage cycling – for example, the “green wave” system, where traffic lights on roads with lots of bikes are adjusted to allow cyclists keeping a constant 20km/h (12mph) to get into the city without having to stop at any red lights.
It was installed first in 2007 on Norrebrogade, reportedly the busiest bicycle street in the western world, with maybe 38,000 cyclists a day, and where some of the film is shot.
Large electronic bicycle counters are there partly to transmit data and partly to instill city pride by saying ‘look how many people are cycling’.
Recent innovations are described, including a system of LED lights installed in the ground to help avoid right turn conflicts between bikes and cars.
Provision is being made for secure parking for some of the 30,000 cargo bikes in use in Copenhagen.
Colville-Andersen sums up the situation at the end of the film: "All cities used to have the bicycle as a main feature on the urban landscape. We did it again here in Copenhagen. Other cities are doing it again. It’s possible for every city in the world...”
Streetfilms have made a range of short films on different cycling topics. Another recent release from them is about Bicycle Boulevards for New York City, low-traffic, low-speed streets where cyclists mix comfortably with cars.
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Showing 1 - 7 of 7 comments
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Hangie
Posted Mon 21 Dec, 7:58 pm GMT Flag as inappropriate
Interesting piece. Compared to London there is a noticable lack of specialist cycling gear and high spec bikes, wonder if that makes it more acceptable for the masses?
Are we getting it wrong?
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Super Fatty
Posted Mon 21 Dec, 11:35 pm GMT Flag as inappropriate
Been there too. They've got the right attitude. It's not all about the gear. And there are loads of fit girls riding bikes.
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Chicane-UK
Posted Tue 22 Dec, 12:09 am GMT Flag as inappropriate
Watching video's like this are sort of a double edged sword.. it's fantastic to see what other countries do for cyclists, and how forward thinking they are. But then it just makes me think how backwards and hopeless our own country is sometimes! I can't see progress like this EVER being made in the UK!
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+paul
Posted Tue 22 Dec, 6:07 am GMT Flag as inappropriate
I spent the last week and a half in Copenhagen for the Climate Conference, and I was very impressed by the volume of bikes. There were many fixies, but as noted by Hangie, the majority of bikes were city bikes and cargo bikes. My take on that - Copenhagen is flat, and the city bikes have a much more upright riding position. You can roll along in your "normal" clothes, get on and off easily, park the bike up and walk into work reasonably fresh. I wouldn't want to ride one of those bikes on my commute though! The other difference I noted is that the bike lanes are cleared of snow and gritted. I did see a couple of cyclists hit the deck last week on the ice. The cycle lanes on my commute are a death trap once the temperature plummets.
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FJS
Posted Tue 22 Dec, 8:25 am GMT Flag as inappropriate
World cycling capital? Ha, that's still Amsterdam, thank you very much.
Copenhagen seems very in fashion the last year or so with the cycling-friendly media.
Amsterdammers don't bother with fancy 'cyclist counters' and cycling PR teams.
Still, so far of reality here in the UK - so many vicious circles to gte out of...
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jthurber80
Posted Tue 22 Dec, 3:23 pm GMT Flag as inappropriate
Fixies rock for Copenhagen use but gears are still necessary as the wind doth blow . . . very hard sometimes and the ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor is awesome (right past Rungsted Kyst)
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jthurber80
Posted Tue 22 Dec, 3:23 pm GMT Flag as inappropriate
Fixies rock for Copenhagen use but gears are still necessary as the wind doth blow . . . very hard sometimes and the ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor is awesome (right past Rungsted Kyst)
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