With all the discussions, designing, and arguments over bicycle boulevards, it can be hard to see the forest from the trees. The details can often trip us up in our overall goal: to make the bicycle a substantial part of our transportation mix and a natural choice for a growing number of citizens.
Since the Climate Change Conference is happening in Copenhagen, it’s only fitting that this week’s film show us what is possible when an entire city embraces the bicycle as a major mainstream form of everyday transportation. Rivaling Amsterdam with 32% of it’s citizens biking to work every day, it’s easy to forget that Copenhagen’s streets were dominated by cars into the 1970s when the community made a decision to change the equation. This was done by raising bicycle infrastructure to the same level of import as cars in planning and spending, and automobile use is made less desirable through limited parking and a tax policy that makes owning and operating a car more expensive.
Enter into this cycling mecca the subject of this week’s film: Mikael Colville-Andersen. He is the author of two of our favorite blogs, Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize, sites that attempt to export the bicycle goodness that this Danish city has created. His sites have shown cycling can become more than a niche for the spandex clad weekend warrior or dedicated enviro and that you can look really good while doing it.
My favorite quote: “We have 500,000 people everyday who ride bicycles around, but we don’t have any cyclists.”
UPDATE: I neglected in the original post to share this music video created by Mikael for the Bicycle Office of the City of Denmark. This gives you a little more sampling of what the streets look like when bikes are 32%.
Copenhagen is a city smaller than Austin and kicks our butts all over in cycle use. Forget Portland. (OK, Portland is still cool.) Let’s set our bar higher. Let’s make Copenhagen’s model our goal for a true world class biking city.
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