Cover

A new book coming from Copenhagen titled, City of Bicycles will take an in-depth look at that famous bike city's culture. I'm really looking forward to this because most of what I know about Copenhagen is more of the infrastructure, policy and planning side of things.

'City of Bicycles' is due for release on October 28th and is published by Nyt Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Here's the press release from the publisher:

City of Bicycles by Cecilia Vanman, photography by Robin Maddock

In Copenhagen everybody cycles. His Royal Highness Frederik, the Danish crown prince, can be spotted regularly riding his children around in a cargo bicycle, and it is completely normal to see politicians parking their bicycles outside the Parliament building, or a famous actor riding around town with shopping bags balancing on the handlebars. (more...)

A new Streetfilm (watch it below) taken during the recent Velo-City Global conference in Copenhagen is like a refuge in a storm.

Here in Portland (and across the country), we still struggle with resentment over bike lanes, a local media that's happy to stir it up, people wanting to ban bikes completely because they're simply in the way, people on bikes who can't be bothered to slow down for other bike traffic, and public transit employees whose actions and words make our streets less safe for people on bikes.
(more...)

There's no denying that 2009 is shaping up to be the Year of the Cycle Track in Portland.

PDOT already has one in the books for NE Cully Blvd., they're working closely with streetcar planners to put one adjacent to the new line in the Lloyd District on NE 7th Ave., and planners, advocates, and other local bike insiders (including our next Mayor and his chief of staff) are all singing the cycle track's praises after seeing them in action in cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. (more...)

In Copenhagen, this sign is placed directly in the bike lane.
See another photo below for another view.
(Photos by Tom Miller)

Copenhagen should become a sister city to Portland. I can barely keep track of all the local planners, politicians, advocates and bureaucrats who have made a pilgrimmage to the "City of Cyclists" this past summer alone. (more...)

Reader Galen S. sent along a link to a story from MIT about an interesting project they've launched in Copenhagen:

MIT researchers unveiled a major new project on Oct. 10 in Copenhagen aimed at transforming bicycle use in Denmark's largest city, promoting urban sustainability and building new connections between the city's cyclists.

And here's the awesome part:

"We have developed a Facebook application called 'I crossed your path,' which creates a social network for cyclists, allowing them to link up with people they may have ridden past during the day and potentially establish new connections," explained Christine Outram, the principal research assistant on the project.

The smart tags will also allow individuals to monitor the distance they travel while cycling as part of a citywide "green mileage" initiative, which is similar to a frequent-flyer program.

This would be very cool to have in Portland!

Read the full story here.

Mikael Colville-Andersen leading a group
of Portlanders on a tour of Copenhagen
last week.
(Photo: Jay Graves.

The recent, Metro-sponsored field trip to Copenhagen and Amsterdam concluded last week. The trip was intended as an inspirational master class on how those two cities have created a safe, efficient, and comfortable bike network that's used by well over 30% of their residents (of all ages) on a daily basis.
(more...)