Cycling Copenhagen, Through North American Eyes
While Streetfilms was in Copenhagen for the Velo-City 2010
conference, of course we wanted to showcase its biking greatness. But
we were also looking to take a different perspective then all the
myriad other videos out there. Since there were an abundance of
advocates, planners, and city transportation officials attending from
the U.S. and Canada, we thought it’d be awesome to get their reactions
to the city’s built environment and compare to bicycling conditions in
their own cities.
If you’ve never seen footage of the Copenhagen people riding bikes
during rush hour – get ready – it’s quite a site, as nearly 38% of all
transportation trips in Copenhagen are done by bike. With plenty of
safe, bicycle infrastructure (including hundreds of miles of physically
separated cycletracks) its no wonder that you see all kinds of people
on bikes everywhere. 55% of all riders are female, and you see kids as
young as 3 or 4 riding with packs of adults.
Much thanks to the nearly two dozen folks who talked to us for this
piece. You’ll hear astute reflections from folks like Jeff Mapes
(author of “Pedaling Revolution“), Martha Roskowski (Program Manager, GO Boulder), Andy Clarke (President, League of American Bicyclists), and Tim Blumenthal (President, Bikes Belong) and Yvonne Bambrick (Executive Director, Toronto’s Cyclists Union) just to name drop a few of the megastars.
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