Who do you turn to if you want to know more about Danish cycling culture? To the Cycling Embassy of Denmark, naturally
By Thorstein Andreassen
Denmark is known as one of the countries with the most cyclists. And international interest in Danish cycling culture has never been as great as now, when a number of factors are making cycling obviously the right thing to do: The climate is going to ruin. The roads are clogged with cars. Obesity issues are becoming weightier. All of these problems will diminish if more us get on our bikes.
“The bicycle is the healthy, quick and inexpensive alternative to the car that many countries are seeking. But it takes time and requires know-how to create a cycling culture in a country with few or no cyclists. We have the knowledge and the solutions that are sought, and with the new Cycling Embassy we are ready to export them,” says embassy secretary Lise Bjørg Pedersen, who is also political director at the Danish Cyclists Federation.
The primary aim of the Cycling Embassy is that overseas city planners, the press, politicians and NGOs with an interest in cycling can now refer to one place when seeking knowledge of Danish cycling solutions.
The Cycling Embassy of Denmark comprises a network of municipalities, private sector companies and interest organisations working to promote cycling both nationally and internationally. The members are experts in for example bicycle design and function, cycling infrastructure, cycle parking and cycling promotion campaigns. The Cycling Embassy as a whole thus reflects Danish expertise in virtually every aspect of cycling.
“We wanted to create a single, easy entrance point for other countries to the cycling nation of Denmark. Our reasoning was that by uniting across professional disciplines in the cycling area, we could ensure the best result,” says the embassy secretary.
Great international attention
The Cycling Embassy of Denmark was launched in May 2009 at a European conference on cycling, and right from the start it has been busy. The Embassy is receiving many enquiries from Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. South America is also beginning to show great interest in Danish cycling culture.
“We receive enquiries of many different kinds. It may be civil servants from the Polish Ministry of Transport who want to organise a study tour to Denmark that is devoted exclusively to cycling. Or it may be from Portuguese journalists who want to know if Danes also cycle during the winter,” explains Lise Bjørg Pedersen.
The UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009 gave an extra boost to making the Cycling Embassy of Denmark known around the world.
“The Embassy was completely overwhelmed by the international interest in Danish cycling culture. We were visited by delegations from Israel, USA, Scotland, the Netherlands, Mexico and many other countries, who wanted to take a closer look at cycling in Denmark,” says Lise Bjørg Pedersen.
Delegations comprised parliamentarians, NGOs, mayors and of course journalists, who wanted to know why the Danes cycle so much and what has been done to promote cycling in Denmark.
The cradle of Danish cycle culture
In the 1970s, motorways began to infiltrate many European cities. But in the Netherlands and Denmark, developments proceeded in a different direction. Major civil engineering projects were met with violent public demonstrations, and in Copenhagen the result was that politicians had to withdraw the plans and ’protect’ the inner city from major roads. It was a turning point. Politicians began prioritising cyclists and pedestrians to a much greater extent in the planning of urban transport.
“Copenhagen has managed to reduce the number of cars in the city centre from 319,000 in 2002 to 289,000 in 2008, and for this and other reasons we today have a cycling culture which many see as a source of good ideas,” says Lise Bjørg Pedersen.
37% of Copenhagen’s citizens cycle to and from work. The main reason why Danes cycle is because it is usually the quickest and easiest form of transport in the city. Studies also show that while they do not cycle for the sake of the climate, many see the positive effect on the climate as an important side benefit.
Copenhagen municipality has set the objective that 50% of its citizens will use a bicycle as their means of transport by 2015.
“It is an ambitious goal, even for Denmark. One can go far by improving cycle parking, widening cycle paths, improving commuter routes, running campaigns and working on the population groups who do not cycle regularly. But it will probably also be necessary to work more on limiting vehicular traffic in the long term, if the proportion of people using a bicycle is to be significantly increased.” says Lise Bjørg Pedersen.
During the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, Mexico City’s mayor Marcelo Ebrard joined the Cycling Embassy of Denmark on a cycling tour of Copenhagen’s streets.
Along with the delegates, the mayor wanted to personally experience how quickly and easily people zip around the capital on two wheels. Cycle paths designed with a “green wave”, meaning that traffic lights are phased so at cycling speeds one never encounters a red light, and clear rules of the road specifically for cyclists such as raising a hand to indicate that one is about to stop – are things they had never seen before.
Mexico City’s mayor next to the bike counter on December 15, 2009. 2,998 is the number of bikers that had passed the sign that day. 1,666,862 is the total number of passing bikers since 1 May 2009.
Photo: Troels Heien, Monoline
New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg (left) receives the Cycling Embassy of Denmark’s award for good leadership.
Photo: Cycling Embassy of Denmark
New York has learned from Danish cycling cities like Copenhagen and Odense, and has achieved big results in very little time. Around 350 kilometres of cycle paths have been made in a couple of years, and in just the last year the number of cyclists has risen by 26 per cent.
In recognition of this achievement, New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg received an award for good leadership from the Cycling Embassy of Denmark when he was in Copenhagen in December last year.
“We actually just copied Copenhagen, so really it should be us giving the Danes a prize and not the other way round”, said Michael Bloomberg, when he received the award.
And there was actually a prize awarded, if not to the Danes as a nation, but to the Danish architects firm Gehl Architects, who masterminded some of the most notable cycle path projects in New York City. In October 2009 New York’s mayor for city planning handed over the prize to the architectural firm for its “exceptional contribution to the New York City Streetscape and the Public Realm”.
P, Ernie & Enzo by Kit Kjølhede Laursen http://www.kit-k.com
