Pedal power
Sixty-two per cent of people living in Copenhagen cycle to work or school, pedalling 1.44 million kilometres every day. The city has invested more than €40 per head in bike infrastructure
European cities top the global charts as being the most bike friendly. Copenhagen is in pole position followed by Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium and Strasbourg in France.
No surprise then that in Europe the Dutch and Danes are the cycling champions, with 43% of Dutch people and 30% of Danes cycling daily. At the other end of the scale, only 3% of commuters cycle to work in the UK.
Sixty-two per cent of people living in Copenhagen cycle to work or school, pedalling 1.44 million kilometres every day. The city has invested more than €40 per head in bike infrastructure, including 167 kilometres of new regional cycle highways and four bicycle bridges.
The leading non-European city for cycling is Bogotá, capital of Colombia. “In 2015, cycling had a 6% share of daily trips. We are hoping that by 2020 it will be 10% – that would be one million trips per day,” says David Uniman, the city’s bicycle manager.
THE BICYCLE SERPENT
The bicycle serpent, or cykelslangen in Danish,
is a 230-metre-long elevated bicycle route over the
canal that runs through the centre of Copenhagen
Designed by DISSING-WEITLING Architecture
KAREN BLIXEN SQUARE (The university of Copenhagen)
Karen Blixens Plads is a concrete park of man-made hills and
valleys, under which there is parking space for 2100 bikes
Designed by Cobe Architects
KAREN BLIXENS SQUARE
Underground bike park
CIRCLE BRIDGE
This bridge makes life better for everyone, connecting
two areas of the city previously cut off by the canal.
The circular designs make the paths more interesting
for cyclists and aesthetically pleasing for all
Designed by Olafur Eliasson
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