Street Cars Named Desire

We're all familiar, I'm sure, with the famous poster showing how much space these different transport modes take up. As well as the many modern versions of the same theme.


Here's another one, albeit one from Kansas City in 1925. The original, perhaps. As it says on the poster:

"At the left is an everyday scene of traffic conditions in our downtown district. And yet, by actual count, there are more people on the one bus or the one streetcar than there is in all of those automobiles."

There were numerous campaigns and posters in the US of the 1920s trying to get people to consider - or reconsider - taking public transport in light of growing congestion.


Here's another poster, from Chicago, praising the streetcars for their efficiency of space. "One street car gives more service than 35 automobiles".


Another one from Chicago. A "balky automobile or broken down truck on a street car track often delays 50,000 people in reaching their destinations". The Chicago Surface Lines were really active in battling the automobile. They obviously lost the battle, but they went down with a fight.


Here is another poster/ad, this time from Westinghouse, in 'Nation's Business' publication in 1926.
"Without street cars most cities would throw up their hands in the face of growing traffic congestion."
"In St. Louis at any normal hour street cars only use one and a half percent of the street space."
"During a week day in Chicago's Loop, only two percent of the street space is used to accommodate the people who use street cars".
"Electric railway companies, far-sighted, confident, built more new mileage in 1925 than any year since 1916."

So many amazing numbers on all these posters about how many people were transported by public transport in the 1920s. 89% in Balitmore. 74% in Chicago.


The Rights of the Majority. Boy, do things look different now. But perhaps these vintage ads can provide inspiration.

Jaywalking and the Motor Age

First reference to "jaywalking" - Kansas City Star, 30 April 1911.

I've posted about the brilliant book "Fighting Traffic - The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City" by Peter D. Norton before but I just can't get enough of it. Previous posts are The Anti-Automobile Age and what we can learn from it and Fighting Traffic.

The Canadian writer, Chris Turner, wrote today about how there are no jaywalkers on sustainable streets over at Mother Earth Network. Here's some back-up for that brilliant article.

The very term "Motor Age" was invented by the automobile industry as a promotional term aimed at turning public opinion away from the massive societal protest at the appearance of cars on city streets.

The term "...carried a built-in justification for overturning established custom. It combined rhetorical closure and problem redefinition, just as similar phrases have been used in more recent years to justify workplace smoking bans, cleaner fuels and tightened security at airports."

For 7000 years cities and their streets were places where citizens gathered, moved and played. The automobile industry were forced to use marketing techniques to win the battle for space for cars. They've never looked back.

The cartoon at the top is the very first reference to another marketing tactic adopted by the automobile industry - jaywalking. A 'jay' was a synonym for a "country bumpkin" and pedestrians who dared to challenge 7000 years of city life were labelled as such. Crosswalks were invented to funnel pedestrians into controlled zones that would allow cars dominance over the streets.

Traffic fatalities were a major problem when cars started to muscle onto the streets. Most traffic safety campaigns placed the responsibility firmly on the motorists and the protests against them were massive.

The automobile industry needed to change this perception, and quick. They were successful.

"By 1930 the American Automobile Association had overtaken safety councils for leadership in school safety".


Boy Scouts were enlisted by motorist organisations and Kiwanis clubs and they distributed cards to "reckless pedestrians" like this one from Hartford, Conneticut in 1921.


They would patrol the streets teaching the citizens the New Rules of the Motor Age. The signs, above, were sponsored by the Auto Club of Southern California in 1923.


This attitude, lampooned in the New York Herald Tribune in 1925, sounds awfully familiar to this day.


It wasn't just jaywalking. Seven centuries of children playing in the streets had to be abolished as well. Drawing at left is from the Chicago Motor Club, a safety poster for their Textbook for Schools in 1932. At right is a campaign from the Massachussets Safety Council in 1923.

A 1924 song "Beware Little Children" hammered home the auto-centric message to kids and parents. Mostly the parents, of course.

The message is clear in this 1927 poster from the American Automobile Association. Obey. The policeman? Oh, sure. The Automobile Association? Most definately.

"Of course not! The streets are for cars!"

Seven thousand years - a little brainfart lasting 100 years. Hasn't worked out. Can we have our streets back please?

Fighting Traffic - The Dawn of the Automobile in the American City, by Peter D. Norton is published by MIT Press.

Montreal Cargo Bikes

I was in Montreal last week, after visiting Halifax for the Kickstand Sessions. I was pleased to see a number of cargo bikes on the streets. This chap, above, was delivering goods for this supermarket, below:



These two cargo bikes were parked outside a shop in Mile End, on Bernard Street.

And this gentleman was riding around with his son on his Nihola cargo bike.

Which he was also doing last summer, when I was in town.

Here are some other cargo bike photos from Montreal. Quelle ville!

Critical Mass Version 2.0

Right now the Danish minister of transport is finalizing the law proposal for the Copenhagen Congestion Ring.

Visualization of the congestion ring control/payment system, from the report by the Danish Road Authority (Vejdirektoratet), TRÆNGSELSAFGIFT I HOVEDSTADEN, Miljøundersøgelse

At the moment the discussion between the coalition government parties is centered on how much should be charged outside rush hour. The Social Democrats and The radical Left (which is a center party, and not at all radical in any way) seem to believe congestion is something which only happens between 7 and 9 in the morning, and 3 and 5 in the afternoon. Which is factually wrong, first of all even on sunday afternoons we have large cross town streets, where cars cue bumper to bumper, intersection to intersection, in both directions, even though there are no particular happenings, like a ball game or something.

Congestion is also when every f...... street is lined with cars, and cars, and cars, squeezing all life out of the neighborhood. 

When the noise is so loud people actually die in hundreds, and the in thousands from the emissions, every year.

Trouble is, during the election, the spin doctors found that all the benefits of the congestion ring, which was at that time called the "toll ring", no matter haw you construe it, are to many to be communicated effectively. The loss of peoples time in car-cues, they found, was plenty of ammo needed to justify it, and now the politicians don´t care about the full reasoning of the toll ring, its just about reducing time people waste in a cue. Essentially a great case about the stupidity of modern politics. "We only regulate, what we can communicate". Who cares about what the society needs.

Interestingly in relation to this, the city released a new research on citizen happiness with living in the city, the top-10 wishes was better public transportation(50% said this), less traffic/noise (38%) better bike lanes, bike racks etc. (31 & 16%), better parks/green areas (26%) and more affordable housing (25% & 17%), lower tax (12%) (Copenhagen is one of the lowest tax cities in DK, but danes always complain) came at 15, and better car parking at 17th place (13%). Still even the far left politicians are afraid of how they will be punished by the car-vote. 

A picture of speed, dynamics and economic growth -to some!  

A preliminary report from the Road Authority is excellent reading. It documents a conservatively estimated 10 - 20% reduction in harmfull emisions, the greatest one off reduction in pollution in the histrory of Denmark, something the opposition has declared to be of no effect. The only national or local plan to cut harmful emissions in copenhagen, for well, ever. The only other initiatives is the environment zones initiated by EU, which carries only half of the effect of the congestion ring. 

About half of the worst streets, which exceed the EU norms, will fall below the EU norms. The Congestion ring is the best news to reach copenhagen lungs, since the new smoking laws, and keep in mind, twice as many die from car emissions, as do from passive smoking. This is really something that counts. 

The report also finds that the most preferred alternative to driving your car, is to carpool, and close following to bike. Each replacing about a third of the declined trips in own car. the last third will choose to either not go at all (1/6) and the last sixth of the people who will leave the car at home, will choose public transportation.

This is great from several perspectives, financially the ring will give an extra earnings of about € 200 mill. a year. The increase in efficiency of public transportation, will to a large degree absorb the growth in travellers. The London busses increased efficiency by 20% after their congestion ring was established.

This does not mean, investments in public transportation, especially on rails, should not be followed through. Particular the train commuters from larger cities in the Region, such as Roskilde, Køge and Helsingør, suffer from poor service today, and only busses benefit from less car traffic.

Even after the Congestion ring, only an estimated 9% of the trips will be by bus, suggesting that busses are the last resort of commuters. A conversion on the main arterial lines to bus rapid transfer or light rail, would likely help change both image and travel times for the passengers, who are in volumes to be found on about five primary bus routes, including line 5A, the most travelled busline in northern Europe.

But as the numbers above indicate, the bicycle infrastructure, the cheapest of all commuter solutions, is imperative to improve. This is all initial changes, and I bet the people who says they will carpool, will eventually gravitate towards bikes and public transportation, as one of the primary motivators of driving a car is the individuality, and carpooling is in reality

Green roads will have significantly less traffic, red more, and black roads no significant change. The purple line is the congestion ring along the city municipality borders. The car traffic in Copenhagen will be reduced by about a third, which is less than week 29 (juli) on average, which is the week with the lowest traffic in the year. Illustration by the Danish Road Authority Vejdirektoratet.

My analysis of the current choices of mode of transportation and the change pattern, the road authority researched, suggest that around 40% of all commuters will travel by bike, and only half, 21%, by car. Almost 50% of the commuters will travel without use of any kind of engine.

In my mind this is incredible, the establishment of a congestion ring will be a defining moment in the history of Copenhagen.

At the same time it exposes the lacking coherence in the strategy and the applied means of the city politicians, in reaching the 2015 goal of 50% commuters travelling by bike. It should be obvious, that you can not outspend cycling initiatives by a factor of four in favour of car parking, and expect cyclism to grow. Even with a congestion ring, the city is only half way meeting its objective of 50% cyclist in 2015.

Strangely, while many of us understand cycling and public transportation as equal and democratic mobility, it is the Social Democrats who delivers the majority and deciding mandates for the car-centric policies.

Even more strange it is to see that Frank Jensen, the lord mayor of Copenhagen, a Social Democrat himself, and the architect behind the car centric policies, never talks about his “wonderful” car policies, but always about the Copenhagen the bike-city, a concept he actively works against.

The change will eradicate the need for a high share of the existing parking spaces in the city, giving more space to bike lanes. The need for more than one car lane in each direction will also be reduced and many lanes can be dedicated for better bus service or even better, for a light rail network, which increase traffic capacity ten-fold and drastically reduces noise and air pollution. Light rail being extremely predictable, it either moves along its track or it stops, no unforeseen turns, will also likely reduce traffic accidents. Research does not support this though, which merely suggests light rail is as safe or unsafe as city busses.

Estimated changes in transport modality, after a congestion ring is established around Copenhagen. 2008 figures provided by Bicycle Department, City of Copenhagen, changes based on 2012 report on congestion ring around Copenhagen. Source data is not identical, and some approximations were needed to arrive at the above results.

One of the three parties of the left-center coalition government, concluded that, as such a high number converted from car to bike, some of the revenues of the congestion ring should fund a bicycle superhighways network.

The sudden change will be extremely interesting to follow. The research suggests a high share will car-pool, I doubt this will last, and predict that most will either go back to using their own car, or start using public services or their bike, cars are perceived as the most individual and independent mode of transportation, as well as having badge value, carpooling has neither, to an extreme. 

Public transportation is probably undervalued. If you are used to drive your own car, public carries a lot of prejudices which are really not true, specifically in combination with bicycles, it becomes really fast and is really probably as reliable as your own car, no parking trouble, and though we get a fair share of rain, it will rarely coincide with your commute.


Will an 80% no-car commuting society tip the scale finally, and be enough to really make the big changes in the city landscape. I REALLY HOPE SO!

The profits of the Congestion ring will fund better public transportation and bikeablity. Photo by the Danish Road Authority, Vejdirektoratet.

Cool and Lost in Translation

Like many Japanese commercials, I have no idea what's going on. The title is even mystical: "about 1988 『峠のやまちゃん』".

But hey. It's 1988. It's Japan. It's cool old men with pipes on bikes. Something those tweed ride people might like, too.

A Kickstand for Halifax

Off to Halifax in the morning. The purpose of the visit is to kick off The Kickstand Sessions - Bicycle Policy Training Sessions. Copenhagenize Consulting has teamed up with Mobycon from the Netherlands to host comprehensive bicycle policy training sessions for professional planners, traffic engineers, architects, marketing people and NGOs. Both Mobycon and Copenhagenize Consulting see more value in combining Dutch AND Danish best practice and policy in order to provide inspiration for local solutions in cities. There seems to be a bit of "bicycle nationalism" gaining purchase and when the goal is inspiring cities around the world to starting placing the bicycle higher up on the traffic pyramid, all the good experience should be presented all at once. The "bicycle embassies", it would seem, are interested in providing a platform for local companies to present their products to a wider market. Fair enough, it's a market economy. Goods and services must be sold.

We just think cities should be given the chance to see the wealth of ideas at their disposal, regardless of national origin, in order to kickstart an urban planning and traffic engineering revolution.

We're looking forward to launching the Kickstand Sessions in Halifax. Our partners in the city have informed us that a number of city councillors will be attending and the Premier of Nova Scotia, Darrell Dexter, will also be present on the last day to hear what kind of solutions the training session participants have come up with for Halifax and other towns in the province. It's going to be great.

On Tuesday, I'll be also speaking at Dalhousie University with my Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling talk - as well as a bit of Bicycle Culture by Design. Thanks so much to the Halifax Cycling Coalition for producing the above poster.

Atlantic Canada, here we come.

Feeding Time

Sometimes you just have to stop and feed the swans and ducks on your way home. With a half a bread roll in the fading light of a Nordic winter day.

Vintage Enlightenment and Despair

What a lovely shot. Copenhagen. 1907. Vestre Boulevard. Dug up by our very own Lars Barfred.

The sign on the right reads "Bicycle Lane". Sweet. At first glance it's a nice vintage photograph - coloured for effect - of a street in Copenhagen. And then, as a Copenhagener, you realise... hey... I KNOW that street. That's City Hall on the left and Tivoli Gardens on the right. Vestre Boulevard is now named Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard.

My goodness! Look at how lovely that street is! So liveable. Like a wide street in the heart of a city should be. Look at all that space!

Then you get depressed because you remember what it's like now.


(Thanks to Jason for the link to What Was There and this image)

The 1907 photo was taken from right about where that black car is, in the middle of the intersection. H.C. Andersen's Boulevard is the most congested street in Denmark apart from the motorways. 55,000 cars a day. It carves a grey scar through the heart of the Danish capital. 250,000 pedestrians cross City Hall Square (bottom right) on a summer's day, at the mercy of the parasites. Over 20,000 bicycle users ride up and down this street each day, as well. Indeed, three of the intersections on this stretch are the most dangerous in the nation for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Dutch National Cycling Council - Fietsberaad - were amazed that a city like Copenhagen wasn't tackling this blatant problem in this report.

There was talk of burying the boulevard and reclaiming the surface space for people a few years back, but that idea disappeared. Just some mumbling about noise reduction asphalt has been heard from city hall.

Here's the boulevard from above, in the same direction as the first vintage photo.

Same area. Amazing to see what this street used to be like and could be like again if there were any political vision coming out of the city hall, above.

As it is now, six lanes of cars roar through the heart of our city. At speed limits far too high for such a densely-populated area.

The vintage photo is, at once, enlightening and depressing.

New Campaign - Ignoring the Danish Bull

This campaign from the car-centric Danish Road Safety Council is a prime example of how they are maintaining the status quo and Ignoring the Bull in society's china shop.

According to their warped ideology, cars rule the streets and anyone who dares to challenge this indisputable fact will be eliminated. They use cars - portrayed as anonymous machines (no focus on the invisible driver and no focus on the responsibility of these drivers to take care in the traffic) - to hammer home their point that they are incapable of taming motorised traffic and, I fear, completely unwilling to do so.

The video, above, is a part of the Tag Chancen / Take the Chance campaign, which we had a sneak preview about last year and also here. "Take Chances, just not in the Traffic" is the slogan. It is focused on the foolish youth who dare to believe that cities should be liveable places with safe mobility - a basic human right - for it's citizens.

It features the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen, who plays for Ajax Amsterdam. Filmed in Amsterdam, the Road Safety Council and their cohorts - including the Danish insurance behemoth Tryg who would love you to be frightened into buying their insurance policies - even manage to infiltrate the Netherlands with their message by filming this in that country.

Ironically, Amsterdam, like many other European cities, takes traffic safety seriously by restricting the speed limits for cars and positively promoting urban cycling. The Road Safety Council has no plans for Denmark to follow suit - either on lower speed limits or positive cycling promotion. Which is why the 30 kbh campaign was started on Facebook. Cars are king in their eyes. Get used to it.

It's manipulated reality, which is always a bit desperate. Eriksen is struck down by a speeding motorist (and we're sorry to see him arriving at Ajax stadium in a car and not on a bicycle) even though it is unlikely that a car could get up to that speed on that stretch, or would even try given the lower speed limits. But fukkit. It's dramatic effect. When citizens dare to infiltrate the domain of the automobile, they must pay the price.


Another video in the series features some Danish rapper type named Joey Moe. Wham. He's struck down for daring to challenge the dominance of the automobile. Ironically, we can see him hanging out in front of Bobi Bar in the centre of Copenhagen. It's on this street, Klareboderne:

A traffic-calmed street that ends at Købmagergade pedestrian street, from whence the car apparently is coming from. So, again, fabricated reality. Here's the street on Google Maps.

Vis stort kort

With all the videos, the cars are clearly speeding. Ignoring speed limits and setting their own agenda, with the full backing of the Road Safety Council.

There is no commentary aimed at motorists making them aware of their responsibility as drivers of dangerous machines to take care and drive responsibly. We see this all to often in the current era of traffic campaigns in Denmark, like this one that ignores the traffic rules and goes after cyclists.


There's another film featuring a Danish comedian, Mick Øgendahl. Again, same message. This time with a bike involved, which probably makes this the Road Safety Council's favourite film in the series.

There are other films in the series featuring people you have never heard of if you're from outside of Denmark, so I won't bore with with non-celebrities.

This campaign is particularly tasteless given the fact that a 10 year old girl was mowed down and killed last November - by the same kind of speeding motorist that the Road Safety Council proudly portray in this film.

The point is, as always, that Denmark's journey to renewed car-centricity - we are more car-centric now than at any time since the 1960s - is sad. Not least because a so-called Road Safety Council (basically a communications bureau that doesn't employ anyone with the ability to read scientific research) is intent on ignoring the goal of liveable cities, safe streets, lower speed limits and all the ingredients for a positive urban future. In favour of their own ideology.

That these communication people are even allowed to use money to promote their personal vision of an automobile-based society - and in 2012 - baffles the mind. Ah, yes. The insurance company's fund helps finance it. Follow the money, as ever.

Like we often say, please come to Copenhagen to see how the City of Copenhagen's traffic and bicycle department has developed a fantastic bicycle infrastructure network with brilliant innovation and dedication regarding encouraging more people to cycle.

You needn't bother coming here for our bicycle advocacy or for our (non) promotion of cycling or liveable cities. We are farther from returning to the Anti-Automobile age than we've ever been.

For that, please go to the Netherlands. We never tire of highlighting this fine example of a road safety campaign that places the focus where it must be placed:

Drive With Your Heart

A new story of our lives….

...Thats what we need.

The new government is admirably determined to build a congestion-ring, around Copenhagen City. For the first time in since the oil-crisis in the early seventies, and the car-free Sundays, Danish motorists are under  fire. Was the state of our tasteless self-indulgence and waste of natural resources not so catastrophic, it would be quite amusing to observe how closely aligned the excuses of smokers and motorists are. Except second hand car-driving kills twice as many as second hand smoking.

Photo: Steven Depolo

Fact is that only a small insignificant number of people drive, because they did a thorough analysis. Some are genuinely forced to, as we for sixty years build our infrastructure to favour cars over all other modes of transportation. That’s something we need to address, and strangely the government does not realize this, and specifically the Social Democrats as they continue to invest heavily on freeways, car parking and bridges. Rather than reprioritizing and making up for lost time, during the last six decades, to build better bike and public transportation infrastructure.

Sorry, I get carried away, back to the rational choice, few make it, not unique to motorists, that’s just who we are. We believe we make rational choices, after careful deliberations, well in most cases we don´t, and that’s fine, as long as we don´t pretend and rationalize after the fact.

We need politicians who acknowledge this, who have the courage, as it seems our government do have in the case of the congestion-ring, to ease our choices in a more rational and healthy direction.

And then there is one more thing we can do, because apart from 5% fact, analysis and intelligence, we base our choices on the stories we tell, the symbols we use to construct our identity, the value negotiation we constantly have with our surroundings.

We need to put first things first, an old President Carter address to the nation, reminded me of this, a really courageous speech, which I am sure stripped him of all commercial campaign contributions

We need to reemphasize the importance of well functioning personal networks, close knit communities, our families our health, rather than obsessing with quick fixes & instant gratification, material prestige, addiction to fossil fuels, economic growth and abundant fatty, sweet and meat foods.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Today our life stories are told by the marketing machines of multinational consumer good and foods companies write our histories, the billion dollar advertising budgets, ensures their stories are heard more often than that of our intellectuals, our novelists like Emerson, the Picasso´s of our day. Even the bicycle manufacturers and similar industries with a mostly positive influence on societies, are not heard thru the wall of marketing noise of Nestlé, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Shell.

Photo: by Sergio Maistrello

We cannot rely on our communities suddenly becoming rational, and probably, that would present its own set of problems, we can neither expect people not be influenced by advertising. But I believe the stories of our lives, of the people close to us matters more. We can thru each of our own actions change the stories, we can ignore the marketing noise, when we teach our children to bike safely on their way to school every morning, we we put carrots and low fat milk in their bag-pack, when we encourage them to run and play ball, rather than play wii or watch Disney channel. And the great thing about it, the car is such a big part of family economy, that if you get rid of it, your budget will not need you to work as much, their will be work-positions for more people, you will have more time to tell the important stories to your children, to enjoy teaching them to bike, listening to the birds, when you drive them in the cargo bike. 

Copenhagen Cargo Bike Culture

A little film about cargo bike culture in Copenhagen, featuring Andreas Røhl, the head of the Bicycle Office in Copenhagen, Christiania Bikes and Larry vs Harry.

Congestion Charges Bring Life to Cities

There is a constant flow of discussion at the moment about the proposed congestion charges in Copenhagen - one of the initiatives the current government had on their election platform.

Like in Stockholm and in London prior to implementation of their congestion charges, the debate is heated and often rather one-sided.
Copenhagenize is pleased to feature this guest article written by Natalie Mossin and Jane Sandberg. Jane is the CEO of The Danish Architects' Association and Natalie is the Chairman of the Board.

The Danish Architects' Association was founded in 1879 and works to promote the quality of planning and design of our physical environment and to improve and develop the conditions for the architect's profession.

We thought it appropriate to publish some rational thoughts about the congestion charges. Here it comes.

The City of the Future Requires Space for Life

Congestion charges are about what cities will be like in the future and which needs they will fulfill.

The congestion charges have been strongly criticised and they have been divisive. Just the name – 'betalingsring' – or 'pay ring' generate associations of the worst possible kind. Just for a moment let's look away from the debate's unilateral arguments about what we'll lose and instead look at what we will gain, if Transport Minister Henrik Dam Kristensen dares to formulate a visionary goal for the Copenhagen of the future and prioritise cheaper and better public transport.

Danish cities are old and they are certainly not built for our modern transport masses. There is a natural limit to how many motor vehicles that can drive through our existing urban areas. Merely adding more car lanes is not a viable solution. Therefore we need to develop the conditions for other transport forms.

The causality behind the congestion charges is simple: If it costs money to drive into Copenhagen, many people will leave the car at home and choose instead train, bus or bicycle. The result is fewer cars, lower pollution levels, more flow in the traffic and a better urban environment.

The desire for fewer cars on the roads is not a war on cars. It is a necessary regulation of the growing number of cars in the capital region so that the city's logistics – in the future as well – can work. If the congestion charges in Copenhagen are to improve the traffic environment in Copenhagen, a number of important steps must first be taken.

The first step is defining a vision for what kind of city we wish to have in 10, 20 and 50 years. We mustn't discuss congestion charges based on what Copenhagen is like today, but rather how we wish the city to be in the future, as well as which needs it must fulfill.

We're already seeing massive changes in many peoples working lives and everyday lives. It has become more flexible and less rooted to one location, in the way we have meetings on Skype and are online everywhere we go.

These new possibilities for movement and interaction place demands on the city's space, which no longer is merely a terminal for dropping off and picking up goods as well as transport. It is a centre for human meetings – a place for experiences and recreation with a lively street scene that also has room for the as yet undiscovered. This requires space.

The next step is about public transport, which has to be better and cheaper in the capital at the very moment that the congestion charges come into effect. A large portion of the revenue from the congestion charges must be allocated to this.

The third step is about urban planning. In Stockholm they had a great deal of success with integrating revenue from their congestion charges with the national planning strategy. The local regions have therefore benefited from the revenue and have improved the general infrastructure. Why not do as the Swedes have done?

Improved accessibility on a national level could be a concrete place to start. Even though Denmark is ahead of the game regarding accessible cities, it remains difficult for many wheelchair users, elderly citizens and visual imparied to move around the streets.

Therefore, physical hindrances like lack of ramps on stairs, high curbstones, complex intersections and narrow sidewalks must be given serious thought so that the urban space can be more accessible for everyone.

There was a great deal of resistance when congestion charges were implemented in London and Stockholm. Since then, the negative perception has reversed. In 2006, 56% of Londoners were against the congestion charges. That has now fallen to 39%.

In Stockholm, only 40% were for the charges just before the pilot project was launched. The latest numbers, from 2010, show that 74% now support the congestion charges. If we are to follow in London's and Stockholm's footsteps, the Minister of Transport should take the necessary steps we have highlighted here. In addition, he should enage urban planners, architects and other stakeholders in a dialogue about the goals for the future of the city's life between houses and on the streets of Copenhagen.

It is also of utmost importance that he listens actively to the critics of the congestion charges. Not least the 15 mayors in the municipalities around Copenhagen, as they represent the citizens who will be affected by the new fees. Finally, it is important that we avoid an invisible ”city wall”. It shouldn't cost the farm to drive into Copenhagen.

There should be the possibility for differentiated payment. For example, using GPS technology that can be used with great precision in road pricing initiatives, as long as the cars have a chip that registers where they drive and sends the data to the tax authorities.

An alternative could be to divide the congestion charge between a number of zones in the city.

At the end of the end it is all about prioritising and daring to invest in the future so that Copenhagen, in the future as well, can be a city that inspires others, that is accessible to all, where there is a balance between transport forms and where there is space and life between the buildings.

If this doesn't happen, we will think back to the good old days when Copenhagen was voted the world's greenest city in 2009 and the world's most liveable city according to Monocle in 2008 and where urban planners from all over the world came to Copenhagen to study Copenhagenization and realise we dropped the ball.

Natalie and Jane's article was published in Politiken, the Danish newspaper last week. Here's the link to the Danish version.

Subversive Bicycle Photos - Los Angeles

Los Angeles. 1900. Spring St. near 8th.
The latest installment in our Subversive Bicycle Photos series is from a city that enjoyed a modal share for bicycles of 20% at the turn of the last century and built impressive protected bicycle infrastructure like this 10 km, elevated cycle track back in 1900.

Alas, the bicycle disappeared from this area that was described like this in an 1897 newspaper article: "There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling."

Thanks to our reader, Rick, we found some subversive photographs showing the bicycle as an accepted and respected part of life in Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Public Library archives.

As ever with these subversive photos, do not let them get out. If society at large were to learn that the bicycle used to be an integral part of life for Citizens Cyclists and not just some recent sub-cultural activity for middle-class white men, who knows what might happen. People might realise that riding a bicycle used to be normal and could quite possibly become normal again. Who know what resistance might appear. At the moment it's just this, but it could get worse. We all know what happened when the car industry went after another competitive transport form.

Burbank. 1908.


First Street looking east from Yale Avenue in Claremont in 1915.


Los Angeles. Ca. 1890. 632 South Broadway.


Balboa. Newport Beach. 1940s. Photographer: Herman Schultheis.

Los Angeles Bicycle Police Squad. 1904. Broadway past 6th St.

Los Angeles. 1905. Rambler Bicycles at 207-209 West 5th Street near Spring.

Los Angeles. 1902. Commercial High School participate in the Fiesta Floral Parade with a bicycle float.

Los Angeles. 1915. Hill and 4th.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1904. Main and 9th. Bicycle Parade heading for Griffith Park.

Long Beach. Ca. 1895. Pine Avenue.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1930s. Variety Arts Theater.

Los Angeles. 1899. Spring Street.

From left:
- Portrait of Japanese boy with bicycle and notebook ca 1900.
- Grace Toya with bicycle at the Tule Lake internment camp 1945.
- Los Angeles Bicycle Club 1890s.


Los Angeles High School's Kodak and Bicycle Club ca 1900.


From top left:
- Los Angeles ca. 1930s.
- LA Rooftop Stunt 1930s.
- Ditto.
- Los Angeles "Old Settlers Parade" 1937. Photographer: George J. Cooper


Leela McAdam nee McCabe - winner of the best decorated bicycle for the 1900 Fourth of July parade in Lompoc stands outside her home at 137 South J Street.


Oh, and tell your local bike polo playing hipster that he/she is soooo old school. Bike Polo in Los Angeles, 1930s.

Might be fun to see photographs taken these days from the same locations. Let us know if you take them.

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archives.