Thread by @barbchamberlain

My Copenhagen adventures have begun. @Fly_Norwegian left Seattle a bit late, mad dash to catch connecting flight at Gatwick. One more leg and I'm there. Hope that checked bag makes this plane too....

Obligatory pictures of just a few of the thousands of bicycles parked everywhere, ridden everywhere, in Copenhagen. And to end the the suspense yes, the checked bag made it despite the very tight connection at Gatwick. Whew.

A few bike images from Copenhagen: Golden statue of a lady on a bike atop a tower; bike shop sign that reads "hop on a bike/ feel like a local"; a mobile coffee stand that's a cargo bike; bike counter with a display of over 4 million trips.

Did a ton of walking through Copenhagen today! Images: Little Mermaid statue, castle, church dome, sailing ship in the harbor.

Orientation for our study tour: Copenhagen = safest cycling city on the globe. You'd have to ride 40x around the world before you'd have a serious crash, in terms of statistical odds. Not sure I'll want to leave at the end of the week.

Part of our first day's workshop in Copenhagen: pictures of @CycleWithoutAge. How they handle cargo/wider bikes: standard bike lane width is >3 meters.

Mode split in Copenhagen: 62% cycling, 10% walking. In the larger region cycling is 45%. Car ownership much more expensive than US, gas/parking much higher.

Bettina Werner shares goals from Copenhagen plan: 80% satisfied with opportunities for taking part in urban life, 20% increase pedestrian mode share, 20% more use of urban space.

Regitze Marianne Hess @IFHPKnowledge @People4Cities @RMHessArch shares key elements of "Nordic way" that The Economist named "supermodel for success": Pragmatism, partnerships, trust, social welfare, green growth, civic engagement, flat business structures, multi-stakeholder.

Source for more on the Nordic way: en.globalutmaning.se/rapporter/the-… en.globalutmaning.se/rapporter/

Urban development in Copengagen focuses on land value capture. Paper by @bruce_katz + @LuiseNoring brookings.edu/research/copen…. #UrbanPlanning

Land value capture in Copenhagen goes into infrastructure including mass transit. Affordable/social housing governance /finance model buildup.eu/en/practices/p…

Fact of life for urban planning in flat Nordic countries: planning for 2-meter sea level rise. Transit tunnel excavation materials being used to build new tall islands, buildings with higher ground floors. #ClimateCrisis #ActOnClimate #UrbanPlanning

Paradigm shift in Copengagen for focus of investment from buildings/infrastructure/public realm last to public life/public realm/built environment.

Themes in Copenhagen's policy of putting people first: Cities for people require people for cities. Policy for people required people for policy.

Biking Copenhagen is incredibly freeing. No helmet, dedicated infrastructure, polite drivers moving very slowly and very few of those. Bike mode share is 62 whopping percent and walking is another 10%. Just think of it. Three quarters of the people on the street are not in a car.

On pedestrian-only street today (in pouring rain but we're from Seattle). When they closed street to cars shopkeepers worried but 80K people walked by - - more than any highway in the city carried. Next 2 streets asked to be converted to ped only.

Our tour guide said belief was that people wouldn't hang out in public street because "Danes aren't Italians" (who socialize in public realm). Turns out "there's a little Italian in all of us--it's called a human being."

Each time Copenhagen added good people streets and reduced space for car traffic they deleted parking spots. Result: Increased people time spent in people spaces. Shopowners changed merchandising, cafés added spaces outside.

Here's a transportation mood management thought for you on a sign in Copenhagen pedestrian space: [image]

Better late than angry.

Metro in Copengagen runs every 4 minutes. That was key to shifting more people out of if cars. No need to run for the train--there's always another one. Suburbanites take bikes on train as great combo for longer distances. [image] Metro bike cars have stand-up parking spaces.

This bridge moves about same _ trips /day as Aurora in Seattle. One lane each way for drivers, double wide bike lane each side, wide sidewalk each side.

Louise Grassow: Urban environments rely on networks (a delightful journey, legible), hierarchy (of space relationships, identity, character, use, not power structure), proximity (everything within reach), diversity (mix of uses). #UrbanPlanning

Louise Grassow, Copenhagen-based urban development consultant: Think framework, not master plan--there's no "master" who knows what will happen in 50 years. Grassow used to work with Jan Gehl, did some work in Seattle. Learning lots in CoUrban Masterclass in Copenhagen.

Research on urban environments: For people who can see, need visual stimulus ~ every 4 seconds. If you don't get that cortisol levels increase (i.e. stress). We're willing to walk farther in stimulating environments. If we're in nice places we even think other people are nicer.

In Copengagen you can still go places by car. You just can't go places FAST by car. This democratizes streets so everyone can be there. #PeopleStreets

Work by Mohammed Almahmood of Schulze + Grassow sounds related to @RobinMazumder work: using simulations to understand interactions in urban spaces schulzeplusgrassov.com/mohammed-al-ma…. #UrbanPlanning

Two tests of street scene rendering: Do they show a full array of all kinds of people? And what is the street like if you take *all* the people out; would you still find it attractive and inviting?

Copenhagen response to urban issues: Instead of hostile architecture response to uses of public space by people in need, add enough invitations to others until you have 4x as many. If someone is sleeping on a bench, add benches until there are free places to sit.

A few images from today's masterclass in Copenhagen: A rainy shot of the first pedestrian-only street. Bikes at Metro station. Before/after pix of bridge that carries 110K trips/day, most not by car, and how they added benches when the behave itself became a destination

Make that when the BRIDGE itself became a destination. Stupid phone. Whose idea was it to call them smart??