Bicycle Friendliness

Like Amsterdam, Copenhagen is a city with an extensive cycling network.
Discovering a city by bike is nice, it gives you a certain freedom. For me it looked like they cycled so much faster than me and my classmates, but the Danish think the same about the cyclists in Amsterdam. In a strange city you always have to figure out the road you need to take and in your own city you don’t even have to think about how to ride to work.

Copenhagen is very innovative in the field of cycling.

For example, the green wave. The first green wave for cyclists was established back in 2007. Since then, the concept has spread further throughout the rest of Copenhagen. ‘The idea is simple. Coordinate the traffic lights for cyclists so that if they ride at a speed of 20 km/h, they will hit green lights all the way into the city in the morning rush hour’ (copenhagenize.com)

On average, bicycle users in Copenhagen cycle about 16km/h. A wave of 20 km/h stimulates some cyclists to drive up their speed, while others take up a slower pace in order to benefit from the green lights.

Copenhagen is a city with the ambitious goal to be the first CO2 neutral ‘capital of the world’, in 2025. The Green Wave 2.0 was launched in 2013. Currently, version 2.0 is in its testphase. It has sensors that are able to register a group if citizens riding together. At the intersection that they’re approaching the lights will be kept on green a little longer.

The Green Wave is not the only initiative for cyclists in Copenhagen. At a number of intersections, footrests and railings have appeared, taking away the irritation of having to hop off the saddle or put a foot down while waiting for the light to change. In addition, all over the city garbage cans have been placed so that cyclists can throw the trash while cycling.

Photo: Zepha de Roo

On June 29, Copenhagen launched the bicycle snake or ‘cykelslangen’, an iconic and important logistical mobility link. The long bridge connects two parts of the city with a 220 meter long bypass road and is exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians. Everyone in Copenhagen is very excited about the snake. It is a classic Danish design and has a functional, practical value.

Outcomes
Copenhagen is Europe’s safest capital. The percentage of accidents involving cyclists remains low due to the innovations. There is no orange in the traffic lights and red is really red there. In the Netherlands we sometimes cycle trough red, but in Copenhagen it rarely happens.

It also has financial benefits:

– The cost of 1km of cycle track is paid off in five years by the health benefits of users getting more exercise.
– Car traffic drops by 10% on these stretches and cycling increases by 20%.
– The 41% of the population who arrive at work or school by bike contribute a whopping €235m (£185m) a year to the public coffers.
-Re-allocating space from less cost-efficient transport forms like cars to modern, cost-effective bicycles makes sense.
(link)
– The number of CO2 emissions is reduced.

In Holland, we are also innovative in the field of cycling. For instance, the hovering bike roundabout in Eindhoven.  Cyclists can ride completely seperated from the motorized traffic by cycling on an extra ring above the intersection.

Links:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2014/08/the-green-waves-of-copenhagen.html
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/oct/16/copenhagen-cycling-innovation-lycra-louts-green-wave-bike-bridges

photo’s
http://www.sharingcopenhagen.dk/media/215017/16-groen-boelge.jpg http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/12/09/business/copenhagen2/copenhagen2-articleLarge.jpg
http://cdn3.gbtimes.com/cdn/farfuture/28EsI7lzpydiQZOiFRhggXQ6hwPVY6wASy8xVulB-w/mtime:1398156987/sites/default/files/styles/1280_wide/public/2014/04/22/cph_tilted-bin_cyklistforbundet-mikkel_ostergaard.jpg?itok=XuVF7W6O

http://www.dac.dk/Images/img/1920x1200M/(50713)/50713/cykelslangen-08.jpg
http://www.designdiffusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_9033.jpg

Random acts of kindness

Two weeks ago I went on a studytrip to Copenhagen. I had really been looking forward to visiting this city. The first two days were marked by an assignment that we had to do for Fflink.

Fflink is a social movement in Copenhagen. Fflink refers to Fucking Flink. Flink represents Friendliness, and Fucking is used to catch peoples attention. Not only do they want to make Denmark the happiest country in the world, but also the friendliest.

The movement Fflink
The social movement was founded in 2010 by Lars AP. He noticed a difference in his behaviour/friendliness because of his identification with two different backgrounds; American and Danish. Fucking Flink has a hyperactive Facebook page with more than 170,000 followers. Its online community is the largest in Denmark. On the Fucking Flink Facebook page followers share their stories about random acts of friendliness of both small and large scale.

His question: ‘Why am I happier when I speak the other language than the language of the happiest people on eart’, occurred to him. ‘My happiness has much to do with how I communicate with someone’. The aim is to change our value focus through social innovation. Fflink creates little signs of a better world and creates questions about people’s daily routine. The team of Fflink works full time to spread kindness, this includes organizing workshops for students and companies.

Fflink also tries to raise the awareness of people on the streets with ‘random acts of kindness’ and signs of a better world. Below you can find a video with an example. It’s in Danish but without understanding the language you can guess what it is about.

In the video Lars is playing a parking attendant. Instead of handing out fines if people break the law, he gives drivers who parked well, money. First people look irritated. But once they see what is on the receipt, they are surprised and happy. When you give something to people, they want to give something back. The parking attendant receives several presents from the people.

In the next video you see a test on who is willing to tie someone’s lace. Some people walk over quickly, others stop and help him.

This reminded me of a movie I encountered earlier on Facebook.
When are people willing to help? This video sets people thinking about their own behaviour.

The next days in Copenhagen I ran into several signals without searching for them.

For example, this picture:

‘Blågård skole is paying it forward, do you? If you do take one of these rip off flyers and you are allready paying it forward. And please don’t forget to smile’’. On the rip off flyers they wrote:  – Take a selfie with the next person you see – Give a compliment to the next person you see.

During our biking tour around Copenhagen we found this sign by an urban garden: ”Welcome to BYHAVEN 2200, everybody’s garden. Please be kind to the plants and look after your dog & garbage, enjoy!!

With kindness you achieve so much more:) If you are open to it, you can find it in the little things.  But sometimes you need something or someone to wake you up or reminds you.
For this blog, I’ve used my own photos.