Andreas Rohl (Manager of Cycling – City of Copenhagen) recently spoke in San Francisco at a Bicycle Coalition event. He’s on a one-year sabbatical and spending his time working with various interested parties in Canada and the U.S. The link to his engaging and entertaining one-hour talk, The Stick, The Carrot, and the Tambourines, is an event in the City of Penticton, British Columbia, about cycling, bike networks, and his experience not only from Copenhagen but around the world.
Andreas’ basic argument is that mainstreaming cycling to increase mode share from the typical 0-5% to Copenhagen’s 40% requires making it safe, convenient, and easy from origin to destination, and to not require a change of identity. Watch the YouTube video (below) and explore Copenhagen’s bicycle strategy (2011-2025) and planning.
Will Copenhagen achieve it’s goal to become an eco-metropolis by 2015? In 2008, the City of Copenhagen politicians unanimously decided to work towards making Copenhagen a cleaner, healthier and more environmentally friendly city. The politicians set out four main objectives to be achieved by 2015. One of these objectives is that Copenhagen will become the “world’s best city for cyclists”. Read “Eco-Metropolis. Our Vision for Copenhagen 2015” (PDF).