Ride a Bike! : Reclaim the City 9783035615258, 303561525X

Table of contents :
Intro
CONTENT
GREETING
Ride a Bike! Reclaim the City An Introduction
A 200-Year Battle for Position: The Bicycle in Urban Transport
Green Infrastructure: A Positioning
NEW YORK
GRONINGEN
BARCELONA
RUHRGEBIET
OSLO
PORTLAND
KARLSRUHE
COPENHAGEN
PROJECTS
Further Reading
Biographies
Picture Credit
Imprint.

Citation preview

RIDE A BIKE! RECLAIM THE CITY

RIDE A BIKE!

RECLAIM THE CITY

EDITED BY Annette Becker Stefanie Lampe Lessano Negussie Peter Cachola Schmal

Birkhäuser Basel

Supported by:

on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag

CONTENT 6 Greeting 8 Ride a Bike! Reclaim the City An Introduction 16 A 200-Year Battle for Position: The Bicycle in Urban Transport — Thomas Kosche

BARCELONA 68 Barcelona Against Climate Change — Mercedes Vidal Lago 72 Refurbishment of the Passeig de St Joan 76 Garcia Fària Promenade 78 Superblocks 80 Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes

22 Green Infrastructure: A Positioning  — Till Rehwaldt 82



En Route in the City — Steffen de Rudder

NEW YORK

28 Change the Street, Change the World — Janette Sadik-Khan 34 Manhattan Waterfront Greenway 38 Battery Bikeway 40 The Big U 42 Randall’s Island Hell Gate Pathway and Connector 46 South Bronx Greenway Master Plan 48 Columbia Street Bikeway

RUHRGEBIET 88 Essen: The Path to Becoming a Bicycle City — Simone Raskob 92 Ruhr Cycle Highway RS1 96 Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge Harbour Grimberg

98 On the Necessity of a Traffic Realignment — Ludger Koopmann 50 Experiences of an Urban Planner  — Kees Christiaanse

OSLO GRONINGEN 56 In Groningen the Car Plays a Cameo Role — Renate van der Zee and Marco te Brömmelstroet 60 Stadsbalkon

62 Who Owns the Public Space? — Barbara Lenz

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104 Oslo Gears up to be a Cycling Paradise — Laura Bliss 110 Oslo City Bike 112 Akrobaten Bridge 114 Queen Eufemia’s Street 116 FutureBuilt

118 Cycling in the City  — Christiane Thalgott

PORTLAND

PROJECTS

124 From Average to Excellent — Leah Treat 128 Tilikum Crossing 130 Max Orange Line 134 Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade

184 Cuyperspassage/Museumstraat (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 190 Lightpath — Te Ara i Whiti (Auckland, New Zealand) 194 Peter-Merian- and Jacob-Burckhardt-Building (Basel, Switzerland) 198 Idea of a Radbahn (Berlin, Germany) 202 Rafting Bridge (Celje, Slovenia) 204 Linear Park The 606 (Chicago, USA) 208 Hovenring (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) 210 Buffalo Bayou Park (Houston, USA) 216 Bicycle Parking, Sykkelhotell (Lillestrøm, Norway) 218 Office Building Alphabeta (London, Great Britain) 222 Cycle Superhighways (London, Great Britain) 224 Park Madrid RIO (Madrid, Spain) 228 Master Plan Raggi Verdi (Milan, Italy) 232 Bicycle Pavilion (Mainz, Germany) 234 Apartment Building and Hotel Ohboy (Malmö, Sweden) 238 Jim Stynes Bridge (Melbourne, Australia) 240 Quarter DomagkPark (Munich, Germany) 244 Lafitte Greenway (New Orleans, USA) 246 Byens Bro Bridge (Odense, Denmark) 250 Coastal Bicycle Path Riviera dei Fiori (From Ospedaletti to San Lorenzo al Mare, Italy) 254 Friedrich-Bayer Bridge (São Paulo, Brazil) 256 Bicycle Parking at Railway Station and Moreelse Bridge (Utrecht, The Netherlands) 262 Dafne Schippers Bridge (Utrecht, The Netherlands) 264 Nordbahntrasse (Wuppertal, Germany) 268 Bicycle Skyway (Xiamen, China)

136 Observations on the Importance of Urban Green Space — Ian Mell and Hendrik Behnisch

KARLSRUHE 142 From Bicycle City to City of Proximity — Markus Neppl

146 The Bicycle as an Agent of Change in Transport Policies — Ulrike Reutter

COPENHAGEN 152 Cycle City Copenhagen — Visionary Cycling Policies — Klaus Bondam 156 Cykelslangen 158 Mærsk Tower 160 Butterfly Bridge 162 Nørreport Station 166 Åbuen Bridge 168 Cirkelbroen 170 Cycle Superhighways

273 274 277 278

Further Reading Biographies Picture Credit Imprint

172 Thinking about urban planning  — An interview with Jan Gehl

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GREETING

What determines the quality of public urban spaces? One of the key factors certainly is an intelligent and well-functioning transport system. Ultimately, however, it is about much more than that, namely about the whole urban living environment with all of its facets that play a key role for the citizens’ quality of life. Therefore, and also because urban space as a whole is changing, the interaction between transport and urban planning must be intensified. Obvious challenges are the saturation of the roads, air pollution, the migration to the cities and, in many cases, outdated urban concepts that are no longer compatible with the current needs of the citizens. There cannot be a universal manual that provides model solutions for these challenges – the individual situations simply vary too much. Never­ theless, the project of the German Architecture Museum is a very close approximation of such a manual: Cycling can certainly be seen as the interface between urban transport and the urban living environment as a whole: without cycling, modern and sustainable urban transport is not conceivable and, at the same time, cycling has proven to sig-

nificantly contribute to making a city an attractive place to live in. In that regard, the present project makes an important contribution by examining cycling using an integrative approach which brings together the different relevant factors, i.e. transport planning, landscape planning, the upgrading of public spaces and urban development considerations. The presentation of national and foreign flagship projects in the field of cycling within this framework also fosters mutual understanding and improves relations between all road users. Thus, the project can function equally as a catalyst for architecture and urban development, for policymakers and the public authorities – especially at local authority level for direct implementation –, for industry and academia as well as for the general public with a view to a closer integration of cycling into everyday life. On this note, I hope that this sustainable transport project is a lasting success. — Norbert Barthle, Member of the German Bundes­tag; Parliamentary State Secretary; Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure

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Ride a Bike! Reclaim the City An Introduction

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The quality of public spaces, urban man-made land­scapes and architecture and urban development play an impo­r­ tant role in the living conditions of urban populations. [...] Therefore, the interaction of archi­tecture, infrastructure planning and urban planning must be increased in order to create attractive, user­oriented public spaces and achieve a high standard in terms of the living environment, a ‘Baukultur’. Baukultur is to be understood in the broadest sense of the word, as the sum of all the cultural, eco­ nomic, technological, social and ecological aspects influencing the quality and process of planning and construction. — LEIPZIG CHARTER on Sustainable European Cities 1 Cycling contributes to livable cities, efficient urban trans­ port, less con­gestion, less traffic noise, healthy physi­­cal activity, road safety, clean air, fighting climate change, saving fossil fuels and sustainable tourism. — Charter of Brussels 2009 on cycling in Europe 2 Required in order to preserve or renew urban green spaces, together with their social, cultural, aesthetic, health-­ promoting, ecological, and economic functions, are integrated and networked planning processes. — Weißbuch Stadtgrün 2017  3 The three disciplines of urban planning, landscape architecture, and traffic/transport planning are dedicated to the same public spaces, which are for the most part urban in character. All of their competencies and expertise are deployed in order to develop and improve such spaces – yet cooperation among these disciplines could be upgraded further. In all three areas, meanwhile, bicycle traffic plays a central, connective role: cycling could even be referred to as a seismograph of urbanity. With the project ‘Ride A Bike! Reclaim The City,’ the Deutsches Architekturmuseum showcases outstanding examples that highlight what has been achieved to date through collaborations between these disciplines. It suggests what a urban development must look like if it is to tempt even more people to ride in the future – on the basis of projects from around the world, it advocates a gentle reconquest of the city. The focus is on selected cities and regions such as Copenhagen, New York, Karlsruhe, and Oslo, all of which demonstrate how a sustainable and socially viable city can also be ayyomplished by planning a bicycle-friendly city.

CURRENT CHALLENGES IN URBAN SPACE In the publication ‘Tomorrow’s Cities – Environmentally friendly mobility, low noise, green spaces, compact housing and mixed-use districts,’ 4 the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) formulates a persuasive agenda for future urban development. Admittedly, the current status quo is still characterized by the legacy of the 1960s and 70s, when the guiding principle of the car-friendly city remained valid – with well-known restrictive consequences for all other modes of transport. Only in the final decade of the 20th century did projects emerge that favored the re-urbanization and re-­ dimensioning of the street realm for the sake of lively urban neighborhoods. Further promoting this change in thinking are discussions about air pollution and climate change, along with the excessive burdening of urban downtowns by growing traffic flows. Land use and amenity qualities have long been on the agenda of municipal politics, and usage competition is a source of intense conflict. Given the fact that in Germany, 37 per cent 5 of settlement and circulation areas are apportioned

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to traffic/transport, such surfaces can hardly be excluded from a critical consideration and reevalua­ tion. A street zone that is bounded on both sides by urban development, so typical of the European city, can hardly be expanded with­out consider­ able difficulty. If we are to achieve improved living conditions in cities, then the astute and moderated redistribution of urban space appears indispen­ sable. We must create comfortable circulation areas that accommodate the most heterogeneous velo­ cities and scales – from baby carriages and walking frames all the way to delivery vehicles and trucks. It is vital that traffic volume and the area devoted to urban circulation stand in a balanced relationship. The question: ‘Who owns the public space?’ must be posed and answered anew. GREEN AND OPEN SPACES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF URBAN QUALITY OF LIFE Needed if we are to maintain and further improve quality of life in continually growing cities that are moreover increasingly densely developed and intensively utilized is more space for streets and squares, more green and open areas. Traffic planning is always bound up with town and landscape planning, which condition one another reciprocally. Urban development projects enjoy therefore the opportunity to conceive of open spaces strategically. New intra-urban green spaces are for example capable of generating links with the urban periphery or with landscaped surfaces. This is also expressed in altered patterns of usage. While earlier, it was primarily a question of paths for promenading, entirely different demands must be accom­ modated today, with regard to recreation, a wide range of utilisations, sporting activities, climate protection, and biodiversity – to name just a few. All urban districts should have access to public green spaces. This demand was set forth more than a century ago already by the Berlin city planner Martin Wagner. 6 Proposed in order to achieve this were unconventional strategies such as the redesign of former railway lines. Prominent examples of this are the ‘Promenade Plantée’ in Paris (1991) and the ‘High Line’ in New York (2009/­ 2014). In both instances surfaces formerly devoted to circulation were restored to public use – while enhancing urban biodiversity considerably. Within a dense urban fabric, such green corridors are highly attractive. And while the above-mentioned examples are reserved exclusively for pedestrians, increasing numbers of conversion projects have been tailored to cyclists as well in recent years. A growing number of cyclists means that cities become quieter and their residents healthier; in

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the best cases, with the requisite infrastructure, they become greener as well, and the qual­ity of the urban environment is enhanced. In Rotter­dam, for example, the network of separate cycling routes encompasses nearly the entire street network, and cyclists and automobiles are accorded equal status. With regard to velocity and seating height, the bicycle features the ideal dimensions for experiencing urban space with greater awareness. And cycling should be accessible to all segments of the population, from children to the elderly, for both athletic and leisurely riders, for parents delivering children to kindergarten, as well as for carrier cyclists working for package delivery services. Necessary is a route structure that makes secure, comfortable, and efficient cycling possible while avoiding conflict and competition with automobile traffic. TRANSFORMING MOBILITY FOR LIVABLE CITIES Amsterdam and Copenhagen are often cited as ex­ emplary of excellent cycling infrastructures, but it is a important to stress that both cities can look back on traditions that have favored this mode of transport, and have worked continually to improve resources for cyclists. At the same time, both cities have experienced intense controversy concerning the space allocation. In every instance, political confrontations concerning the future of the townscape have proven unavoidable. Rotterdam city planner Kees Christiaanse pro­ poses street models that function as ‘evolutionary frames,’ and which are capable of adapting to changing needs, as well as to new technologies and legislative initiatives. Today, traffic infrastructure and hence cities as a whole must be realigned to accommodate cycling, pedestrian, and public transport. This also involves the provision of new mobility services, for example car and bike sharing. ‘Multi-modal mobility,’ i.e. the use of the most ap­propriate available mode of transport or combination of transport resources for a given route, is complex and requires organization. The forms of city planning and architectural design required for this task represent novel challenges for architecture, urban development, and landscape planning. In cities that have been characterized to date by automobile traffic, habitual patterns of mobility are being displaced as greater space is devoted to cycling. Pilot projects and temporary routes have proven helpful in establishing these new lanes. A spectacular example is the closure of the banks of the Seine River in Paris to auto-

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1 Frankfurt, Main, northern bank of the Main River (1970s) 2 Frankfurt, Main, northern bank of the Main River (after restructuring in 2006)

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mobile traffic, implemented for the first time in 2016. The practical utility of such constructed amenities and the pleasure of riding through the town serve as additional persuasive arguments. In general, quality of experience is a key aspect here. The gentle curves of the Cykelslangen cycling bridge in Copenhagen is an eloquent example of this, and an emblem of riding enjoyment – at the same time, it embodies climatological and urbanistic good sense. The key therefore lies in the design and expansion of a good cycling transport infrastructure, which exerts an enormous influence on the extent of bicycle usage. LEARNING FROM CITIES AND REGIONS The curators and the scientific advisory board have selected eight cities and regions as foci for closer examination. These extend from the metropolis of New York City, with its 8.5 million inhabitants, and all the way to the Dutch town of Groningen, with 200,700 residents. In their devel­ opment choices, each of them emphasizes differing priorities, and each is capable of supplying valuable lessons. Each also represents an exceptional reference project with global model character. Barcelona (1.6 million inhabitants) has set itself the task of expanding its urban green areas by one square meter per inhabitant and reducing overall motorized road traffic by 21 per cent while increasing pedestrian and cycle traffic and upgrading public local transport. This strategy is perceived as the sole opportunity to reduce air pol­lution, traffic noise, and accident rates while at the same time supplementing inadequate green surfaces, thereby improving residential and living conditions in dense urban areas. As early as 1987, Karlsruhe received first prize as ‘State Winner 1987 – By Bike in the City’ and adopted new spatial agenda in 2016. The goal is to achieve altered mobility behavior via structural measures that involve the integration of residents during the early stages. The priority is to provide convenient accessibility that favors pedes­ trian and cycle transport while networking diverse transport resources. The program hopes to generate enhanced quality of life and well-­functioning urban neighborhoods. In Groningen, the bicycle is a particularly popular mode of transport. As early as 1977, the town adopted a radical plan for a new transport model in its downtown area which favored pedes­ trians, cyclists, and public transport. A younger population and short distances helped to make this project a success.

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New York City resolved to subject its valu­able open surfaces to rapid transformation. Using the existing and cost-effective resources of its Department of Transportation – paint and plant tubs, signage and advertisements – the city inaugurated a fundamentally different approach to street life. Guided by the recognition that people would be reluctant to switch modes of transport in the absence of safe alternatives, the city installed separate cycling lanes which benefited all inhabitants as zones of calm. The experience of these new urban spaces led to their acceptance by residents and their continuing spread. Portland/Oregon is implementing the increas­ ing separation of cycling from automobile traffic. A number of times annually, streets are reserved exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists. Notable as well is traffic calming in entire neighborhoods around school buildings. There, walking and cycling is safe and hence attractive for all age groups. For its network of routes, the Ruhr Region gives preference to green spaces along waterways and on former rail lines. The region can boast impressive results through collaboration with the disciplines of urban development, landscape archi­ tecture, and traffic planning – joined together with marked urbanistic qualities through this strategy are city centers, green areas, and residential districts, thereby shaping this struc­tural transformation in positive ways. Copenhagen recognizes more than 10 years ago the importance of transport systems for the city’s development. Perceived at the same time was the reality that more cycling would be capable of sig­nificantly relieving other modes of transport. Developed as a consequence were sustainability strategies for urban space that were implemented in a consistent fashion. Impelled by poor air quality, Oslo has committed itself to double the current cycling contingent by the year 2025. This is to be achieved through a good and in particular safe cycling route infrastructure. A perceived lack of security is said to be the main factor in discouraging cycling. A spectacular manifestation of these measures is the total traffic calming of the city center, which covers an area of approximately 2 km². Removed from the downtown in summer of 2017 were the first large parking lots for cars. In this way, Oslo is implementing a necessary updating of Norwegian planning provisions for secure streets and route design – regulations that date from the mid-20th century, and were adopted under vastly different conditions.

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3 Paris, Vélib’: self-service bicycle rental station 4 Bremen, Humboldtstraße, a cycling street with wide sidewalks since 2014

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5 Münster Promenadenring. Created in the 18th century on the previously demolished town wall, it forms a closed green ring, lined with trees, around the old town. The promenade is only accessible to cyclists and pedestrians.

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In addition, 25 different projects illustrate approaches to specialized building tasks. These range from • pedestrian and cycle bridges as important connecting elements in city centers; • cycling routes which are configured as passageways or which open up the city as a network of high-speed bicycle routes; or which revitalize old railway lines and are realized, in many cases, in combination with integrated green planning; • smart bicycle parking facilities, such as the one at the Utrecht Centraal railway station, which accommodates up to 13,500 cyclists, and make a strong argument for making it possible to park bikes securely at urban nodal points; • residential and office complexes in Malmö and London with overbuilt pedes­ trian and cycling superstructures, service stations, and bicycle stands directly in front of entrances to apartment or office buildings. Or complex hybrids composed of bridge, park, and school, as in the case of the Dafne Schippers Bridge in Utrecht; • all the way to urban districts and green spaces which, among other things, involve the relocation of motorized infrastructure or serve as protection from urban flooding. City centers and peri­ph­ eries are linked to­­gether by existing and newly claimed open spaces. This re­sults in districts that fea­ture inte­ grated traffic concepts, short connections between routes, cycle route networks, and streets without through traffic. In light of the increasing densification of urban agglomerations, the existing quality of life can only be preserved and enhanced through recourse to a multiplicity of measures. Important elements include the upgrading of existing public transport infrastructure, speed limits, car sharing, and the reduction of auto traffic in city centers. The task is to reconfigure the street zone, and hence public space as a whole, for the benefit of ordinary people, and to subdivide its surfaces in ways that pro­ mote comfortable, safe, and balanced mobility for everyone who is in transit. This must be achieved, moreover, in ways that harmonize with green spaces and with an architecture that forms a coherent urbanistic ensemble. This project of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum attempts to provide

an impetus for such efforts, and to take readers along on the journey. The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) has re­ceived essential aid and support from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) in the framework of the 2020 National Cycling Plan. We have also received generous assistance from the Society of Friends of the DAM. Our thanks also to the German Environment Agency (UBA) for their extremely competent project assistance, as well as to the Federal Foundation of Baukultur for their cooperation. The Deutsches Architekturmuseum thanks its authors and the members of our scientific advisory board, without whose counsel this publication and exhibition project could not have been realized: Ludger Koopmann (Deputy National Chairman, German Cyclist’s Association ADFC), Till Rehwaldt (President, Federation of German Landscape Archi­ tects BDLA), Ulrike Reutter (Bergische Universität Wup­pertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chair in Public transport Systems and Mobility Management), Steffen de Rudder (Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, research focus: the examination of new mobility concepts in the context of urban space and the discussion of guiding principles), and Thomas Wehmeier (Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR)). All of them have accompanied this endeavor in critical ways, sharing their expertise in a range of disciplines, and have provided us with essential advice and their gracious support. — Annette Becker, Stefanie Lampe, Lessano Negussie and Peter Cachola Schmal NOTES 1

“Leipzig Charter” on Sustainable European Cities, 2007, p. 3. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/archive/themes/ urban/leipzig_charter.pdf, retrieved 10 January 2018. 2 https://ecf.com/sites/ecf.com/files/Charter_of_ Brussels.pdf; retrieved 4 January 2018. 3 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety: Weißbuch Stadtgrün. Grün in der Stadt — Für eine lebenswerte Zukunft. Berlin, 2017, p. 9; www.bmub.bund.de/fileadmin/Daten_BMU/ Pools/Broschueren/weissbuch_stadtgruen_bf.pdf, retrieved 4 January 2018. 4 German Environment Agency. Department I 3 Verkehr, Lärm und räumliche Entwicklung: Tomorrow’s Cities: Environmentally friendly mobility, low noise, green spces, compact housing and mixed-use districts. Berlin, 2017. 5 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/flaeche­boden-land-oekosysteme/flaeche/siedlungsverkehrsflaeche#textpart-1 retrieved 4 January 2018. 6 Wagner, Martin: Das sanitäre Grün der Städte. Ein Beitrag zur Freiflächentheorie. Diss. Berlin, 1915.

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A 200-Year Battle for Position: The Bicycle in Urban Transport Thomas Kosche

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The history of the bicycle can be narrated without non. This is, however, not the only reason munici­ dif­ficulty as one of prohibition and restriction. For pal decision makers intervened: bicycles were simwherever the bicycle arrives, regimentation is not ply the quickest vehicles on the road at the time. far behind. This was true in particular for the ‘safety bicycle’, which arrived in the 1880s, and featured two On 12 June 1817, Karl von Drais embarked upon wheels of equal size and a chain drive assembly the inaugural extended trip using the ‘running on the rear wheel. Air-filled tyres, patented in 1888, machine’ he had just developed, that is, the origi­ meant yet another increase in speed.  ill. 1  nal bicycle. It took him out of Mannheim approxi­ When it came to transport technology, the mately 7 kilometres to a horse-changing station bicycle was the measure of all things. Nor did this and back again. The journey, on a paved roadway, change in 1886 when Carl Benz – once again in took him about an hour. And it took less than six Mannheim – presented his new ‘patent-motor car’. months for the municipal authorities of the city Providing mobility in those days was the bicycle, of Mannheim to issue a decree, dated 5 Decem- not the automobile. And by the mid-1890s, with ber 1817, proscribing the machine from side its tubular frame, composed of straight lines, and streets and pavements. Six months later, it was all the other familiar components, the bicycle fibanished into the palace garden as well. The town nally assumed the appearance it has retained to found itself in illustrious company: Milan, Phila- the present day. The number of users rose steadily delphia, New York and even Calcutta soon fol- – including women riders. Only price hindered the lowed with their own bicycle bans. machine’s mass diffusion: for an industrial worker, Resistance to the bicycle came from bureau- a bicycle cost several months’ wages. Undaunted, crats and ‘philistines’, and featured a recurring police departments exercised extreme ingenuity argument: decent citizens did not require the de- when it came to containment and control. Closvice. It was used by dubious characters, first by ing streets to bicycles was still the simplest varidemocrats, later by socialists and women’s rights ant. Beginning in 1895, most of the federal states advocates, and finally by ‘green’ world rescuers. of the German Empire had issued cycling regu­ In general, the bicycle was regarded as a distur- lations, while cities and administrative districts bance to public order and a danger to third parties. resorted to additional police ordinances. Doing Enthusiasm for the ‘running machine’ ebbed justice to its role as the national capital, Berlin in away, and for nearly fifty years there were no sub­ particular enforced comprehensive cycling bans. sequent developments. Spreading from France Further instruments of discouragement included around 1865, however, was the vélocipède, which driving exams and driver cards that had to be was equipped with a foot pedal attached to the renewed annually, as well as numbered licence front wheel. Drivers – exclusively men – were now plates.  ill. 2  These measures met with the approval compelled to remove their feet from the ground. of non-cyclists, who complained bitterly about nui­ This balancing act had to be learned with great sances and hazards. They were joined by coacheffort. But before long, the relatively rapid loco- men, and before long by the first motorists and motion the device allowed won it popularity in taxi drivers, and finally by merchants, who accused both Europe and the United States. cyclists of scaring off potential customers while But prohibitions returned. In October 1869, purchasing nothing themselves. These debates still for example, the city of Cologne forbade bicycle sound familiar today. riding on all public roads and squares. Enthusiasts After 1900, industrial mass production and were undeterred, and technical improvement pro­ imports lowered bicycle prices while simultaneousceeded apace. In order to increase velocity, the ly wages elevated. Cycling became affordable now diameter of the front wheel grew, and on the pen- for a larger demographic and, accordingly, mobilny farthings, wire spokes and solid rubber tyres ity behaviour altered drastically. No longer did the replaced the wooden reels with iron tyres. Arriv- distance between home and work have to be ing on the market shortly after 1870 were the first covered on foot; Sunday excursions to the edge elegant, lightweight models. Their use required a of town were now possible without transport exconsiderable tolerance for risk, for in critical situ- penses. After 1905, realising that this new fashations it was no longer possible to stop by placing ion could no longer be held in check, many cities the feet on the ground. The price and exclusivity loosened cycling laws. Contributing to this trend made the penny farthing a status symbol and a as well was the increasing diffusion of motorcyve­hicle for daredevils who threw caution to the cles and automobiles, now the primary focus of wind; the aggressive cyclist is no new phenome- attention. The bicycle nonetheless retained its su-

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1 ‘Cyclists-Ideal (a Vision of the streets of the future)’ The cyclist as bogeyman, 1898. 2  ‘How the cyclist of the future must be equipped to meet the standards of the police and the public.’ Safety and Order for Cycle Traffic, 1896

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premacy as the primary mode of urban transport. Especially during the interwar years, it was in general use for daily travel needs.  ill. 3  It served as a means of transport, and was an invaluable tool for tradesmen and merchants. After the Second World War, and especially around 1950, the bicycle again attained its earlier significance, but this heyday was brief, and was followed by a massive decrease in sales and a severe erosion of the bicycle’s public image. Anyone who could, made the switch to motorised vehi­ cles.  ill. 4  The suppression of the bicycle no longer required prohibitions, and was brought about now through the activities of urban planners. ‘Car-­ friendly’ was the dogma that defined the optimistic scenarios of the 1960s and 1970s. The victory of the automobile and the enthusiasm that characterised users of this transport medium made it easy for decision makers to simply ignore cycle traffic. Consistent with this all-encompassing affinity for the automobile was the way in which, in the late 1960s, the bicycle enjoyed a renaissance – but only as an accessory to the car, in the form of the folding bike. Since then, ever more and larger automobiles, together with overcrowded town centres, air pollution and the indisputable advantages of the bicy­cle – minimal space requirements and zero emissions – have led to a revision of the conventional wisdom. Taking various forms according to town and region, much is being done to raise­ cycling’s share within the larger traffic aggregate.

Amsterdam and Copenhagen are often held up as examples to follow. In these and other European cities, however, the basic prerequisites were often different. Such communities had enjoyed a con­ tinu­ous cycling tradition, and government promotion of automobile traffic had been less pronounced. But even in model cases, conver­sion to bicycle-friendly cities has been a protracted process, and has been accompanied by intense controversy. For in city centre districts, where space is by definition finite, the creation of new cycling routes and adequate bike-parking space is necessarily at the expense of services that were hitherto reserved for motorised transport.  ill. 5  Will the future of city centre mobility be domi­nated by the bicycle? Hardly! Even in an era of climate change, winter temperatures, wind and rain will remain key factors. The automobile, with its protective roof and the conveniences of effortless locomotion, will not lose its attraction. Restric­ tive measures – which have proven incapable of hindering the bicycle – will do little to combat the automobile, and are in any case politically unviable. Automobility in cars will remain the norm for the foreseeable future. Planning measures should, how­ ­ever, strive to reshape at least part of the urban realm so that users of all modes of transport – including walking – are treated equitably and guar­ anteed safe mobility. On public squares and roads, this means speed limits that are reduced to the level of the slowest-moving individuals – and hence a new limitation on the freedom of the bicycle.

LITERATURE •

H  adland, Tony; Lessing, Hans-Erhard: Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History. Cambridge, MA, 2014. •  Schubert, Werner: ‘“And Soon Everyone Had Bicycles, Ladies and All”: Das deutsche Fahrradrecht um 1900 als Beginn des modernen Verkehrsrechts’. In: Christiana Albertina. Forschungen und Berichte aus der ChristianAlbrechts-Universität zu Kiel. Heft 66 (2008), p. 7—20. •  TECHNOSEUM — Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim (ed.): Zwei Räder — 200 Jahre. Freiherr von Drais und die Geschichte des Fahrrades. Mannheim, 2016.

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3 Mass movement: cycling to work in Berlin-­Siemensstadt, 1937 4 Cars and motorbikes on the rise: Munich city traffic, 1953 5 Cramped conditions for motorists: cycle lanes in Heidelberg, 2016

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Green Infrastructure: A Positioning Till Rehwaldt

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The increasingly intense utilisation of urban and rural spaces confronts the environment with ever­ escalating demands and performance requirements. Urban growth and the simultaneous emptying out of rural regions, climate change and the ongoing process of energy transition engender pressures for adaptation and unleash conflict. Extensive areas are taken up for the cultivation of energy crops or solar fields; more and more, transport and energy lines dismember the landscape. Currently, considerable resources are being devoted to the adaptation of existing infrastructures to altered conditions, and entire systems are under conversion. At the same time, in discussions of the climate-relevant contributions of ecological systems, there is a tendency to regard the elements of urban and rural open spaces in equally complex terms, and to attribute to them an independent value as ‘green infrastructure’. Originating in the United States in the 1980s, this concept came to be applied more broadly over time. Recently, since the publication of the EU strategy for a green infrastructure, 1 discussion has gained momentum in Germany as well. The socalled Weißbuch Stadtgrün (White Book on Urban Green Space), presented recently by the German federal government, refers to this topic a number of times, 2 and a study performed by the Federal Agen­ cy for Nature Conservation 3 addresses it as well. Although it is impossible to uniformly define the concept of green infrastructure at this point, two salient aspects do emerge. To begin with, the term possesses a ‘landscape dimension’, meaning that it refers to the networking of ecologically effi­ cacious spaces in agrarian regions. Not unlike an interlinked biotope system, the primary emphasis here is on the concept of interconnection, on the realisation of a regionally relevant green system. The ‘urban dimension’ of the term expands its original definition to encompass the local level of action. In this context, what we are talking about as green infrastructure are strategies of climate adaptation, especially rainwater drainage, in the urban realm. 4 The objective here is to transform the grey infrastructure of the city, which is to say the (subterranean) system of rainwater drainage, into an open system while generating the necessary expanded capacity for heavy rainfall, and at the same time engendering a stronger ecological and social efficacy for public spaces. Sceptics might suspect that a fashionable term is here being used simply to repackage long­ recognised truths. And in fact, many of the elements of green infrastructure are thoroughly familiar under different names or in other contexts.

Nonetheless, many questions are being asked with a new urgency in relation to the necessary adaptations to climatic and social changes. In recent years, the original approaches to green infrastructure have been further developed with noticeable momentum, resulting in a complex conceptual model – and this process is ongoing. And finally, the growing popularity of this new term can surely be attributed to a yearning for a certain order with whose assistance we are able to sort through the multifarious demands on future green spaces in an increasingly disorienting world. The development of urban networks of open space has a long tradition, one that can be traced back a number of generations. In Europe, it became possible to think of urban green space as a system only with the laying out of fortifications. At first, structures were created that were defined in relation to their shared (ring-shaped) spatial features, and landscaped in a decorative fashion to produce an ersatz nature for the enjoyment of strolling townspeople. With the growing significance of social and ecological aspects, these systems became more complex and multifarious, as well as more differentiated spatially and functionally. Today as well, urban planning projects represent opportunities to consider open spaces strategically new. In many places, it is now becoming possible to weave zones formerly devoted to commercial purposes or transport infrastructure into the urban system as green spaces, creating not only new spaces within the city but at the same time links to the urban periphery or the surrounding landscape. Today, however, this occurs in a profoundly transformed societal context. It is no longer promenade routes favoured by the bourgeoisie that are in demand, but instead an ensemble of spaces capable of satisfying altered demands for mobility, recreation, urban gardening, and other functions in optimal ways, while at the same time protecting the climate and strengthening biodiversity. Given the wide scope of our expectations, it is readily understandable that debates around urban green spaces have often been characterised in recent years by conflicts – primarily between social and ecological objectives. Consequently, the current urgent adaptation to climate change emerges as an impetus to reflect upon the long-overdue redefinition of open-space systems, and in particu­ lar to orient ourselves towards holistic, multifunc­ tional, and space-saving approaches. The model of green infrastructure seems an ideal approach. Through it, it might finally be possible to successfully characterise the systemic performance of open

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spaces in a comprehensive way. While the performance capacity of technical infrastructures – for example, transport or supply networks – can be established with reasonable accuracy both qualitatively and quantitatively, we often still lack both practicable methods and instruments in the incomparably more complex field of systems with ecological and climatic impacts. The definition of green spaces as infrastructure can serve initially to create an integrative framework that allows us to assess the data which has been compiled and to derive necessary future developments from them. In current discussions, the term green is once again undergoing an expansion of meaning. Already interpreted quite broadly in the urban context to mean open space, the term green has long been understood in the English-speaking world as having other implications as well, that is to say, sustainable, resource conserving, and emis­ sions free. The word green, therefore, refers to a long-term strategy, even a world view – a perspec­ tive that seems in some way familiar to us Germans in the social context. Unfortunately, it is for precisely this reason that discussions of a green infrastructure are not always easy, and the term is to some extent – deliberately or not – suspected of having a partisan political background. Hopefully, this will turn out to be a temporary problem. More and more, it is becoming evident that the word infrastructure enjoys an increasingly high degree of intelligibility and compatibility within the political discourse. In marked contrast to individual green spaces or links between biotopes, the term green infrastructure holds out the promise that – like the technical or social infrastructure – it will deliver measurable performances as a coordinated system; self-evidently, it must at the same time be continuously maintained and refurbished. The term green infrastructure can therefore be defined today as a multifunctional structure of landscape and urban open spaces that performs multifarious ecological, social and economic services, among which climate protection and climate adaptation are key. Interconnections within this network are accorded an especially vital role. In

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demand in densified urban spaces are connective strategies that facilitate the coexistence within a highly restricted space of a multiplicity of parallel functions. More specifically, routes are needed that connect cities with their surroundings, which is to say radial green axes capable of alleviating stresses on inner-city open spaces. Once it becomes possible to reach attractive parks and landscapes in an agreeable way, pressures on overused surfaces can be reduced. What is needed above all is a talent for combination. The exposure of a stream that formerly ran through a pipe, for example, can result in a continuous water biotope with flood prevention features that can be lined with riparian vegetation displaying a high degree of biodiversity. When a cycle or pedestrian path runs alongside it, we can speak of a genuinely green infrastructure. When it is embedded within such a system, cycle traffic acquires a new significance. With the expanded range made possible by electronic drive units, more remote open spaces are becoming usable to an increasing degree – a further argument for developing connections between cities and their surroundings. But implementation of this strategy should not be consigned to municipalities alone; just as with highways, the federal government and the federal states must assume responsibility for the construction and maintenance of long-distance cycle routes – not only those that run alongside federal roads but those lining alternative routes as well, and in particular those within cities. And a cycle route also comprises the accompanying infrastructure, consisting of rest areas, toilets and electricity charging stations. All of these components must be integrated into an overarching concept – for which purpose the notion of green infrastructure is particularly well suited. A fundamental rethinking on all planning levels is indispensable if this new system is to be developed and realised. Employing the same single­mindedness and persistence that led over a period of many decades to the development of the road network and other technical infrastructures, we must now advance the development of the green infrastructure.

NOTES 1 European Commission, Building a Green Infrastructure for Europe, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2013, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/ ecosystems/docs/green_infrastructure_broc.pdf, retrieved 25 October 2017. 2  Weißbuch Stadtgrün. Grün in der Stadt — Für eine lebens­ werte Zukunft, Berlin: Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, and Nuclear Safety, 2017, www.bmub.bund.de/fileadmin/Daten_BMU/Pools/ Broschueren/weissbuch_stadtgruen_bf.pdf, retrieved 25 October 2017.See also Overview of the White Paper Urban Green Space, Berlin: Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, and Nuclear Safety, 2017, https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/event/2017/ vortrag_weissbuch_eyink_engl._fassung.pdf, retrieved 21 November 2017. 3 Federal Green Infrastructure Concept, Berlin: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, 2017, https://www.bfn. de/fileadmin/BfN/planung/bkgi/Dokumente/BKGI_ Broschuere­_englisch.pdf, retrieved 25 October 2017. 4 Green Infrastructure Opportunities That Arise during Municipal Operations, Washington, DC: United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2015, www.epa.gov/ sites/production/files/2015—09/documents/green_ infrastructure­_roadshow.pdf, retrieved 25 October 2017.

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NEW YORK

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1 Broadway just outside Madison Square Park before reconfiguration. 2 Broadway just outside Madison Square Park after reconfiguration. Seven lanes became two and one of the longest crosswalks in New York was made shorter and safer.

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CHANGE THE STREET, CHANGE THE WORLD Janette Sadik-Khan If you want to change the world, you can start by building a bike lane. The world is changing and growing rapidly. Most of the population growth of the last fifty years has been in cities. Half of the world’s population now live in urban areas, a figure that is projected to grow to two-thirds by 2050. Unfortunately, cities are not prepared for this increasingly populous and urban century. While innovation has transformed virtually every aspect of modern life – from medicine to communications and pop­­u­ lar culture – city streets on every continent have remained virtually unchanged, increasingly con­ gested and polluting, and consistently deadly, with 1.3 million traffic deaths a year. How we plan and design cities is a matter of physical, envi­ron­men­ tal and economic survival for the entire planet. In just under seven years, under the leadership of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York City Department of Transportation that I led staged an urban revolution to transform city streets not with megaprojects that take decades and cost billions of dollars, but almost overnight, and using inexpensive materials. The secret to transforming a city is not a question of engineering but of imagi­ nation, and the road to a better future can start with something as simple as a bike lane. Mayor Bloomberg set the tone for his entire administration with PlaNYC, the long-term sustain­ ability plan that showed that if the city wanted to continue to grow and thrive while it added one million new residents by 2030, we would need to fundamentally change how we managed our streets. Rather than accept New York City streets as corridors to move as many cars and trucks as possible, I realised that we needed to treat them as valu­ able public spaces that serve a variety of roles – from public transit ways to places of social and

economic exchange. We simply couldn’t accommodate a million new New Yorkers in cars. The problem was that New York City’s streets were also considered some of the least hospitable for human life. Buses were caught in the same traffic as cars. Crossing the street was an unsafe activity, and the mere idea of biking on any of New York City’s 10,140 kilometres of streets filled with trucks and taxis seemed crazy. There were few bike lanes in 2007, and those that existed were worn or left riders stranded. We knew that people wouldn’t change how they got around unless they felt safe doing so. So we got to work. Within months, we built North America’s first parking-protected bike path, separated from moving traffic by a row of parked cars on Ninth Avenue. That lane was among the 650 kilometres of bike lanes we built on city streets, and in addition to creating more than sixty pedestrian plazas across the city, we established seven new rapid bus routes. In most cases, we were just using the basic elements of a transport department – paint and planters, signs and signals – and just applying them differently. We transformed underused lanes into plazas overnight, reclaiming a little space from each lane of a wide street, which added up to a space wide enough for a protected bike path. Using green or tan paint, we could create new pedestrian and bike spaces. Using red paint, we established bus-only lanes, which we enforced using cameras. Compared with the billions of dollars we were spending every year just to maintain the city’s roads and bridges, these projects were incredibly inexpensive yet had a transformative impact. And it was done quickly, in a matter of weeks and months instead of the years it can take to build new infrastructure. Bike lanes in particular immediately changed the temperature of the street. They weren’t just

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designated spaces for bikes, they were the basis for an entirely different kind of street. Streets that are built to be safer for bike riders are also safer for pedestrians, because they have fewer lanes of car traffic to cross and because the designs include islands where people can stand. Injuries went down by 50 per cent for all street users – not just bike riders, but also pedestrians and even car drivers. By the time we launched Citi­ Bike in 2013, we had developed a biking backbone across the city, making streets that felt safer for people of any age to ride. We worked with the city council to enact legislation requiring buildings to provide access to secure bike parking, a common obstacle to people commuting to work by bike. Today, more than 70,000 people ride Citi Bikes, just one piece of the 450,000 bike trips taken daily. At times the bike lane programme was controversial. People said that biking made the streets more dangerous and that bike lanes would reduce the travel lanes and parking spaces, causing congestion and hurting businesses. We studied small business revenues and found that streets with pro­ tected bike lanes saw as much as a 50 per cent in­ crease in sales. This isn’t surprising, because streets built for bikes are better for all kinds of active transportation, including walking, which helps attract foot traffic that shops at local retail stores. And traffic moved no worse than it had before the bike lanes, and sometimes even slightly better. When New Yorkers could see, touch and feel these

street transformations, they supported them and demanded more. Cycling quadrupled, and yet there has been no increase in the number of serious crashes. In a city where everyone has an opinion, 64 per cent of New Yorkers told the New York Times that they support bike lanes, 72 per cent support plazas and 73 per cent support bike share. Just a couple of years earlier, headlines predicted that nobody would use the bike lanes, that no one would sit in the plazas and that traffic would come to a standstill. But careful study and good design show that, given the choice, people will choose better streets. These aren’t the ideas of just one mayoral administration or one commissioner. Today there’s a new status quo in New York City and a fundamental change in what people expect from their streets. The designs and practices have been adopted by New York’s new leaders, and these street designs have been incorporated into new design guidelines in the Urban Street Design Guide and the Global Street Design Guide. In my work with Bloomberg Associates, I meet with mayors of dense cities on every continent and see them facing the same challenges as we did in New York – and they’re increasingly using the same strat­egies pioneered in New York. By focusing on people, by prioritising transit and making streets into places and not merely spaces, they are transforming their cities and setting the table for a new kind of city. Taken together, these strategies show that if you can change the street, you can change the world.

3 + 4 A crosswalk and a more narrow street make it more safe to cross the street. Between 2007 and 2013 on 137 street corridors and 113 intersections safety redesigns were implemented.

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5 Traffic routing on Union Square 6 Several times annually, the NYC DOT distri­butes helmets free of charge. Here in 2017 in PO Edward Park in Queens. For children younger than 13 and bicycle couriers, helmets are compulsory. 7 NYC bike share Citi bike was launched in May 2013 and includes 12,000 bikes, and 750 docking stations by now. 2015 10 mio trips were done in one year. 8 Bike lane on Prospect Park West. The decrease in the Cycling Risk from a high of 8.34 Bicyclist Severe Injuries and Fatalities per Million Trips in 2000 to 2.35 per million trips in 2014 represents a 72% decrease in the average risk of a serious injury experienced by cyclists in New York City. 9 Cycle route, Allen and Pike Streets

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MANHATTAN WATERFRONT GREENWAY HUDSON RIVER GREENWAY The Hudson River Greenway is the longest greenway in Manhattan, running mostly through Riverside Park and Hudson River Park alongside Manhattan’s West Side Highway. The bikeway is separated from the six-lane highway by planted buffers and is, according to the Hudson River Park Trust, the most heavily used bikeway in the United States. Hudson River Park extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park. It is a 2.2 km2 park stretching 7.2 km, making it the second-biggest park in Manhattan after Central Park. A defining physical feature of Hudson River Park is the 8.0 km bike and running path that runs the park’s length, the Hudson River Greenway. At the downtown end, renovation work on the South Ferry subway station resulted in a connection of the Greenway through Battery Park to the East River Greenway in 2013. The Greenway is connected to Brooklyn (via the Brooklyn Bridge) and the Bronx (via the Henry Hudson Bridge).

LOCATION

Manhattan, New York City, USA

COMPLETION

2006—2015 (in stages)

DESIGN Route 9A/West Side Highway ­including Hudson River Greenway from 59th Street to Battery Park: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), New York; Hudson River Park, master plan: Quennell Rothschild & Partners, New York CLIENT New York State Department of Transportation; Operated by New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (the largest parts) PROGRAMME The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a cycling path separated from motor traffic. Many sections also separate pedestrians from cyclists, it is 51 km long, around the island of Manhattan. There are three principal parts — the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways.

EAST RIVER GREENWAY The East River Greenway runs along the East Side, from Battery Park and past South Street Seaport to a dead end at 125th Street, East Harlem with a 2.1 km gap from 34th to 60th Streets in Midtown. Approximately a mile near the south-west end is in the shadow of the elevated Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. This part is to be improved by the East River Esplanade project. HARLEM RIVER GREENWAY Partially following the route of the old Harlem River Speedway, the Harlem River Greenway is the shortest portion of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway and is completely uninterrupted, running north through lower Highbridge Park from 155th Street, at the north end of Central Harlem, to Dyckman Street in northern Manhattan, between the Harlem River and Harlem River Drive.

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Manhattan Waterfront Greenway Map

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1 Hudson River Greenway, Liberty Street level 2 Route 9A/West Side Highway prior to remodeling 3 Hudson River Greenway 4 Site plan; on the western side of Manhattan the Hudson River Greenway, on the eastern the East River Greenway, in the north the HarleWm River Greenway. 5 Joggers on Hudson River Greenway

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BATTERY BIKEWAY The goal of the Battery Bikeway Perimeter was to invite city life into the Park while creating the feeling of entering a different kind of space. The neighbourhood, consisting predominantly of office and commercial spaces, witnessed a tre­ mendous increase in residential conversion, bringing more varied uses to the park. Responding to this challenge, the team implemented a design that cohesively coordinated the different uses within and adjacent to the park. The landscape links and incorporates existing bikeways to the west and east of the park, carving out more substantial wooded and assembly areas and providing more opportunities for activity and contemplation. The goal of the Battery Bikeway Perimeter was to complete the bikeway around Manhattan. Link­ing the utilitarian, sparse Hudson River Park Bikeway on the west side of the island and the severe asphalt landscape of the East River Esplanade on the east side, the Battery Bikeway is a lush ‘garden bikeway’ framed by perennial gardens and shade trees. The Bikeway is designed to accommodate not only throngs of tourists visiting Battery Park, but also commuters and recreational cyclists. Bands of planting, including native wildflowers and perennial shrubs, separate pedes­trian walks from bikeways without limiting visibility and dis­tin­guish between cycling and pedestrian areas. Those plantings absorb rainwater, providing an effective stormwater manage­ment system and enhancing the park’s resilience. A low granite wall on the outer edge of the Battery Bikeway doubles as seating and a permeable boundary between park and city, both establishing Battery Park as a unique, discrete entity and strengthening its connection to the surrounding neighbourhood. Specialised plantings at the main park entrance on Broadway announce the landscape and enhance the successional native ecosystem experiences along the Bikeway. A respite within its urban environ­ment, the Battery Bikeway Perimeter offers perennial gardens and a sylvan canopy for riders and pedestrians to enjoy.

LOCATION  The Battery, bounded by Battery Place, State Street, and Peter Minuit Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, USA COMPLETION 2017 DESIGN

CLIENT The Battery Conservancy; NYC Department of Parks & Recreation PROGRAMME Bikeway and pedestrian path along the perimeter of Battery Park. Links Hudson River Park Greenway (west side of Manhattan) to East River Esplanade (on the east side). Pedes­trian and bike paths are separated by bands of plantings. Project area: 4,8 ha Bikeway length: 457 m Promenade length: 487 m

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 andscape architects: Quennell L Rothschild & Partners, New York, (design team lead); Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, New York; civil engineers: McLaren Engineering Group, New York

Western entrance to the Battery Bikeway Site plan

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THE BIG U

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In October 2012, when Hurricane Sandy inflicted enormous damage on the New York metropolitan area, it exposed the region’s social as well as constructive, technical and natural weaknesses, along with the reciprocal action between these factors, and made it quite plain that no clear, foresighted planning for such natural catastrophes had been undertaken up to that point. Developed now under the auspices of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the initiative ‘Rebuild by Design’. In a competition in 2014, the initiative chose six concepts for further development. The six selected projects are intended to demonstrate in exemplary ways in subsequent years how resilience – the capacity of a complex system to return quickly and intelligently to its former state after a catastrophe – can be achieved through a holistic and at the same time regional approach, thereby enabling us to cope success­fully with natural disasters. Rebuild by Design prioritises the development of ideas that will not only offer security during natural catastrophes, but will in particular provide social and economic added value to the adjoining neighbourhoods at other times as well. One of these concepts is the BIG U. Under the direction of BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), the team developed measures designed to deal with floodwaters, storms and other effects of climate change for a section of Manhattan that extends from West 57th Street, down to the Battery at the southern tip of the island, and up to East 42nd Street. Altogether 220,000 people reside in this low-lying section of Manhattan Island, extensive areas of which were left without electricity and running water after large portions of infrastructure were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. The planning area is divided into three sections: East River Park, Two Bridges and Chinatown, and Brooklyn Bridge to The Battery. Along East River Park, for example, a berm with stepped embankments will not only provide protection from floodwaters and rising sea levels, but will also offer new views of the river and improve the recreational quality of the park. A pedestrian and cycle route will be integrated into the dam, while correspondingly, the streets leading to the river will be redesigned in accordance with the green infrastructure concept in order to absorb and filter additional rainwater. And Access to the waterfront parks will be improved by gentle pathways and ramps only for pedestrians and bicycles. New York is an exemplary instance of the way in which the integration of alternative transport corridors can contribute to making a city more resilient.

LOCATION Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, USA START OF PROJECT 2019 DESIGN

 IG (Bjarke Ingels Group), New York B with One Architecture, Amsterdam; Starr Whitehouse, New York; James Lima Planning + Development, New York; Green Shield Ecology, New York; AEA Consulting, New York; Level Agency for Infrastructure, New York; ARCADIS, New York; Buro Happold, New York; BIG Ideas, New York

CLIENT NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC); Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR); Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency (ORR) PROGRAMME The project is being designed to reduce the impacts of floods and other climate-related hazards, while also building both physical and social resilience — strengthening the city’s coastline in addition to reestablishing public space, outdoor gathering and waterfront accessibility. Length: 16 km

1 Planning area The Battery. Cycling route shown in orange 2 Planning area East River Park. Cycling routes shown in orange on the new dam

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RANDALL’S ISLAND HELL GATE PATHWAY AND CONNECTOR In the Randall’s Island Hell Gate Pathway, the intersection of sustainable landscapes with the industrial past is explored. Threading under the strong sweep of the Hell Gate Bridge, that carries high-speed passenger trains, this pedestrian and cycling path provides Randall’s Island with a circulation spine that links recreational uses on the island and celebrates the industrial scale of the site. The Pathway, a 4 m wide multi-use asphalt path, creates a functional, safe, and engaging circulation experience for cyclists, pedes­trians, jog­ gers and skaters, connecting them to the island’s numerous destinations and linkage points adjacent to the surrounding boroughs as well as providing access for under­resourced residents to recreational facilities, trails and water­front park­ land in the midst of New York City. Similarly, the pathway celebrates the beauty of Hell Gate Bridge, calling attention to its historical significance as a unique piece of city infrastructure. Built for rail traffic Hell Gate Bridge lends a majesty to the extraordinary ‘promenade’ beneath it, expressed in the dramatic arcade articulated by its strong, tall arches. Framing the Pathway are a series of successional landscape experiences meant to showcase, establish and reinforce native plant and wildlife habitats on the island. Five ecotypes typical to the area – mature and emergent woodlands, mixed meadows, low-lying wetlands, grasslands and river edge – humanise the project’s mega-scale and invite individual explo­ ration. As a result of the team’s firm commitment to water conservation and site resilience, gentle bioswales and basins detain water from the proposed neighbouring Hell Gate Fields to reduce runoff and utilise water for planting areas. Adjacent to the pathway the connector links Randall’s Island to the South Bronx across the Bronx Kill. The multi­modal path is remarkable for a track­-triggered gate mechanism that closes the path during freight rail deliveries. While providing important active lifestyle and health benefits, the project also uses green infrastructure and a sustainable storm­ water management plan to avoid site impacts to the Bronx Kill and its tidal ecosystem.

LOCATION Pathway: Randall’s Island and Wards Island, New York City, USA Connector: Randall’s Island to Port Morris/132nd Street in the Bronx COMPLETION Pathway: Phase I 2012 Phase II 2017 Phase III 2018 (anticipated) Connector: 2015 DESIGN Pathway: Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, New York; Connector: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), New York CLIENT Pathway: Randall’s Island Park Alliance; The New York Economic Development Corporation; NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Connector: New York City Economic Development Corporation PROGRAMME Multi-use pathway for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters and runners. Along the Pathway linear landscape with successional micro-ecosystems exploring the ecological transect from Hell Gate to the south-east portion of Randall’s Island to the Bronx Kill to the north-east. Length of the Pathway: 1,7 km and total area: 4,8 ha; Length of the Connec­tor: 0,4 km

1 The Randall’s Island Connector is the extension of the Pathway 2 The Connector links the Bronx across the Bronx Kill with local recreational areas on Randall’s Island 3 Site Plan, Randall’s Island Connector

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4 Overview of a typical section of the Hell Gate Pathway. The route snakes through wild vegetation, becoming divided and re-converging. 5 Section through Hell Gate Bridge and the Pathway beneath it 6 The entire Hell Gate Pathway runs between the buttresses of Hell Gate railway bridge. 7 Site Plan Randall’s Island

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SOUTH BRONX GREENWAY MASTER PLAN The master plan reaches far beyond the notion of physical connectivity. It provides some of the first waterfront access to the South Bronx and much-needed recreational opportunities and contributes significantly to air and water quality improvements. It improves transport safety, and enhan­ces the network of bike and pedestrian paths on the South Bronx peninsula while providing opportunities for compa­tible economic development. The Greenway has become a catalyst for subsequent private and public investments. A central premise of the project is balancing quality of life improvements for residents and workers alike and demon­ strating that community and industry can coexist through careful planning and design. During the planning process, five priority projects were identified, each of which is now constructed. Next to the Randall’s Island Connector these are Hunts Point and Spofford Avenue Streetscapes, Lafayette Avenue Streetscape, Hunts Point Landing and Food Center Drive. The Hunts Point and Spofford Avenue Streetscapes improvements include a new landscaped central reservation on Hunts Point Avenue and central reservation upgrades on Spofford Avenue, a new bicycle lane on Hunts Point Avenue, and additional landscaping and trees along both streets. The Lafayette Avenue Streetscape connects the residen­ tial core of Hunts Point to Hunts Point Riverside Park, a park on the Bronx River. The project includes a new landscaped central reservation, new water/sewer infrastructure, a bicycle lane, street trees and street furniture. Hunts Point Landing is a new public open space, including a new fishing pier, ecological restoration through tidal pools, a kayak launch and passive recreational areas. The Food Center Drive improves the vehicular flow through the Food Distribution Center and creates a safe access route to the new Greenway amenities for residents and local workers. The road is re-oriented from two way traffic to one way, and includes a separated bicycle lane and over 100 new street trees and landscaping through the entire length of the road.

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LOCATION

South Bronx, New York City, USA

COMPLETION Completion of the master plan: 2006; Implementation of Phase I: 2015 DESIGN Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), New York CLIENT New York City Economic Development Corporation PROGRAMME The Greenway links existing and new parks through a network of waterfront and on-street routes. It encompasses 2,4 km of waterfront greenway, 13,5 km of inland green streets and nearly 4,8 ha of new waterfront open space throughout Hunts Point and Port Morris.

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 lanning principles for street types used in the P master plan. Dark green: bidirectional cycling routes; pale grey: pedestrian routes; dark grey: vehicle lanes and parking spaces for cars. Framed left and right by development. 2 Colored green in the background: Randall’s Island; the Randall’s Island Connector indi­cated in pink. In front, the planning area of the South Bronx Greenway.

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COLUMBIA STREET BIKEWAY The Columbia Street Bikeway is the first completed section of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway that permits the unprecedented sharing of pavement with bikeway while sensitively incorporating public art. The bikeway and streetscape are designed for two speeds: the pedestrian and the cyclist. The pedestrian strolls through retail and residential areas along tree-lined pavements with continuous cobble bands. This permeable tree zone uses structural soil to promote tree health and stormwater infiltration. The bikeway design moves with the faster rhythm of the bicycle. Large patterns of coloured granite bands combine with street trees to mark speed along the bikeway.

LOCATION Columbia Street, Brooklyn, New York City, USA COMPLETION 2011 DESIGN Landscape architects: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), New York CLIENT New York City Department of Design and Construction; New York City Department of Transportation; New York City Department of Consumer Affairs PROGRAMME Shared use path along 15 city blocks designed for multi-modal, non-vehicular travel, including bicycles, pedestrians, runners and skate­boards

1 + 2 Columbia Street near Van Voorhees Park, Brooklyn

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Experiences of an Urban Planner Kees Christiaanse

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If I include my tricycle, I have already been biking for sixty years. I rode the tricycle mainly in the living room of our inner-city Amsterdam apartment, trying to avoid physical contact with my interior designer mother’s Aalto furniture. At the same time I got a scooter (no engine!) with which I was allowed to go outside and drive through the Vondelpark or alongside my mother on the pavement. I remember that my mother warned me not to drive into the elegant, red-jacketed, nylon­-stockinged lady in front of us. Of course not, I said, and drove straight into her calves, causing the nylons to tear into several ladders. I then got a famous Gazelle children’s bike. On the chain cover was an image where a boy on the bike drove effortlessly through a brick wall, chased by an angry bull. For me the angry bull still symbolises the wheezing cars and trucks that try to push me aside from the road in a horrific demonstration of the law of the jungle when no cycle lanes are avail­ able; the cars’ exhaust suffocating me with its dragon’s ardent breath. It often occurs to me in Berlin, Zurich and Singapore, that they are still savage territories compared with Rotterdam, where bicy­cles are considered as important as cars and the network of separate bike lanes almost equals the whole road network. I try to cycle in every city. Cycling has the right speed and seat height to experience a city, move around fast and do lifestyle exercise. Although I grew up with a lot of headwind, the humid heat in Singapore and steep slopes of Zurich are something different! Since the introduction of the e-bike, I’ve noticed a marked increase in the number of cyclists and aged people on e-bikes in these cities, heralding a true shift in mobility behaviour, which is a blessing. However, I predict that e-bikes will be forced back either onto the road or into separate e-lanes due to their dangerous speed potential. Around 1967 I painted my bike white and stuck Beatles pictures on the chain cover, echoing the Amsterdam Provo movement’s White Bicycle Plan. Provos were a mixture between political ac­ tiv­ists and performance artists in the emerging pop culture, influenced by the Fluxus movement that flew over from New York to Amsterdam. They wore white jean suits, organised grassroots happenings and conceived the so-called White Plans. The White Bicycle Plan, invented by Provo Luud Schimmelpennink, aimed at painting all bicycles in Amsterdam white, releasing them from their locks, and distributing them across the city to be used by everybody. This noble mission, of course, did not work out. Without a proper redis-

tribution system, bikes were constantly clogging in a few places, leaving large areas of the city bikeless. Consequently, they were repossessed and locked again, stolen, or thrown into the canals. Many were repainted to disguise them from the system. Nevertheless, the White Bicycle Plan is the source and Luud Schimmelpennink the father of all current bike-sharing systems in many cities across the world, which securely work by means of the mobile phone and the Internet in combination with a vandal-proof lock. The Provos didn’t give up and some became city council members. Luud Schimmelpennink consequently devised the Witkar (White Car) Plan. The ‘Witkar’ was an elec­ trical two-seater, the size of a contemporary Smart car, and they were distributed across the city in charging stations where subscription holders could take them. Amazingly, this revolutionary car-sharing system was really implemented, and the Witkar drove from 1972 to 1986. It was a pilot project, not very mature and efficient. The charging took a long time, the reach was only 15 kilometres, and there were not enough cars and charg­ing stations. But it was promising. Just a couple of months ago, after thirty years, the Witkar was reintroduced in several Dutch cities as an electric car-sharing system with state-of-the-­ art vehicles and a mobile phone-steered reservation system. It is embedded within a wider vision in which complementary mobility systems, such as mass transit, e-bikes, buses and cars, will be integrated. The menu of choices to cover a route from A to B using the most adequate and tailor-­ made transport mode is an important contextual embedment within which today’s biking and e-biking should be seen holistically. The expedited emergence of new mobility sharing concepts also leads to systemic conflicts. The Singaporean start-up oBike has produced an enormous number of cheap bikes in China, which are aggressively and deliberately distributed in public spaces in huge numbers in many cities, including the cities where I work: Zurich, Rotterdam and Singapore. Seeing exactly the same yellow bikes in cities across the globe produces a doubtful sense of home. They can be unlocked via a sub­ scription app by smartphone. The lock is charged by a small solar panel and contains a GSM chip and GPS device, by which the nearest bike to your smartphone can be located. oBike makes use of legislation loopholes: there is no law against placing bicycles freely in public space. Although I have sympathy for oBike, as the bike-sharing system is nearest to the original White Bicycle Plan of Provo Luud Schimmelpennink. But the complaints of

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city governments and residents about the bikes standing or lying around everywhere, sometimes broken, have forced oBike to reduce and refine its distribution policy. Bike systems will probably further evolve into different variants, with the development of special bikes to transport children to kindergarten or pizzas to hungry clients, or for couriers to deliver e-commerce parcels to the end user, as well as the recumbent bike. Hybrid vehicles – somewhere between bikes, low-speed dis­ abled cars and driverless taxis – will emerge. Roads are expected to accom­modate a rich and colourful range of propulsion devices. The expedited and turbulent development of mobility modes will not immediately lead to a unilateral siege of electric propulsion. It will take a long time before electric driving is more or less exclusive, if it ever is, and driverless concepts are

safely integrated. For a long time, different types of transport, old and new, will coexist and will have to be reconciled on the road network. We therefore are designing street profiles as evolutionary frameworks, which can adapt according to changing demand, technology, legislation and bicycle storage. An example of the latter is the one we designed for 1,500 bikes in front of the station in Groningen (see page 60/61) in the Nether­ lands, which consists of an undulating roof cum station square, preserving the view of the heritage station building, underneath which one of the city’s main biking routes is branched to the bike storage. This project was realised in order to organise the immense number of student and commuter bikes, which is normal in a Dutch city and will gradually become the normality outside the Netherlands in the future.

1 Groningen: at the former grain exchange, 2013

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GRONINGEN

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1 Groningen in the 1970s 2 The Vismarkt, formerly used for car parking

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IN GRONINGEN THE CAR PLAYS A CAMEO ROLE Renate van der Zee and Marco te Brömmelstroet The Dutch city of Groningen might well be regarded as the world’s cycling capital. Over 60 per cent of all trips in this northern university city are made by bike. This rises to more than 70 per cent for trips made to educational institutions. What makes this even more remarkable is the fact that Groningen’s cycling infrastructure isn’t very different from that of other Dutch cities. Some would even say that its quality is poor in many locations throughout the city. So why is the bicycle such a popular mode of transport in Groningen? Firstly, Groningen has an amazingly young population. Almost 18 per cent of its 200,700 inhabitants are students. This is a factor known to boost cycling. Secondly, the city’s compact and varied character makes distances between daily activities short. But crucially, Groningen has made radical and consistent choices to challenge the dominant role of the car in the inner city. As in most European cities, cycling was the dominant mode of transport in the early twentieth century. But in the fifties and sixties, car traffic was growing rapidly, severely congesting Dutch cities. Inspired by US examples, planners started to tear down old neighbourhoods and build motor­ ways right through the urban fabric. Combined with large suburban housing developments, parking facilities and massive Modernist buildings, this formed a crucial ingredient of the Functional City ideal. But in Groningen, local politician Max van den Berg, who was twenty-four when he became responsible for the city’s traffic and urban development policy, dreamed of expelling cars from the centre and recreating space for pedestrians and cyclists. In those days, this was totally unheard of, but his party, the Social Democrats, had just won a near-absolute majority in the elections. When he revealed his plans for discouraging car traffic and prioritising pedestrians, bikes and public transport, it caused fireworks in the city

council. Even within his own party there were people who strongly disagreed. Four local politicians resigned, saying it was impossible to work with Van den Berg. Their successors were very young and very left-wing, and they shared his vision. There was a strong belief that a powerful top-down approach, excluding business-oriented pressure groups, was needed to take full advantage of this short window of opportunity. Van den Berg’s ‘traffic circulation plan’ divided the centre into four sections. Motorists were not allowed to go from one section to another – they had to take the ring road around the inner city – whereas cyclists and pedestrians were permitted to move freely. This rendered driving a car in the city centre an unattractive and time-consuming affair. Instead of adjusting the city to the car, Van den Berg adjusted the car to the city. There was fierce opposition from businessmen and shopkeepers, who thought this would mean the end of their businesses. Van den Berg was convinced his plan would create a pleasant urban environment that would eventually attract more people to the centre. And he was proven right. In 1977, the traffic circulation plan was implemented over a single night. Signs were put up to create one-way streets or change their direction. Consequently, new cycle paths were construct­ ed and trees were planted. The Vismarkt, a central square that had become a huge parking place, regained its historical function as a market. In the decades that followed, the council took pains to keep important institutions such as the hospital within the city, within bikeable distance. The much-feared commercial disaster didn’t materialise. The majority of shopkeepers survived, and some even thrived. It took some time before motorists got used to the situation, and those who don’t know the city still stand a fair chance of getting frustrated. But Groningen now boasts the

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cleanest air of all big Dutch cities, and many streets in the centre are amazingly quiet. What happened in Groningen was a dramatic change in mentality. Van den Berg’s traffic circulation plan had great symbolic value: instead of dominating the traffic, the car was relegated to a cameo role. In Groningen’s centre, the car is only a guest. Consequently, people have started to cycle. A second important measure, first introduced in 1989, underlined this bicycle-first mentality: the ‘green for all cyclists’ system. At twenty-eight big junctions in the city, cyclists from all directions are given the green light simultaneously. This separates cyclists and motorists, which has increased safety considerably. The system is fast and efficient because it allows large numbers of cyclists to cross at once within a short time. The green-for-all-cyclists system does of course require some prudence on the part of the cyclists, as social rules trump priority rules. Again, its main value is symbolic. It is another way of putting cyclists in the first place. Watching from behind a windscreen, the choreography of cyclists who magically manoeuvre around each other at the junction can only make motorists feel second-rate.

Groningen is now creating cycle paths between the city and neighbouring villages while often restricting direct car access. The next – radical – step is to remove buses from the city centre and have them use the ring road. This will create even more room for pedestrians and cyclists, more public space with trees and benches. This means that the bus stops in the centre will have to be moved farther away. Interestingly enough, there is hardly any debate about this. Even the shopkeepers seem to think it’s a good idea. The bicycle policy of Groningen is not a blue­ print that other cities can simply copy. It’s a project that is never finished. And it is as much about symbolic interventions as about engineering projects. In the past, consistent choices have been made, but it’s an ongoing process to keep on making them.

NOTES •  Oldenziel, Ruth et al. (Ed.): Cyling Cities. The European Experience. 100 years of policy and practice. Eindhoven, 2016. • Bratzel, Stefan: ‘Conditions of success in sustainable urban transport’. In: Transport Reviews, 19 (2), p. 177—190.

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3 Guidelines for the city center of Groningen, 2017; Conceptual sketch of street profile 4 The Van den Berg Plan (conceptual sketch, 1977) 5 Guidelines for the city center of Groningen, 2017; visualisation

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STADSBALKON 1 Situation in front of the train station building from the 19th century 2 Concept 3 Longitudinal section

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Stadsbalkon Groningen Cross Section 1/2/3

The area around Groningen’s railway station has been un­der­ going a transformation into a dynamic urban zone with the nineteenth-century station at its centre. The station building was first fully restored and was then furnished with a forecourt raised to the level of the station concourse and the platforms. This ‘city balcony’ offers travellers and passers-by a place to take a promenade with a view across the city. Beneath it, there is a storage facility for about 4,000 bikes, which is set on an underground thoroughfare for cyclists. The modularisation and perforation of the pedestrian deck establishes a diversity of links between the spaces above and below. Like many old stations, Groningen had lost most of its original functions over the years. There was no longer the need for a porter’s lodge or a left-luggage attendant, and even ticket booths are almost redundant. All the same, because of its architectural grandeur, the station building still has great symbolic value. Around 1999, it was comprehensively renovated, which included restoring the original frescos, murals and other decorations to their former glory. The station was a central element in the plans for restruc­ turing. Situated on the edge of the historic centre, it forms a prominent gateway to the city, with the Groninger Museum as a twentieth-century counterpart on the opposite side of the Singel canal. The laying of a forecourt, in which the raised level of the platforms and the station concourse is continued, provides the station building with new and monu­ mental sur­roundings. To underscore the cultural relationship between the station and the museum, the sightlines between the two structures are kept free of construction. The new forecourt also provides a solution for the heavy bike traffic at this spot. A through route for cyclists precedes underneath the plaza and past a generous storage facility for about 4,000 bikes. The two short sides of the pedestrian deck are curved downwards like wings to give access to the route. This modularisation of the surface level further emphasises the relationship between station and museum. Light and air can enter via the deck, which is perforated in various places. These openings connect the spaces above and below the pedestrian deck and also guide the placement of benches and pavilions on and within the ‘city balcony’. At its two extreme ends, two mature deciduous trees also pierce through the pedestrian deck. The city balcony represents a lively, urban forum for city residents as well as for departing or arriving visitors. The plaza provides a traffic-free zone to pleasantly while away some time with a view of the city and space for terraces and cultural activities. It transforms the station into a fitting gate­ way to Groningen whereby the city can present itself as an atmospheric city of culture.

LOCATION Onderdoor, Groningen, The Netherlands COMPLETION 2007 DESIGN Architects: KCAP Architects & Planners, Rotterdam; civil engineers: Arup, Amsterdam CLIENT

Municipality of Groningen

PROGRAMME

Station forecourt of 6,200 m2 and a new underground parking facility for 4,000 bikes, dynamic bus stop and infrastructural restructuring as part of a larger master plan

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Who Owns the Public Space? Barbara Lenz

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‘Reclaim the city’ – the phrase is suggestive of a military campaign, and in many cities, in fact, the growth and diffusion of cycling does not proceed without friction. Confrontations take place primarily on the streets of the city, where cyclists, pedestrians, motorists and public transport are compelled to share a constricted street space that can hardly be expanded; colliding here are demands for newly emergent spatial requirements on the one hand and ‘inherited’ or customary law. Cyclists complain in particular that the circulation zone allocated for their use is unrepresentative of their actual share of traffic volume, while conversely, a disproportionate surface area is made available to automobiles. That the cyclists’ ‘campaign’ can be quite successful is demonstrated by the example of Berlin, where the development of cycling is a crucial component of the new mobility laws, a draft of which was proposed in August 2017. In Germany, 37 per cent of so-called settlement and traffic surface is devoted to traffic, almost 90 per cent of that in the form of streets and circulation routes. A large proportion of the surface area is devoted to motorised traffic. A student project carried out in Berlin showed that the surface area of the public street space devoted to the automobile is nineteen times larger than the area devoted to the bicycle. 1 A calculation of the space requirements of vehicles resulted in a figure of 13.5 square metres on average for automobiles and only 1.2 square metres per bicycle when stationary, and 65.2 square metres per automobile and 41.0 square metres per bicycle in zones with speed limits of 30 kph. At a velocity of 50 kph, the space requirement for automobiles rises to about 140 square metres. 2 It is not just the increasing number of vehicles that is contributing to the growing space requirements of automobile traffic, however; there is also the increase in average vehicle size – and this is true for nearly all vehicle classes. Comparing the model line of 2008 to the successor model of 2017 for an ‘average car’ such as the Volkswagen Golf, we find a growth in length of 6 centimetres. 3 At the same time, the proportion of larger vehicles such as SUVs, off-road vehicles and utility vehicles is steadily increasing in Germany, where they accounted for 13 per cent of the vehicle stock in 2017. Discussions and debates around the question ‘Who owns public space?’ are taking place throughout Germany. The underlying impetus can be found in the continuously increasing requirements for mobility that impact all sectors of the population – although specific needs, along with the available

opportunities to realise desires for increased mobility, display notable disparities. To be sure, the time expended on everyday mobility is fairly simi­ lar for groups aged between fourteen and seventy-­ four years, averaging between eighty and eightysix minutes per day. But clear disparities emerge when it comes to the number of kilometres covered daily. For young people aged fourteen to seven­teen, the figure is 30 kilometres a day; for seniors aged sixty-five to seventy-four, it is 28 kilo­ metres. In contrast, the highly active age group from thirty to forty-nine years covers more than 50 kilometres daily. Lurking behind these figures are differences in modes of transport. Roughly speaking, we can say that the more kilometres travelled on average, the more likely it is that an automobile is used. 4 The bicycle is most important as an everyday means of transport among young people, 14 per cent of whom rely upon cycling on a daily basis. But senior citizens as well use bicycles relatively frequently: with a contingent of more than 10 per cent, this group cycles only slightly less frequently than the national average. In many German cities, cycling’s proportion of the overall traffic volume has been increasing steadily for a number of years. Frankfurt am Main, for example, doubled bicycle use in the period 1998–2013 to 14,4 per cent. 5 In Hamburg, the period 2002–2008 displayed an increase in cycling traffic from 9 per cent to 12 per cent. 6 In Munich in 2013, cycling accounted for more than 17 per cent of traffic volume, an increase of seven points since 2002. 7 Admittedly, the cycling contingent is not distri­buted uniformly throughout all urban districts, displaying disparate development in the various parts of the city. These statistics clearly demonstrate that the constructive and functional structures found in various parts of the city exercise a crucial influence on the scope of bicycle use. Among key factors regarding infrastructure is the scope of cycling routes within the street space as well as the extent to which they are networked with one another; also of crucial importance is the proportion of streets with comparatively decelerated traffic and the accessibility of bicycle racks. 8 In view of the large proportion of cycle trips that cover between 1 and 5 kilometres 9 and which are intended for purposes of ‘shopping’ and ‘leisure activities’, it can be assumed that the spatial proximity of the corresponding infrastructure has a positive effect on bicycle use. Frequency of bicycle use also correlates with the demographic structure of the given population.

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Based on a representative sampling, the FahrradMonitor Deutschland 2015 reported that compara­ tively frequent bicycle use tends to be an upper­ class phenomenon. 10 Ob­serv­able at the same time is frequent bicycle use in large cities with populations above 250,000; excursions, shopping, errands, but also meetings of friends and acquaintances are essential motivators for cycling. This underscores the positive impact of mixed functional urban structures in encouraging bicycling. While urban cycling continues to grow in im­por­tance, another mobility option is also under­ going change: no longer must automobiles be owned by their users. Available today alongside the station-dependent car sharing – which has existed since the 1980s – is the station-independent car sharing. ‘Station-dependent’ means that vehicles are made available from a fixed location (or ‘home port’); with station-independent car sharing, vehicles have no fixed location, and are instead deposited throughout the streets. The latter option is only possible in a few large German cities in circumscribed commercial zones with high work­ place and population density. As far as car sharing is concerned, this notion of station-independent or flexible car sharing is the genuinely new mobility concept, and it has become possible only through digitalisation. The preconditions for this system, which does without a fixed anchor point in space, are the continuous localisation of the vehicle and the digital display of its present location as well as billing via digital registration of the user, who enters personal and payment data electronically. Particularly significant from an urban planning perspective are the consequences of car shar­

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ing that pertain to the ‘modal split’ (the distribution of the volume of traffic according to various modes) with regard to car ownership. What is remarkable here is, firstly, that a higher than aver­age percentage of car sharing users also purchase monthly or annual passes for public transport, and hence utilise the latter more frequently than they use cars. Secondly, scientific studies support the assumption that car sharing leads to an avoidance of car purchases or even to the decision to dispose of privately owned automobiles. Car sharing therefore functions as a kind of ‘mobility insurance’ that guarantees the availability of a private automobile in circumstances when its use is deemed absolutely necessary. As a result, car sharing has a direct impact on the use of public space for car storage and parking; a study from 2016 conducted by the Bundesverband CarSharing (bcs) showed that a car-sharing automobile replaces nineteen private vehicles. 11 Mobility demands and mobility behaviour in cities are in a state of flux. If we are to take advantage of this change to promote sustainable urban development, we will need integrated, long­ term strategic city planning. This also means the incorporation of new options into urban traffic­/ transport strategies and concepts. What is called for are research and business participation, associations and independent initiatives. The develop­ ments that are observable today in the auto­mobile industry, with the new business sector of ‘mobility services’, will become increasingly diverse in the future. The priority is making mobility accessible to all sections of the population. The shared aim of all those involved should be to main­tain but also to further improve the quality of life in our cities.

NOTES 1 ‘… only 3 percent of the cities [sic] public road space is dedicated to cycling’. In: Fahrradportal der Bundesregie­ rung gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur aus Mitteln des Nationalen Radverkehrsplans 2020, ‘A Public “Road Space Justice Report” from Berlin’, 2014, https://nationaler-­ radverkehrsplan.de/en/notices/news/who-owns-citypublic-road-space-justice-report, retrieved 30 October 2017. 2 Randeloff, Martin, ‘Vergleich unterschiedlicher Flächeninanspruchnahmen nach Verkehrsarten (pro Person)’, 2015, www.zukunft-mobilitaet.net/wp-content/­ uploads/2014/08/flaechenbedarf-verkehr-pkwradverkehr-­fussgaenger-strassenbahn-bus-oepnvflaechen-­flaechenaufteilung_3000px.jpg, retrieved 7 November 2017. 3 http://de.automobiledimension.com, retrieved 15 November 2017. 4 Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft infas/ Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt DLR: Mobi­ lität in Deutschland. Ergebnisbericht. Strukturen — Aufkommen — Emissionen — Trends. Bonn, Berlin, 2010. 5 www.frankfurt-greencity.de/umwelt-frankfurt/ frankfurts-luft/fahr-rad/, retrieved 25 January 2018. 6 www.hamburg.de/radverkehr/2995622/gruende-fuerdas-radfahren/, retrieved 25 January 2018. 7 von Sassen, Wiegand: ‘Radlhauptstadt München. Strategien zur umfassenden Förderung des Radverkehrs’. Lecture at the TU Munich, May 23, 2013. http://www.vt. bgu.tum.de/fileadmin/w00bnf/www/VKA/2013/ Radverkehr_Muenchen_vSassen.pdf, retrieved 25 January 2018. 8 Hardinghaus, Michael: ‘InfRad: Infrastruktur als Ein­fluss­ faktor auf den Radverkehr.’ Präsentation beim Natio­nalen Radverkehrskongress 2017, 2016, www.nationalerradverkehrskongress de/programm/vortraege/­A1_ Hardinghaus_Praesentation.pdf, retrieved 30 October 2017. 9 See note 4 10 Sinus Markt- und Sozialforschung: Fahrrad-Monitor Deutschland 2015. Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Online-Befragung. 2015, p.20, www.bmvi.de/ SharedDocs/DE/Anlage/VerkehrUndMobilitaet/Fahrrad/ fahrrad-monitor-deutschland-2015.pdf__ blob=publicationFile, retrieved 30 October 2017. 11 Bundesverband CarSharing bcs, ‘Aktuelle Zahlen und Daten zum CarSharing in Deutschland’, 2017, car­sharing. de/alles-ueber-carsharing/carsharing-zahlen, retrieved 30 October 2017.

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BARCELONA

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Superblock, Poblenou, temporary and reversible use Tram in Avinguda Diagonal

BARCELONA AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE Mercedes Vidal Lago The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, took the city’s engagement for the climate to the conference on climate change, COP21, in Paris, where more than eight hundred bodies and organisations, committed to sustainability and the environ­ ment, gathered to define a road map that would guide future actions aimed at mitigating and adapt­ ing to climate change. Within the framework of the Commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, Barcelona has proposed reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 in relation to 2005 levels, and is also committed to increasing urban green space by one square metre per current inhabitant, which would result in a more hab­ itable, cooler city with improved air quality, there­ by ensuring a better quality of life for citizens. At the same time, the Catalan capital aims to reduce road traffic by 21 per cent, meeting the key goals of the Urban Mobility Plan (PMU) 2013– 2018 with a clear commitment to increasing the number of journeys made on foot, by bicycle and by public transport. These goals have translated into a city plan featuring numerous measures that are already being implemented.

MORE PARKS, MORE GARDENS, AND MORE GREEN SPACES FOR THE CITY During this term of office, the municipal government has approved the Programme for the Promotion of Urban Green Infrastructure. The plan sets out a series of measures with a dual time frame: up to the end of the term of office (2015–2019), and from 2019 to 2030. And it covers three different areas: increasing the number of green spaces, improving existing ones and giving the public a more active role in managing these spaces: • 44 new hectares of green spaces by 2019 and 165 hectares by 2030 • 79 measures to improve existing green spaces • Greater public participation, enabling citizens to play a more active role.

IMPROVING MOBILITY SUSTAINABILITY The municipal government is working on creating safer and more sustainable mobility in the city of Barcelona and, in this regard, is developing policies that respond to the main goals of the Urban Mobility Plan (PMU) 2013–2018: A CITY FOR LIVING • Encouraging people to make journeys To achieve this goal, over the next two years using the most sustainable modes Barcelona will be implementing structural measof transport: on foot, by bike and by ures to take space from cars, introduce traffic public transport. calming measures and increase the number of • Reducing the number of journeys made green spaces and thereby create new spaces where in private vehicles by 21 per cent. people can interact, making a significant change to the city’s urban infrastructure. The priority goals SUPERBLOCKS FOR PEOPLE of these policies focus on combating: The municipal government is creating new traffic • Air pollution levels calming zones to promote journeys on foot. The • The lack of green spaces first pilot superblock was introduced in the Poble• Traffic-related noise nou (see pages 78/79) neighbourhood in the dis• Road traffic accident rates trict of Sant Martí, a pioneering experience that • Sedentary lifestyles entails restricting traffic in a particular area of

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the city. Traffic lanes within the restricted area are available for uses relating to local residents, sports, culture and leisure activities. In the near future, the municipal government plans to extend the scheme to other districts in the city.

two stations will have a major impact on local residents as they are situated in a heavily populated area with very poor public transport links, and have the potential to provide service to more than seventy thousand people. One of the main challenges is to connect the two tram networks, currently separated, through a 3.9-kilometre extension. Linking the two networks could potentially double current demand, increasing the number of daily passengers from 91,000 to 222,000, similar to the number of passengers using the metro line. This intervention could take some 12,500 vehicles off the road each day, as well as providing a new mode of public transport to cross the city from one end to the other on Diagonal.

TRIPLING THE NUMBER OF KILOMETRES OF CYCLE LANES Another major challenge in terms of sustainable mobility is to extend the city’s current cycling infrastructure, from 116 kilometres to 308 kilometres, almost triple the length, with an investment of 32 million euros. Barcelona city council aims to create an extensive, high-quality cycle lane network that guarantees user safety and enables journeys to be made throughout the city without having to use the pavements where pedes­ trians walk. To build the network to the highest BANNING THE MOST POLLUTING CARS FROM THE ROADS quality standards, a specific manual has been created that sets out the designs to be used for all In November 2016, the city council presented the the new lanes. Programme of Measures to Combat Atmospheric Pol­lution, comprising fifty-eight measures, inTWENTY-EIGHT HIGH-PERFORMANCE cluding: BUS LINES AND AN ORTHOGONAL LAYOUT • Promoting change towards an active and Over the next two years, the process of implemore sustainable mobility, using public menting the new bus network, with the recon­ transport or bicycles or making journeys figuration of the city’s entire bus service network, on foot. will be completed. Barcelona will have a total • Restricting access to the most polluting of twenty-eight lines on the new bus network vehicles (eight running horizontally, seventeen vertically and three diago­nally), which will operate on an Barcelona is determined to face its commitment orthogonal layout. The city will gain a high-per- on air quality and improvement of living condiformance bus network with buses guaranteed to tions and habitability of the city in its urban and run every five to eight minutes, with shorter wait- metropolitan area. Changes will occur through ing and journey times. an increase of areas with vegetation, the establish­ ment of traffic calming zones, and improvement IMPORTANT PROJECTS ON of the conditions for alternatives to the car in PUBLIC TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: terms of sustainable mobility. Barcelona hopes to METRO AND TRAM fulfil the commitments that were made during Barcelona city council has signed an agreement COP21 and also with the Sustainable Urban Mobilwith the Generalitat regional government of Cat- ity Plan. Overall, Barcelona seeks to generate a alonia to get two new Line 10 stations (Foneria healthier and more equitable city, guaranteeing and Foc Cisell) up and running by 2018. These well-being to its citizens.

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Bike lane at Pujades street

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 he two-way 4 m bicycle lane is T physically segregated, protected and signposted, located in the middle of the road.

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REFURBISHMENT OF THE PASSEIG DE ST JOAN The layout of Paseo de St Joan as an important 50 m wide boulevard was first laid down by Ildefons Cerdà in his Ensanche project, approved in 1859. The new remodelling proposal sets two basic objectives: to give priority to the pedestrian use of the boulevard and turn it into a new urban green zone extending right up to Ciutadella park. In order to achieve these objectives the project has adopted four fundamental urban planning criteria: Guarantee the continuity of the section along the length of the boulevard. The new section is symmetrical and extends the width of the current pavements from 12.5 m to 17 m, maintaining the century-old trees and accompanying them with two new rows of trees. Adapt the urban space to different uses. The 17 m of pavement have been organised in such a way that 6 m are allocated to a pedestrian pavement while the remaining 11 m under the rows of trees are for recreational uses (benches, children’s play areas and bar terraces). The new proposal reduces the number of traffic lanes, creates leisure zones under the trees and segregates the bicycle lane. As part of the new layout, the two-way 4 m bicycle lane is physically segregated, protected and signposted, located in the middle of the road. Promote the Passeig de St Joan as a new and sustain­ able urban green zone. In order to achieve this, two new rows of trees will be planted on both sides of the existing century-old trees to create an area of natural shade that will accommodate the new recreational zones. The treatment of the soil with mixed pavements and the automatic watering system that uses phre­ natic water are key to ensuring substrata drainage that will guarantee the survival of the vegetation. With this new proposal the Passeig de St Joan has won back its social value as an urban space that provides a variety of requested uses and functions while also addressing key aspects of biodiversity and sustainability. This street’s urban transformation has enabled us to revitalise its commercial life and recreational uses, while at the same time retrieving its historical value as a main boulevard that continues right up to Ciutadella park.

LOCATION

Passeig de St Joan, Barcelona, Spain

COMPLETION 2011 (Phase 1) 2014 (Phase 2) DESIGN

 rchitects: Lola Domènech, A Barcelona; landscape engineers: Teresa Galí, Barcelona; civil engineers: CIMEX, Barcelona (Phase 1), Paymacotas, Barcelona (Phase 2)

CLIENT

 arcelona City Council B (Ajuntament de Barcelona)

PROGRAMME

Boulevard refurbishment (green infrastructure). 3.15 hectare transformation of a civic-urban axis and design of a functional, comfortable and environmentally friendly urban space for pedestrians and cyclists

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2  Section 3  Plan view 4 Before conversion 5  Play areas 6 Axis to the Arc de Triomf

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GARCIA FÀRIA PROMENADE

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 arcia Fària is a 40 m wide and G 1.3 km long promenade that is divided into 3 parts 2 Site plan 3 Before reconfiguration 4 After reconfiguration

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Garcia Fària is a 40 m wide and 1.3 km long promenade that is divided into three parts. The project draft starts consolidating that division with a paved promenade above the parking and a green strip. The admissible overloads of the parking (1,000 kg/m2) and the future maintenance led Ravetllat-Ribas to abandon the possibility to landscape and build on the roof. That is why Ravetllat-Ribas conceived an asphalted pavement with two colours as the main character of that strip for bicycles, running and other similar activities. Ravetllat-Ribas wanted to emphasise the large size of this space taking out overlapp­ ing elements for reinforcing its primary qualities. In the rest of the promenade the architects propose a linear garden organised by trapezoidal green parts allowing permeability between the pedestrian ways and the plaza above the parking. The relationship between the two parts of the promenade is made by the disruption of raised platforms and sanded platforms superimposed on the parking deck, acting as view­ points to the sea. Some of the planted areas are raised above the natural ground levels offering grass platforms looking out to the beach. In that landscaped strip are some singular elements made of corten-steel for parking ventilation.

3

LOCATION

 asseig Garcia Fària, P Barcelona, Spain

COMPLETION

2005

DESIGN

 rchitects: Ravetllat-Ribas, A Bar­ce­lona; civil engineers: GECSA, ESTEYCO, M&E Engineers, Bar­ce­­ lona; agricultural technical engineers: Mireia Fernández, Barcelona; biologist: Mireia Rubio, Barcelona

CLIENT

I nfraestructures del Llevant de Barcelona, S.A.

PROGRAMME

Transformation into an urban space and linear garden with a plot area of 49,207 m2; promenade for sport activities, playgrounds and a bike path with a length of 1.3 km

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1 2 3

Neighbours node/intersection of inner road left: current situation; right: road hierachy in a Superblock model Superblock, Poblenou; temporary and ­reversible use

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SUPERBLOCKS Barcelona has pledged to reach a 40 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030. Nearly 30 per cent of the current emissions can be attri­buted to the mobility sector, so the city will need to make major changes to the ways in which people get around in the very near future. The Barcelona Superblocks programme seeks to meet the challenge of improving quality of life while simultaneously reducing environmental impact through the development of mixed-use public spaces. With the twin goals of improved quality of life and reduced environmental impact, the Barcelona Superblocks programme utilises a tactical urbanism approach to make the city more conducive to walking, biking and public transport. In the interior of the superblocks, a system of loops allows access by car to all the facades using one-way streets that streamline this form of transport and expel the car back to the same street of entry. It makes it impossible to traverse the superblock. By repetition, and adapting itself in a flexible way to any urban fabric, the superblock becomes the base of the functional and urban model of the city. The superblock is the basic cell of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of Barcelona 2013–2018. The data of this city is used as an example to show the transformation that superblocks can drive in cities. After the implementation of superblocks, perimeter streets have bike lanes, while in the interior of superblocks bicycles can circulate freely (in any sense) but without exceeding the speed limit.

LOCATION

 ifferent parts of the city, D Barcelona, Spain

START OF PROJECT

2011—ongoing

DESIGN

 epartment of Urban Model D (Urban Planning) of Barcelona City Council; Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona

CLIENT

Barcelona City Council

PROGRAMME

 he urban centre of Barcelona is T formed by square blocks with chamfered corners, built in the 19th century. A superblock will consist of nine existing blocks. The superblocks model is a way of organising the city based on reversing the distribution of public space among vehicles and people, giving priority to the citizen. A superblock is a new urban cell of about 400 × 400 metres. It is defined by a peri­ph­ery that integrates the set of surface transport networks: bicycle, bus and car, allowing the city to function. In its inte­­rior (16 ha) the maximum speed permitted is 20 km/h.

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GRAN VIA DE LES CORTS CATALANES Completed in 2006 was the complete redesign of the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, the A-19, in the area east of Rambla Poble Nou. The architects Andreu Arriola and Carmen Fiol gave the avenue – 100 meters in width – a new profile, which consists of three traffic levels: a ‘main artery’ which – as the lowest and central level – accommodates the expressway, and parallel to it, the tram lines and access lanes, as well as a (two-story) parking lot more that 400 meters in length; a third level, set above the motorway – on projecting elements that transform the expressway into a kind of semi-tunnel – are two-lane streets. These run approximately 3.5 meters above the level of the sidewalks, cycling routes, and residen­ tial streets at the base of the complex. In between, the architects spread out a park whose topography is reminiscent of a braced tent and of textile structures: taking the form of curving triangles, the landscaped concrete cover, planted in part with trees and shrubs, rises with gradients of up to 20 per cent toward the central axis, and runs along the edge of the tunnel like a decorative border. It is closed by a noise barrier wall measuring 2.5 meters in height with colored viewing windows, whose design was the work of the architectural office EMBT Miralles Tagliabue. Their form emerged from the idea of allowing the streets running above the motorway as well to ‘tunnel over’ by means of a folding mecha­ nism. There were consists of a noise-absorptive material having minimal thickness; the outer skin is composed of robust, in part concave panels. At the same time, both sides of the park are woven together by means of pedestrian bridges set at narrow intervals (design: Albert and David Viaplana), further extending the ‘zigzag stitching’ of the green seam. Thanks to this project, visitors and residents entering Barcelona from the northeast are greeted by an impressive upbeat. — Anja Dreybrodt & Cordula Vielhauer

LOCATION

 ran Via de les Corts Catalanes; G from Carrer de la Llacunaand Carrer d’Extremadura, Barcelona, Spain

COMPLETION

2007

DESIGN

 rriola & Fiol architects and landA scape architects, Barcelona; consultants: GPO Engineering, Arau Acoustics, A.Obiol Structural, JG Engineering, Viaplana Arquitectes, EMBT Arquitectes

CLIENT

 eneralitat de Catalunya, Direcció G General De Transports, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Institut Municipal d’Urbanisme

PROGRAMME

I ntegration of a highway into a linear park with a length of 2.5 kilometres by 100 metres width: 250,000 m2; acoustic protec­tion, pedestrian accessibility,main cycle paths, playgrounds and new public spaces

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Main cycle paths, playgrounds and new public spaces were created Integration of a highway into a linear park Site plan

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En Route in the City Steffen de Rudder

For cities, the bicycle is the ideal mode of transport. It is fast, requires minimal space, and produces neither noise nor noxious emissions; in a city of average density, moreover, it is perfectly suited to reaching the places one normally visits on a daily basis. Unfortunately, a number of signifi­ cant disadvantages are associated with the bicycle: it provides no protection from the elements, no heated passenger space, no seats for additional riders, no luggage compartment, no crumple zone. In comparison with the automobile, whose convenience and comfort are difficult to surpass, and which is favoured as a means of transport by the vast majority, the bicycle fares poorly indeed. By now, however, given the pressures of climate change and urbanisation, the automobile can no longer be regarded as an ideal mode of transport. Its merits remain indisputable, but they are exceeded by its adverse effects. The arguments against the automobile are familiar enough. From

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an urban planning perspective, one aspect is espe­ cially critical: the immense amount of space used by private automobiles. With more and more people moving into cities, space is becoming scarce. In an increasingly densely developed and intensively utilised city, there is a growing need for adequate space for expanding streets and squares, for extending green and open spaces. Support for families means not just provision of outdoor play areas, but also urban spaces children can use while feeling safe. This is important as well for the elderly contingent, which is growing steadily as a proportion of the urban population. The predominant portion of the total street surface is, however, still occupied by vehicular traffic. The rue corridor – the street space framed by urban development – that is so typical of the European city cannot be broadened without extensive demolition. Greater space for a growing number of residents can therefore be provided

only by reducing the spatial requirements of vehicu­ lar traffic. From this perspective, the development of electric cars is only a secondary consideration. To be sure, the electric car offers improved air quality, but it does not free up space: the exchange of one power source for another results in no additional usable urban surface. At a given level of traffic performance, the freeing up of space in the street profile can be implemented far more effectively with the bicycle than the automobile, simply because the former requires much less space. In progressively densifying cities, its superior spatial efficiency qualifies cycling as the mode of transport of the future. But it is not only a question of improved utilisation of the available surface area. Cycling must also func­ tion as a transport system, must qualify as efficient and competitive. If the bicycle is to represent a substantial share of the system of urban mobility, it cannot be used solely by sports enthusiasts and green idealists. Cycling must function on a larger scale, for children as well as for the elderly, for non-athletes and for hesitant users. To survive competition from other modes of transport, cycling must be safe, quick and comfortable. The potential for success can be inferred from comprehensive surveys conducted by the city of Copenhagen beginning in 1996. 1 From the very inception of the city’s conversion to a bicycle­friendly city, the residents of Copenhagen have been questioned regularly concerning their assess­ ment of ongoing reconstruction measures. Such periodic feedback helps planners assess the practical feasibility of their strategies. Generated at the same time was a comprehensive database that provides up-to-date insights into the aspirations of the population regarding mobility. A persistent finding of the Bicycle Account is that interviewees cycle in the city primarily because it is ‘fast and easy’. 2 If we assume the trans­ ferability of the Danish results, then they can be regarded as providing general guidelines for bicycle traffic planning: cycling must be quick and convenient. This straightforward conclusion has far-­ reaching implications for planning. Required are street and bike routes that are adapted to rapid movement, are broad enough to accommodate passing lanes, are networked with one another, are present throughout the city and are linked with other traffic and transport systems. Therefore efficacious bicycle traffic planning means more than simply constructing bike routes; in fact, an entirely new infrastructure is required. Just as the city was adapted at great expense and with enormous sacrifice over a period of decades

to accommodate automobile traffic, it must now be adapted to accommodate cycle, pedestrian and public transport. The car-friendly city was an ingeniously simple system because every desired destination could be reached in exactly the same way: take the car! The concept of multimodal mobility is far more complex. Not only does it require improvements in multiple modes of transport simultaneously, but these various modes must also be efficiently linked with one another. Subway stations, for example, become crucial junctures that facilitate flowing transitions between trains, buses, the automobile, the bicycle and pedestrian movement. In order to optimise transfers between these modes, we need maximally short routes, stations for bike and car sharing, charging stations, parking places for bicycles, protection from the elements and space for movement. The organisation of the nodal points according to the premise ‘fast and easy’ represents a new and specialised planning task that will need to integrate traffic planning, city planning and archi­ tecture. It is, however, not merely a question of organising transfers between modes of transport. Emerging at the same time will be new points of crystallisation for urban development, micro­centres that radiate outwards into local neigh­bour­ h ­ oods, catalysts for town planning. It has always been the case that where routes intersect, public urban spaces come into being, simultaneously pro­ moting the retail sector, gastronomy and service offerings. For office and commercial spaces as well, these places are ideal because they can be reached without additional travel. The shopping centre set in the open country was an element of the automobile city. It combined mass motorisation, suburbanisation and con­ sumer culture as society-­wide phenomena of the second half of the twenti­eth century. The nodal points of multimodal mobility could mean a new model of the marketplace; this model would be intra-urban, subdivided into smaller elements, and decen­tralised – not in opposition to the city, but instead an element of the urban context. They wouldn’t produce traffic but avoid it. To develop such a hybrid place, to organise it functionally and spatially, to endow it with form and a commensurate appearance, represents a new task for architects and urban planners. There is no shortage of contemporary or historical references. The conversion of the railway station in Utrecht (see page 256–261) and the Nørreport station in Copenhagen (see page 162– 165), for example, exemplify the possible urban

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1 Garden City Frohnau, architect: Joseph Brix and Felix Genzmer, 1910, Berlin 2 Satellite town of Vällingby, architect: Sven Markelius, 1950, Stockholm

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planning and architectural results of this new mobility. The layout of the ‘garden city’ of Frohnau in Berlin, which dates from 1910  ill. 1  , demonstrates in an exemplary way how a railway station and a local centre can be amalgamated to constitute a single urbanistic typology. A pilgrimage site of post-war Modernism, the satellite town of Vällingby  ill. 2  , near Stockholm, was built directly on the newly constructed metro line, and remains an excellent model for linkages between local transport, urban planning and architecture up to the present. 3 The bicycle is central to concepts of multimodal mobility. The implementation of such traffic systems has implications for the city as a whole. Such a development is not achievable without the abandonment of the old system of the car-friendly city. The transition from one system to the next necessitates not only the conversion of streets and existing routes. It also means a change in habitual patterns of mobility, in the conventions and in­ grained rituals of everyday life. The overarching question is whether the transformation of complex systems – in this instance, ones that are as much spatial as social in character – can succeed. For this reason, the conversion of urban traffic systems is also a political project – because it raises the question of how a far from insignificant aspect of urban life is going to look in the future. In practice, attempts to create more space for cyclists and pedestrians often fail because residents deem the removal of parking places and vehicle lanes as an unacceptable interference. Wherever planning is seen primarily as a reduction of possibilities, as a curtailment of personal freedom, it has little chance of success. Even in the bicycle­friendly city of Copenhagen, conversion measures are accompanied by political conflict; there are battles concerning the reduction of parking places and penalties for parking offenders. Yet one hears

little about such coercive measures. Foregrounded instead is the persuasive power of the new bicy­cle infrastructure, which relies upon effectiveness as well as visibility, and which is itself the best pos­ sible argument. A key to the success of Danish plan­ning is its considerable amenity value, the immense practicality of the new infrastructure and the sheer pleasure associated with unhindered mobility through the centre of the city. If bicycling is to be established as a pillar in a system of urban mobility, the city must engage in adequate preparatory efforts and must ge­n­e­r­ ate persuasive amenities. One recommended strat­ egy is the concept of the pilot project that demonstrates in an exemplary way how bicycle travel can function along a specific urban axis. The Nordbahntrasse in Wuppertal (see page 264–267) – a 23-kilometre-long cycle track that occupies a former railway line – is an example of this. The project for the Ruhr Cycle Highway (RS1) (see page 92­–95) could also serve as a reference for the performance capacity of urban bicycle traffic. Pilot projects and reference routes are crucial because the actual experience of urban cycling probably represents the strongest argument for a departure from the car-friendly city. The greatest advantage of cycling – that it is so sensible – is simultaneously its greatest drawback. In the un­ avoidable competition between transport systems, the bicycle must prove itself against the auto­ mobile – a mode of transport whose use is conditioned primarily by irrational factors. The fact that economic rationality – otherwise the measure of all things – is disqualified in this instance indicates that the commitment to the automobile is primarily emotional in character. It can therefore not be countered using solely climatological or even urban planning arguments. For this reason, the experiential quality of bicycling in the city plays a very special role.

NOTES 1

2 3

 ity of Copenhagen, Technical and Environmental C ­Administration: Copenhagen City of Cyclists, The Bicycle Account 2014. Copenhagen, May 2015, www.cycling-­ embassy.dk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/­ Copenhagens-Biycle-Account-2014.pdf, retrieved 22 September 2017. Ibid., p. 11. See also Ludwig, Maximilian: Vällingby — Vorbild für eine integrierte Stadt- und Verkehrsplanung (thesis). Weimar, 2016.

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RUHRGEBIET

1  Cycle highway RS1 — Rheinische Bahn 2  Niederfeldsee, Essen

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ESSEN: THE PATH TO BECOMING A BICYCLE CITY Simone Raskob The goal of the city of Essen is to significantly increase cycling’s share of total traffic. In applying to become the European Green Capital for 2017, a target of 25 per cent was set for the year 2035 as cyclists’ share of total traffic volume. In order to implement the ambitious plan, transport planning must be thought through innovatively in con­ junction with other specialist disciplines and the existing infrastructure must be developed further, with an increasing focus on the needs of cyclists. This includes, in particular, a continuous network of routes that seamlessly connect the densely popu­ lated residential neighbourhoods with other areas, such as workplaces or shopping facilities. Currently, the main route network comprises about 200 kilometres and connects the city centre with the suburban districts; a supplemen­tary network ensures optimal accessibility with­­in the districts and boroughs. In addition, the Green Path Network, especially in green spaces along water­ ways and former railway lines, links everyday and leisure travel via attractive routes – often without crossings and separated from street traffic. In the future, Essen’s main roads too are to be safely negotiable for cyclists. A strong focus is being put on the creation of new cycle facilities on the main roads, and on the improvement of existing facilities, in particular by increasingly demar­cating cycle lanes and advisory cycle lanes. On the less crowded side streets, it is planned to increase the number of bicycle boulevards. Moreover, speedy connections for cyclists are to be created by simple means, in order to make cycling more attractive in comparison with driving. A par­ ticularly effective strategy is the opening up of one-way streets to bidirectional bike traffic – now at 300 of the total 560 one-way streets in Essen. Against the backdrop of climate warming and dwindling resources, the era of smart mobility has begun, which stands for the intelligent net-

working of various transport systems. The envi­ ronmental alliance of buses and trains, along with non-motorised private transport, comprising cyclists and pedestrians, is becoming increasingly important. The first harbingers of this ‘new’ age can already be observed in Essen. They include the development of rental bike systems with nearly blanket coverage. Rental bikes can be used spontaneously, without prior reservation. About three hundred stations have been set up in ten cities in the Ruhr area, sixty of them in Essen alone – mostly near the city centre, at important junctions of the public transport system and at tourist destinations. The increasing prevalence of pede­lecs also supports bicycle-friendly mobility; with them, even hillier routes in the south of Essen no longer present an obstacle. MEASURES TAKEN IN THE RUHR AREA TO PROMOTE CYCLING With the bicycle highway Ruhr RS1, the wishes of many cyclists are coming true. The former route of the Rhenish Railway will become an asphalted bicycle autobahn measuring at least 4 metres wide and offering cyclists a very special experience featuring a high level of ride comfort and freedom from grade crossings. Between the city centres of Essen and Mülheim, a nearly 11­-kilo­metre route has already been largely completed. After further expansion in coming years, com­ muters, day-trippers and tourists will then be able to cycle across the Ruhr district on the finished bicycle highway for more than 100 kilometres – from the Rhine in Duisburg to Essen and Dortmund and all the way to Hamm. And the expansion won’t stop there. There are already concrete plans for additional bicycle highways. One of them is planned to extend from Essen to Gladbeck via Bottrop in the northern part of the Ruhr district. Along the already developed route

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of the bicycle highway RS1, one can see how important it is to have a synoptic view incorporating the various disciplines of urban design, landscape architecture and transport planning. The bicycle highway connects city centres, green spaces and residential areas. As a result, new locations of high calibre and with unique qualities of urban design and green planning are emerging, such as a series of significant urban development projects in Essen that are lined up like a string of pearls along the existing route of the Rhenish Railway: the University Quarter, the ThyssenKrupp Quarter and Niederfeldsee, an artificial lake. CYCLING AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE In addition to the bicycle highways, the Emscher reconstruction, a project of the century by the Emschergenossenschaft, has also opened up new perspectives for urban and open space planning. The river, which had degenerated into a sewer, will soon flow through a new Emscher valley with an almost natural riverbed. Once the renovation is completed in a few years, the face of an entire region will have changed, thanks to bodies of water that have been remodelled in harmony with nature and possess high recreational value – along with numerous follow-up projects.

Along the water bodies of the Emscher system that have been restored to their natural state, enter­ tainment trails facilitate new inner-city connections. Thanks to the Ruhr Regional Association, valuable pedestrian and cycle paths that also reach the neighbouring towns have been created along numerous disused railway lines. In conjunction with the municipal action pro­gramme ESSEN: New Paths to Water, numerous partners from fields including urban design, water management and labour administration worked together to establish a Greenway Network more than 150 kilometres long, whose significance goes far beyond leisure travel. This network of green corridors has contributed significantly to ensuring that the settlement areas are extremely well connected to the urban green spaces. Thus far, more than 250,000 inhabitants can reach the main green­ways from within a distance of 500 metres. The goal in the coming years is to link nearly all residents to this attractive network and thus to sustainably improve the quality of life and the environment in the residential areas. Viewed together, all the measures to strengthen the environmental alliance mean that Essen regains quality of life across the board.

3  Krupp Park, Essen, 2006—2011. Planning: LAND Germany. Aerial view 4  The Ruhr Promenade in Steele

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RUHR CYCLE HIGHWAY RS1 Regional and intermodal planning approaches are necessary to address the increasingly complex challenges posed by urban agglomerations. Bicycles thus play a central role, because they are a particularly environmentally friendly and resource­ conserving means of transport. The Ruhr cycle highway RS1 links ten cities from Duisburg to Hamm along a route extending 101 kilometres within the largest conurbation in Germany. Around 1.6 million people, including roughly 150,000 students and about 430,000 employees, constitute the potential user base in the immediate catchment area. Projected to save more than 52,000 car journeys each day and more than 16,000 tons of CO2 each year, the RS1 is an economic gain with a benefit­cost factor of 4.8 for the Ruhr metropolitan region. In November 2015, the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR) opened the first section of the RS1, along a length of 11 kilometres between Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr, as Germany’s first bicycle autobahn. The area’s inhabitants will be able to enjoy and make practical use of the future qualities of the RS1 cycle highway. In its completed state, the RS1 has the poten­ tial to relieve the overburdened road network, with its main axis along the A40 autobahn and the B1 highway in the core area of the Ruhr metropolitan region. Around sixty medium and large regional branch offices and corporate headquarters will be accessible by the RS1 in the immediate catchment area of the route. Especially for these businesses, the enhanced identity of place yields a favourable location that offers benefits in the competition for creative minds. The last count along the completed section between Mülheim an der Ruhr and Essen revealed that 1,400 cyclists use the route each day. Interestingly, the typical traffic peaks of commuter traffic are reflected in the usage figures, showing that the RS1 evidently reaches the target group of everyday cyclists. Beyond that, the RS1 is an infrastructure project with broad social approval and acceptance. More than 60 per cent of the citizens in the Ruhr metropolitan region support continued construction of the RS1. Legislative changes made in November 2016 have given bicycle highways in North Rhine-Westphalia equal status with state roads. The planning, construction and maintenance of bicycle high­ways are now the task and responsibility of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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LOCATION

 uhr metropolitan region, stretchR ing from Duisburg to Hamm via Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Dortmund, Unna, Kamen and Bergkamen, Germany

COMPLETION

Ongoing

DESIGN

 ngineers for transport planning, E urban planning and landscape architecture

CLIENT

 andesbetrieb Straßenbau NRW L (North Rhine-Westphalia’s roadworks department), municipalities, Ruhr Regional Association (RVR).

PROGRAMME

Cycle highway (Radschnellweg — literally, fast cycle route) with a total length of 101 kilometres. Continuous separation between bicycle and pedestrian traffic, a minimum width of 4 metres, few gradients, inner-city lighting and regular cleaning and snow and ice control

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University district, Essen Site plan

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 iederfeldsee, Essen, aerial view N Multimodal travel: the RS1 against the urban silhouette of Essen Zeche Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex

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1

LageplanM 1/500 TB 3181+

ÜbersichtM 1/5000 TB 3191+

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PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLE BRIDGE HARBOUR GRIMBERG The pedestrian and cycle bridge crosses the Rhine-Herne Canal at the western edge of Grimberg Harbour, thereby creat­ing an important north-south connection between two recrea­tional areas in the German federal state of North Rhine-­ Westphalia: the so-called ‘Erzbahntrasse’ (railway track) is a regional cycle route, sited on an old rail bed, which leads from the Jahrhunderthalle (Centennial Hall) in Bochum to the Rhine-Herne Canal in Gelsenkirchen. Here, the bridge creates a connection to the Halde Hoheward (a mining waste heap) in the Emscherbruch recreational area in the district of Recklinghausen. Because of its curving form, the suspension bridge is also referred to as the Grimberger Sichel (Grimberg Crescent). The path rises dynamically above the canal in an elegant arch that does not impede the forward movement of cyclists. The bridge is constructed as a one-sided hanging circular ring supporting structure that spans a distance of 141 metres between the abutments. The supporting cable and the suspension cables, which are separated by intervals of 3 metres, are attached to the outer edge of the superstructure. The cable supporting structure, with its garland-shaped cable net­ work, begins 24 metres beyond the abutments and is anchored to the northern bank of the canal via a single mast set that measures ca. 45 metres in height. Forming the spine of the bridge deck is a torsionally stiff steel box structure only 80 centimetres in height, which carries the 12-centimetre-thick concrete slab that serves as a robust paved surface, and whose weight and shock-absorp­ tive capacities facilitates the dynamic performance of the bridge. A transparent cable net handrail underscores the bridge’s lightweight, filigree quality, whose unconventional form facilitates its dynamic integration into the landscape.

1 2 3

LOCATION

Gelsenkirchen, Germany

COMPLETION 2009 DESIGN

s chlaich bergermann partner, Stuttgart

CLIENT

 uhr Regional Association (RVR), R Essen

PROGRAMME

 edestrian and cycle bridge. Bridge P length: 153 metres

Cable supporting structure General view Site plan

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On the Necessity of a Traffic Realignment Ludger Koopmann

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You know the story: over the years, the apartment becomes increasingly crowded, and at some point space is looking scarce. Which is why we equipped our chest freezer with a lock and moved it to the edge of the street. Now we have far more space in our apartment, and we find the somewhat longer route to the chest freezer to be acceptable. We’ve made it clear to the neighbours – who complained that the chest freezer at the edge of the street created a disturbance – that we are entitled, obviously, to use public space for private purposes. Admittedly, the electric cable that runs across the pavement to the freezer is somewhat annoying, but what of it? An absurdity? Of course – but the fictional story illustrates well the difficulties the dicussion about the use of the public space evokes. When street space becomes scarce, drivers claim the pavement to park their car as well. This distribution of space is at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists, as well as public transport and makes the design of a human­-friendly city impossible. Mass motorised private transport (MPT) is the problem, and is incapable – regardless of the approach involved – of solving traffic problems in our cities. No one wants to abolish the auto­ mobile, and it goes without saying that no one wishes to interfere with public security or emergency services. And yet in cities, a full 50 per cent of auto trips are shorter than 5 kilometres. Most of these routes could be covered more conveni­ ently – and in some cases even more quickly – with a bicycle (or even on foot). Bicycle travel, moreover, is cheaper, space-saving and even better for one’s health. In the future, in all likelihood, we will experience a far-reaching transition from automobile travel to transport via bicycle, public transport and simply walking – either in the short term, through judicial decisions, or in the medium term, through resource shortages. In preparing for this shift, three options are available to us: • We could continue to confine ourselves to automobile-dominated locomotion. In that case, in the not-too-distant future, we may experience the bankruptcy of an extremely critical industrial sector – with all of the inevitable consequences, including those concerning indivi­‑ dual mobility. • To some extent, the automobile can simply be prohibited using political means. In response to extreme smog conditions, this solution is already practised in China’s metropolises. In Germany, similar

measures are currently under discussion. • Or, cities begin now to redesign public space for mobility via cycling and walking. If such measures are supplemented by an attractive, well-developed public transport infrastructure that encompasses car sharing, bike sharing and ride sharing, then more and more people will be able – and willing – to do without cars. And all of this, moreover, on a voluntary basis – in this author’s view, the only reasonable option. The question remains, though: how can bicycle traffic be organised in such a way that people will voluntarily leave their cars at home and use bicycles? People want to live in security; they crave comfort and convenience. As a rule, they like to arrive at their destinations fast. Our point of departure, then, is obvious enough: everyone should be able to ride a bicycle safely, comfortably and quickly. A city that wants to make bicycle transport accessible to everyone must prioritise the fol­lowing question: why do people cycle? Or, more pointedly: why don’t people cycle today? We know too little about these questions because in Germany scholarly investigations regarding them have yet to be undertaken. But a look at the car-centric United States may be useful here. Roger Geller, for many years the Bicycle Coordinator of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, posed the question: who are the people in the city for whom we are trying to construct a cycling infrastructure? His answers were derived from his experience-based expert knowledge, and have meanwhile been confirmed through scientific studies undertaken in a number of American cities. Geller concluded that approximately 1 per cent of the population are fearless, committed cyclists. Such individuals have no difficulty cycling in auto­ mobile traffic on multi-lane roads, and reject the idea of a separate bicycle infrastructure. Approxi­ mately 6 per cent of Portland residents are staunch, enthusiastic cyclists who have no problem with mixed traffic streams that include cars, but would gladly take advantage of a good bicycle infrastructure. In response to the topic of cycling, onethird of Portland residents responded with: ab­ solutely not! Between these extremes are the remaining 60 per cent of Portlanders, who say that they are interested in cycling but have safety concerns. Such people enjoy cycling, but frequently restrict themselves to recreational cycling outside the city. They regard cycling in the city as too dangerous.

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Geller’s typology – referred to as the Four Types of Cyclists – has become the planning basis for cities around the world, regardless of cultural, poli­tical, geographic or social differences. Clearly, efforts to promote cycling must be oriented towards those people that are interested in cycling but nonetheless express safety concerns, and who feel insecure about cycling in the city. The key, therefore, lies in shaping and upgrading the cycling infrastructure. Mentioned above was an essential point, and one that is regarded as indispensable: when cycling, self-evidently, people need to feel objectively safe – but they need to feel subjectively safe as well. Only then will they begin to cycle regularly. This is achievable only by separating the bicycle from automobile traffic, for example on broad, elevated cycle tracks such as those found in Copenhagen, where the share of cyclists has risen to more than 40 per cent. In the United States cycle traffic is successfully positioned on a separate lane of the roadway that is separated from automobile traffic

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by wide safety dividing strips, supplemented by additional bollards. Without exception, every city in the world that has a large voluntary contingent of cyclists separates bicycles from automobile traffic. If we are to make our cities sustainable, we must orient ourselves towards this principle. We must do so as well because everyone profits when cycling becomes safer and more attractive: the strain caused by excessive automobile traffic is alleviated, and there is more space available for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as for parks and public green. In fact, cyclists are the only ones capable of avoiding prohibitions of the automobile in our cities. But how do we determine whether an existing or planned cycling infrastructure is adequate? Fortunately, it is quite simple: when both an eight­ year-old and an eighty-year-old can cycle safely, when we can watch them without concern, only then do we have an adequate cycling infrastructure. We all know what we have to do, so all that is left is to do it.

OSLO

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 ycling without age: in 2015 the City of Oslo C started financing Christiania bikes for nursing homes. Today there are more than 50 bikes at thirty-six nursing homes. In addition, six volunteer institutions also have bikes available for their local communities 2 Car-free city life: in 2017, the first changes in the city centre have taken place to cre­‑ ate more room for a city life where pedestrians and cyclists take precedence over private cars. An area of approximately 1.3 square kilometres will be transformed to a better urban environment during the City Council period 2015—2019. 3 ‘The Oslo Bike’ — the City of Oslo’s branded staff bike. The City of Oslo recently made a framework agreement for all of Oslo’s mu­ nici­pal services for a branded ebike/cargo bike. More than 200 bikes have been distri­ buted to the city’s staff, from midwives who use them to visit newborns at home, to technicians inspecting drain pipes around the city. 4  Last Mile project: a number of businesses, organisations and institutions have started using cargo bikes. 5 Winter maintenance of bicycle tracks plays an important role in Oslo to keep people cycling.

OSLO GEARS UP TO BE A CYCLING PARADISE Laura Bliss To make room for bikes, Barcelona has its superblocks (see page 78/79), and Dutch cities have their superhighways. Oslo has super spirit. What it may still lack in bike infrastructure, it makes up for in commitment. That’s the story I take away on the grey, windy Friday in October when Øyvind Aas toured me around Oslo by bike. Aas, the chief communications officer at the Norwegian Cyclists’ Association, greeted me at the central train station on a cargo bike, an impressive three-wheeled rig with a jump-seat in front he and his wife purchased through a city subsidy programme. I rented a ride from a nearby bike-share station. Since the mid-2000s, Oslo’s population has grown faster than that of nearly any other city in Europe. To accommodate that growth, Oslo has had to rethink the way citizens move. Cruising near the Oslo harbour, Aas pointed out the waterfront apartment towers and commer­ cial developments that now loom where industry once stood. ‘The trams are totally at capacity’, Aas said. The roads might not feel like those in my city, New York, he explained, but they’re jammed by Oslo standards. So a third mode of transport is wheeling its way into the Norwegian capital’s heart: the bike. Witness the red-painted cycling paths unspool­ing throughout the city, and the clusters of streets closing off to cars. Bikes themselves are becoming cheaper to buy. It’s all towards the city’s goal of double the bike’s mode share to at least 16 per cent of all trips by 2025. For the cycling world, ‘there is no more exciting city in the world than Oslo right now’, Mikael Colville-Andersen, the founder of the bike planning consultancy Copenhagenize, has said. There are few cities as ambitious. Oslo’s 2025 goal is more than two times the current mode share of cycling, and there is a lot standing in the

way. Decades of reliance on cars and trams means there’s little recognition of cycling as much more than a sport or hobby. As one cruises around Oslo’s city centre and its dense immediate surroundings, it’s striking how lawless the activity feels. There are about 180 kilo­ metres of bike lanes here, many of which are not well maintained, so you can ride on the pavement if you feel like it. Bikes are allowed in two directions down one-way streets, but who gets priority in the intersections that lead to them isn’t always clear. By and large, drivers rule the road. There isn’t a critical mass of cyclists to establish better norms yet. We spotted a few comrades on wheels: a rush of Spandex-clad bankers commuting home from work, a handful of tourists tottering on bike-share bikes, and a friend of Aas’s who collects old coffee grinds with her city-subsidised cargo bike, whom I asked what she made of the city’s cycling infrastructure. ‘I think things are getting better, slowly,’ she replied. ‘But not enough people feel safe.’ That was what a 2013 survey revealed, too, about why more Oslonians aren’t riding. Certain macho commuters might feel secure cycling under any conditions, but studies have found that women and older cyclists need designated space, calm traffic and a certain volume of fellow cyclists in order to feel safe on a bike. In Oslo, the relative risk of getting hurt on a bicycle is actually declining, officials note, as the absolute number of cyclists has grown with the city’s population. But the optics aren’t inviting, since the count of serious injuries is still rising, and protected lanes are still scant. ‘The most important thing is to ensure good and safe cycling infrastructure,’ Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, Oslo’s vice mayor for envi­ ron­ment and trans­port, has told local media. The key, she says, is to make more room for cyclists on the road.

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That is what the city has been trying to do since Nguyen Berg’s Green Party gained power in 2015. That year, Oslo made world headlines for being the first European city to declare a comprehensive and permanent ban on cars in its core by 2019. The city wants to achive this vision by removing eight hundred parking spaces, stepping up prices on what spots remained and charging automobiles higher fees to enter the city at peak hours. In addition, officials promised 60 kilometres of new and improved bike lanes by that year. The changes would be transformative: a truly bike­-oriented city, with paths radiating out from a completely pedestrianised centre of 1.3 square kilometres. The backlash from business owners and drivers was predictably fierce. Many feared that a downtown with less parking would be a ‘dead zone’, devoid of business. Officials pushed back, but eventually made accommodations: the carfree zone is now considerably smaller than the original plan, and will allow delivery trucks and buses. Tor Henrik Andersen, the deputy mayor of Oslo, believes that the difference will still be palpable. ‘It’s been under-communicated how much space cars take up,’ he says. ‘It will be so much more comfortable walking and biking around the area when people get priority rather than cars.’ Work on the car-free centre began in earnest

in summer 2017, with city officials removing parking spaces and planting flower boxes in their place. They’ve also begun to ‘roll out the red carpet’, Aas jokes, in reference to the signature shade of Oslo’s new bike lanes. Many (though not all) of the new lanes abide by the Oslo Standard, a frame­ work established in 2016 for engineering bike infra­structure so that it meets the city’s goals and citizens’ safety needs. Norway’s national engi­ neering standards for road safety and lane design – which date back to the mid-twentieth century – are not good enough to achieve the high mode share that Oslo desires. The key difference is in width: according to the national standard manual, a bike lane can’t be wider than 1.8 metres. But that can feel frighteningly narrow on streets packed with car traffic. With Oslo’s own norms, new lanes are to be up to 2.5 metres wide. They’re also to be marked by proper signage, painted with a bright contrast colour, and whenever possible, fully separated from traffic. That’s a con­siderable divergence from the national standard, which was designed mostly with highways, not cities, in mind. Oslo is also working to shift more citizens from cars to bikes through subsidies. In 2017, it dished out € 1,000 grants to citizens purchasing electric cargo bikes, in a bid to discourage families from buying new cars. That was one year after another successful programme gave away about

6 The Oslo standard stipulates a bicycle route width of 2.2—2.5 m

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€ 500 towards standard e-bike purchases. Those schemes are not without their critics – some charged that wealthy people took too much advantage – and not as many Oslonians have coughed up for cargo bikes, even at a discount, as the city hoped. A more visible change the city has made for cyclists so far is keeping more bike lanes clear of snow during the long, cold Oslo winter – yet another way of keeping more bodies out of cars and on their bikes. Unlike many cities fighting for progressive transport policies, Oslo has largely enjoyed the support of its national government. Norway is itself endeavouring to reduce car use and fossil fuel consumption with huge incentives for electric vehi­ cles and a nearly $1 billion investment in bike highways around the country. It might seem odd that Oslo lacks the cycl­ ing culture of some of its Nordic neighbours. Before the Second World War, bikes had a healthy presence on the city’s streets. Post-war trade limits helped suppress the automobile’s reach in Norway at large. But those restrictions were lifted in the 1960s, around the same time that oil was discovered off Norwegian shores. The country has grown to be one of the richest in the world, with some of the highest rates of car ownership in the EU. Oslo administration envisioned citywide cycle networks as far back as the 1950s, but they never came to fruition. Even after the city set up a special bike office in 2010, little came of it: from 2005 to 2015,

just 1.5 kilometres of bike lanes were built per year. Now, Oslo aims to multiply that rate by ten. In addition to population pressures, environmental concerns are also driving the city’s newfound commitment to bikes. Norway is a country of green trees, pristine fjords and clear blue skies – but the air quality of its cities can be remarkably poor. Oslo is no exception: according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, air pollution causes 185 premature deaths there each year. Some of the haze can’t be avoided, thanks to winter temperature inversions, but much of it could be: transport accounts for more than 60 per cent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing more car trips with bikes would help clean that up, and play a small part to help Norway meet its global climate commitments. There are many more red-painted paths to build, and many hairy intersections to fix, before that happens. Doubeling cycling’s mode share in less than ten years is an awfully high bar. But as many other cities have shown, making space for bikes is the way to build up numbers. And Olso’s commitment is starting to turn concrete. After Aas helped me dock my bike-share bike at the end of our trip, he gave me a lift back to the train station in the jump seat of his cargo bike. ‘Bikes bring people together, don’t they?’ Aas said as I tumbled out of the carrier. So does a city that wants them.

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 The city centre of Oslo within the first ring (reddish streets) is to become the car-free zone 8 Replacing on-street car parking with bike parking 9 Eva Kolstads street before 10 Eva Kolstads street after

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OSLO CITY BIKE The new Oslo City Bike launched in April 2016, replacing Oslo’s old system with a forward-thinking and user-friendly bike share experience. The previous system had 90 stations and 1,000 bikes and relied on old-fashioned technology and limited operational strategies. The new system features more bikes and more stations, and is built around an advanced digital platform. The Oslo City bike app allows users to instantly subscribe, locate and unlock bikes, making the entire system more accessible. Oslo City Bike is focused on providing its customers with a bike share experience that’s fun and simple to use. The system’s aesthetic is designed to be playful and approachable, and the result is that city biking has become an important feature in Oslo’s local culture and urban landscape. Through daily engagement with users, and advanced, data­-driven operations that increase the availability of bikes and locks, the new system has shown a massive increase in city biking in Oslo. Less than four months after the launch of the new Oslo City Bike, the system exceeded one million rentals, and saw an average number of 9.7 trips per bike per day. Compared with the previous programme, subscriptions increased 35 per cent, while daily ridership grew more than 115 per cent. By October 2016, the end of the first season, the new system had already replaced all of the old stations, built many new ones, and passed the mark of two million rides, making Oslo City Bike one of the most efficiently used bike-share systems in the world. In 2017, the system’s second season, there were over 2.5 million rides. Oslo City Bike is designed with a flexibility that allows it to evolve with the needs of the city, adapt to future developments in technology and address shifts in user behaviour.

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LOCATION

185 stations in Oslo, Norway

START OF PROJECT 2016 DESIGN

Urban Infrastructure Partner, Oslo

CLIENT

City of Oslo

PROGRAMME

 ike sharing. As of September B 2017, there are 185 stations and ap­proximately 2,000 bikes. Upon completion of the system, there will be 3,000 bikes.

 85 stations with 2000 bikes are available 1 In 2017, the system’s second season there were over 2.5 million rides

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AKROBATEN BRIDGE ‘Akrobaten’, which translates from Norwegian as ‘the acrobat’, is a pedestrian and bicycle bridge that crosses nineteen electrified railway tracks at Oslo central train station. The bridge is a direct link between old and new Oslo districts and in addition acts as a link, via stairs and lifts, down to the station platforms themselves. The main challenge of the bridge was that it had to have enough clearance from the railway lines below, as well as allowing the pedestrians and cyclists to access it directly from the surrounding terrain on both sides. In addition there were only four possible foundation points and the bridge therefore had to span a total of 67 metres between them. These challenges were the basis for the main design move, that of lifting the primary construction over the walkway, and creating a visually spectacular form. Four steel columns, shaped as the number 7, hold up a 5 metre deep triangular steel truss that is tapered at both ends. The walkway is hung from this truss by a series of thin steel rods. The bridge is sided by a large glass railing which allows the users a clear and unobstructed view of the city in both directions.

LOCATION

COMPLETION 2011 DESIGN

 rchitects: L2 Arkitekter, Oslo; civil A engineers: Rambøll Norge, Oslo

CLIENT

Bjørvika Infrastruktur

PROGRAMME

 he Akrobaten pedestrian and T bicycle bridge is a direct link between the old Oslo and the new district Bjørvika. Its 206 m long, the longest span is 67 m, and width is around 6 m.

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 jørvika Oslo. Queen Eufemia’s B Street, Annette Thommessens square. Barcode, Oslo, Norway

Akrobaten stretches across the tracks of Oslo central station. Akrobaten connecting the two areas Grønland and Bjørvika. The bridge offers great views of Oslo's new row of high rises, the so called Barcode.

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QUEEN EUFEMIA’S STREET The new main streets in Bjørvika as parkways: Queen Eufe­mia’s Street, King Håkon 5.s Street and Langkaigata become the new national streets in Oslo’s new development Bjørvika, formed as planted parkways with a multitude of transport functions. Queen Eufemia’s Street is developed with an asymmetrical street section, allowing for a wide, planted pavement for the northern sun-rich side. Light granite is used as both kerb and coating for the pavements. 100 street stools are placed along the street for spring comforts. Universal access and lighting are fulfilled as per the latest standards. The tram is placed asymmetrically in a hammock profile along the bottom of Queen Eufemia’s Street. The tram will from 2018 run along a green stretch of grass flanked by columns of oak. Cut buckthorn provides safety alongside green elements between the tramways and traffic lanes. Climbing roses on slim trellises reminisce on the elaborate festivities of the coronation of the royal couple Håkon V and Queen Eufemia in 1299. A palette of over 500 street trees comprising 100 types and varieties are planted in groves in part to reflect the diversity of the twenty-first century. Choices reflect the strict requirements of modern street trees in Oslo’s climatic conditions. Street trees are identified and are ordered as a geographic wander­ing from East Asia through the Caucasus and Europe through to Western-Americas along Queen Eufemia’s northern pavement. Groves of elm, ash, linden and maple are planted along the southern, more shaded side. Street planting in Bjørvika is one of Europe’s largest street projects and the site has already gained much attention.

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LOCATION

 ueen Eufemia’s Street Q [Dronning Eufemia’s Gate], Oslo, Norway

COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN Landscape architects: Dronninga Landskap, Oslo (main architect); architects: Birger Heyerdal arkitekter, Oslo; lighting design: Zenisk, Oslo; consultants: Holoconsult, Slependen CLIENT

Statens Vegvesen East Region

PROGRAMME

 ew main street in Bjørvika with a N 1,500 m long bike path in both directions, bus pockets, parking spaces for fifty bikes, and grassy tram in the middle. 500 trees make the street lush

Aerial view Site plan, 1 Oslo Opera House

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FUTUREBUILT FutureBuilt is a ten-year programme (2010–2020) with a vision of developing carbon neutral urban areas and high­quality architecture. The aim is to complete fifty pilot projects – urban areas as well as individual buildings – with the lowest possible greenhouse gas emissions. These prototypes will also contribute to a good city environment with regard to ecologi­cal cycles, health and the general impression of the city. The pilot projects are set to reduce greenhouse gas emis­ sions from transport, energy and material consumption by at least 50 per cent. They will involve high-quality architecture and contribute to a better environment for urban dwellers. FutureBuilt’s vision is to show that climate neutral urban areas, based on high-quality architecture, are possible. Its pilot projects are meant to inspire and change practices in both the private and the public sector. FutureBuilt is a collaboration between ten partners: the municipal authorities of Oslo, Bærum, Asker and Drammen, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, the Norwegian State Housing Bank, Enova (Norwegian energy national fund), the National Office of Building Technology and Administration, the Green Building Alliance and the National Association of Norwegian Architects.

LOCATION

Several locations in the urban area of Oslo, Norway

START OF PROJECT 2010 COMPLETION 2020 DESIGN Various PROGRAMME

 ilot projects within the fields P of urban areas, schools, cycling projects, kindergartens, office buildings, cultural centres, housing projects, swimming hall

1 U  lsholtveien 31: the new low carbon first-home residences provide charging stations for electric cars, a bicycle pavilion with workshop and a bicycle pool. Design by Haugen/Zohar arkitekter, Oslo and Dronninga Landskap, Oslo 2 Brynseng School is a new primary school in the city of Oslo. Thera are no parking spaces for cars in the school area. Design by HRTB Arkitekter, Oslo and Bjørbekk & Lindheim, Oslo 3 Bicycle Park: it can be easily relocated to dif­fer­ ent locations, such as schools, kindergartens and events. The facility is built in wood, consists of ten elements and is put together with fifty parts. Design by Jens Jensen

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Cycling in the City Christiane Thalgott

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It’s nice when we are many, but I’d much prefer it if square metres, and are content to lock up their there were just a few of us. Cycling would be much vehicles on lamp posts or fences (the large parkmore pleasant, it seems to me, without both­ersome ing areas for bicycles at train stations can be as racing cyclists alongside me and double­-width child aesthetically appealing and well managed as the trailers in front of me. (The older, the worse it is!) A ones in Amsterdam – that would make them atlarge number of cyclists require far more space if cycling tractive mobility spots). Motorists, on the other is to be enjoyable for everyone! We have much to do! hand, require around 38 square metres and more road space, as well as an additional 25 square Cycling is practical and – provided it isn’t raining metres for parking. 1 or even snowing – quite pleasant indeed. The But what is the reality of our allocation of hope­fully fresh air wafts into your nose, and the space for traffic and transport? Extremely unjust, physical movement before and after the daily if the human being is taken as the standard, and grind at the computer screen or in meetings does not – as is customary with engineers – the space you good. At times, observing the rules can get in require­ments of the transport infrastructure. And the way of speedy forward movement, but here, the same is true if we take the physical vulnerawe cyclists find a way. A certain degree of anarchy bility of the transport user as the standard. Those must prevail. If only there weren’t so many other whose crumple zones are simply their noses find cyclists, if only the urban space were expand­able, themselves constantly crowded by automobiles just as a dress or a three-piece suit can be altered that take up 6 square metres and weigh 2 tonnes, as we fill out and grow larger! which ride immediately alongside their wheels, Every year, more and more people are mov- and sometimes even under them. ing into cities. In Munich, for example, around Footpaths are, as a rule, narrow, 2 to 3 me14,000 new arrivals each year augment the exist- tres or even less, and are not reserved exclusively ing population of 1.5 million. And everyone com- for pedestrians, for old and young, for baby carplains about the others who have just arrived, or riages and walking frames, for dogs and playing who are already there, those who take up residen­ children, but serve in addition as transitional tial space or crowd the streets. Damn! zones leading into houses, as forecourts adjacent Over the past forty years, urban traffic poli- to building entrances and display windows. They cies have been car policies for the most part. New offer space for shop windows, for street cafés and roadways were given four lanes. In order to pro- also for a cautious cyclist or two. It is here that vide parking places in the ‘Gründerzeit’ districts the city, the neighbourhood, actually lives. at the edge of the city, expensive construction was Roadways for cars tend to be quite broad, undertaken at the cost of footpaths – pedestrians 12 to 15 metres and even more, and are as a rule having been deemed marginal. There were few intended exclusively for automobiles, although cyclists, and they were not seen as terribly impor- they are used at times by cyclists as well, emboldtant; they were expected to be satisfied with nar- ened by trial arrangements on cycling days or rerow bike paths measuring 1.5 metres in width lated activities. Such roads often separate more that ran alongside main arteries, and to travel in than they connect. Without a fundamental redemixed, 30 kph zones. sign not at least of their edges, they cannot be Space in the city is extremely limited, even made multifunctional. for cyclists – who are actually rather undemanding. In order to accommodate all the people who There is no longer any free space, just competi- get around by cycling or walking, cities today need tion for use everywhere. Climate and envi­ron­men­ far more space than previously. Rapid locomotion t­ al protection requires additional space, but the requires more space than slower movement. This same is true for living and working space, as well is true for everyone who is en route – joggers and as leisure opportunities and, not least of all, traffic strollers, racing cyclists, courier drivers, groups of and transport. But people need adequate space tourists, as well as motorists. More space is rein order to coexist peacefully in cities – space for quired to facilitate movement at a variety of speeds, more residential units, certainly, but additional and for passing lanes. Fathers pulling child trailers green space as well. want to move along efficiently just like courier When it comes to circulation areas, there drivers, and so do I, the ordinary cyclist on the are enormous disparities regarding space require- way to the office. Passing lanes are often hazardments. Pedestrians require only 2 to 3 square me- ous, and passing is often experienced as an irritant tres, and perhaps a café chair as a rendezvous by other road users (the present author, for exampoint or to rest and relax. Cyclists need 7 to 8 ple), especially when the lanes are too narrow.

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Today’s cycle paths, which are often a mere 1.5 to 2 metres in breadth, are inadequate for today’s cycling traffic; what we need instead are street­wide cycling routes as in the Netherlands and Copenhagen. Moreover, many walkways are simply too narrow to accommodate everyday use, which involves children and street-side cafés. Around thirty years ago, traffic planners rediscovered the bicycle as a ‘viable’ mode of transport, one capable of contributing substantially to mobility, and improvements followed in incremental steps. Traffic rules were modified, bicycle streets were installed, and a certain amount has undoubt­edly been achieved, whether at intersections, at stop lights, or with new, individual rapid route systems. Nonetheless, it is more a question of patchwork measures and wish lists confined to paper rather than integrated planning. There is still far too little space for the high numbers of cyclists that are envisioned. It is urgent that dramatically improved conditions be achieved in Germany’s cities. If pedestrians and cyclists are to be provided with sufficient space so that they can contribute their share of mobility, this will be possible only to a limited extent without bold, conspicuous interventions into the existing allocation of space. The budgets available to date are inadequate for the necessary conversion measures.

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With the advent of pedelecs, far reaching rapid-­ cycling routes for commuters are more frequently used; many more people than previously will be covering extensive distances daily on bi­cycles. In Munich, such connections are being planned in a radial configuration, with links between the spokes. At least as important, however, in light of new demands, is a critical re-examination of the possibilities and opportunities confronting the public spaces that have been utilised up to now for vehicle parking. The more tradespeople use bicycles, the more urgent becomes the need for commensurate space for charging and distribution. Also needed is space for rental bicycles and cars, as well as charging stations for electrical mobility and its consumers. In the struggle to redistribute the space that is to be won back from the automobile, priority must be accorded to wide, safe pedestrian and cycling routes – and, of course, to climate-friendly surfaces that facilitate water drainage, and to trees. Thanks to cyclists, not only will our cities be quieter and healthier, they will also be greener and more beautiful! Eyes open in traffic! This means considering the perspective of cyclists and pedestrians, and converting traffic routes so that they are usable by all. There is still much to be done!

NOTE 1

An automobile parked in a garage: 25 m2. The requirement for a pedestrian in dense traffic, 2—3 m2; for a cyclist, 7—8 m2; for a passenger vehicle travelling at 30—40 kph, 90 m2. From: Dieter Apel, ‘Leistungsfähigkeit und Flächenbedarf der städtischen Verkehrsmittel’. In: Handbuch der kommunalen Verkehrsplanung. Berlin, 1996.

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PORTLAND

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 iew over Portland looking toward the V downtown.

FROM AVERAGE TO EXCELLENT Leah Treat In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Portland was a typical US city: we had few bicycle facilities and very little bicycle ridership. In 1990, the overall bicycle commute rate in the city was a meagre 1.2 per cent. By 2016, the story had changed completely. Portland is now seen as one of the top cities for bicycling in the United States, and we have installed advanced bike infrastructure through­out the city. Our overall bicycle commute rate is now 7 per cent, and in some neighbourhoods that are adjacent to downtown the rate is more than triple the citywide average. Our first major step on the path to becoming a great bike city was our decision to build a citywide bike network. Starting in the late 1980s, the city began to invest in bicycle facilities. From 1990 to 2000, our bike network tripled from 120 kilo­metres to 364 kilometres. Today, we have nearly 600 kilometres of bike lanes, bike paths and neighbourhood greenways, which are residen­ tial streets that have been redesigned to prioritise biking and walking. Another 110 kilometres are funded and in the pipeline to be built. Importantly, as we have expanded our network, we have continually looked to improve our facilities. For a long time, we believed a standard 1.5-metre bicycle lane would be enough to attract anyone who really wanted to ride a bike. Today, this standard is considered adequate but not great. For that reason, in the early 2000s we started looking at how the world’s best bicycling cities, including Amsterdam and Copenhagen, build bike lanes. We also looked at what cities in Germany were doing to improve bike safety at intersections. We have taken what we have learned and integrated these improvements into our network. We have also begun to put more and more emphasis on separating bicycle riders from car traf­fic. This is one of the best ways to make people feel safe riding a bicycle. In some cases, we have

put parked cars in between bike lanes and traffic lanes. We have also created entirely separate bike lanes raised on a kerb and away from the car traffic. Given the advantages of separated bike lanes, we want to ensure that more and more of our network features them. That is why we have made protected bike lanes the preferred design for roadways where separation is called for. This means that when we plan new bike lanes, or when we improve old bike lanes, designing a protected lane is the default, the starting point; it is not an afterthought or an exception. We believe we are the first American city to have a policy like this. Safe, convenient, comfortable bike lanes are a big part of Portland’s story. But they aren’t the whole story. As we build nice bike lanes, we must also inspire people to use them. Portland has a rich tradition of activating the public right-of-way for the community. Portlanders embrace their streets as public space. We’ve had café seating on pavements for a long time. Ten years ago, we started Sunday Parkways, one of our most popular public events: five times a year, in five different areas of the city, we open 8 to 11 kilometres of city streets to walking, biking and rolling. Attendance has grown each year, and now every single event brings more than twenty thousand people out to play in our streets. We design each route to introduce people to new neighbourhood greenways and protected bike lanes. We want to inspire Portlanders to turn every day into a Sunday Parkways day by biking not just for recreation on Sunday but also for transport from Monday through ­Friday. Portland Safe Routes to School make walking, biking and rolling around our neighbourhoods and schools fun, easy, safe and healthy for students and families while reducing traffic around schools. The Safe Routes to School programme is a partnership between the City of Portland,

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schools, neighbourhoods and community organisations. Since starting in 2005, Safe Routes has expanded from eight initial partner schools to more than a hundred partner schools across five school districts. As the programme has grown, so have biking and walking to school by Portland school kids. Today, Portland students bicycle to school at eight times the national average. If we can get children started at an early age riding their bicycles for transport and loving it, that is a habit that will stay with them for a lifetime. I feel strongly that to have a more healthy, active and safe community in the future, we need to do all that we can to engage our children today. That also means making bike lanes that are safe and comfortable for everyone from eight to eighty. As we look to the future, we will continue to emphasise investments, policies and programmes that support safe cycling infrastructure. Increasingly, we will also look for opportunities to take advantage of advanced transport technology to encourage more Portlanders to ride a bike. A great example of this is our bike-share system, which we launched 2016 with one thousand

bikes. These are ‘smart bikes’, which means they have the GPS, communications and locking technology right on the bike. As a result, riders can lock up the bike at a public rack; they don’t have to use a station. That makes our BIKETOWN bikeshare system more convenient to use than many station-based bike-share systems, and it makes good use of the thousands of public bike racks we have built in Portland over the years. It’s the largest ‘smart bike’ system in the United States. In the first year, over 72,000 riders biked over 967,000 kilometres. That’s the equivalent of riding around the globe twenty-four times. Thirty years ago, relatively few Portlanders used their bikes as their primary mode of transport. Today in Portland, there are some corridors with so much bike traffic that we have had to widen the bike lanes. It’s no exaggeration to say that the growth in biking has transformed Portland. It has made Portland a more liveable and sustainable city, and it has contributed to the city’s economic growth. That’s quite a contribution in three decades, and I look forward to using pedal power to create even more positive change in the years to come.

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One of the winners of the 2017 ‘Bike to Books Coloring Contest.’ One of the programs in support of the multifaceted cycling culture of Portland. The winning designs will be implemented along cycling routes. 3 In operation beginning in 2016 is the bike share system Biketown, with 1000 bicycles and 100 stations. Supplemented beginning in 2017 by Adaptive Biketown: bicycles with hand drives, tricycles, and tandems allow individuals with physical restrictions to participate as well. 4 20s Bikeway, a 9-mile north-south corridor. Two-thirds of it is comprised of neighbourhood greenways, the network of residential streets with low traffic volumes and speeds, where bicycles and pedestrians are given priority. It intersects with fourteen east-west bikeways, and six more that are planned. It improved seventeen crossings of busy ‘arterial’ streets. More than 35,000 residents, including 5,500 school-aged children, live within a quarter of a mile of the route.

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TILIKUM CROSSING Tilikum Crossing was the first bridge built across the Willa­ mette River in Portland in more than forty years. Built as part of the new 11.7 km MAX Orange Line, the transit-oriented bridge carries light-rail trains, buses, pedestrians, bicycles and streetcars, but not private vehicles. As an iconic structure on the edge of downtown Portland, it was imperative that design and construction of the bridge meet multiple objectives. The construction of the bridge deck’s assembly was com­ pleted in 4.8 m segments extending out in both directions from each of the towers. Known as balanced cantilever construction, a segment was formed simultaneously at each tower and cast in sequence so that the bridge deck would eventually meet in the middle and reach the landings on either riverbank. This type of construction includes the potential for variation. As the forms hang freely in space, the contractor must predict how much each segment may respond to the change in the load once the concrete is added. Throughout the process the actual profile of the forming bridge was tracked to the ideal design profile. Since fractions-of-an-inch difference from segment to segment affected the overall slope, the contractor made constant adjustments to ensure the deck met the required objectives. The two 54.8 m bridge towers consist of two pylons each. Void of flat right angles, the towers and pedestrian view­points allow wind to spill off the structure – creating less wind drag. The angles of the white cables are meant to recall the form of Mount Hood, visible on clear days from the bridge.

LOCATION

 outhwest Porter Street, S Portland, USA

COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN

 rchitects: macdonald architects, A San Francisco; design engineers: T.Y. Lin International

CLIENT TriMet PROGRAMME

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 ridge, total length: 0.5 km between B landside abutments. Width of multiuse paths: 4.2 m each side.

 treetcars, pedestrians, and cyclists use S separate lanes Behind Tilikum Crossing is one of the regional features that inspired its design — Mount Hood

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MAX ORANGE LINE The 11.7 km MAX Orange Line is vital to Portland, Oregon’s strategy for growth management and liveable communities. The project links an entire quadrant of the metropolitan region with light rail, streetcar, bus, pavements and multi­modal paths. Remarkable in its innovation and approach to sustainability and community, the Orange Line creates inter­ related systems that: weave new human-scaled places into neighbourhoods, improve accessibility and repair environmental conditions along the way. Recognising that transit use depends on safe and efficient access to stations, TriMet worked with community mem­ bers to maximise station access, and include bicycle and pedestrian facilities that make connecting to stations and neighbourhoods easier. The project enhances the bicycle network by providing connections across the Willamette River and to light-rail stations. It includes the Tilikum Cross­­ing, the first multi-modal bridge with no automobiles in the US. Cyclists benefit from clearly marked routes and careful interface with pedestrians, automobiles and other forms of transport, especially at the two bridgeheads. Special paving surfaces and railings guide transit riders to platforms and separate pedestrians and cyclists from the rails and bus lanes. The project added approximately 12.5 km of new or replaced bicycle facility improvements, about 16.5 km of new or replaced pavements, and 446 bike parking spaces, including two secure Bike & Ride facilities. While engineers determined the trackway and civil design, leadership by landscape architects provided distinctive, artistic, human-scaled, sustainable infrastructure. Six landscape architecture firms, organised under two large civil engineering and architecture firms, designed the overall appearance, pedestrian and bike functionality, amenities and context for nine of the ten stations. Years of multi-jurisdictional planning and thoughtful attention design have resulted in a light-rail line that is more than train tracks and boarding platforms. It is a network of vibrant, healthy, community places that help neighbourhoods maintain liveability while addressing the future growth of the region.

LOCATION

Portland to Milwaukie, Oregon, USA

COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN

 ead urban designers and landL scape architects of record: East segment: Mayer/Reed, Portland; West segment: ZGF Architects, Portland

CLIENT TriMet PROGRAMME

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1 1.7 km long light-rail transit line with multi-modal infrastructure. Approximately 12.5 km of new or replaced bicycle facility improvements and 16.5 km of new or replaced pavements. 446 bike parking spaces, including two secure Bike & Ride facilities.

The cycle track at the South Waterfront station area. Green paint on the pavement designates bicycle routes. The bike path was developed in conjunction with the light rail.

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 7th Avenue station area features landscape 1 architecture along with designated light-rail, auto, bike and pedestrian lanes A segment of the east side riverfront trail provides bike/pedestrian access to the OMSI station and Tilikum Crossing Bridge The route and stations of the MAX Orange Line

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VERA KATZ EASTBANK ESPLANADE

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The Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade turned a once-derelict strip of land sandwiched between the I-5 freeway and the Willamette River into an active destination and community connector. Its completion realised a 1970s-era urban plann­ing vision to connect Portland’s east and west business districts, parks and neighbourhoods with cycling and pedestrian facil­ ities. The popular esplanade connects directly to four bridges and completes an entire 4.8 km multi-modal loop in the central city. It also links to the city’s larger bicycle net­work and will one day connect to a future river ferry sys­tem. It connects to the city’s 33.7 km long Springwater Corridor Trail and Portland’s newest multi-modal bridge, the Tilikum Crossing. Hundreds of users enjoy the esplanade each day. The 2.4 km esplanade features a 4.2 m wide promenade, a 365 m long floating walkway, steel deck overlooks, a cantilevered walkway, two boat docks, plazas, riverbank restoration, interpretive site furnishings and public art. A 21 m tower and stair equipped with bicycle gutters connects to the Burnside Bridge and growing east side neighbourhoods. The 4.8 m wide, curved floating walkway segment continues over the river where no land was available. The trail design is simply rendered in concrete and steel that relate back to adjacent post-industrial land uses. Native stone and indigenous plants reinforce the context of the riverine environment. Twenty-two interpretive panels and maps provide information about the site’s history and esplanade’s construction.

LOCATION

 awthorne Bridge to Steel Bridge, H Portland, USA

COMPLETION 2001 DESIGN

 Lead design, landscape, archi­ tecture, urban design and urban markers: Mayer/Reed, Portland; Eastbank Riverfront master plan: Hargreaves Associates, San Francisco

CLIENT

 ortland Development Commission P and Portland Parks & Recreation

PROGRAMME

 ike and pedestrian trail, B including two boat docks, 2.4 km long, 4.2 m wide trail

1 2

View north, with overlook in the foreground and floating walkway on the upper left Bicyclists and pedestrians on the curved floating pathway

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Observations on the Importance of Urban Green Space Ian Mell and Hendrik Behnisch

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All around the world, we find countless instances of green infrastructure that benefits people in fun­ damental ways. Regions with extreme climates in particular profit from urban green spaces. In Ahmedabad in India, trees that line streets, in conjunction with public green, attenuate the impact of extreme temperatures and rain, thereby ensuring urban quality of life. In the US-Ameri­can city of Philadelphia it is the so-called “Green City, Clean Waters” program that offers the citizenry decided advantages. Green roofs and sustainable drainage are helping ‘Philly’ to prepare for increasing climate fluctuations. To start with, these green infrastructural resources in Ahmed­abad and Philadelphia fulfill essential ecological functions. But urban green spaces also play an important role in urban development with regard to socioeconomic factors. The state of Georgia in the United States is for instance: the ‘Atlanta Beltline’ will form a 37 km long green axis and will ensure access to public green space from every urban district. 1 The ‘High Line’ in New York City and the ‘Promenade Plantée’ in Paris have reshaped former railroad beds to create public spaces. Both projects have generated economic growth, a flourishing housing market, and an increase in urban bio­diversity. In England, the so-called “Community Forest Partnerships” work together with local deci­sionmakers in order to redevelop fallow postindustrial zones, giving them new uses. These examples demonstrate how places with minimal socioeconomic or ecological value can be transformed into public amenities – through invest­ment in green infrastructure. The exploitation of landscape resources can introduce interactivity to a place that formerly lay inactive. All the same, it is worth pointing out that at times, actors with competing agendas may appraise the significance of urban green spaces in highly divergent ways. We must therefore question whether every investment in public green is really expedient. As with all planning projects, measures designed to yield urban green spaces must be examined in relation to a variety of parameters: the landscape, community needs, cost-­benefit ratios and the concrete impact of a given construction project. In most cases, this proves feasible during the preliminary stages, but at times, planners lack the foresight needed to anticipate the concrete effects of their projects. An eloquent example of the latter is the long-­standing debate about the development of the ‘London Garden Bridge’, which ultimately remained unrealized due to high costs. Many Londoners regarded the

undertaking as a useless piece of ostentation. 2 For these critics, the bridge would simply have been a non-public space featuring limited landscaping, and would have involved the destruction of an existing park together with its trees. Advocates saw the Garden Bridge as a pioneering development that would have linked the northern and southern banks of the Thames, there­by emerging as a tourist magnet and a guarantor of economic growth. Both positions have claims to legitimacy: the project would have had both positive and nega­ tive consequences for the city. Now, the dream of the Garden Bridge has evaporated, and to be honest, the project seems to have been ill-starred from the start: lack of transparency regarding the awarding of the contract and the development process itself made it impossible for a genuine civil dialogue to take place between the affected parties. That social, economic, and ecological aspects can nonetheless be united successfully in landscape projects is demonstrated among others by the example of the ‘Olympic Park’ in London. There, green infrastructure contributed in decisive ways to the design and development – as well as the management – of a project that enjoys a citywide profile. The Ruhr district in Germany boasts a com­ parable flagship project: there, a formerly fallow industrial zone, was developed into a popular public green space the ‘Emscher Landscape Park’. 3 But the ‘Olympic Park’ and the ‘Emscher Landscape Park’ represent exceptions to the rule, and both illustrate in virtually ideal ways how green infrastructure can result in landmarks of local, national, or even international significance. Despite these positive examples, it is worth bearing in mind that the economic value of green infrastructure must be weighed against existing landscape resources. Moreover, it must be asked in a critical way whether a planned landscape project actually evinces superior qualities. Projects that are deemed non-inclusive or of minimal socio­ economic value can hardly be expected to enhance the economic viability of a site. For this reason, it is essential that an investment in green infrastruc­ ture be examined in relation to three fundamental preconditions: • It must do justice to socioeconomic and ecological needs • It must take the form of a high-quality project • It must be adequately financed Wherever these prerequisites are fulfilled, the pro­ bability increases that landscape projects will con­ tribute to economic growth in our cities.

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One thing is clear: in a short space of time, the planning of green infrastructure has increased greatly in importance. These days, the topic permeates politics at the local, regional, and national levels in conspicuous ways – not just in Europe, but in North America and Asia as well. This trend empowers urban planners to work with holistic

approaches in order to realize their ecological, socio­economical, and planning ideals. Meanwhile, if the importance of urban public green in poli­ tical decision-making processes is to be enhanced even further, we will need to meet the challenge of making our thinking about green spaces more ambitious, bolder, and better.

NOTES Shortened version. Originally published as “Grü­ne Infrastruktur als Allheilmittel? Überlegungen zum Stellenwert von Grünraumprojekten heute” in: Stadt + Grün 10/2017, pp. 16–22, Berlin-­Hannover. 1 2 3

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beltline.org, retrieved 31 January 2018. See also Stadt + Grün 02/2016, p. 10. See also Stadt + Grün 10/2016, p. 12 ff.

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1 The ‘Paramal Gardens’ in Ahmedabad in India are integrated into a citywide green network, and represent an exemplary instance of the public-private financing of green spaces. 2 ‘Olympic Park’ in London was constructed in 2012 for the Olympic Games. It counts as a flagship project for the successful conversion of fallow industrial zones.

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KARLSRUHE

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Spatial Agenda for Karlsruhe, diagram of the thematic field ‘Urban Proximity: New Paths Toward Accessibility’. Everybody should benefit from quick access to every­ day facilities as well as open spaces and parks, preferably on foot or by bicycle.

FROM BICYCLE CITY TO CITY OF PROXIMITY

Markus Neppl The solid bronze plaque at the side entrance to the Technical City Hall (Technisches Rathaus) shines as bright as the day it was installed: State Winner 1987 – By Bike in the City. But it’s not only because of this award that Karlsruhe can be called a bicycle city. Ever since the ingenious in­ ventor Karl Freiherr von Drais experimented with the first primitive bicycles in 1817, the bicycle has had a permanent place in the cityscape. With an even terrain and a tempe­rate climate, the city of­ fers a good basis for cyclists. In addition, Karlsru­ he is a university town with 316,000 residents of which 43,000 are students. But what is behind the title ‘Bicycle City’? Is it just a contemporary marketing idea, or is there a targeted and integrated strategy for urban devel­ opment behind it? Since the 1980s, the city administration has been pursuing bicycle-friendly development at vari­ ous planning levels. The objectives and measures were bundled into a twenty-point programme in 2005, which was updated in 2013. This programme is formulated in a fundamental and comprehen­ sive way. In addition to specific individual meas­ ures, it also has a tangible impact on urban plan­ ning and district development. In addition to the built infrastructure, the spatial agenda for ‘bicy­ cle traffic as a system’ embraces other fields of action, including public relations and the provi­ sion of services, as well as administrative and po­

litical conditions. Due to this close and consistent integration, the target of bicycle traffic reaching 25 per cent of total traffic has already been ex­ ceeded, in 2012. For 2020, the target is an impres­ sive 30 per cent. 1 In addition to the extensive infrastructure package, it is worth noting the commitment to involve the urban population and to strive for changes in mobility behaviour. The statement that ‘Karlsruhe wants to position itself as the number­one major bicycle city in southern Germany’ abounds with self-confidence. The active involve­ ment of city marketing and a bundle of campaigns are exemplary. The campaigns are often witty and are well-received in the city. Good examples are the sweepstake giveaways of more than five thousand bicycles as part of a campaign aimed at new residents, the establishment of counting sta­ tions and the elaborate festivities celebrating the bicentenary of the bicycle in May 2017. Seeing this record of success raises the ques­ tion of how these sectoral plans fit together with the overall urban development perspectives, and what effects and consequences these promoted efforts ultimately have. Often enough, expert urban planning for mobility, nature conservation, climate adaptation and architectural/spatial development is provided with very specific objectives and sep­ arated into different levels of action. As a result, they partially contradict one another, and it is ex­

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tremely challenging and time-consuming to link them together. If, for example, a cycle high­way route is to be planned, it may be that the require­ ments of mobility, housing development, and na­ ture conservation are incompatible and can only be mediated through complex political assessment processes. Since public spaces are limited in our cities, there is inevitably a competition among uses each time a process of conversion or optimisa­tion takes place. So if more space is to be given to cy­ cling, other uses must be organised more efficiently. With its 2015 master plan, the city of Karls­ ruhe has for the first time attempted to establish a comprehensive plan for future urban develop­ ment. 2 Moves to anchor the endeavour to make Karlsruhe a ‘bicycle city’ within broader efforts, first as a model project and since 2012 as a strat­ egy in the integrated urban development concept for 2020, were important steps towards achieving the ambitious goals. 3 In the spatial agenda, these intentions and goals were integrated into a specific spatial image of development and linked to other planning in a citywide context. In an intensive public process extending from 2013 to 2016, the spatial and sub­ stantive development perspective was formulated and finally adopted by the municipal council. The core message of the spatial agenda is the commit­ ment to a compact and diverse city of mixed uses, which should not extend farther out into the land­ scape. The resulting inward-focused development is demanding but inevitable. 4

The promotion of cycling is no longer under­ stood here as sectoral planning, but is woven into the strategic thrust or so-called driver for ‘Urban Proximity – New Access Routes’: ‘Karlsruhe is one of Germany’s mobility capi­ tals. Few other cities offer so many different types of networked mobility as those available here. Access and connectivity set new standards for qual­ ity of life and provide new input for neighbour­ hood development. Everybody should benefit from quick access to every­day facilities as well as open spaces and parks, preferably on foot or by bicycle. Where this is not possible, new connections must be built or new facilities must be provided, name­ ly at established transport nodes of the different transport systems.’ 5 This initially abstract commitment is a clear statement in favour of integrated mobility devel­ opment. The competition for the title of ‘Bicycle City’ is indeed effective, but without linking it to the district development, the measures remain isolated and one-sided. In the city of Karlsruhe, however, in the future it will be more a matter of integrating the significantly greater levels of bi­ cycle traffic into the public spaces and places, and of better resolving the conflicts that now in­ creasingly arise with other modes of transport. Beyond that, however, the bicycle has become a recognised symbol of a relaxed manner of living together in the neighbourhoods, without having to give up the amenities and attractions of a big city.

NOTES 1 2 3 4 5

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See City of Karlsruhe, Urban Planning Department: Radverkehr: 20-Punkte-Programm [Bicycle traffic: 20point programme]. Karlsruhe, 2013. City of Karlsruhe: Karlsruhe Masterplan 2015: Innovation & Lebensqualität [Karlsruhe master plan: innovation & quality of life]. Karlsruhe, 2007. City of Karlsruhe, Office for Urban Development: Karlsruhe 2020: Integriertes Stadtentwicklungskonzept ISEK [Integrated urban development concept]. Karlsruhe, 2012. City of Karlsruhe, Urban Planning Department: Räumliches Leitbild [Spatial Agenda]. Karlsruhe, 2016. See City of Karlsruhe, Urban Planning Department: Räumliches Leitbild [Spatial Agenda]. Karlsruhe, 2016, p.13.

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The cyclists stand at the intersection in front of the motorists, and hence clearly in the visual field of the latter. Erbprinzenstraße, one of numerous cycling streets in Karlsruhe. Automobile traffic is not permitted here.

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The Bicycle as an Agent of Change in Transport Policies Ulrike Reutter

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Since 1945, traffic planning in (West) Germany has been closely bound up with and embedded in a variety of urban planning guiding principles. Foregrounded for a long time, and dominated by the dogma of the car-friendly city, was the priori­ tisation of the automobile and of demand-oriented traffic planning for automobiles. Long-lived last­ ing road structures from that period still charac­ terise many cities, and even today, some planning measures are implemented in the same spirit. Be­ ginning in the mid-1970s, however, unacceptably high accident statistics, pronounced air and noise pollution and a growing popular environmental awareness – as well as a heightened sensitisation to the qualities that make cities liveable – led to an initial course correction: substantial investment flowed into extensive traffic calming, the redesign of urban neighbourhoods and public transport. Beginning in the early 1990s under the ae­ gis of integrated urban and traffic concepts – to an increasing degree in conformity with the prin­ ciple of humane transport – the reurbanisation as well as the re-dimensioning of the streetscape was undertaken, with the aim of achieving a mix of functions in compact, landscaped urban districts. In ways that supplement infrastructural and in­ vest­ment concepts, instruments such as mobility management attempt to improve non-motorised and public transport while at the same time influ­ encing behaviour. These approaches are geared towards human mobility at the same time as they strive to control traffic. These efforts should not distract us, how­ ever, from the reality that transport and traffic are still characterised by a strong, sustained increase in individual motorised transport (IMT), and that freight transport is still achieved mainly by lorries on roadways. The number of passenger vehicles in Germany continues to rise: according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the number had reached 45.8 million by 1 January 2017. This means, on average, more than 550 passenger ve­ hicles per 1,000 inhabitants – counting everyone from newborns to the elderly. In large German cities, to be sure, the degree of motorisation is lower, but it is still pegged at 450 passenger vehi­ cles per 1,000 inhabitants. And not only are these numbers growing, the size of automobiles is in­ creasing as well: newly approved cars are aggres­ sively longer, wider, taller, heavier, more powerful and faster. What suffers from these trends? The environment, public health and quality of life. In many large cities, the EU threshold values for the protection of human health have been exceeded with regard to noise, particulate matter

and nitrous oxide, but negative consequences also include overuse of land, the depreciation of the streetscape and a reduction in amenity qualities. Those who are the most adversely affected are not the owners of automobiles themselves, but instead those who are obliged to live on heavily trafficked main arteries in order to take advantage of re­ duced rental prices, along with children, the elderly, and weaker individuals whose immune systems cannot cope as well with environmental stresses. The ecological and public health conse­ quences of motorisation for our society also have a social dimension, and contribute to inequality within urban society – thereby generating injus­ tice. It is also worth mentioning that motorised traffic in Germany is responsible for one-fifth of the emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, and in particular of carbon dioxide – so that alongside localised negative impacts, the large­scale use of the automobile is also responsible for global problems. We are therefore long overdue for a shift in traffic policies that will shape urban life in essen­ tial ways in the future. Central to such a policy shift is the objective of facilitating the mobility of individuals and businesses in ways that meet their needs while being ecologically sustainable, social­ ly responsible, as well as economically efficient; only through such a conjunction will mobility and transport become sustainable and compatible with high-quality urban life. In early 2017, the German Environment Agency provided a sketch of what such a sustain­ able model of mobility might look like. 1 As an indicator for sustainable mobility in large German cities, the report ‘Tomorrow’s Cities: Environmen­ tally friendly mobility, low noise, green spaces, compact housing and mixed-use districts’ set a target value of only 150 passenger vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants – under current conditions, an unimaginable, even outrageous figure. It is only attainable provided that infrastructures and the provision of environmentally friendly transport resources are so attractive that the requisite be­ havioural changes are associated with emphatic individual and collective gains. Substantially carfree neighbourhoods, particularly in already exis­ ting neighbourhoods, particularly in inner-city resi­ dential and mixed areas, can no longer remain merely utopian; instead, a shift in transport/traffic policies must point clearly in this direction, if only for the sake of fulfilling the ambitious goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord by the year 2050. But a turning point in transport policies will not happen by itself. A prerequisite is the imple­

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mentation by municipalities of an open-ended, future­-oriented strategic discussion concerning objectives, methods and time frames. Receiving general recognition, meanwhile, as interdepend­ ent strategies that would need to be developed citywide for sustainable and integrated urban and traffic planning are the three principles of traffic avoidance, traffic realignment and traffic improve­ ment. These principles have been promoted with various emphases for a number of years now, and have to some extent already been practically im­ plemented. Traffic avoidance aims towards urban and regional developments that help to reduce the number of routes while shortening travel dis­ tances. A realignment of motorised individual transport towards climate- and environment­friendly modes of transport – that is, walking and cycling, public transport and car sharing – would not only improve the urban quality of personal transport but also make traffic more sustainable from the perspective of environmental and climate protection. Traffic improvement, finally, aims to­ wards an optimised traffic flow and technical im­ provements in power sources, vehicles and infra­ structure – supported to an increasing degree by new digital offerings. There are a number of potential methods for implementing the trio of strategies outlined above. They include so-called pull measures designed to improve the range of transport options desired by planning authorities, for example by according priority to bus and rail transport, and by expand­ ing networks of streetcar lines, high-speed bicycle routes and footpaths. There could also be meas­ ures designed to facilitate intermodal and multi­ modal connections between different forms of

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transport – for example, allowing bicycles on trains and buses, bike rental systems at train stations, the establishment of connection points for public transport and car sharing, as well as the imple­ mentation of shared platforms and apps allowing the readily accessible booking of all of these ser­ vices. This would generate incentives for making the transition from the automobile to environmen­ tally friendly transport networks: footpaths, cycling routes, public transport and car sharing. Necessary as well, however, are push meas­ ures, which is to say the placing of restrictions on motorised individual transport, for example by limiting parking options, restricting speed limits citywide to 30 kph, and introducing driving bans for vehicles that exceed NOx emissions limits in real operation (i.e., which may appear ‘clean’ only on the dynamometer). Actions undertaken by environmental orga­ nisations and civil society in various German cities in 2017, as well as the diesel scandal, which involved high-profile automobile manufacturers, dem­onstrate that a shift in transport policies is by no means a simple or frictionless undertaking, but is instead associated with social, political and legal conflict. It is all the more important, therefore, to illustrate through exemplary pilot projects and positive examples that the winners in the shift in policy are urbanites, who can expect to experience a high quality of life in sustainable, compact, mixed, green, low-noise cities while enjoying mobility in ways that are environmentally friendly and pro­ mote human health. That this shift in priorities can proceed in a democratic fashion and with the support of citizens is demonstrated by success stories such as Copenhagen, Vienna and Zurich.

NOTE 1

 erman Environment Agency, Department I 3, Verkehr, G Lärm und räumliche Entwicklung: Tomorrow’s Cities: Environmentally friendly mobility, low noise, green spaces, compact housing and mixed-use districts. Berlin, 2017.

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COPENHAGEN

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1 On the streets in Copenhagen 2 Cykelfærgen links Copenhagen with its Swedish sister city of Malmö, just across the Oresund strait. Since 2016 the project is the first cross-border sea route designed especially for cyclists. The ferry is designed for 120 standard sized bikes. 3 Free bike on S-train

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CYCLE CITY COPENHAGEN — VISIONARY CYCLING POLICIES

Klaus Bondam I was nearly eighteen when I moved to Copenhagen in the summer of 1982. There were cycle lanes in many places, but it is no secret that the city looked rather worn down and impoverished at that time. I cycled, like so many other young people, because cars were expensive and cycling seemed an easy and efficient way of getting around. I gradually decided I wanted to have an in­ fluence on the city’s development, so it felt quite natural for me to stand for election to the city council in 2002. In dialogue with the mayor at the time, Jens Kramer Mikkelsen, I became increasingly inter­ ested in modernising our city. I was attracted by the visionary path he had chosen in building the new metro and focusing on making Copenhagen an attractive city for families with children to live in. I very soon appreciated that the transport sys­ tems in a town are crucial to its development – transport systems that can carry citizens around fast and effectively. That was what Copenhagen had, thanks to constant extension of the network of cycle lanes since the 1930s. This transport system is healthy for citizens, too, and the many cyclists help to take pressure off the rest of the transport system. It was at that point that cycling became a political pro­ ject for me. We have practically been brainwashed for decades into believing that individual, private cars are the key to freedom. It was becoming in­ creasingly clear to me that the key to freedom was access to mobility. In 2005, there were again elec­

tions to the city council. A former minister and EU commissioner, Ritt Bjerregaard, became mayor of Copenhagen from 1 January 2006. She was near­ ly seventy at the time. She came from a working­ class background, and had lived a great deal of her life in Copenhagen. She told wonderful stories about how as a child she had ridden on the lug­ gage carrier of her father’s bicycle as they made their way to their little summer cottage south of Copenhagen. She was often seen cycling through the town, always with her cycling helmet and a neon-­col­oured waistcoat so that no one would miss her. There was no risk of that! After the 2005 election, I became the Coun­ cillor for Technology and Environment, elected for the Danish Social-Liberal Party. One of my high­est priorities was to improve conditions for the many cyclists in town, and I was soon nick­ named the Cycle Councillor. A short time after we took office, it was announced that Copenhagen would host the big UN environment summit meet­ ing, COP15, in 2009. It was hoped that a new Copenhagen Agreement would replace the Kyoto Protocol. (Unfortunately, as we all know, things did not go as planned, but that is another story.) COP15 became a unique opportunity for the city to formulate new policies on sustainabil­ ity. Two central documents, Eco-Metropolis and A Metro­­polis for People, were issued by a unanimous city council in 2007 and 2008. Eco-Metropolis set out a large number of ambitious goals, including significant reductions

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in CO2 emissions, essential reductions in air and noise pollution – and, of course, the aim to become the ‘world’s best city for cyclists’. A Metropolis for People was strongly inspired by the ideas of the Danish architect Jan Gehl. It described a series of very specific goals to make city spaces a positive experience for Copenha­ gen’s residents. Then as now, these two policies for sustain­ ability have been strengthened by the unanimous support of the entire city council, from far right to far left, and actively contributed to developing a kind of common language. A tone we all share. A story we have in common. Everyone concerned with developments in the city knows what the others mean when they refer to concepts such as sustainability, vital urban life, security for cyclists, or city spaces for humans. During recent years, people in the town have felt collectively proud of being cyclists. It was hardly surprising that cyclists felt noticed and ap­ preciated by local politicians when they heard them saying: ‘Thank you! All of you on your bikes are playing an important part in the city’s journey to sustainability.’ Over the last ten years, politicians in Copen­ hagen have made a large number of signifi­cant decisions concerned with cycling. They have adopt­ ed stricter regulations for how cycle routes are designed (including the width). New standards of maintenance have been adopted, and snow clear­ ance has been upgraded. On a large number of central stretches, ‘green waves’ have been estab­ lished, so that for a cyclist riding at 20 kph all the traffic lights are green and there is no need to stop. In many places there are foot supports for cyclists waiting for the lights to change, and we also have slanting litter bins along cycle routes so that it is easy to throw rubbish in on the move. Together with the surrounding municipalities, an ambitious project has been initiated to link up a number of existing cycle routes to form an extensive net (400 kilometres) of Cycle Superhighways extend­ing for

a radius of about 25 kilometres from the centre of Copenhagen. With the increasing number of electric bikes, the Cycle Superhighways will un­ doubtedly make a positive contribution to the to­ tal mobility of the capital region. New districts in the town are being designed with cycle parking standards in connection with new building projects and a good infrastructure for cycles, while links to public transport are planned right from the start. Copenhagen has set up a very controversial and costly, but very popular, new system of city bikes, which are electric and have a tablet on the handlebars with maps and more. The greatest cy­ cling success is the possibility of taking a bike – free of charge – on the light-rail, which cover a radius of 45 kilometres around Copenhagen. This policy was started in 2010, and has resulted in approximately a 10 per cent increase in passen­ gers, with more than ten million bikes transported each year. Another of the city’s successes has been a wise combination of design and aesthetics in the cy­cl­ing infrastructure. Leading architects and art­ ists have designed several prominent cycle features in the city, such as the famous Cykelslangen (see pages 156/157) and the Cirkelbroen (see pages 168/169). They create more attractive surround­ ings, and also make cyclists feel noticed and ap­ preciated. Some of the latest moves have been to increase integration of IT solutions in the control of the city’s extensive cycle traffic and to make cycling clearly visible in the discussion of Smart Cities, not least in the extensive international di­ alogue on the driver­less cars of the future. Cycling is healthy on many levels – everyone knows that. In Denmark the authorities are often so bold as to quote figures on the economic advan­ tages of cycling. In 2014 the Danish Ministry of Transport established that our society earns nine­ ty cents for every kilometre we cycle instead of using a car, in terms of longer lives and better health. So it pays to work at getting people out on their bikes.

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Everyday bicycle life in Copenhagen

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CYKELSLANGEN In 2010 as part of the city’s bicycle policy, a forerunner of the current bicycle strategy, a series of initiatives were taken. Among these was a general consultant tender for a bicycle ramp to complete a path across the Copenhagen Harbour from Islands Brygge to Kalvebod Brygge of which the first stage, the Quay Bridge (Bryggebroen) was already in use. The area around the Fisketorvet Shopping Centre in Copenhagen was characterised by a particular problem – two distinctive groups of users, each with conflicting interests, cyclists and pedestrians. DISSING + WEITLING saw a tremen­ dous potential for the new ramp to become something more than just a crossing. To unfold the ramp, stretch it out, curve it. Across the water, in between the buildings, and down close to the Quay Bridge (Bryggebroen). A clear pathway. Hereby not only making it more joyful to ride on, with less steep gradients and better curvature, but also making it an element that could pull together an area with a multitude of incoherent buildings. The solution was ‘The Bicycle Snake’. The 230 m elevated ramp ensures the complete separa­ tion of cyclists and pedestrians – the cyclists can pass quickly and easily through the area, while experiencing unique and exciting views, and the elevated road allows pedestrians to use the entire wharf avoiding perilous situations. Since its opening in the summer of 2014, the bridge has gained an enormous amount of attention in national and international media.

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LOCATION

Copenhagen, Denmark

COMPLETION 2014 DESIGN

 ISSING + WEITLING D architecture, Copenhagen

CLIENT

The City of Copenhagen

PROGRAMME

 icycle bridge with total length of B 230 m to complete a path across the Copenhagen Harbour from Islands Brygge to Kalvebod Brygge

 he elevated ramp is 230 m long. Cyclists T can pass quickly and easily through the area Site plan Aerial view

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MÆRSK TOWER Mærsk Tower is situated in the inviting and sustainable Campus Park. The university opens up towards the local area in an attractively designed and varied green urban space that is open to everyone. Campus Park is open to the public and offers outdoor study and recreation space for research­ ers and students, as well as new green nature experiences for all of Nørrebro’s residents. From Blegdamsvej, Campus Park is accessed via a fore­ court with sloping green space, benches and seating areas. The forecourt is designed to be able to cope with the effects of future climate change, such as the major cloudbursts pre­ dicted in the future. Excess water can seep down between the tiles, where it is collected in a large reservoir and then recirculated and, for example, used to irrigate Campus Park. The low buildings’ rooftop gardens can also absorb extreme downpours. The surplus rain water from Campus Park is used, for example, in irrigation of the park and to flush the build­ ing’s toilets. A unique element of the new urban park is the zigzagg­ ing ‘floating pathway’ that leads pedestrians and cyclists across parts of Mærsk Tower and creates a new connection between Nørre Allé and Blegdamsvej. The path, called ‘the good shortcut’, gives the public the opportunity to get up really close to the building and researchers, and to experi­ ence the urban quarter and building – between towers and tree-tops – in a whole new way. ‘The good shortcut’ leads you on a 300-metre long trip up to tree-top level. From here, there is a very special view of Nørrebro’s roofs.

LOCATION

COMPLETION 2017 DESIGN

 rchitects: C.F. Møller Architects, A Copenhagen; landscape architects: SLA, Copenhagen

CLIENT

 he Danish University and Property T Agency (BYGST) and the University of Copenhagen

PROGRAMME

Extension of the Panum complex at the University of Copenhagen. Bike bridge — length: 349 m, width: 2.5 m; plot area: 28,300 m2, park area: 21,300 m2 — here of 6,630 m2 main bike parking facility; Number of bike parking places: 2,400

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 ørre Campus, Blegdamsvej, N Copenhagen, Denmark

 unique element of the new Campus Park is A the zigzagging ‘floating pathway’ that leads pedestrians and cyclists across parts of the Mærsk Tower. The green and urban campus park is open to everyone.

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BUTTERFLY BRIDGE Three arms of the bridge, each with a different destination, reach out toward their separate riverbanks. The ‘Butterfly Bridge’ is a response to a very specific locale. Three river­ banks are linked with one another. A platform above the water unites the three arms of the bridge, offering good views of the canals and the boats anchored in front of them. Two of the three bridge arms can be opened to accommo­ date the passage of sailboats. The fixed arm forms the ramp that leads to Island Plads. When one of these two wings is opened above the canals, pedestrian or vehicle traffic via the other arms remains un­ impeded. This means that the open position of a bridge arm does not interrupt travel via the other canals. The extensive length of the bridge arms makes possible its gentle gradient. The bridge is manoeuvred from a wheelhouse.

LOCATION

 hristianshavn Canal, Trangraven, C Copenhagen, Denmark

COMPLETION 2015 DESIGN

 ietmar Feichtinger D Architectes, Montreuil/Vienna

CLIENT

City of Copenhagen

PROGRAMME

 edestrian and bicycle bridge with P a length of 63 m

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1 Closed bridge 2 Wings up, open bridge 3 Site plan

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Nørreport Station, 1918 ibid., 1950 ibid., 2007 ibid., 2016

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NØRREPORT STATION Copenhagen has a reputation for being one of the world’s most liveable cities. This partly has to do with the city’s unique cycling culture, public spaces, green oases and effi­ cient public transport. Here, Nørreport Station plays a cen­ tral role – not only because it is situated at one of Copenha­ gen’s most central traffic hubs – but also because it is the busiest station in Denmark. It has about 250,000 pedestrians, cyclists and users of public transport swarming through the station every single day. The users have been the centre of design for the new Nørreport Station. The design for the project springs from a study of human behaviour and preferred routes across the existing station. This analysis has formed the basis of the station’s new design to become a welcoming space focused on Copenhagen’s many cyclists and pedestrians. Bright pavil­ ions sit within the organically shaped areas that weave among the pedestrian routes, covered by canopies of grass and solar cells. The pavilions have rounded corners and transparent glass facades, which create a coherent urban space elimi­ nating buildings facing buildings at the rear or dark corners. The new Nørreport Station is an open, secure and welcom­ ing hub for all of Copenhagen. In the past, the station was surrounded by roads on all sides. Today, all traffic is redi­ rected to only one side of the station, creating free passage and thus allow­ing the optimal framework for Copenhagen’s many pedestrians and cyclists. In order to create a clear hierarchy between areas for bicycles and areas for city life, all bicycle parking is placed 40 cm below the city floor – as sunken ‘bicycle beds’. In this way, the bicycles have their designated space and are less visually obstructive. Multiple options have been tested for how to efficiently arrange bicycles and still create high-quality urban spaces around them. Hence, specially designed bicycle stands keep the bikes contained and discourage the users from expand­ ing the outer edges of the parking areas. Furthermore, each of the 2,500 bike parking racks are lit by LED lights. In the evening, they create a glowing sea of lights, celebrating the city’s bicycle culture while simultaneously making it easy to find your bike again.

LOCATION

Copenhagen, Denmark

COMPLETION 2015 DESIGN

COBE, Copenhagen and Gottlieb Paludan Architects, Copenhagen

CLIENT

 ity of Copenhagen, Banedanmark, C and the Danish State Railways (DSB)

PROGRAMME

 new urban station square, making A room for urban life, efficient passenger flows and 2,500 bicycle parking spaces

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Aerial view The pavilions have rounded corners and transparent glass facades, which create a coher­‑ ent urban space eliminating backside facing buildings or dark corners 250,000 pedestrians, cyclists and users of public transportation swarm through the station every day How to organise thousands of bicycles in a dense urban setting? The solution is to place the bicycles in well-defined areas slightly lowered into the ground. By doing so, the bicycles have their own designated space and are less visually obstructive.

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ÅBUEN BRIDGE The bridge traverses the busy Ågade thoroughfare in a grace­ ful arc connecting the green pathways. In Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, 36 per cent of the population mount their bikes to go to school or to work. The Munici­pality of Copenhagen wants to increase this number. The City is planning twenty-two green cycle tracks through the city, 100 km altogether, of which approximately one-third will be made up of existing greenways through parks and other green areas. The city’s greenway plans involve building several new cycle and pedestrian bridges. DISSING + WEITLING created the first two. The ‘green initiatives’ will result in a visible, symbolic presence in the urban landscape in the form of distinctive, architecturally designed cycle bridges. The Greenway traverses Copenhagen’s Nørrebro (North Bridge) quarter, forging a link with its sister green belt in neighbouring Frederiksberg. The link between the two cycle and pedestrian routes traverses the busy Ågade thorough­ fare in a graceful arc in both the horisontal and vertical planes, in harmony with the sinuous curves the Green Path carves through the city.

LOCATION

Copenhagen, Denmark

COMPLETION

2008

DESIGN

 ISSING + WEITLING D architecture, Copenhagen

CLIENT

Municipality of Copenhagen; Municipality of Frederiksberg

PROGRAMME

 edestrian and bicycle bridge with P a length of 63 m over the very busy and central thoroughfare, Ågade. The bridge is now an important part of the bicycle route ‘Nørrebro Cykelrute’ running from Lersøparken in the northern part of Copen­hagen through Frederiksberg and to Valby in the western part of Copenhagen

1 Site plan 2 Aerial view 3 View from Ågade

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CIRKELBROEN With Cirkelbroen, I want to tell a story about what happens beyond Copenhagen’s prominent waterfront: a story about the intimacy that you find around the canal in the Christians­‑ ­havn neighbourhood, about the unique life on the ramparts, its houseboats and sailing boats. It is a tool for reflect­ing on the interspaces of a city and on the frictional role that water plays in urban movement. I hope that people will stop for a while on the bridge and use it almost as a public square. The bridge will reduce people’s speed and shift their focus. It is a threshold. To hesitate on our way is to engage in bodily thought – it encourages us to renegotiate public space. I see such thoughts as an essential part of a vibrant city. — Olafur Eliasson

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LOCATION

 hristianshavn Canal, C Copenhagen, Denmark

COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN

 lafur Eliasson, artist; Studio O Olafur Eliasson, Berlin: Sebastian Behmann (architectural design), Robert Banović (project architect) and Jan Bünnig (prototyping)

CLIENT

Nordea-fonden

PROGRAMME  Cirkelbroen (the circle bridge) is a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists comprising of five circular platforms spanning Copenhagen’s Christians­ havn Canal to connect the Chris­ tiansbro area with Applebys Plads. Length: 40 m; Length of the rotat­ ing part: 25 m. One section of the bridge functions like a swing bridge, rotating to allow large boats to pass into and out of the canal. Around 5,000 cyclists and pedes­ trians cross the bridge on a daily basis.

Aerial view The bridge over the Christianshavn Canal

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CYCLE SUPERHIGHWAYS 1

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The Cycle Superhighways is a cooperation between the capi­ tal region and 23 municipalities working together to create a network of Cycle Superhighways that provide better con­ ditions for bike commuters and encourage even more people to choose the bike. The Cycle Superhighways could poten­ tially increase the number of bike commuters in the capital region by more than 30 per cent compared with today, mak­ ing the project a key cooperation in the development of green growth and sustainable mobility and we have already experi­ enced an increase in the number of bike commuters on the Farum route of 61 per cent since the opening back in 2012, and the Albertslund route has had an increase in the number of bike commuters of 34 per cent. A bike path has to conform to a set of criteria in order to be labelled a Cycle Superhighway, ensuring that the routes are developed with the commuter’s needs in mind.

LOCATION

Capital region of Denmark

START OF PROJECT 2011—ongoing DESIGN

The Office for Cycle Superhighways

PROGRAMME  2018 the eight Cycle Superhighways consist of a total of 167 km. The complete network of Cycle Super­ high­ways will amount to more than 500 km of high-quality bike paths

ACCESSIBILITY Cycle Superhighways have to connect central zones such as residential areas, educational facilities and areas with good employment opportunities, as well as bus, metro and train stations within easy access of a combination of public trans­ port links. The routes have to be coherent, connecting all municipalities involved. DIRECTNESS Cycle Superhighways must be as direct as possible with as few stops as possible, providing commuter cyclists the most direct route between home and work or study. COMFORT The routes must have even surfaces as well as a high degree of maintenance. They must offer additional services such as green waves, service stations for pumping bicycle tyres and snow removal during the winter period. SAFETY Cycle Superhighways have to ensure a low number of acci­ dents and ensure that bike commuters feel safe both in traf­ fic and deserted areas by offering the best possible solutions suited to the areas the paths run through.

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 ycle Superhighways in the capital C region of Denmark Signage along the Cycle Superhighway The Cycle Superhighways is a coope­ra­ tion between the capital region and 23 municipalities

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Thinking about Urban Planning An interview with Jan Gehl

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With its traffic/transport planning, Copenhagen is regarded as a pioneer worldwide. This city demonstrates that planning for a bicycle-friendly city can lead toward sustainable and socially viable urban life. Jan Gehl, urban planner and architect from Copenhagen, shares his experiences in an interview. DAM: Do you yourself cycle (in Copenhagen)? And if yes, for what purpose do you use your bike? JAN GEHL: I am now eighty-one years old and I do cycle, but locally. That means, no long trips. I used to com­ mute to work or to the school of architecture when I was younger, but now I take the bus, the train, or the metro. Because I also need to walk quite a bit every day, I combine it. And also my wife and I have discussed that going into the city where bicycle traffic on the bike lanes is denser is a bit more dangerous for people of our age, but we still bike a lot, my wife bikes everywhere. She is seventy-eight. But she doesn’t like the very crowded bike lanes either, so she takes the small lanes and then she drags the bike through the crossings for safety. I bike in my local area – that means to the tennis club, the corner store and the shops. DAM: You travel all over the world. Which city has ‘sur­ prised’ you most recently in terms of balanced traffic planning? JAN GEHL: I have been extremely impressed by what they’ve done in Moscow. In just five years they’ve cleaned up the city, they got their parking organised and introduced wider pavements and bike lanes and a city bike system. They have been very focused on making a much more liveable city for pedes­ trians and bicyclists, and they have done miracles in a very short time. Another city that has really had a programme of balanced traffic is New York. And it was espe­ cially in the time when Michael Bloomberg was the mayor when they did I think it was 845 kilo­ metres of bike lanes, and they really have boosted bicycling in New York. They used the idea of com­ plete streets. Complete streets are streets where many different modes of traffic are able to use the street. And in New York they were very smart, because they did a lot of changes but they never asked the city council. Because the traffic com­ missioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, had the mandate

to make sure the streets of New York were effi­ cient for New Yorkers, she just redefined ‘efficient’ to mean ‘complete’. And then she started to build bicycle lanes and bus lanes. ‘Efficient’ was not to have as many cars going through as possible, but to make a good street for the city. She made some guidebooks about complete streets with some very good guidance for the whole world, actually. And certainly I think that one of the cities that has done the most is Copenhagen. And I have been following this for fifty years and it’s amazing how many things they’ve done. And how different the city is now. When my wife and I celebrated our forty-fifth wedding anniversary, it was August, and we decided to go to the city centre to have a celebration dinner. We live 8 kilometres from the centre, so we took our bikes and we rode side by side on good bicycle lanes. At that time we were each about seventy years old. And we went safely and comfortably through the city and around the city centre, over to the harbour, found a place, and had a nice dinner. When we came home, we real­ ised that we had done 19.8 kilometres – when we were seventy, side by side in comfort and safety. And then we discussed that when we got married this would not have been possible at all. The city has been changed so much. And another part of this picture is that I know from my grandchildren that when they are twelve years old, they are al­ lowed by their parents to go all over the city on their bikes. And that means they can go to sports and clubs and music and whatever they spend their leisure time on. Which is, of course, a great freedom for teenagers and a great relief for their parents, who don’t have to drive them around. Another figure is that every third family with chil­ dren in Copenhagen has a cargo bike. They play a big role in the transport system here. Many peo­ ple do not have a car or do not use it. I have a car, but I don’t really use it. I think my daughter has it at present. I don’t quite know where it is. DAM: Why did the knowledge about the organisation of public space evidently get lost in the post-war pe­ riod? Why has so much quality public space been lost? Just think of New York, where there was hardly any seating in publics spaces until a few years ago. JAN GEHL: I don’t know if there ever was seating in New York because there was this concept that streets are for walking. I would say that the public space in Copenhagen had four phases: the first phase

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was to make it possible to walk. That was the period of the pedestrian street, the ‘Fuß­gän­ger­ straße’. And that lasted from 1960 to 1980. The next period, from 1980 to 2000, was the period focused on sitting and staying. It was the time when all these squares were freed of parking and all the pavement cafés started popping up – the expansion of the cappuccino culture. And that coincided with having more leisure time – you are not just rushing out to work or to shop. And of course tourists: they don’t walk all the time. They walk and sit and walk and sit. And if you want to be sweet to tourists, they should be able to sit. And the other thing is that our local people went travelling to Greece or Spain and saw these nice places and realised that the essense of lei­ sure time was sitting in a café and watching the passers-by or whatever. And they came home and had this feeling that relaxation is really sitting in a café and having a cappuccino. This culture has been in the Mediterranean countries all the time, but after the eighties and nineties it really spread worldwide. I’ve seen pavement cafés in Greenland and Iceland. So the café culture comes with the second phase. Now we are in phase three. That is not about walking or sitting, but being active. It is about places for roller skating and bicycling and swimming in the harbour or running. There is a focus on individual activity. And we are now entering phase four – actu­ ally, there are five phases now. But phase four has been because of climate change. We have more severe weather and there have been a number of storms where a lot of water came down and all the basements were flooded with water. So in this phase they enable climate adaptation in the dis­ tricts. Basically what they are doing is reshaping the streets, squares and parks so they can receive the maximum amount of water. And if there is a storm, the water can run into the square and there are depressions to hold it – the trick is not to send the water into the sewers and out into the ocean, because the sewers are not big enough, so earlier it ran into the basements. And sending a lot of water into the sea is generally not a good idea because we need to keep the drinking water. These new plans you can see in some areas of Copen­ hagen. They make the districts like sponges. There is a lot of vegetation, swamps and lakes, every­ thing to keep the water in. It’s good for the climate and it’s good for everyday life, because the air becomes fresher and these places are wonderful for recreation and for children to play. So now they combine climate and recreation, which is smart.

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Since 2009 the Copenhagen city council, where at that time Klaus Bondam was mayor, has adopted a new strategy saying: ‘We will be the best city for people in the world.’ And that means that not only the centre but the entire city should be organised so that it becomes more convenient, comfortable and safe for people to walk. This is the fifth phase which we also have now. And there are a lot of examples of this transformation in the outer districts, where nearly all streets have been changed like this. Where there used to be four lanes, there are now only two car lanes, a little central reservation to separate the traffic, street trees, bicycle lanes and pavements. This has been introduced all over the city and makes it much easier and safer for pedestri­ ans and cyclists, and also these streets are more beautiful, are much safer, and can take the same number of cars as the old streets because traffic planners today are much better than thirty years ago. All this is part of two strategies. One is: we will be the best city in the world for all people. And the other, which was passed in 2011, is: we will be the best city in the world for bicycles. And these two strategies are now governing the entire city and not just the city centre. DAM: What do traffic planners and city planners need to do to get people back on the streets? JAN GEHL: On the very last page of my book Cities for People I put down fifteen ‘great ideas’ traffic engineers came up with to create more room for cars. All fifteen make it more complicated for people. So when a Mayor says, ‘What should I do?’ I will say, look at these fifteen things, and then go out and eliminate every one of them. You will have a much better city right away. DAM: Germany is a car country, with a very strong lob­ by. It is said that a bicycle culture like the one in Copenhagen is not possible here. What would you say about that? JAN GEHL: Have you checked that in Münster? I haven’t been to Münster, but I have been told that Freiburg and Münster are two of the German bicycle cities. Both the climate and the topography in most Ger­ man cities are ideally suited for bicycling. What are you waiting for?

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New Road, Brighton, Great Britain, in 2005 ibid., in 2007, after it was transformed into a shared space by Gehl architects

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DAM: we are talking about. That kind of attitude, yes? Yes, but you can’t compare them to Copenhagen. And of course that is important. And the politi­ cians really need to see what is going on. JAN GEHL: I will tell you an interesting story about No! You should realise we worked on all this for Copenhagen, to underline my point. One of the fifty-five years. Other cities have worked for shorter reasons Copenhagen has gone so far with public periods. And the culture has been developed world­ spaces and bicycles is that we at the school of ar­ wide. There is a TED talk from 2014 called ‘Are chitecture at the University of Copenhagen start­ We Winning?’ by Peter Newman, a professor of ed to study back in the 1960s how people use the sustainability from Australia. And he says: Yes, city, and we became the world’s centre for these we are! And he tells us that car traffic actually kinds of studies. And all the time, we were using peaked ten years ago. It’s going down, in all the Copenhagen as a test bay and laboratory. So every major countries. And what is going up is public time something was changed, we went out and transport – basically metro. I think that in China checked how people reacted, and we published they have built more metros in the last ten years that in a number of books. Rather soon this turned than the rest of the world in the rest of history. into a direct dialogue between the university and And the other thing that is going up all over the the city. The people, the citizens, the voters – they world is bicycling. And bicycling, of course, is a were informed through the newspapers and the very good answer to a number of challenges we television about the results. And they started to face. We want a lively, liveable city, we want a say: HEY! It worked well, we want more. And sustainable city, and we want a city that invites this has been sort of going on for fifty years now, people to adopt healthy lifestyles. this relationship between university and city, or The WHO (World Health Organization) ad­ between a research centre and local communities. vises in their global strategy for the health: In Copenhagen, we call this ‘gown and town’: ‘Plan your city so that people move as much the gown is the academia and the town is of course as possible. Let them walk and let them bike. And the politicians or whatever. When I look back, I don’t let them sit.’ And then we realise that for can see that we at the university had a major in­ fifty years we made city planning that invited fluence on how Copenhagen’s policy developed. people to sit as much as possible. With drive-in And now the Copenhagen influence is being ex­ banks and drive-through restaurants and drive-to ported all over the world and they talk about everything. There are studies showing that peo­ ‘Copenhagenizing’. Four hundred deputations of ple in suburbs live shorter than people in cities. mayors and city planners come every year to see And why is that? That’s because they walk more what they should do – that’s more than one every in the city and they drive more in the suburbs. If day! And they are actually quite happy about it, walking and bicycling are a natural part of your because being a very liveable city is good for the daily pattern, then it’s very good for your health. economy. You get more tourists and more confer­ And we know from Copenhagen that if you have ences and more companies that would like to invest. a big bicycle culture, it’s good for a lively, liveable Being world-famous as a nice city is simply good and safe city. There are many eyes on the street; for the economy. it’s good for sustainability and it’s good for health. So by not driving cars, by walking or bicycling, you DAM: can actually address quite a few important issues. In your opinion, how important are public spaces as living spaces in a democratic urban society, at DAM: a time when digital communication and the com­ More and more interest groups in Germany show mercialisation of public space are increasing? that the majority of people want more space for pedestrians and cyclists. Are bottom-up movements JAN GEHL: a good way to move local governments in the You always hear that, now that we have cyber­ right direction? space, we don’t need public spaces. But the need for public spaces is, on the contrary, increasing. I think a number of factors in society contribute to JAN GEHL: that: people have more leisure time, and live in I really think that’s important. Somebody told me smaller households. In a city like Copenhagen, that in Baden-Württemberg many of the major every other household is one person. So there are cities were green. ‘Die Grünen’ is exactly what a lot of people who are young or elderly and live

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alone, and a lot of households are very small, maybe one adult and one kid. And we are scat­ tering ourselves more and more, we have more square metres per inhabitant, so there are not as many people in each neighbourhood as there used to be. We have studies that show there were nine times more people in that particular neighbour­ hood, because they had bigger households and the flats were smaller. We have strong evidence that when you do public spaces and do them well, they will be used. Because it’s such an elementary need for Homo sapiens, who is a social animal. His biggest inter­ est – our biggest interest – is other people. And what we can get in our public spaces is indeed direct contact. I really believe that man is a social animal and needs to meet other people. And that’s part of the Copenhagen policy on making a good city for people. It is good for sustainability, good for health. It’s good for a safe city. But it’s also good for social inclusion and democracy. And the idea is: don’t stay in your privatised world, don’t let yourself be fenced in, come out and join us and participate in the events, the culture, the city and the public spaces. Meet your fellow citizens face to face. Automatically you gain respect for society, respect for what kind of environment you really have; you should not stare at the screen and see all the crimes and get a completely distorted pic­ ture of what life is or what the city or the commu­ nity is. I think they are complementary; all this digital information gives you an appetite for the real thing. So use your own senses to engage per­ sonally with other people. DAM: In many emerging-market countries and Third World countries, the car is a status symbol. How can one prevent, at an early stage, these countries from making the same mistakes that were made in Europe? JAN GEHL: At the end of my book Cities for People I have a very small chapter on Third World cities. But I really think that’s a major problem. These are the cities that will take the next two billion urban dwellers. There is some hope, though. In China they had a policy to boost the economy: every­ body should have a car. In their eagerness, they threw out the bicycle from Beijing, which was a city of bicycles, they made it illegal to bike on certain streets. They have come to the bitter real­ isation that that was not a smart thing to do. And

now they have started to build a lot of metro lines and to reintroduce bicycling. In my book Cities for People (Washington D.C., 2010), I refer to the example of Bogotá. There the mayor, Enrique Peñalosa, realised that 80 per cent of his people had no access to a car, while only 20 per cent did have access. But all the investment had gone to the 20 per cent for a long period. So he said for the next period all the investment will go to the 80 per cent. He had a number of eco­ nomic ideas. He said that, if the economy in Bogotá was to improve, the trick was to have the 80 per cent become more mobile so they can move around and get jobs in other parts of the city. Because many of them were rather immobile, they could not really move or had to take long trips in old buses with high fares, and it took a lifetime to get anywhere. So he had this policy: I will build pave­ ments, I will create bicycle systems, I will estab­ lish bus rapid transit systems. And that is to make the 80 per cent more mobile. And he said that the more mobile they are, the better the economy would be for the whole city. And they could spend less time travelling and more time looking after their children, which would be good for society. And he said that the smaller a house is and the poorer a family, the more they need public spaces and parks; otherwise, they will sit on top of each other and watch television. He had a number of very interesting ideas, which he introduced around 2000. He is back now as mayor and we are very curious to see what he will come up with in his second term. That is an interesting strategy: should we use the money for the 20 per cent or should we use it for the other group? What will give us the best economic gain for the entire society? This was his way of thinking. Of course, there is also this prestige thing. And I’ve discussed that many times. For example, with the minister of transport in Vietnam, who said we could never bypass this stage of having too many cars. And also I realised that in Denmark we are in stage four. First you walk, then you have a motorbike, then you dream of having a car, and when you have a car, you think: maybe it’s smarter to cycle. Sometimes I am very outspoken about that. I think that the motor car is a very old-fashion­ ed and impractical technology for personal mobility. I would say the idea of the motor car was really developed in Detroit, in ‘the Wild West’ in 1905. Promoting individual mobility by giving everyone a tonne of steel and four rubber wheels was a great idea in the Wild West, a hundred years ago. But it is not a great idea in cities. And the

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Gammeltorv/Nytorv, Copenhagen, 1954 ibid., 2006

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bigger the city, the worse the idea. If you go to Mexico City, São Paulo, or Jakarta, you realise: it’s a completely stupid technology to give every­ body a tonne of steel and say, ‘Now you are mo­ bile’. Because they are not mobile. They are im­ mobile. And they pollute the air and they get fat and there are endless problems. It’s a very bad technology, and certainly mankind must be able to come up with something smarter. I know the automobile industry is desperate to stick to the old idea, which was good in the Wild West and still is quite useful in rural areas. But in the cities it is not good. We could have a car in the cities to go out of the city but not to go into it. In a city such as Copenhagen I never consider taking my car to go into the city. But when I go and visit my son out there, I take the car. I have several op­ tions, and the car is one of them. So I think this technology is really outdated for cities. We must be able to be much smarter. There are a lot of people saying, especially in the automobile indus­ try: ‘Once we get the automatic cars, all the prob­ lems will be solved.’ But as far as I can see, no problems would be solved, except the problems of the automobile industry – how they can sell another five billion units. They will have to come up with some kind of new idea. I heard in São Paulo that the moment we have automatic cars, we can have twice as many cars on our streets and will have no prob­lems. FOR GOD’S SAKE, you will have twice as many problems! I had a talk the other day about future cities. My vision is not Dubai – which is all about Mod­ ernism and motorism. My vision is: Venice plus bicycles. With a fantastic metro system underneath, which can take you anywhere. And fantastic neigh­ bourhoods, which are very people-friendly, where you can be a child, grow up, and get old. And a very good linking with all the neighbourhoods. But not with four wheels and a tonne of steel. I know there will be a need for cars for some handi­ capped people and ambulances, but this is a prob­ lem that can be solved. I really think it would be wonderful if the future was all about really good neighbourhoods for walking and cycling combined with a really smart, quick public transport system, where you could take your bike and take the wheel­ chair and take your shopping bag and whatever you need to take. That to me would be a much better vision than having Dubai. I tell students: whenever you hear the word ‘smart’, beware, because that is somebody who wants to sell as many millions as possible of some new gimmick. And he is not necessarily giving you a better quality of life.

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I was asked by the mayor of Toronto, ‘We all know now that we are moving to a situation where there are more and more old people in our societies. Do you know of any place in the world where they have really started to think about what implication this change in society composition should have for city planning?’ And I had to tell him: ‘No! I can’t point to any city that has really started to take this seriously.’ One of the things that happen when you get old is that the doctor says: ‘You really must get your exercise every day.’ And then it’s very nice to have a neighbour with whom you can walk and maybe a system of trains and buses and walking paths and stairs, which gives you the exercise you need – not voluntary exercise, but because you have to. And it’s good to be a little bit forced to do it. So I really think it could be a very good idea to have neighbourhoods that are designed for much more walking and bi­ cycling, with only very limited car driving for those who really need it. And these people could have a car somewhere – like a motorboat in the harbour. I really think we haven’t thought through the challenge of technology for city mobility. We are stuck with some 120-year-old ideas that the industry is desperately holding on to. Have you ever seen an advertisement with more than one car? You never see serious congestion and then a big arrow: buy this car. It would be a good mobile solution for you. In the middle of congestion? Never! You always see one car and a happy fami­ ly. And the sun is shining and the car is new and there are no problems in the world. DAM: Which three key tools would you give to a politi­ cian who is interested in designing his city/munici­ pality in a bicycle-friendly manner for the future? JAN GEHL: I hardly talk about bicycles in any of my books, because my interest has been in people and their built environment. And then later, bicycles were included in my research and writings. I realised they are sort of people, so I put them in the cate­ gory of people; they are fast pedestrians. If you have a street full of bicycles, it’s not without peo­ ple, they are just a little bit faster. So I think cy­ clists are sort of people. I would normally talk about humanistic city planning in general, and include the bicycle as a people-oriented mode of movement. If I could give one piece of good advice, it would be based on what we know from Copenha­ gen. If we go back to the traffic engineers, ever

since the 1950s these guys have been developing fantastic skills in documenting traffic; they count cars, they produce prognoses and they can tell you everything about traffic and cars. And for many years, whenever there was a city planning prob­ lem, the traffic engineers were running to the mayor and saying: ‘Look mayor, we need six more lanes here and three more lanes here and two thousand parking spaces.’ They had the statistics and the arguments ready. On the other hand there was not a single city in the world that had a de­ partment for people and public life. But anyway, for many years the cities knew everything about traffic and nothing about peo­ ple and how and why people use the city. What we have done in Copenhagen is to make the peo­ ple who use the city visible and document what is going on: where people go, how many there are, where they come from, how long they are in the city, how long they were here last year, and how long they sit on benches and how many café chairs we have and all this every year, just as if we were traffic engineers, so that now the politi­ cians have all the information about the traffic and all the information about the life of the city. And then we can ask them to make their choice. Is this good enough? Is that good enough? Is this taking qualities from this? Where would you put your emphasis? And the moment you start to get the people visible and city life documented, then you can start to plan. And you can start to make policies. And say: ‘Here is where we are, but we want to be here.’ That’s what the politicians always have done with car traffic, now we have tools to be just as systematic in caring for the people in the cities. This is good news. And this is used increasingly in cities all over the world. DAM: Thank you very much.

Interview: Annette Becker and Lessano Negussie; Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), November 2017, Copenhagen

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PROJECTS

CUYPERSPASSAGE/ MUSEUMSTRAAT

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

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LOCATION

Cuyperspassage: Amsterdam Centraal, Stationsplein, Amsterdam

COMPLETION 2015 DESIGN

 enthem Crouwel Architects, B Amsterdam; tile design by Irma Boom Office, Amsterdam

CLIENT

Municipality of Amsterdam

PROGRAMME

 he 110 m passage for slow traffic T connects the city and the River IJ

LOCATION

 useumstraat: Rijksmuseum, M Amsterdam

COMPLETION 2013

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DESIGN

Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos, Seville

CLIENT

The Rijksmuseum

PROGRAMME

Pedestrian and bicycle passage

Thirty-two per cent of all traffic movements in Amsterdam are made by bicycle. 1 This makes the bicycle the main mode of transport in the city, and means the cycling infrastructure is an impor­ tant topic. The fact that 665,000 trips are made by bike every day in Amsterdam 2 is plain to see. And if you have never experienced a bicycle traf­ fic jam before, you only need to try to cycle across Amsterdam’s inner city during rush hour. Luckily, there are ‘relief valves’ for the bicycle traffic – one each on the northern and southern edges of the old town. There is a bicycle and pedestrian tunnel running beneath the main rail­ way station and another passage right through the middle of the Rijksmuseum – both buildings erected by architect Pierre Cuypers in the 1880s. However, while the tunnel through the Rijksmuseum was part of the building concept right from the beginning, the passage beneath the main station was not established until 2015. When the Rijksmuseum opened in 1885, it stood alone on a green meadow at the southern edge of the city. A new, exclusive residential dis­ trict was planned for the area behind it, which is why the new city museum was to deliberately take on the role of a city gate. Pierre Cuypers

1 2

 he Cuyperspassage connects the city and T the river IJ The pedestrians’ side is covered with eighty thousand handmade tiles

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resolved this challenge by routing a public passage­ way through the middle of the roughly 140-metrewide, magnificent, strictly symmetrical building, thereby creating an extension of Spiegel­gracht on the inner-city side. The entire museum was planned around this passage, named Museum­ straat, with its splendid, decorative brickwork vaults – which is why the main level with its gal­ lery of honour is located on the first floor, while two relatively small doorways to the left and right of the tunnel served as the entrances. The tunnel was originally open to all modes of transport. In 1931, however, because of harmful vibrations, it was closed to motor traffic, and since then it has been open only to cyclists and pedestrians. The constricted entrance situation remained problematic, however. When the decision was taken in the 1990s to carry out extensive refur­ bishments to the entire museum building, a new foyer was one of the main requirements. Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos from Seville, who won the competition for the renovation in 2001, initially planned to position the new entrance in the middle of the tunnel, and thus to close the passage to all traffic. However, the Spanish architects soon learned that in Amsterdam, one should not con­

ceive plans without consulting the bicycle lobby. Following loud protests and tenacious negotiations, an alternative was ultimately found that allowed the passage to remain accessible. The side walls of the passage were broken open so that a glazed entrance with revolving doors could be integrated at each side. There is an atrium behind each of these, which now serves as a sunken foyer. An underpass running beneath the tunnel connects the two halves of the new foyer. Unlike Amsterdam’s cyclists, who are now able once again to happily dart through the tunnel, Antonio Ortiz is not con­ tent with this ‘second-best solution’, which he refers to as a ‘compromise’. 3 Far removed from such architecturally moti­ vated considerations, however, the coexistence of pedestrians and cyclists in Museumstraat has proved to be a weak point. While every Dutch person recognises that the broad central axis is a cycle path, not least because of the white bike logos in the paving surface, many tourists are not as well-informed – which often leads to (near) collisions. This had an effect on the design for the new Cuyperspassage at the main railway station. The main station was built in 1889 at the opposite end of the city, but without having to

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function as a gateway. It stood as a 300-metrewide, eclectically decorated brick wall north of the old town, turning its broad back to the banks of the River IJ behind it. In terms of urban design, this intervention was highly controversial even back then, as it resulted in the city centre being cut off from the harbour from then on – some­ thing Amsterdam’s Chamber of Commerce called a ‘regrettable folly’ 4. In the meantime, the city has nevertheless grown around the station. Since the 1990s, people have rediscovered the banks of the IJ, and over recent years the city’s Noord dis­ trict on the opposite side of the water, which can be reached by ferry, has become increasingly pop­ ular. That is why the station building not only needed a second front facade – which was resolved with a 2014 extension to the north side, designed by Benthem Crouwel – but also needed to become easier for cyclists to get past. So, in 2015, a new ‘slow traffic passage’, also designed by Benthem Crouwel, was opened. It runs beneath the railway tracks at the west end of the Cuypers building and ends at the ferry station. Unlike on Museumstraat, pedestrians and cyclists remain perfectly separated from one an‑­ other along the 110-metre-long, 10-metre-wide, 3-metre-high Cuyperspassage. When you look at

it in cross-section, the tunnel appears to have been cut through once and then put back together, slightly offset in height. The slightly elevated half is the pedestrian path, while the other side is reserved for cyclists. An LED strip makes the boundary even more visible. While the cyclists’ side has a simple wall cladding made of vandal­proof grating, the pedestrians’ side is covered with eighty thousand handmade tiles. It features a mural designed by graphic designer Irma Boom, who took her inspiration from an early eight­ eenth-century tile relief. The relief by Cornelis Bouwmeester, which belongs to the collection in the Rijksmuseum, shows a warship, the Rotterdam, and a fleet of herring fishers on a stormy sea. When seen coming from the inner city, the motif repeats along the first 20 metres of tunnel, but then gradually fades out before changing into white glazed tiles that become increasingly blue towards the exit. According to the architect, this is supposed to cause cyclists to slow down, as there is a shared space between the tunnel exit and the ferry station, where cyclists, moped riders and pedestrians encoun­ter one another from various directions. This works astonishingly well, primarily because Amsterdam road users are well versed in non-ver­ bal communication. — Anneke Bokern

3 Cuyperspassage, section 4 Cuyperspassage (1), site plan

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 y comparison, it is 29 per cent by foot, 20 per cent by car and 19 per B cent by public transport (2016). Dienst Onderzoek, Informatie en Statistiek, Gemeente Amsterdam, www.ois.amsterdam.nl/pdf/2016_ jaarboek_hoofdstuk_04.pdf, retrieved 28 October 2017. 2 See ‘Amsterdam zoekt meer ruimte voor de fietser’, in Verkeersnet, 11 April 2017, www.verkeersnet.nl/22362/amsterdam-zoekt-­meerruimte-fietser, retrieved 28 October 2017. 3  See Tracy Metz, ‘Oud gebouw in een nieuwe tijd’, in nrc.nl, 4 April 2013, www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/04/04/oud-gebouw-in-eennieuwe-­tijd-1226624-a1159995, retrieved 28 October 2017. 4 See Gemeente Amsterdam, Centraal Station, www.amsterdam.nl/ kunst-cultuur/monumenten/beschrijvingen/centraal-station-0, retrieved 29 October 2017.

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1. Museum passageway 2. Entrance to Rijksmuseum

1. Museum passageway 2. Entrance to Rijksmuseum

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Entrance Museumstraat Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat, First floor plan Museumstraat, 2013 Museumstraat, 1936

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LIGHTPATH — TE ARA I WHITI AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

1

decades of car-centric planning into a more sus­ tainable future. COMPLETION 2016 From the 1960s onwards, highways carved their way across Auckland, culminating in the DESIGN architects: Monk Mackenzie Architects, Auckland; landscape architects and Central Motorway Junction: a canyon of tarmac urban design: LandLAB; civil engineers: that sliced through a historic district, displacing GHD and Novare; digital light display: fifteen thousand dwellings and fifty thousand people IION; artist: Katz Maihi of Toitu Design; construction: Hawkins; surface: Resin and creating a choke-collar around downtown. Surfaces Limited Marooned in the middle after further changes in the 2000s: a decommissioned exit ramp, 660 PROJECT PARTNERS Urban Cycleways project, Bike Auckland, Auckland Transport metres long. Too costly to dismantle, it sat unused for a decade. Urbanists toyed with the thought of CLIENT Auckland Council; New Zealand an aerial park, like New York’s High Line. Others, Transport Agency including German New Zealander and cycling PROGRAMME Lightpath transforms 600 metres of advocate Max Robitzsch of Bike Auckland, saw its redundant high­way infrastructure into potential as a human-scale pathway. a cycle­way completing a vital link in Auckland’s inner-city cycle network The trick was to reconnect it to city streets. First, Robitzsch envisaged a simple access ramp. Then his imaginative spark found fuel in the Urban Cycleways Fund, a government initiative to boost cycling rates with a two-for-one subsidy for city Auckland’s iconic Lightpath (Te Ara i Whiti) may councils to build safe and attractive bike routes. In just over a year, the idea went from a be the world’s most literal example of recycled transport infrastructure. The former motorway twinkle in Max’s eye, to a widely shared blog post, off-ramp, reinvented as a hot-pink link for walk­ to a glittering prize – as transport agencies, the ing and cycling, symbolises a city emerging from city council, engineers, architects, artists, design­ LOCATION

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Auckland

1  Lightpath took only fourteen months from concept to delivery 2 Site plan

2

ers and construction firms united to create some­ thing extraordinary. The result: a brilliant addition to Auckland’s cityscape, a stunning magenta swoop that creates a new shortcut to the city’s west side and a dra­ matic context for everyday activities. Lightpath is anchored at one end by a sinuous new bridge, 160 metres long, that reaches into the motorway junction from nearby Canada Street. Constructed off-site in seven pieces then lifted into place, the orthotropic box girder construc­ tion is slinky and inky, with shimmering lights under its balustrade. The black steel theme continues on the old off-ramp, where a new framework of black steel pillars leans outwards like an open-weave basket, with Plexiglas panels to buffer traffic noise and wind. The west side of the path has the best views, towards the city’s Harbour Bridge, while the east side hosts the columns of light that give the path its name. The lights are programmable and motion-triggered to change as you move past – so at night, a single cyclist rolling along the path creates a rippling light show. Subtle design flourishes speak of New Zea­ land’s indigenous culture: laser-etched human

figures on the steel posts, and a tall pou, or pillar, at the northern end. And, best viewed from above, a dynamic koru pattern emerges as the path’s pink surface rejoins the city’s streets. For all the heavy engineering and subtle design, that bold colour choice is at the heart of the path’s popular appeal. Unapologetically whim­ sical, it has captured the imagination of Auck­ landers, who affectionately call it ‘the pink path’. From the air, it’s like a child’s pink ribbon dropped amid squid-ink linguine. Up close, the mix of resin and recycled glass aggregate has a sugary, frosted finish. The vivid pink – the colour of tōtara heart­ wood – complements the mitigating evergreen of the native grove through the grey motorway gorge. Pōhutukawa trees (metrosideros excelsa, the ‘New Zealand Christmas tree’) will grow to shade the con­necting bridge, dropping their famous red flower filaments onto the pink surface in early summer. Creating Lightpath took only fourteen months from concept to delivery; hundreds of people put in tens of thousands of hours of work. Gansen Govender, an engineer on the project, credits the outstanding effort to everyone’s conviction that

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they were building ‘something beautiful for the people of Auckland’. Lightpath has won the hearts of Aucklanders and visitors – as a backdrop for weddiWng photos, a viewing spot for summer fireworks, and a roman­ tic night-time promenade. Its first birthday was marked by hundreds of cyclists with a giant cake; its second will feature a full-scale festival. As the landmark project that launched the Urban Cycleways programme, Lightpath played a crucial role in building goodwill and signalling a new commitment by transport agencies to take cycling seriously. The instant uptake – over 200,000

bike trips in the first year – attests to its value, and it has had a magnetic effect on city-bound bike commuters, with journeys up on nearby feeder routes up by 30 per cent in the first year alone. In other words, the number of trips rose by a third. The network continues to expand. Soon, a protected lane will run from Lightpath all the way to the waterfront, completing a full loop of safe cycleways encircling downtown – a gorgeous neck­ lace for a city outfitting itself for the twenty­first century, with Lightpath as the central jewel. — Jolisa Gracewood 3 The instant uptake — over 200,000 bike trips in the first year — attests to its value 4 Aerial view

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PETER-MERIAN- AND JACOB-BURCKHARDT-BUILDING BASEL, SWITZERLAND

1

194

LOCATION

Peter Merian Weg, Basel

COMPLETION

Peter-Merian-Building: 2000 Jacob-Burckhardt-Building: 2009

DESIGN

Peter-Merian-Building: ffbk Architek­ ten, Basel and Bürgin Nissen Wentzlaff Archi­tekten, Basel; art and architec­ ture: collaboration with Donald Judd; Jacob-Burckhardt-Building: concept: Hans Zwimpfer; architects: ffbk Architekten (formerly Zwimpfer Partner) with Jakob Steib, general planner: ffbk Architekten (formerly Zwimpfer Partner); art and architecture: collaboration with the following artists: Brigitte Kowanz, Gun Gordillo, Claude Lévêque, Rene Levy, Markus Müller, Sylvie Fleury

CLIENT

 eter-Merian-Building: Federal P Post Office of Switzerland, Bern, I.B.O. Development AG, Zug Jacob-Burckhardt-Building: I.B.O. Development AG, University of Basel, Institut Straumann AG, Cochlear AG

PROGRAMME

 ervice building for the university, S offices, postal railway station, with a covered bicycle and pedestrian way on two storeys

If you want to go from the railway station (SBB) in Basel to the Münchenstein Bridge towards the east, you can use a unique cycle path through an urban landscape in transformation. The route begins as a passage through the striking rust-red post office operations building from the 1970s that will soon give way to a high-rise ensemble. At the Peter Merian Bridge, it continues in the open. Here, the cyclist gets a first impressive view over the expansive field of railway tracks. In the form of a broad bicycle boulevard, the path then leads directly to Peter Merian Building, which ex­ tends between Nauenstrasse in the north and the railway yard to the south, occupying the former site of a locomotive hall. Beneath the cantilever­ ed overhangs of the office building and service centre, there is an almost continuously covered roadway for two-wheeled traffic. Through periodic large-­format glazing, the sea of rails and the par­ allel tram bridge appear again and again. Spatially separated from the two-wheeled traffic but visu­ ally connected to it is a gallery-like pedes­trian path one level higher. Gently, the bike path makes a slight leftward curve and continues through the neighbouring Jacob-Burckhardt-Building. After near­ly half a kilometre, the cyclist again reaches

the outside world, facing the desired destination. Cyclists in Basel had to exercise patience while awaiting the hazard-free east-west connection offering an alternative to heavily trafficked Nauen­ strasse, which connects directly to the autobahn. The evolution of the facility, which was enthusi­ astically described at the opening ceremony in 2009 as the most beautiful cycle path in Europe, is closely linked to the planning history of the Merian and Burckhardt buildings, which stretched out over roughly twenty-three years. The story began at the beginning of the 1980s: to upgrade the area around the Basel railway station, a master plan later named ‘Euroville’ was developed. The primary development strategy envi­ saged new ser­vice centres and the modernisation of the rail­ way station into a hub for different transport modes. Furthermore, in addition to the expansion of the local transport network, the master plan sought to improve pedestrian and cycle paths. The planning of the two buildings east of the sta­ tion, conceived as an urban development ensem­ ble, began in 1986. As a condition of the zoning change for the former industrial site, a 4-metre-­ wide pedestrian and cycle path needed to be in­ tegrated into the southern side of the two build­ ing complexes. Peter Merian Building opened in 2000 and Jacob Burckhardt Building in 2009. While ffbk Archi­tekten (formerly Zwimpfer Partner) was res­ pon­sible for the first building, based on a compe­ tition the second one was built in collaboration with Jakob Steib Architekten. The pedestrian and cycle path was built in stages together with the two buildings and consequently remained depen­ dent on the progress of their realisation. Not until just before completion of Jacob Burckhardt Build­ ing did the planners hand the central section of the bi­cycle network over to the public. The costs were shared between the city canton and the pro­ ject developer, I.B.O. Development AG, in a public-­ private partnership. By integrating the cycle path into the devel­ opment of the conversion site at an early stage,

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Basel demonstrated in exemplary fashion that for successful development of the city within its bor­ ders, the establishment of infrastructure must be ensured not only for motorised traffic but also, and above all, for environmentally friendly pedes­ trian and bicycle traffic. The project also illus­ trates the necessity for comprehensive planning that involves the various stakeholders at an early stage in an iterative process of dialogue. As for the buildings themselves, they are the same and yet different. The non-identical twins each consist of six strung-together individual buildings with atria. On the two long sides, the facade sections step back alternately in a comblike pattern. A glass skin closes off the resulting exterior courtyards, resulting in a compact, ste­ reometrically unified form. The outer recesses are glazed courtyards that provide noise abatement, thus permitting naturally ventilated office spaces. The column grid of the reinforced concrete struc­ ture enables layouts that can be flexibly arranged for a wide variety of users; current tenants in­ clude, among others, medical technology compa­ nies, pharmaceutical companies and the Univer­ sity of Basel. Peter Merian Building also has an underground postal railway station. It is not just the site’s extraordinary infra­ structure but also the integration of art that make the project a pioneering example. The emerald­green glass panels that surround the Merian Build­ ing were created in consultation with Donald Judd. The corrugated outer skin of Burckhardt Building, however, which is made of anodised extruded aluminium profiles, is the result of col­ laboration with the artist Brigitte Kowanz. The various interior and north-facing exterior court­ yards have also been designed in part by artists. The outcome is an impressive and characteristic building ensemble that signals to the passenger trains their imminent arrival in the city on the Rhine knee. In addition, the two buildings allow the rail yards to be experienced as an urban space, by not only train travellers but also cyclists and pedestrians. — Evelyn Steiner

The walkway for pedestrians one level higher than the cycle way

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Lonza

Jacob Burckhardt Haus

Peter Merian Haus

Post Basel 2

Tram 10

Post-Passage

/ 11

Bahnhof SBB GLEISFELD GLEISFELD

Coop Schweiz

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 he stairway leading to the walkway above T and the cycling route below 3 Site plan 4  The Peter-Merian-Building (at the rear) and the Jacob-Burckhardt-Building (in front) alongside the railway lines; on the left: the SBB train station

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IDEA OF A RADBAHN

BERLIN, GERMANY

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LOCATION

From Zoologischer Garten to Warschauer Straße, Berlin

START OF PROJECT

2014 (design phase)

DESIGN

paper planes e. V, Berlin

PROGRAMME

 adbahn wants to transform the R forgot­ten space along Berlin’s famous U1 elevated subway line into a 9 km long major urban thoroughfare and create a space for contem­po­rary mobility, innovation and leisure

When a young Berlin collective made up of archi­ tects, geographers and urban planners first intro­ duced the ‘Radbahn’ in the social networks in November 2015, the result was euphoria. The idea of cycling beneath the overhead sections of the U1 metro line straight through Berlin, from west to east, protected from rain and car traffic, was one that excited not only the long-suf­ fering Berlin cyclists; it also touched a nerve in the capi­tal city, where cycling activists had initi­ ated Germany’s first mobility law. The roof above

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the Radbahn, almost 9 kilometres long, is one of the pearls of Berlin’s infrastructure and has stood in place for more than a hundred years. The U1 was Berlin’s first U-Bahn – the city’s first metro line – and was constructed between 1896 and 1902 as an overhead railway running along the city’s former tariff wall. The architect Alfred Grenander designed the elevated railway via­­duct of steel and decorated it with Art Nouveau el­ ements. The main section begins on Kurfürsten­ damm and takes passengers through Berlin’s busy inner city, from Charlottenburg via Schöne­berg, through the Park am Gleisdreieck, to Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, where it crosses the Spree atop the Oberbaum Bridge to enter the former eastern half of the city. The idea of appropriating the neglected space beneath Berlin’s most attractive overhead railway for use by cyclists makes so much sense that you wonder why nobody thought of it before. But disillusionment soon followed: Berlin’s Senate Administration raised objections, arguing that the Radbahn was almost impossible to plan and organise, that the many crossings were too diffi­ cult, that the stanchions carrying the viaduct were spaced too narrowly, and that too many

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 öckern Beach M The Radbahn crosses over Potsdamer Straße and runs between the Bülowstraße train station exits

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station entrances blocked the way. The Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection, in the hands of the Green Party only since 2016, also has other priorities. While they did have the Radbahn examined as one of thirty potential fast cycle paths in Berlin, the concept did not make it into the twelve fa­‑ voured routes that are to be developed in the coming years. So, will it turn out to have been nothing more than a nice idea? ‘We are more than a cycle path,’ argues Matthias Heskamp, one of the Radbahn initiators, who have meanwhile organised themselves into the paper planes association and who presented an extensive feasibility study in 2017. The people who came up with the Radbahn idea are not con­ cerned with getting from A to B quickly; they see their concept as ‘a vision about the direction in which Berlin can develop’. What that means in concrete terms is made clear by their treatment of the metro and suburban railway stations. They are redefined as mobility nodes, with parking spaces for rented and privately owned bikes, char­ ging stations for electric vehicles, collective taxis, parcel stations for logistics providers, and repair shops for cyclists. Train stations are transformed

into ‘intermodal transfer platforms’ where you can switch from one means of transport to another. The study works out in detail the special fea­ tures of the neighbourhoods that are traversed by the Radbahn, and takes the wind out of the sails of its opponents. Awkward stations are circum­ vented, and along narrow stretches the space beneath the rail tracks is developed for pedestri­ ans, while cyclists are guided onto a path that runs alongside. To make the Radbahn attractive for different types of users, the planners have dis­ tributed cafés, pocket parks, info stations and varied open-space uses along the route. These include stairways and jetties where you can take a break along the Landwehr Canal, a ‘transport bicycle hub’ for trans-shipping cargo at Mehring­ platz, an indoor art space you can cycle through, a street market, and a cultural stage, all of which have their place beneath or along the overhead railway. The Radbahn is equipped with all the amenities that any cyclist could wish for, from tilted waste bins to anti-glare lighting, right up to foot supports at traffic lights. Electricity is to be generated using ‘solar roadways’ along uncovered sections. The cars that previously parked below the overhead railway are to be provided with

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‘better and more attractive’ parking spaces, such as in indoor car parks with excess capacity, or in supermarket car parks that will be opened for use at night. The Radbahn feasibility study is bursting with ideas and conjures up images of cycling through the city in a relaxed manner, stopping every now and then along the way, perhaps tak­ ing a few detours, running errands and changing to another mode of transport if needed. Despite resistance from the city authorities, the initiators plough on undeterred, organising guided tours along the route and collecting money in a crowd­ funding campaign on the Internet. And they now have some well-known supporters on their side, particularly among promoters of regional busi­ ness and tourism. Berlin’s chief city marketer,

Burkhard Kieker, already sees both tourists and Berlin natives cycling beneath the overhead rail­ way, and believes that the ‘first covered cycle path in the world’ might be able to establish itself in Berlin by gaining ‘a bicycle-length lead in the competition with other bike-friendly destinations’. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry hopes the route can ‘become an emblematic symbol for a smart business location’. The Radbahn has sparked a debate that goes beyond mere traffic management, and questions the fundamental orientation of Berlin’s urban de­vel­‑ opment policies. Whether the Radbahn remains a nice idea or becomes a test track for the mobility of tomorrow will depend on how far the city author­ities open up to suggestions from civil society. — Doris Kleilein

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 auentzienstraße; pedestrians and cyclists T share the central reservation, which is over 12 metres wide 4 Cycling under the protection of the railway viaduct — attractive even during rain 5 Current situation

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RAFTING BRIDGE LOCATION

Mestni Park, Celje

COMPLETION 2014

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DESIGN

Arhitektura d.o.o., Ljubljana

CLIENT

Municipality of Celje

PROGRAMME

The bridge connects the city park and the historic city centre

CELJE, SLOVENIA

The new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists across the Savinja River in Celje replaced a footbridge that was placed low over the river and was in constant risk of flooding. The location of the new bridge lies on the axis connecting the museum square in front of the central library on the left bank with the promenade in the town park on the right bank. In a wider context, the bridge connects the medieval town centre on the left bank with the town park on the right bank. On the right bank the footbridge connects to footpaths and bicycle paths running along Parti­ zanska Street, while on the left bank it connects to the footpath along the Savinja embankment, and across the museum square into the system of footpaths and bicycle paths throughout the town. Due to the flood protection measures along the Savinja River, it was necessary to raise the level of the former footbridge, raise the level of the flood protection dykes along the river, and carry out an intersection of the footpath and bicycle path con­ nection to the town park and Partizanska Street. Such were the starting points, the context within which the planning for the replacement of the Splavarska brv bridge took place. The new construction complements the ico­ nography of existing spatial elements. It preserves the grace of the old town panorama, offering a cultural dialogue between old and new. Each era leaves a mark in the space with a new bridge. Therefore the decision on the choice of the bridge construction and thus its architectural and sym­ bolic image was aimed at finding a long-span object with the bridge beam as thin as possible. The bridge was to span the river in one leap. The new bridge therefore does not compete with the ambience of the town scenery by being extrava­ gant or garish, but complements it with a youth­ ful elegance and boldness, which is made possible by new technologies and knowledge.

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Section and site plan Aerial view

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LINEAR PARK THE 606

CHICAGO, USA

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LOCATION

 etween Ashland Avenue and B Ridgeway Avenue, Chicago

COMPLETION 2014

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DESIGN

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, New York

CLIENT

City of Chicago, The Trust for Public Land, Chicago Park District

PROGRAMME

 epurposed railway line, alternative R transport corridor, urban connectivity, linear park including elevated bike/ pedestrian path. 4.3 km stretching across four Chicago neighbourhoods

Not so long ago you could walk a wilderness trail across 4.4 kilometres of Chicago. The elevated rail line that ran from east to west along Bloom­ ingdale Avenue had been unused since the early 1990s; by the early 2000s, prairie grasses, wild­ flowers and scrubby trees had overtaken its aban­ doned tracks. The site was a haven for drug users and a home for the homeless, as well as a secret route for intrepid joggers and cross-country skiers. At certain points along the viaduct you could, if you were daring, hop the fence, climb the embank­ ment, and find peace and quiet on the tracks, high above the hustle below. Nowadays the former tracks still offer an escape from the city streets, but the site is a lot easier to access. Funded by a partnership between the City of Chicago, private donors and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, the 606, a park system

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Aerial view Even in Autumn The 606 is bustling with visitors

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along the old rail line, opened on 6 June, 2015. At its centre is the Bloomingdale Trail, a paved and landscaped running, biking and walking path along the viaduct where trains once hauled freight. Plans for development of the 606 and the Bloomingdale Trail began in 2002, with the for­ mation of the community group Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, which advocated the trail’s conversion as part of a larger effort to create more open space in Chicago’s underserved north-westside neighbourhoods. But the project didn’t kick into high gear until later in the decade, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared it a priority. With dozens of city departments and the Chicago Park District on board, by 2010 the vision was suddenly on track to become a reality. Often compared to New York City’s High Line, which opened in 2014, the 606 functions more

as a much-needed transport corridor for northwest-side residents than as a tourist promenade Re­graded to add topographical variety, and with rubberised strips for runners flanking the paved bike path, the trail runs west from Ashland Avenue in the affluent Bucktown neighbourhood to its terminus at Ridgeway Avenue, in lower-income, ethnically diverse Humboldt Park. Along the way, five small parks serve as access points, with gently sloping ramps making the trail accessible to scooter riders, wheelchair users and parents pushing bug­ gies. In the morning rush hour, it is a cyclist’s dream – commuters can bike due east towards downtown in less than fifteen minutes. The access parks also have bike-share stations run by the city’s Divvy programme on-site or very nearby. Though some have criticised the trail as too narrow – much of it is no wider than the original

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rail line bed – it widens in spots to allow visitors space to linger. At the Ridgeway trailhead, a spi­ ralling path leads to an open-air observatory. At the Damen Avenue plaza, Chakaia Booker’s threeton Brick House, an undulating sculpture made of rubber tyres and steel, anchors a space for sitting and snacking. At Humboldt Boulevard, rows of wide bleacher-style benches shaded by trem­ bling aspens, oaks and smoke trees allow for both privacy and a bird’s-eye view both north and south of the broad street below. The bleachers above Humboldt Boulevard have also become a popular spot for activism, with protesters unfurling banners protesting against such things as cuts to Chicago public schools and, of course, gentrification. While the neighbourhoods at the western end of the Bloomingdale Trail still remain relatively affordable, property values along the trail have spiked, rising an estimated 48 per cent since 2013, and so have the taxes. In response, two local aldermen in 2017 proposed an ordinance that would make developers pay a hefty fee to de­molish old homes in order to build newer, pricier ones. The money raised would go into a fund designed to retain existing residents and improve their housing stock. Meanwhile, plans are afoot to extend the 606 to run underneath the Kennedy 3 4

Site plan The 606 at twilight

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Expressway, the highway that cuts through the middle of Chicago. The extension would connect the trail with Elston Avenue, a main artery with protected bike lanes for commuters heading down­ town, and with the nearby former steel plant site currently being touted as a possible new head­ quarters for Amazon. At the moment, cyclists have to navigate a pothole­ridden underpass and dangerous intersections to get to the other side of the highway. The success of the 606 – which takes its name from the zip code prefix for Chicago – has seeded other rails-to-trails projects in Chicago. On the south side, the proposed Englewood Line would convert another elevated rail line to connect the low-income neighbourhoods of Englewood, West Englewood and Back of the Yards. Just to the north, the proposed 6.4-kilometre Paseo would do the same at grade for the largely Mexican and Latino neighbourhoods of Pilsen and Little Village. As Chicago pushes on into the global econo­my, opportunities to creatively re-purpose its existing industrial infrastructure – rail lines, bridges and buildings – are as abundant as the prairie grasses that once grew wild on the Bloomingdale line. Today, the same grasses are still there, only now they’re better-looking. — Martha Bayne

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HOVENRING LOCATION

EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS

Grasdreef, Eindhoven

COMPLETION 2012 DESIGN

ipv Delft

CLIENT

Eindhoven City Council

PROGRAMME

Circular bicycle bridge; length 208 m, diameter of 72 m

Recent studies show that in a context where cy­ cling is as well-developed as it is in the Nether­ lands, measures to upgrade the junctions still have great potential to improve the ‘cycleability’ of a city or region. 1 Unsafe intersections with major roads and long waiting times at traffic lights are among the strongest obstacles in the effort to fur­ ther increase cycling’s share of total traffic. The Hovenring, located near Eindhoven, solves this problem by systematically disentangling car and bicycle traffic and separating it onto two levels. On the site of the Hovenring, there was pre­ viously a roundabout that separated motorised traffic and cyclists but kept both at ground level. Given the anticipated future urban developments in the vicinity and the resulting increase in traffic volumes, however, this solution was considered no longer sufficient. For technical reasons, the municipality’s traffic engineers did not want an underpass on this site, and so, together with the Fietsersbond (Dutch Cyclists’ Union) and the engineers from ipv Delft, a different solution was sought at an early stage. The result is a roundabout for cyclists that floats above the intersection of the heavily trav­ elled arterial roads. The circular bridge structure with a diameter of 72 metres is supported by a single, 70-metre-high pylon. This makes it pos­ sible for the intersection beneath the bridge to remain free of supports and gives motorists a clear view in all directions. Another special feature is that the traffic-light-controlled intersection of the two six-lane trunk roads was recessed approx­ imately 1.5 metres in order to reduce the slopes for cyclists. Consequently, even though the space

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available between adjacent buildings and the roads is limited, the greened ramps leading up to the suspended roundabout have inclines of 3 per cent at most, which offers more ride comfort to cyclists. The Hovenring has been furnished with a striking lighting concept: a brightly lit lamellar band radiates along the inner edge of the ring; downlighting under the bridge structure lights up the intersection, and the balustrade is equipped with LEDs that illuminate the bicycle roadway. This enhances the floating character of the Hov­ enring at night and ensures that cyclists feel safe even in the dark. Combining a clear traffic concept with top­quality design, the Hovenring is more than just a traffic engineer’s alternative to a tunnel for bike traffic; it is also an unmistakable point of ref­ erence along the cycle path from Eindhoven to Veldhoven, and – especially at night, thanks to the lighting – a landmark in the region. These qual­ ities are due to the entirely integral design ap­‑ proach. The Hovenring’s planners did not limit themselves to meeting the five traffic criteria for good cycling infrastructure that are common in the Netherlands: consistency of the network, direct­ ness of the connection, traffic safety, attractiveness and comfort of the infrastructure. 2 Rather, they also gave consideration to further aspects of urban planning: spatial integration in the surroundings, the experience of the cyclist (and the motorist), and the socio-economic (in this case, touristic) added value of cycling. The Hovenring thus not only solves a traffic problem, it also offers a holistic approach that brings together – in one scheme – the different, sometimes conflicting requirements by means of good design. Particularly noteworthy here is that we are not talking about a good solution for cycling that comes at the expense of automobile traffic, or vice versa. On the contrary, the project creates a win-win for both user groups. Hovenring represents a measure designed not only to improve bicycle traffic but at least as much to improve car traffic, a fact that led to crit­ icism of the project within the cycling community. And indeed, the (weaker) cyclist still has to bear the brunt of the work in bridging the difference

in elevation between the cycle path and the road­ way. What’s more, the separation of the traffic flows in the vertical follows a well-known but now largely obsolete Modernist principle in which the zero level is left to the cars, while cyclists and pedestrians are compelled to divert to a ‘sanctu­ ary’ on level + 1. Thus the Hovenring, like many other ‘hard’ measures to improve (bicycle) traffic, remains committed to the principle of the sepa­ ration of functions and traffic flows. It therefore represents a more traditional view of a traffic

space, without interaction between the various user groups – but nevertheless a traffic space that is very well made and even beautiful. — Stefan Bendiks

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 rtgineering: Meer fiets, meer stad [More bicycle, more city], The A Hague: 2016, www.collegevanrijksadviseurs.nl/adviezen-publicaties/ publicatie/2016/05/31/artengineering-meer-fiets-meer-stad, retrieved 29 October 2017. 2  CROW (Ed.): Ontwerpwijzer fietsverkeer [Bicycle traffic design guide], Ede, 2016.

1 Aerial view 2 The Hovenring hovers above the lowered intersection, with integrated functional lighting for the traffic underneath the cyclist fly-over.

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BUFFALO BAYOU PARK

HOUSTON, USA

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LOCATION

Sabine Street to Shepherd Drive, Houston

COMPLETION 2015 DESIGN

 andscape architects: SWA Group, L Houston; architects: Page Southerland Page, Houston; horticultural/ specialty landscape architects: Reed Hilderbrand, Cambridge; civil engi­ neering: United Engineers, Houston; Traffic Engineers: AIA Engineers, Houston

CLIENT 

Buffalo Bayou Partnership, N/A, owned by City of Houston and Harris County Flood Control

PROGRAMME

0.6 km2 park within an important urban floodway, including over 14,000 trees and the restoration of over 50 per cent of the park’s landscape to its native ecological condition

The last time a hurricane slammed into Houston, Buffalo Bayou Park was a very different place. In 2008, just a few weeks before Hurricane Ike, I moved to the swampy, sprawling city. Hou­ ston struck me as wider than it was deep, spread­ ing out more than 1,500 square kilometres across the prairie but only rarely rising more than a few storeys into the sky. This was a city of parking lots and strip malls – long and low-slung, flat and farflung – with streets designed to move cars and

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everything else designed for their convenience. Since the car is the rule, to see someone on foot or on a bike was to see something exceptional. All Houston pedestrians have a version of the same story: they’ll be biking or walking to their desti­ nation when a car pulls over and asks if they’re OK, if they need a ride. And when I first saw Buffalo Bayou Park, no one would have described it as ‘iconic’. Though the park existed, the trails were more like desire lines. Crude footpaths had been worn into the banks, shaped by shoes and bicycle tyres. Vast stretches of the park were inaccessible, choked out by thick invasive vegetation that not only bar­ ricaded views of the bayou itself but was creating unhealthy monocultures. Often, even in the middle of the day, I would be alone on the trails, save for a few people who may have been homeless and were camping out. Now, in 2017, the park is iconic. After a rede­ velopment project, funded in part by a Houston­based foundation and a dedicated non-profit that stewards the green space, the park has been redone­– reimagined, reconfigured, revitalised. Scott McCready of SWA Group, the firm behind the redesign, once told me he envisioned the 3.7 kilometres of the park as a series of ‘rooms’. I like to think of it as a series of sensations. To ride the trails now is to experience a progression of views and physical phenomena that’s unlike anything else in the city. Either on foot or on a

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1 One of the new bridges for pedestrians and bicyclists crossing Buffalo Bayou 2 Buffalo Bayou Park leads directly to Downtown Houston

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bike, you can descend and dip low, skimming the surface of the bayou like a dragonfly, and you can rise high on a climb to take in views of skyscrapers. You can cling close to the cool concrete of a retaining wall that’s shaded by trees, and you can expand up and out to the warm brightness of a meadow of native grasses and wildflowers. You can see works of public art and reclaimed infrastructure, new pavilions and open spaces, gardens and historic cemeteries, views of the skyline and the sky, even a new restaurant. To complete the entirety of this sequence, to explore its permutations of low paths and high trails, climbs and descents, prospects and refuges, landscapes and structures, is to experience the city at its very best. But it is a limited experience. The bayou has always been surrounded by two high-speed streets, Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive. In a very Houston way, these streets are excellent for cars, but they’re dangerous, useless, really, for everyone else. Crosswalks are few and far between. The redevelopment project spilled just slightly outside the boundaries of the park, as new pedestrian bridges were installed and new crosswalks added, but these seem to reinforce the danger without addressing the lack of accessibility to the park on the whole. It is better now, but it is still not good enough.The contradictions inherent in the redevelop­ment make the new Buffalo Bayou Park so typically Houston. Lovely though it is, the park is a closed system that succeeds as a place in and of itself but fails to connect in meaningful ways to the larger city.

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Fortunately, the city is beginning to talk to itself in meaningful ways about connections. But, even with a new ‘bike master plan’ in place, ap­‑ proved by city council in 2015 and recommending where it makes sense to build new on-street, dedicated lanes and other infrastructure, the larger city struggles to connect. Moreover, almost all of this is nullified by the imminent threat of more flooding and more hurricanes. Houston is beset by almost annual ‘hundred-year floods’, in which the bayou rises out of its banks and inundates not only the park but Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive too. It happened in 2008 during Hurricane Ike. It’s now happened three years in a row. In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over the city, dumping more than 125 centimetres of rain in just a few days, overwhelming the city’s ability to drain itself and forming pools of floodwater that inundated both brand new subdivisions and historic neighbourhoods alike. Buffalo Bayou Park, and all its newfangled amenities, its high-­ comfort bike paths and spectacular vistas, was completely underwater for at least a week. And in a flash, the city’s best place was gone. As the potentially contaminated sludge sediment that the floodwaters have left behind is cleared away and the park is restored to functionality, the limitations of the city’s piecemeal urbanisation are clear. Buffalo Bayou Park is the best place in the city when we can use it, and it’s a painful reminder when we can’t that it’s just about all Houston has. — Allyn West

3 Site plan 4 At its eastern end Buffalo Bayou Park is overstretched by the Gulf Freeway (Route 45)

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5 View over Houston. In the middle between the Highways Buffalo Bayou Park, in the Background Downtown Houston. 6 Buffalo Bayou Park acts as a catalyst and case study for Bayou Greenways, a citywide initiative to transform more than 3,000 acres of under-utilized open space into equitably distributed linear park green space. 7 There are five Bikeshare stations of Houston B-Cyle directly at or near entrances to Buffalo Bayou Park

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BICYCLE PARKING, SYKKELHOTELL

LILLESTRØM, NORWAY

1

LOCATION

Lillestrøm Statjon, Lillestrøm

COMPLETION 2016 DESIGN

Various Architects, Oslo

CLIENT

Norwegian National Railways, ROM Eiendom AS

PROGRAMME Bicycle hotel parking, 500 m2 for 394 bicycles

The Norwegian Tourist Routes project has grown immensely popular and gained a lot of attention in the national and international press. In it, architects are invited to design architectural gems in spectacular scenery along motorways all over Norway. Bane NOR, the state-owned company res­pon­ sible for the Norwegian national railway infra­struc­ ture, decided to launch what could be seen as a green counterpoint to these gas-fuelled projects: elevating and making visible the environmen­tally friendly infrastructure of biking through a series of bicycle parking station serving as ‘bike hotels’.

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At the time of writing, ten such pavilions have appeared close to trains stations around Norway, and more are on the way. One of the first of these projects to hit the pages of the architectu­ral maga­ zines was the bike hotel in Lillestrøm, a small town a ten-minute train ride from Oslo that, appropriately, has been elected the ‘best biking city in Norway’ by the members of the nati­onal bicycle association due to its advanced biking infrastructure. The Lillestrøm Bicycle Hotel, designed by Various Architects, is situated on a square between the train station on one side and a mix of new semi-high-rises of housing, business and commer­ cial spaces on the other. The programme of the bike hotel is at its outset actually a rather uninviting one for such a public location: a closed ‘deposit box’ for bikes, locked at all hours (users who pay fifty Norwegian kroners – approximately five euros – for thirty days can unlock it with their mobile phones) and even clad in non-transparent materials. The architects’ solution to this introvert challenge is twofold: making the building into a beacon of light at night, with light flowing out of the opaque glass box sitting on a concrete base, and, not least, opening the structure towards the square

by means of a ramp leading to the roof. The wooden roof surface serving as a terrace above the square has a few benches, a small lawn be‑ hind a fence, and a lot of black stains from bikes, roller blades and skateboarders who have been tempted to use the tilted surface for some modest civil disobedience. In the fragmented context of the train station from the late 1990s, the new generic housing and office buildings, and the slow traffic of commuters and cars, the pavilion finds its place quite natu­ rally. Picking up the dimensions of some adjacent buildings, playing with the tilted shapes of some of the roofs, applying a material palette of concrete, steel, wood and glass, and with a significant and strong shape, it is both part of the environment and a distinct animal of its own. The design of the hotel has, according to the designers, been the result of a close collaboration between the architect, the client, and the structural and mechanical engineers from the early stages. This has led to a cost-efficient design with a simplified roof structure of repeated timber beam

shapes. The wooden roof rests on thin steel columns. The team also opted for minimal energy con­sumption, with sunlight as the only light source during the day and a natural crossed ventilation concept. As one of the pioneering projects of this rather new programme in Norway, the bike hotel also has a strong symbolic role. In a suburban area of car users, the relatively precious architectural design has a function of advertising the ‘green shift’ towards the more environment friendly combo of bike and train. Offering a safe parking space for commuters, it also caters to the ever-growing community of electric bike users, who would normally be reluctant to park expensive bikes on an exposed site such as a train station – a parking option about which the many wrecked bikes with missing parts in the area tell cautionary tales. The project, with space for 394 bikes, opened in October 2016. The usage rate has drastically exceeded the preliminary estimates, and the city has needed to build another bike hotel to meet the demand. — Martin Braathen 1  The sykkelhotell from outside 2 Section

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OFFICE BUILDING ALPHABETA

LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN

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LOCATION Finsbury Square, London COMPLETION 2016 DESIGN

Studio RHE, London

CLIENT

Resolution Property Ltd.

PROGRAMME

Office and coworking-spaces, bike storage area: 620 m2

The modern office has undergone unprecedented change over the past twenty years. Gone are the uniform ranks of workers’ desks overlooked by a manager’s corner office, to be replaced by hot­desking, breakout spaces and innovation zones. Where once we had apologetic-looking pot plants, now we have table football and beach huts. Similarly, the dedicated car-parking place is increasingly becoming a thing of the past as developers and businesses alike realise that workers are now more likely to cycle to work than drive. Completed in 2016, the Alphabeta building in London’s Shoreditch – home to tech start-ups,

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London’s burgeoning gin production and ­hipster baristas – is firmly in this mould. A 24,000-square­ metre commercial office development carved out of three existing buildings dating back to 1910, Alphabeta occupies a prominent position at the point where Shoreditch meets London’s financial district. Visitors can enter the building from its Shoreditch-facing side to the north and exit into the heart of the City on its southern elevation. This seeming disconnect provides the building with its unique character and diverse range of tenants. At Alphabeta, bankers rub shoulders with creatives renting desks by the hour and tech entre­ preneurs. Three distinct tribes connected by the universal language of cycling. The development’s architects, Studio RHE, have uncovered several architectural layers. The accretions and interventions of more than a hundred years of fitting and refitting have been left exposed; a Classical pediment here, an exposed steel column there combine to provide an aesthetic as eclectic as the building’s tenants. This, together with exposed conduit, raw concrete finishes and haphazard detailing, coalesces to lend the interior an industrial feel. This is offset by the building’s grand glass-topped atrium. The office

space wraps around this at the upper levels, giving workers a spectacular view of the activity below. Those lucky enough to occupy one of the cantilevered boxes that break out from its perimeter walls have an even better view. However, the focal point of Alphabeta remains its bike-parking facility. Its steep, narrow and vertiginous ramp provides an exhilarating entrance to the parking facilities below. The architects un­‑ ashamedly use the language of the car park: crash barriers prevent cyclists from toppling over the edge, while a concrete-and-resin floor impregnated with grit maintains traction in the wet. The cycle park is accessed from the Shoreditch side of the building via a key card that opens a magenta-­ coloured sliding door onto the awaiting ramp. The whole entrance sequence works as one continuous event experienced from the vantage point of a bi­cycle seat. That the people in the offices above are afforded a glimpse of these comings and goings through a series of strategically placed glass slits only adds to the sense of occasion. This is bicycle parking as theatre. Once a rider’s descent into the bike park is complete, the facilities are no less impressive. There is room for 250 bicycles, each with its own locker, together with shower and changing fa­cilities that wouldn’t look out of place in a well-­ appointed gym. The bike park follows the same industrial approach as the offices – exposed cabl­ ing, white-painted breeze-block walls, scaffold poles as barriers – while the bike stands are an

off-the-shelf double stacking system. The real drama is reserved for the ramp. Its surface is painted in yellow and black chevrons, while the wall that runs alongside it is decorated in an enor­ mous barcode using the same palette. It is at once fun and functional. The architects have placed the bicycle at the heart of their scheme to great effect, tapping into London’s cycling renaissance. Cycling in the capi­tal, particularly in Shoreditch, has increased expo­nen­ tially over recent years. 14.6 per cent – or one in seven – of Hackney residents use a bike as their main method of getting to work. Specialist Shore­ ditch shops such as tokyobike and Brick Lane Bikes provide cyclists with stylish bicycles and accessories, while cafés such as Look Mum No Hands! (all within around five minutes’ pedalling distance of Alphabeta) allow them to ride in for a coffee and repairs. However, where London has been less successful than, say, Copenhagen or Amsterdam is in its provision of cycle infrastructure. The area surrounding Alphabeta is no different. The London Cycle Superhighway 1 (see page 222/223) leads to and through Hackney but by­ passes the Alphabeta by a few hundred metres. Those cycle paths that do run past the building are of the older, unsegregated style. Getting to the Alphabeta by bicycle is done – for the most part – the old-fashioned way, alongside motor­ists. But no matter, with a destination as com­pelling as this, the journey will always be worth it. — Gavin Blyth 1

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3  Alphabeta occupies a prominent position at the point where Shoreditch meets London’s financial district. 4 Ramp plan 5 There is room for 250 bicycles

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CYCLE SUPERHIGHWAYS

LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN

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START OF PROJECT 2008—ongoing DESIGN

Transport for London

CLIENT Municipality of London/ Transport for London PROGRAMME Network of Cycle Superhighways across London

London’s population is growing, and its future is being planned around active travel, with a new approach to reducing car dependency, increasing sustainable travel and improving public health. The Cycle Superhighways are a key part of this and symbolise a cycling renaissance in London over the last couple of decades. Cycling has grown more than 118 per cent since 2000 and now accounts for 30 per cent of road traffic in central London during the morning peak. The Cycle Superhighways are a network of cycle routes running from outer and inner London into and across central London to improve conditions for existing cyclists and to attract those who do not currently cycle to work or for leisure. Fol-

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lowing the launch of the first four Cycle Superhighways in 2010 and 2011, Transport for London (TfL) has developed an ambitious programme to deliver a step change in cycling facilities with four new Cycle Superhighway routes opening in 2015 and 2016, including the flagship East–West Cycle Superhighway that takes cyclists past famous land­ marks such as the Tower of London, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. More routes are being currently designed and constructed. The new Cycle Superhighways have re­shaped some of the most iconic streets of London. To achieve this has required bold ambitions and politi­ cal support, with a key focus on physically separating cyclists in either space or time from other road users. The new Cycle Superhighways provide a high-quality environment along roads and at junctions and include: Over 50 kilometres of segregated or semi­segregated cycle lanes, separating cyclists from general traffic, including forty new facilities for cyclists to bypass bus stops. Separation of cyclists from general traffic at fifty junctions. This includes new signals designed specifically for cyclists, separately phasing them from turning traffic to avoid conflict. Not only do the new Cycle Superhighways enhance the cy­

cling experience; pedestrian facil­ities and the public realm have also been im‑ proved. Over 150 new and upgraded pedestrian crossings have been in­stalled along the routes, alongside planting new trees, enhancing foot‑ way materials and upgrading street furniture to improve the aesthetics and feel of key locations, creating better public spaces. The East–West Cycle Superhighway along the Victoria Embankment has opened up the view across the River Thames, allowing for a stunning ap­proach by bike or on foot to the Houses of Parliament. The Cycle Superhighways are part of a growing cycling network and set of initiatives to pro-

mote cycling in London. With over 50 per cent of people who use the routes claiming they are now cycling more, the Superhighways are directly contributing to the ‘Healthy Streets’ approach set out in the draft Mayor’s Transport Strategy, putting people’s health and quality of life at the very heart of planning the city’s transport. The new Cycle Superhighways in London demonstrate that cycling projects have the ability to transform the streetscape in a way that benefits not only those cycling but also those walking and enjoying the city, in a less traffic-dominated environment. — Katharina Kröger 1 Facility at bus stop 2 Plan of current (blue) and proposed (white) Cycle Superhighways

Cycle Superhighways Current and proposed route map

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WALTHAM FOREST

HARROW HARINGEY

REDBRIDGE HAVERING

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CS9 RICHMOND UPON THAMES

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Barking to Lancaster Gate

BEXLEY

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Tower Bridge to Greenwich Oval to Pimlico

MERTON KINGSTON UPON THAMES

CS6

Elephant & Castle to King’s Cross

BROMLEY SUTTON

Merton to City

CROYDON

Wandsworth to Westminster

Current route open Proposed route The Cycle Superhighways programme will continue to evolve and is subject to further change

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PARK MADRID RIO

MADRID, SPAIN

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never been one of Madrid’s finest attractions. Unlike the Thames, the Seine and other capital DESIGN Burgos & Garrido, Madrid; Porras La city rivers, the Manzanares’ volume of flow is Casta, Madrid; Rubio & Álvarez-Sala, humble due to the proximity of the mountains Madrid and West 8, Rotterdam where it rises. Nonetheless, the Moors founded CLIENT Madrid City Council Madrid next to this river because of its water quality, while the promenades and meadows on PROGRAMME 6.5 km, 120 ha park following the river Manzanares, big-scale its banks were a lovely place for recreation, picdis­location of infrastructure for nics and festivals for centuries, as portrayed in motor­ised transport Goya’s paintings. An electoral promise in 2003 kick-started the project, which looked to bury the orbital motor­ way underground. A very controversial project in terms of sustainable mobility, since hiding the Constructed between 2006 and 2011, Madrid RIO traffic jams under a green carpet seemed like an is a linear park alongside the narrow banks of the overly expensive non-solution. Detractors also River Manzanares. The park is arguably one of labelled the operation ‘pharaonic’ due to its figures: the greatest revolutions and transformations in the longest urban tunnel system in Europe (forty­ Madrid’s urban space over the recent decades. The three kilometres) to be built in just four years, concept divided opinion when it was originally requiring the two largest tunnelling machines in announced, but today the park has become a the world (15.2-metre diameter). vibrant meeting place in the heart of the city. However, regarding the ground level, Madrid The story of Madrid RIO began in the 1970s, RIO was received with almost unanimous agreewhen Madrid’s first orbital motorway (M30) was ment and acceptance, with the objective to better built on the riverbanks, becoming a hard intra-­ connect six city districts. The new park became a urban border for decades. The Manzanares had reality in 2011: 121 hectares of open space to COMPLETION 2011

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recover the green landscape and leisure activities by the Manzanares. An international competition was the process used to select the project, designed by a joint venture of architectural teams (Burgos & Garrido, Porras La Casta, Rubio & Álvarez­-Sala and West 8). Once it was a physical reality, Madrid citizens embraced the new park enthusiastically. Easily accessible by public transport, 10 kilometres of continuous, car-free itinerary were enriched by the view of some of the most iconic Madrid monuments, such as the Royal Palace or La Almudena Cathedral. Suddenly, it was possible to go out for a stroll beneath historical landmarks such as the Renaissance Puente de Segovia and the Baroque Puente de Toledo, or step into the Matadero cultural complex. New city icons were also created, such as the remarkable footbridge designed by architect Dominique Perrault. Madrid RIO was not only celebrated on foot, but was also a success for cyclists from day one. Thirty kilometres of cyclable paths within the park are connected with metropolitan-scale cyclable infrastructure and with a number of other important green areas (notably La Casa de Campo, the largest public green area in the city). Not by chance, many cyclists started using the park as a perfect open-air sports arena. Bike-rental businesses popp­ed up next to Madrid RIO too, which made groups of amateur cyclists a common scene on the park

paths, while being still a rare activity elsewhere in Madrid. Nevertheless, such great success rapidly overflowed from the available physical space. Conflicts between different kinds of users – moving at different speeds – arose very early. The city council first went for a ‘civilised coexistence’ model, in which cyclists must respect pedestrians, reduce their speed (10 kph maximum), and keep safe distances. Shortly thereafter, facing an increasing number of complaints, the council installed new signage to remind users of these regulations, which were obviously incompatible with cycling as a means of transport and, of course, as sport. Cy­ cling associations such as Madrid Ciclista have agreed with this policy, but claimed that another infrastructure should be built on the road in parallel to the linear park, so that cyclists can ride at their natural speed. This proposal was eventually accepted by the city council in June 2017. Despite all its conflicts and controversies, Madrid RIO is a victory for cycling in the city. Even if the perfect coexistence of pedestrians and cy­ clists was not ensured by the design, Madrid RIO has been the trigger for a new cycling culture in Madrid. It has enabled an unprecedented experience of a safe, attractive, long-distance ride in the heart of the city and has awakened the desire for more and more cycling spaces all across Madrid, including the new bike lanes for Madrid RIO’s own cycling overflow. — Jose Carpio-Pinedo

1 Aerial view. In the back Arganzuela bicycle and pedestrian bridge, 2011, by Dominique Perrault Architecture. 2 The whole family can bike in the park

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3 Site plan 4 Arganzuela bicycle and pedestrian bridge, 2011, by Dominique Perrault Architecture. Together the two parts are 290m long. 5 Madrid Rio brings the river Manzanares back into the heart of the city

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MASTER PLAN RAGGI VERDI

MILAN, ITALY

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START OF PROJECT 2003—ongoing DESIGN Master plan: LAND Italia, Milan CLIENT

Municipality of Milan

PROGRAMME Strategic development plan, sustain­ able city planning, alternative mobility, create connections between dense city centre and green suburbs through existing and new public spaces

The Raggi Verdi (‘Green Rays’ in English) are eight ecological infrastructures, from 7 to 12 kilometres in length, that connect the green belt encircling the centre of Milan. The city is in fact surrounded to the north, east and west by parks that were created from the 1970s onwards. This was a process of regeneration of disused urban areas littered with large mobility infrastructures, quarries for the extraction of building materials and under­ used agricultural land. The green belt is completed in the south, where Milan is delimited by Parco

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Agricolo Sud (‘Agricultural Park South’), which is characterised by agricultural activities of excellence, and historical monuments linked to the rural world, farmsteads and abbeys. Milan has always been considered a mineral city with few significant green spaces, with the exception of the public gardens built in the eighteenth century and Sempione Park built at the end of the nineteenth, at which time it was near the city walls located in the periphery. Urban expansion in the twentieth century has confirmed the model of the historic city by favouring the urban block structure, by making radial tree-lined av­­enues as mobility infrastructures and by not in­serting new green areas into the new city. Only since the late nineties, with the first projects that transformed the abandoned industrial areas – in­cluding Bicocca, Rubattino, Pompeo Leoni, and Portello – into new districts, were new parks designed to in‑­ crease the quality of life in the new neighbourhoods. In this context, Raggi Verdi, promoted in 2003 by AIM Associazione Interessi Metropolitani (‘Association for Metropolitan Interests’) with LAND Italia Srl, represents an urban tool creating ecological development by connecting existing green

areas and promoting a different use of open space along their path. The Raggi Verdi strategy is to create a network of eight environmental corridors, one for every municipality on the outskirts of the centre of Milan. This is to ensure the continuity of pedestrian mobility along their development, and to promote a new quality of public space through the creation of green areas for leisure, walking and sports, and protected from vehicle traffic. Raggi Verdi operates on two different scales, the metropolitan and the local. The metropolitan level comprises the cycling element and an ecologi­ cal corridor between the centre and the natural areas of the green belt, where in the future a 72-kilometre cycle and pedestrian circular path will be built. Furthermore, Raggi Verdi reinforces the natural calling of Milan’s linear urban elements to tree-lined avenues, canal shores and green areas, thus elevating the level of urban biodiversity and the quality of the environment by limiting particulate matter pollution, absorbing CO2, producing oxygen and renewing the environment. On the local scale, Raggi Verdi strengthens and structures the open space system and the cycle and pedestrian connections in relation to neighbourhood services such as public transport stops, schools and markets, creating adequate and protected spaces for children to play or the elderly to walk, and fostering a better lifestyle that is far from metropolitan stress. The City of Milan included the Raggi Verdi project as an instrument in its green-space planning in 2006, and in 2012 in its town planning scheme (PGT, or Piano di Governo del Territorio) as an urban development strategy. The implementation of Raggi Verdi was initially carried out by

the Urban Department for Green and Urban Quality of the City of Milan, which planted the first twenty thousand trees in the periphery, and initiated the redesign of public spaces following the pedestrian­ isation of some areas and the transformation of tree-lined avenues at the end of the century to create cycle paths and new green areas. An im­­ portant element for the realisation of Raggi Verdi was the involvement of private investors and sponsors through major new urban transformation proj­ ects, such as Porta Nuova and CityLife, which are areas comprising several hundred thousand square metres in the city centre, car free, and with more than 50 per cent destined to be green areas. Fifty kilometres of the approximately 80 kilometres of cycling paths along the Raggi Verdi have already been completed. The establishment in 2015 of the Metropolitan City of Milan, which is an area inhabited by more than three million people in 134 municipalities covering 1,575 square kilometres, makes it the third most populous area of Europe after London and Paris. In the metropolitan vision, Raggi Verdi assumes a role on a territorial scale by crossing the green belt to reach other urban centres, and represents an innovative ecological model that is able to relate to the environmental systems of the large regional parks. The ability to build relationships in existing contexts, to reinforce the system of public spaces at a local level, to bring together different territorial systems, such as watercourses, parks and streets, and to create an urban regeneration system make Raggi Verdi a strategic ecological project for the growth of urban quality in Milan. And it serves as a model for other metropolitan cities. — Carlo Berizzi

1 Reconfiguration in the area of the RV1, Porta Nuova

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2 Master plan 3  Streettypology ‘Park’, used in different areas of the master plan 4  Reconfiguration in the area of the RV1, Porta Nuova

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BICYCLE PAVILION

MAINZ, GERMANY

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LOCATION

Hindenburgplatz, Mainz

COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN Schoyerer Architekten_SYRA, Mainz CLIENT Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) PROGRAMME 7 m2 bicycle pavilion for 12 bicycles

In recent years, the city of Mainz has increasingly moved towards becoming a bicycle-friendly city. With a well-coordinated network of bike stations, the public transport company in Mainz makes a considerable number of rental bikes available to local residents. Until now, however, there has been a lack of suitable parking facilities for private bikes. Where does a bicycle owner leave their bike if their apartment does not offer a suitable place? Far too often, abandoned bicycles that have fallen victim to the ravages of weather and

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vandalism can be seen in the city centre of Mainz. Against this backdrop, Schoyerer Architekten­­_SYRA has developed a first prototype of a bicycle pavilion for the city of Mainz. The design uses only industrially prefabricated mass-market components. There are no specially fabricated parts; the structural frame, the bicycle hangers, and even the stainless-steel roof dome are all prefabricated. Only the flat steel bars used for the outer enclosure were modified by twisting each one 90 degrees. This makes a somewhat more closed base area (splash guard) and, above that, creates an interesting play of varying transparency that changes when seen from different angles. Using simple means and standardised elements, a sturdy pavilion has been designed with a striking but restrained architecture. The pavilion is fitted with a carousel system to protect up to twelve bicycles from weather, van­ dalism and theft. The whole pavilion was assembled in the factory and transported to its destination as a prefabricated unit.

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1 Up to 12 cycles find space in the pavilion 2 Section 3 The pavilion is completely assembled in the factory and transported to its intended location as a finished unit.

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APARTMENT BUILDING AND HOTEL OHBOY

MALMÖ, SWEDEN

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LOCATION Lilla Varvsgatan, Malmö COMPLETION 2017 DESIGN

hauschild + siegel architecture, Malmö

CLIENT

Hauschild + Siegel Real Estate AB

PROGRAMME 55 rental apartments and 31 hotel rooms. Wider door openings and extra bicycle parking spaces make it possible to bring a cargo bike all the way to the front door. Service stations make it easy to keep the bike clean, pumped and in good condition

Sometimes the most radical buildings are those that appear at first to be the most unassuming. A stone’s throw from Santiago Calatrava’s iconic ‘Turning Torso’ in the rapidly transforming former docklands of Malmö’s western harbour is a modest new addition that is slowly launching a quiet urban revolution.

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‘Ohboy’ is an elegant seven-storey building housing fifty-five rental apartments and thirty­one hotel rooms within a raw prefabricated concrete frame, laced by succulent vegetation seemingly transplanted from a warmer latitude. But it isn’t the architecture of the building that is capturing the attention of architects and planners from Sweden and abroad, but rather the steady stream of bicycles rolling in and out, and the noticeable lack of cars. This small detail makes Ohboy unique in a country that prides itself on progressive politics and a strong environmental consciousness, being the first, and currently only, multi-storey residential building to be given planning approval with no requirement to provide offstreet parking. The idea to build a house for bicycles was developed by hauschild + siegel architecture, who designed, built and currently own the property. Tired of constantly being forced to conform to the requirements of motor vehicles, they wanted to challenge the city’s outdated planning policies that still prioritise private car ownership, and instead encourage residents to choose more sus-

tainable modes of transport. The city planning regulations currently stipulate that developers must provide approximately one parking space for every new apartment built, with slight reductions possible in certain circumstances. Unsatisfied with even the best-case scenario, which would still have required an expensive underground parking garage and done little to encourage residents to give up their cars, hauschild + siegel came up with a radical alternative proposal and presen­ted it to local politicians – a house for bikes, not cars. Their proposal was embraced by the government of Malmö and the project was given planning approval to proceed as a ‘pilot project’, on the condition that all money saved through not building a parking garage would be spent on features that encourage the use of bicycles and public transport, and not simply pocketed by the developers. An evaluation of the project will also be conducted after two, five and ten years to assess its success or failure. Quite a remarkable outcome considering the usual sluggish pace of change to planning regulations and the general

reluctance of politicians to back untested ideas, no matter how sound the research. So what does a house built specifically for bicycles actually look like? At first glance one is surprised by how ordinary the building appears. There are no spectacular ramps or velodrome-like curves, but the real devil is in the details. The architects designed the building so it’s possible for residents to take a fully laden cargo bike from the grocery store to the kitchen of their apartment with ease. Every smallest detail has been considered to make life with a bike as natural and convenient as possible, almost as if the bike were a mechanical extension of the body. Wider­-thanaverage door frames fitted out with automatic door openers, spacious circulation areas, durable finishes and an enormous lift that opens in two directions all facilitate seamless movement through­ out the building. Ample undercover bicycle park­ ing is provided on the ground floor, with additional spaces situated on the access balcony out­side each flat, and there are even custom-designed bicycle hooks on the bedroom walls for residents 1 View 2 Ground floor plan

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who want to keep their two-wheelers within arm’s reach at all times. Bicycle upkeep and maintenance has also been considered, with plenty of facilities provided to keep the tyre pressure steady and those gears shifting smoothly. A small workstation is located in the courtyard, with a pump, a basic toolkit and a bike-washing station, and a larger workshop can be found in the basement for more serious repair work. Residents are also provided with access to a small pool of communal bikes, including several cargo bikes, which can be borrowed without cost. A display in the lobby conveniently informs residents when the next bus is coming

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and provides real-time information on regional train departures from Malmö central station; and if for some reason it’s necessary to use a car, residents can access a car pool, with membership included in the rent. Thirty-one compact splitlevel hotel rooms occupy the ground floor of the building, so it’s possible for everyone to experience life in the bicycle house, even if just for one day. Some rules are meant to be bent and others need to be broken. By critically questioning well­ accepted norms, hauschild + siegel have demonstrated with Ohboy that another world is possible. The quiet urban revolution has begun. — Matthew Ashton

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JIM STYNES BRIDGE

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

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LOCATION River St, South Yarra, Melbourne COMPLETION 2014 DESIGN

Cox Architecture, Melbourne

CLIENT

City of Melbourne

PROGRAMME The length of the bicycle bridge is 125 m

The bicycle offers urban commuters the opportunity to flow through and around the heavy traffic of congested streets, and this sense of fluidity is beautifully articulated by the hovering steel arc of Jim Stynes Bridge. Opened in 2014 after three years in the making, the Jim Stynes Bridge is a 120-metre-long horizontal-suspension bridge in steel for pedestrians and cyclists. Its serpentine shape arcs 30 metres out over Melbourne’s Yarra River to connect the inner-city precincts of Docklands and Northbank. The structure reclaims access for cyclists and pedestrians that was interrupted in the late 1990s by the establishment of a six-lane highway across

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the redeveloped Charles Grimes Bridge. This road­ way created a significant barrier that cyclists and pedestrians could cross only by diverting considerably to the nearest traffic lights, breaking connection with the bike path network. With the Jim Stynes Bridge, cyclists recapture the natural byway of the riverbank for an instinctive and direct route following the waterway into the central city and business and cultural district. Furthermore, it presents an enticing entrance to the approaching cyclist and offers a pleasing trajectory, on a structure that is in harmony with its setting and environment. The smooth sweep of the bridge clearly relates to the flowing form of the river and promises a satisfying swoop for the cyclist. The result is that six times as many cycle commuters choose the Jim Stynes Bridge over the nearby alternative bridge, and it serves as a vital link in one of the ten busiest cycle commuting routes in Melbourne. As evidenced by the professional accolades it has received, the bridge is a triumphant collabo­ ration of disciplines. The design is as significant for its architectural, engineering, construction and land­s­caping solutions as it is for its graceful reali­ sation. To overcome the barrier of the Charles Grimes road bridge, the Jim Stynes Bridge was

conceived to pass under the other bridge, making use of the limited space available. The downward and twisting forces at play, however, posed demand­ ing challenges to the engineering of an adequate support system. The space was also constrained by the need to consider the impact of a one-in-ten-year flood event. To mitigate exposure to such an event and to minimise potential debris collection, the bridge needed to have sufficient height above the water surface and as few pylons in the water as possible. The solution was a horizontal catenary struc­ ture – one of only a handful of examples in the world – with cantilever support constructed from custom-produced high-strength steel. The design also aligned support trusses with the structure of the overhead road bridge and limited pylons in the water to one only. At the construction stage, the process was also challenged by the tight confines of the site. Modules were created off-site and floated by barge on the river to be lifted into position with temporary chain blocks. Such a sophisticated piece of infrastructure as the Jim Stynes Bridge delights current cyclists by offering an appealing route to ride. But more than this, it also legitimises cycling as a transport choice with government support worthy of considerable public investment. Like all modern cities, Melbourne faces a challenge to enable the optimal mobility of resi-

dents and visitors. Car culture is strong in Australia, as a result of much urban development occurring in the age of the ascendancy of private automobiles. While Greater Melbourne has the highest level of bike usage of any of Australia’s major cities, cycling’s mode share is still less than 2 per cent overall, though cyclists represent 15 per cent of all vehicles entering the central city. The City of Melbourne has declared its aim to have 25 per cent of trips in the area be by bi­ cycle. Striking and attractive facilities such as the Jim Stynes Bridge send a powerful message to potential users that cycling is a supported and appealing transport option. Finally, the Jim Stynes Bridge offers the prospect of revitalising the two precincts it immedi­ately connects. Both Northbank and the Docklands have low visitation and have been slow to develop – possibly because of the disconnection and isolation imposed by six lanes of high-speed motor vehicle traffic on the Charles Grimes Bridge. With the Jim Stynes Bridge, local access and new life for these two precincts is possible. — Simon Vincett

1  The Jim Stynes Bridge is a lightweight structure over the Yarra River providing a vital missing pedestrian, bicycle and commuter link. 2  The Yarra River is a key defining feature cul­tur­ally, historically and geographically of the Australian port city of Melbourne.

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QUARTER DOMAGKPARK

MUNICH, GERMANY

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Estimated 2018

DESIGN Master plan and style guide: Ortner & Ortner, Berlin; TOPOTEK1, Berlin; Urban Planning Department, Munich CLIENT Various PROGRAMME  Quarter with integrated traffic concept. Public spaces for motorised traffic are minimised and the pavements are 5m wide. Short links, an attractive bicycle path network and streets without car traffic characterise the quarter. The goal was to avoid additional traffic in the neighbourhood. A pilot project for a general mobility con­‑ cept was developed in colla­boration with the Municipality of Munich. The required number of parking has been reduced to 0.3—0.8 per unit.

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“If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.” Fred Kent The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and all the trees are green. A wild bunch of Bobby-Car drivers cross the street, and people are picnicking on the pavement. Electric microcars purr softly as they sail past, bicycle bells ring out, and all the doors are open – no CO2, no particulates, no motor­ ised traffic. That is the great vision promoted by DomagkPark in Munich. It all began in the year 2012. On 24 hectares of former military grounds in the Munich district of Freimann, a new city neighbourhood took form with around 1,800 dwelling units, as well as daycare centres, schools and workplaces. The neighbourhood’s north–south axis is a cycle path, and a large park with old trees and an adjacent central square to the east with small shops, restaurants and cafés forms the heart of the district. There is no through traffic, but a new mobility concept of ‘using instead of owning’ as an option available to all. Because DomagkPark is not just any old neighbourhood, it is a living lab in line with the concept of the EU project Civitas Eccentric, which

develops and realises innovative solutions in the areas of urban mobility and goods transport. Four thousand people live here. The project was initiated by a private coopera­ tive consortium, and the city of Munich offered its ‘positive support’ (Georg Dunkel, Urban Planning Office, Munich). The objective of the cooperative housing associations involved, such as WOGENO or wagnisArt, is to make communal living socially acceptable again and to carry out pioneering work in the field of green infrastructures. Here, the urban planning is directed towards an urban system that understands itself as a permanent learning process for residents, planners and politicians. This entails a radical suspension of the traditional morphology that sees building, street and square as separate categories. As a compact structure, the city gives rise to lively diversity and density. From this density grows identity. ‘This radical proximity of flowing transitions from “private” to “public” is programmatic, but anyone who lives here also wants to live like that,’ says Marie Knorre from the DomagkPark cooperative. This also means that living and working belong together again. The wagnisArt housing complex in DomagkPark alone has thirteen commercial units; eleven of these are rented by residents. Highly important in this pilot project is the new way of thinking about mobility: using together instead of consuming individually! In DomagkPark, the WOGENO House has a mobility station with bicycles, e-bikes, an electric cargo bike and two electric mopeds, as well as a basement car park with electric charging points and electric cars to borrow. Moreover, there are also conventional cars from the car-sharing provider STATTAUTO. ‘Our electric cargo bike is really popular as a shared taxi for kids, and for larger shopping trips. We’ll be getting a second one, and we also plan to buy a small electrical lorry,’ explains Rut-Maria Gollan, chairperson of the wagnis eG housing cooperative, in talking about expanding the fleet. This mobile fleet drives free of CO2 emissions and the vehicles are powered directly by the sun. They are booked using an app. If someone wants to use one of the vehicles, they simply pick up the key from a safe, while supplies such as replacement batteries are stored in designated lockers. And if someone has problems with a bike, the neighbour­ hood has its own bicycle repair service. As experience has shown that many older resi­‑ dents are a little unsure when it comes to using the booking system, there will soon be an alternative card version too. An individual mobility mix is

on offer in DomagkPark via combination options with the MVG Rad rental bike system from the city’s public transport provider, the carpooling app flinc and the car-sharing providers Car2Go or DriveNow. The sharing concept has really taken off: there were 40 registered participants in 2015, but the number has now risen to 120. The largest group of mobile-station users are the 40-to-49-year­-olds. The local parking situation gets relief from multiple or interim use of the underground electric car parking spaces by employees of the neighbouring Parkstadt Schwabing, for example. The city of Munich has responded by reducing the regularly required number of parking spaces from 1 to 0.5 per unit. The change in mind-set from ownership to use is slowly paying off. Owners have meanwhile divested themselves of ten private cars. That might not sound like much, but it means a great deal for the path of ‘small steps’ on the way to sustainable change. And it is not only an ‘ecological gain, but also a financial relief for households, because 50 per cent of the area’s housing is subsidised’, says Marie Knorre. A big challenge is presented by delivery vehi­ cles in the neighbourhood, due to the boom in online purchases. That is about to change. The idea is to set up a ‘neighbourhood box’. Deliveries will be made to the box a few times a day by electric delivery vehicles – cars or cargo bikes – and the inhabitants will have a digital shopping list with 24/7 access to their orders. A concierge support point has already been set up in Domagk­ Park’s Fritz-Winter-Straße; the package pick-up point is there, as well as a dry-cleaning service and a locksmith. Residents can also book a handy­ man or just meet casually. Together with the Munich city authorities, work is being done to improve safety in the neighbourhood by enforcing a speed limit of 30 kph, and attempts are being made to minimise motorised individual traffic by introducing short-term parking zones, lots of green areas and 5-metre-wide pavements where parking is prohibited and playing allowed. This turns the street from a transit zone into a space filled with life. And to make sure it stays that way, the Domagk ‘Creative Streets’ initiative wants to keep things orderly in the neighbourhood by exerting gentle pressure. One mustn’t forget that a living lab is a fragile thing. — Karin Leydecker 1  Wogeno, cooperative living, Fritz-Winter-Str. 3 + 7, by the architects Zwingel Dilg Färbinger Rossmy. Below in the passageway is the district mobility station.

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2 Master plan 3 The district mobility station on Fritz-Winter-Straße 3 + 7 4 The building association ‘gemeinsam größer’ [bigger together] in the DomagkPark, by agmm Architekten + Stadtplaner, Munich

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LAFITTE GREENWAY

NEW ORLEANS, USA

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LOCATION Next to Lafitte Avenue, from Louis Armstrong to City Park, New Orleans COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN

DesignWorkshop, Houston

CLIENT

City of New Orleans

PROGRAMME 2.6-mile public bicycle and pedes­trian trail connecting six historic neighbourhoods. It features sports fields, grassy lawns, 500 newly planted trees, energy-efficient light­ing, a new bridge at North Lopez Street, bike racks and inno­vative stormwater management systems. Transforms a historic transport route into a multi-use transport corridor and linear park.

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The ‘crown jewel’ of New Orleans’s cycling network isn’t just a way to get around town. It also promises a vibrant space to live, shop and grab a drink. In a city known for bar hopping and endless festivals, a bike path isn’t the likeliest place for a budding social scene. But in a narrow strip of central New Orleans, the 4-kilometre Lafitte Greenway is poised to become a new hub of activity – a commuter path that’s a destination in its own right. The Lafitte Greenway cuts through neigh­ bour­hoods rich and poor, linking several of New Orleans’s disparate yet adjacent communities. Since its opening, the Lafitte Greenway has quickly become the central artery of New Orleans’s bike culture. It’s also steadily attracting attention from developers looking to build apartments, offices, coffee shops, and even a place to grab a drink. In March, the city granted its first permit for a pathside bar, and in June officials outlined plans to add sports and art facilities, playgrounds and more. It might seem surprising that one of America’s hottest, muggiest cities seems ready for a bustling two-wheeled social scene. Biking here can be a challenge. Even if you manage to dodge the mind­ bogglingly large potholes and the roving packs of drunken tourists, the humidity will leave any

cyclist drenched in sweat. Still, New Orleans has gained a reputation as a surprisingly bikeable city. It’s small and flat, and residents are increasingly seeing little reason to drive. The city now ranks tenth in the United States in the percentage of residents who cycle to work each day, and a new bike-share system is slated to launch this fall. The city had 18 kilometres of bikeways when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Since then, that number has multiplied tenfold, to 185 kilometres today. Though it’s just one piece of the puzzle, the Lafitte Greenway stands out for its contribution to the city’s burgeoning cycling infrastructure. The corridor carved out by the Greenway is almost as old as the city itself. Cutting through the centre of the city, it connects Bayou St. John and the Mississippi River. It has always been used for transport, whether via portage by the first settlers to the region, via canal in the eighteenth century, or via railway in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By the 1970s, rail transport in the city had shifted to other lines, and soon this strip of land became a vacant, overgrown field. Then Bart Everson came along. One year after Katrina, catalysed by a desire to revive a destroyed city, Everson and friends bushwhacked their way through the path. That home-grown effort coincided with a sudden surge of federal funding aimed at rebuilding New Orleans and making it smarter, greener and more sustainable.

The city got on board with the idea of turning the old railway into a trailway, and even repur­chased some of the land that had been sold. With funds from city coffers and private donations, in November 2015, ten years after Katrina, and under the guidance of a contractor, a design work­shop and an extensive planning process, the Lafitte Greenway opened. Today the trail is connecting six diverse neigh­ bourhoods in the heart of New Orleans, from the French Quarter, where tourists congregate on Bourbon Street, to the city’s bayous, where locals chill. Along the way, the Greenway passes through the upper-middle-class streets of Mid-City, past a neighbourhood of public housing and the histori­ cally African American music-drenched neighbour­ hood of Tremé. It’s that connectivity across socio-economic lines that Greenway supporters say helps Lafitte stand out from other bike paths around the country. While in other cities some principal bike paths are geographically confined to well-off neighbour­hoods, in New Orleans the path runs through them all. — Shannon Sims

 longer version of this text was first published on A www.citylab.com on August 1, 2017.

FAIR GROUNDS RACE COURSE

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BYENS BRO BRIDGE

ODENSE, DENMARK

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LOCATION

Østre Stationsvej, Odense

COMPLETION

2015

DESIGN Gottlieb Paludan Architects, Copenhagen CLIENT

Odense Local Authority

PROGRAMME The Byens Bro is 200 metres long and crosses fifteen railway tracks, opening up the centre of Odense to a new development area around Odense harbour

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It has been part of my job as director of the Danish Cyclists’ Federation to attend the openings of a number of new cycle bridges: the Cirkelbroen and the Inderhavnsbroen in Copenhagen and the Byens Bro in Odense. Every time I see specifically how a new bridge for cyclists creates new links where previously there were none. Bridges for cyclists let us see our cities from new angles. With its natural climb and descent, a ride over a bridge gives a compact version of every real cycle ride: first you really have to pedal hard to get uphill, but later you can sail down again with the wind in your face. In Denmark, many towns are taking responsibility for getting more Danes to cycle in their daily lives. During the last ten years, municipalities have turned considerable attention to cycling in general. At the same time, the Danish state set up a large ‘cycle pool’ of funds (Cykelpulje). From 2009 to 2014 the state paid out around 130 million euros to municipalities across the country, on the understanding that they would contribute a further 60 per cent. During that time some 300 million euros were invested in new cycle routes, new cycle bridges, cycle parking facilities, campaigns, gathering knowledge and so on. Altogether, it led to

1  Aerial view 2 Byens Bro links the urban areas in the north and south of Odense Central Station 3 The new square south of the bridge has become a central meeting place and a space for urban activities

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a definite increase in the number of cyclists nationwide, which had previously been dropping gradually since 1990. This drop was due to general growth, new small cars and lower vehicle registration fees. In Odense, the Byens Bro opened in May 2015, partly funded by the Cykelpulje. I was invited to open it officially together with the city alderman, Jane Jegind. To show that this bridge was for pedestrians as well as cyclists, we decided to take the staircase to the top of the bridge, where two bicycles had been parked, and then we rode over the bridge and back, completing the ride on the fine, elegantly curved downward run, where you can really gather speed and feel the wind in your hair. Designed by Gottlieb Paludan Architects, who have been responsible for a number of major projects for cycling infrastructure around the world, the Byens Bro is 200 metres long and crosses fifteen railway tracks, opening up the centre of Odense to a new development area around Odense harbour. I lived in Odense for four years, back in 1988–92. Odense was a sharply divided city then, cut across by the railway lines through Odense

station. The city is right at the centre of Denmark, and is passed by all the trains that cross the country. On one side of the station was the town, with shops, housing and urban life. On the other side was an industrial harbour, which was practically closed in. It was isolated and intimidating. So much so that in all the four years I lived in Odense, I never once went down to the harbour. It was really inspiring when, thirty years later, by cycling over the exciting new bridge, I could finally explore Odense harbour, which in the meantime had be‑­ come a lively modern residential area and educational centre teeming with people. Both the developer, Odense municipality, and Gottlieb Paludan Architects are highly active mem­ bers of the Cycling Embassy of Denmark, which was set up as the world’s first cycling embassy in 2009. Odense municipality – and a number of other larger towns in Denmark – have begun to point to all the cyclists in the town as an indication of how a ‘liveable city’ with a sensible lifework balance can function in reality. Cycle bridges like the Byens Bro in Odense are becoming concrete and highly visible examples of how connecting people sustainably in a modern big city can be put into practice. — Klaus Bondam

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COASTAL BICYCLE PATH RIVIERA DEI FIORI

FROM OSPEDALETTI TO SAN LORENZO AL MARE, ITALY

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coastline) in the years of economic growth, and in recent times has carried commuters and students. DESIGN LAND Italia, Milan Over time, the railway became a barrier, difCLIENT Regione Liguria, Area 24 S.p.A. ficult to cross, between inhabited centres and the sea, and its presence prevented the development PROGRAMME  Conversion of a former rail trail between of public spaces and collective activities in the Genoa and Ventimiglia into a greenway with waterfront and bicycle path tourist centres along the coast. This limitation, over 24 km together with the fact that there was only a single rail track for most of the route, made it non-viable for transporting a large number of people in a limited time between Genoa and France. This led to the construction of a new railway line, farther from the sea and utilising a greater number of The project of a cycling route between Genoa and tunnels. The disused railway line had thus opened Ventimiglia was started in 2001 with the disman- up an extraordinary opportunity for environmentling of the first parts of the railway passing along tal and landscape recovery through the constructhe Ligurian coast. The particular orographic con­ tion of cycle paths and new systems of collective formation of Liguria, characterised mainly by a spaces and services. mountainous area that reaches the sea, led to the Between 2002 and 2005, LAND Italia Srl development of the historic railway track close to was commissioned to design the first 24 kilometres the coastline that followed a wonderful panoram­ic of unused railway track, located in the province itinerary between water and mountains. Built in of Imperia between Ospedaletti and San Lorenzo 1872 to bring bourgeois families in summertime al Mare, on behalf of Area 24 S.p.A, a joint vento the coastal tourist towns, it was used for military ture with a public majority, and the Municipality transport during the Second World War, helped to of San Remo. The project, called Pista Ciclabile develop tourism on the Riviera Ligure (Ligurian del Ponente Ligure (Ponente Ligure Cycling Path), COMPLETION 2014

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foresaw the retrieval of the former railway as a green infrastructure, which included the cycle and pedestrian path, the linear park Parco Costiero Riviera dei Fiori (Flower Riviera Coastal Park) and other works for the enjoyment of tourists, and the redevelopment of urban spaces. Along the way, one can admire historic villages, promontories overlooking the sea, tunnels, small bays, naturalistic areas, beaches, palaces built by aristocrats, sanctuaries, the mountainous landscape of this part of Liguria that sees a rich presence of olive trees, as well as the city of San Remo, known as the City of Flowers, the most important and historic tourist city in the area. The project has provided interchange points with other forms of mobility such as new railway stations, bus stops and free parking for cars near the

main intersections between the cycle track and the ancient Aurelia road that follows the coastline. Seven hire stations for bicycles, rickshaws, and rollers, as well as connections to the beaches, have been realised. Along the way, signposts give information on monuments, nearby restaurants, ancient villages, intersections with other cycling routes and the historical path of the Milan­– San Remo bicycle race, with the ascent of Poggio and Cipressa. In 2017, following the dismantling of another part of the railway line, the design of the continuation of the bicycle path of West Liguria from San Lorenzo al Mare to the municipality of Andora was started, extending the 20-kilometre route to a total of 44 kilometres. The project ex­tension encompasses three main objectives ex­ pressed by the Territorial Plan of the Liguria

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1 Early morning on the path 2 The course of the bicycle path along the ligurian coast

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Region: the preservation of the unity of the railway track in relation to the realisation of the cycle track; landscape and urban redevelopment of the municipalities crossed by the bicycle route and the reuse of the service buildings of the former railway for tourist activities; and the construction and maintenance of ecological continuity along the coast and towards the hinterland. In some cases, as in the part located in Capo Berta, where there is a 2-kilometre tunnel, the route deviates from the railway track to ensure increased security and greater landscape views as it follows the coast. In other cases, when the tracks run along

an elevated ground basement or in a trench track, the path is lowered or elevated to meet the adjacent spaces. The success of the Ponente Ligure Cycling Path, from both an environmental and a touristic point of view, and the forthcoming dismantling of other railway sections, has led to a recently signed agreement between the Liguria, Tuscany and Lazio regions for the Ciclabile Tirrenica (Tirrenica Cycle Route), which foresees the joining of 460 kilo­ metres of coastline into a single extended tourist path for slow mobility from Ventimiglia to Rome. — Carlo Berizzi

3 Runners, road bike cyclists, commuters and rickshaws share the path 4 The path just outside Riva Ligure 5 The path in San Lorenzo al Mare

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FRIEDRICH BAYER BRIDGE LOCATION Canal da Represa de Guarapiranga, São Paulo COMPLETION 2013 DESIGN LoebCapote Arquitetura e Urbanismo, São Paulo CLIENT

Bayer S/A

PROGRAMME Pedestrian and bicycle bridge with a length of 90 m. By connect­ing both sides of the river, the bicycle path parallel to the river is extended, and the distance to the station is shortened

The city of São Paulo does not have many bridges for the exclusive use of pedestrians and cyclists. Located in a region where a polluted river offers no transport or leisure opportunities, broad express roads carry heavy traffic and public trans­ port is difficult to access, the Bayer Bridge is an important element in overcoming these urban barriers, connecting the two banks of the Guarapiranga canal, between the Pinheiros River and Guarapiranga Reservoir, in São Paulo. Destined for pedestrians and cyclists, the Bayer Bridge allows direct access to train and metro stations, together with a bicycle path along the bank of the Pinheiros River, serving as a ref-

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erence point for the transformation and recovery of this dilapidated landscape based on a new vision of urban infrastructure. Bayer, through a partnership with the public authority, hired LoebCapote Arquitetura e Urbanismo to solve that challenge. The solution found by the architects was conceptually inspired by the Vitoria Régia (Amazon water lily). The central element of the bridge comprises two circular metal islands with diameters of 18 metres and featuring regional vegetation. They are supported on concrete caissons 2 metres in diameter, while the bridge spans approxi­mately 90 metres in all. These islands created a new relationship between the city’s inhabitants and the river, providing areas for rest and enjoyment of the views, thus bringing people closer to the landscape. In order to allow for continued navigation of the canal without the need for costly, largescale structures, the bridge is suspended only 3 metres above the river and can be opened in the middle. This design encourages the use of the river for urban transport and leisure. The designs for this project also included collaboration with a landscape designer, with a view to choosing plant species for the circular floa­ ting gardens that are compatible with the local flora. The final phase focused on the lighting solution, with LEDs outlining the bridge structure in the dark.

1  The open bridge 2  On the right the red path coming from the train station, on the left bank the Bayer plant. 3  Site plan

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BICYCLE PARKING AT RAILWAY STATION AND MOREELSE BRIDGE

UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

LOCATION Bicycle Parking at Railway Station: Utrecht Centraal Station, Stationsplein, Utrecht COMPLETION 2018 DESIGN Architects: Ector Hoogstad Architecten, Rotterdam; landscape architects: Buro Sant & Co, Den Haag; civil engineers: Royal Haskoning DHV, Amersfort; general contractor: BAM, Bannik CLIENT

City of Utrecht

PROGRAMME

Parking facility for 13,500 bikes

LOCATION Moreelse Bridge: Moreelsepark — Croeselaan, Utrecht COMPLETION 2016 DESIGN

cepezed architects, Delft

CLIENT Municipality of Utrecht, ProRail PROGRAMME Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians with a length of 312 m

The Netherlands is a bicycle country. Wide cycle paths, spacious cycle bridges and huge indoor parking garages for the beloved Fietsen are a mat­ ter of course here. The city of Utrecht has now redefined the standards for cycling infrastructure. At the railway station, the Moreelsebrug (Moreelse Bridge) and the world’s largest indoor bicycle park­ ing facility demonstrate what modern bike infra­ structure in a city of the future should look like.

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The Moreelsebrug and the new indoor bicycle parking facility are part of the city’s master plan, which will see a restructuring of the entire public space surrounding the station by 2030. Historical canals will be rebuilt, and the station square is to be made safe and inviting for people who wish to spend time there, strolling around and lingering. When the bicycle parking garage is finished at the end of 2018, it will provide space for 13,500 bikes. This means the Dutch will outdo the world’s current largest indoor bicycle parking facility, at Kasai metro station in Tokyo, which has around 10,000 spaces. The word ‘garage’ is a little misleading, since it does not do justice to the bright and expansive three-storey structure. The building is a kind of bicycle park, where cyclists literally do have the red carpet rolled out for them. Without any impedi­ ments, you can cycle over the red-painted, one-way paths to your parking spot seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. A digital guidance system directs you up and down over slightly inclined ramps to the available spaces. You park your bike using a chip card from the public transport system, and the first twenty-four hours are free. The building, designed by Ector Hoogstad Architecten from Rotterdam, is forward-thinking. The combination of a range of materials, including concrete, wood and glass, is varied and creates new effects over and over again. Where possible, the spaces are lit by daylight. It was impor­tant to the architects that the users always have a good overview of what is going on in the building, and that they know where they are at any given point. Thanks to completely open or glazed areas and cleverly designed visual axes, cyclists have visual contact with one another at all times. The cycle path broadens in some places, leading cyclists around huge trumpet-shaped columns. These light-green columns also carry the honeycomb­like roof that projects over the station square. The

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parking garage sometimes seems reminiscent of a cathedral, in other places has the atmosphere of an atrium, and elsewhere is like a library. These differences distinguish the building and allow cyclists to repeatedly experience the space anew. Despite this architectural finesse, the planners never lost sight of the users’ time management. A three-minute walk takes cyclists to even the most remote railway platform. This convenience and the integrated services offered in the building were important for the overall concept. Besides a bike rental station with around seven hundred bikes, there is a bicycle repair shop as well as small service stations. Many residents of Utrecht already think that the bike parking facility will not suffice for the city’s many commuters. At present, around 60 per cent of Utrecht’s inhabitants come into the city centre by bike, and the trend is growing. The good infrastructure has been enticing an increas-

ing number of car drivers to change their habits. With a population of 330,000, Utrecht is the fourth­ largest and the fastest-growing city in the Netherlands. In the past ten years alone, 50,000 people have moved here, and estimates see 400,000 people living in Utrecht by 2028. If all these people want to use sustainable mobility, then the bicycle is a sensible solution. The renovation of the station area plays an important role in the city’s mobility plan. Formerly located at the edge of the inner city, growth has shifted the railway station more and more into the centre in recent years. Until now, the tracks literally dissected the city. Anyone travelling in the city from east to west had to put up with a 1.6-kilometre detour. The Moreelse Bridge now links the two halves of the city – the park of the same name and the old town in the west with the growing city district and the new commercial area in the east. The bridge has been designed

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solely for use by pedestrians and cyclists, and crosses the tracks in two gently arched waves. Although it is 312 metres long and 10 metres wide, it seems delicate and forms an oasis of tranquillity between the two halves of the city. The spacious pathways for cyclists and pedestrians are separated from one another by markings and by fifteen large oak trees on the bridge. By adding the trees, the architectural firm cepezed has, as it were, extended the adjacent Moreelse Park onto the bridge – albeit at a height of 9 metres. The small bit of nature thus created entices people to spend time there. Many pedestrians and cyclists stop for a moment or continue at a snail’s pace. They observe the trains passing by, or enjoy the undisturbed view across Utrecht. On the Moreelse­brug, they can enjoy a small break from the hustle and bustle of the city. The trees are the only vertical element on the structure. The architects at cepezed deliberately refrained from adding lamp posts or

masts, as they did not want to deny passers-by their uninterrupted views. The expansive outlook is enhanced by the glazed balustrades, which, like the bridge supports and the paving, have LED lighting integrated into them. Thus there are no dark spots at night for pedestrians and cyclists, and moreover, the bridge turns into an illuminated work of art when twilight falls. The trees, illuminated from below, bestow a special atmosphere on the bridge. To get onto the bridge, cyclists can either use a lift or push their bikes up a ramp along the stairway. Cycling across the Moreelsebrug and in the indoor bicycle parking facility at Utrecht’s main station is far more than just safe, practical and convenient. A mixture of modernity and comfort is characteristic of both structures. They stand for a city that looks to the future – where it is easy and attractive to travel using sustainable means. — Andrea Reidl 3 Bicycle parking (1) and Moreelse Bridge (2), Site plan 4 Bicycle parking entrance on the Zuidstraat, Rendering (completion 2018)

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5  Bicycle parking, The three-level “bike trough” 6  Bicycle parking, three aims in mind: convenience, speed and safety 7 Users will be able to cycle all the way to their parking slot

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DAFNE SCHIPPERS BRIDGE UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

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LOCATION Victor Hugoplantsoen, Utrecht COMPLETION 2017 DESIGN NEXT architects, Amsterdam and Rudy Uytenhaak + partners architecten, Amsterdam; in cooperation with Bureau B + B Urbanism and Landscape Architecture, Amsterdam and ARUP CLIENT

Municipality of Utrecht

PROGRAMME Area of school: 2,700 m2; length of bridge: 110 m; bridge, elementary school, public park and area school

Spanning the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the Dafne Schippers Bicycle Bridge (named after the trackand-field champion) connects Utrecht’s rapidly developing Leidsche Rijn district to the historic town centre via the district of Oog in Al. As an idea on paper since 1995, when the Leidsche Rijn master plan was revealed, it is a simple straight line, reflecting the Dutch ethos that cyclists get the short route while motorists have to go around. On the ground, though, things were more complex. Right where a 200-metre-long approach ramp

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was needed to raise cyclists so that boats on the river could have the required 9 metres of clear­ ance, there was a park (the only one for ten blocks), houses pressing in from all sides and a 2,700-­square-metre Montessori elementary school. The ideal solution we see in the design, where the roof of a newly built school and park landscaping act as the approach ramp, would have been unthinkable without an unusual coopera­ tion between the stakeholders. Had one dug in their heels, another would have missed out. It stands as testimony to the collaborative will of the design team, comprising NEXT architects and Rudy Uyten­haak + partners architecten, with Arup Amsterdam and Bureau B + B Urbanism and Landscape Architecture, that every stakeholder got what they wanted, plus something else: the synergies that come when an object is more than the sum of its parts. It’s a very Dutch story, like joining forces to hold back the sea, that the municipality, the school, local residents and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment were able to do this together, while cyclists – usually the first ones to miss out – got more than even Dutch design guidelines allowed them: at 2.56 per cent, the ramp is only half as steep as Dutch standards

allow. In other countries, cyclists might have been made to use stair tracks, forced into lifts, or even banned from using the bridge altogether. In the Netherlands, their experience was of primary importance. Putting cyclists on top, both in the list of priorities and literally on top of the school, brings to mind the special treatment given to motorists by architects almost a century ago. Consider the American architect Harvey Wiley Corbett’s sectio­ nal drawings of multi-layered roadways flanked by car parking structures, or the Italian futurist Antonio Sant’Elia’s grand interchanges for cars, planes and trains. Le Corbusier’s proposal for a roadway held up by apartments running the length of Algiers is even more reminiscent. The clearest

antecedent to the Dafne Schippers Bicycle Bridge would be architect Pierre Marie’s realisation of part of Le Corbusier’s vision, the 1952 Pont-Burdeau building in Algiers. What is so special about the Dafne Schippers Bicycle Bridge, it satisfies progressive urbanists by bringing people, not cars, to the city, while simultaneously exposing an inductive fallacy in most urbanists’ thinking. The lesson of the Dafne Schippers Bicycle Bridge is that everything from the mind of Le Corbusier, and Modernist architects of his generation, is not, by definition, an insult to cities. The Dafne Schippers Bicycle Bridge opens our eyes to a new possibility, that architectural inventiveness might be employed in the service of cycling. — Steven Fleming 1  The structure integrates a cycle and pedestrian bridge with a school and a public park, forming one single cohesive design Cross section of the bridge and the 2  school (right) 3 Aerial view

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NORDBAHNTRASSE LOCATION From Wuppertal-Vohwinkel to Wuppertal-Schee COMPLETION 2014 DESIGN

Wuppertalbewegung e.V.

CLIENT Wuppertalbewegung e.V./ Wuppertaler Nordbahntrassen GmbH and City of Wuppertal PROGRAMME Conversion of a disused railway line in a 23 km-long infrastructure for pedestrian and bicycle traffic

In Wuppertal – the city that is home to the world­ famous suspension railway – the conversion of a disused railway line has resulted in a new attraction and an exemplary infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. While raw materials and goods used to be transported on the Nordbahntrasse (northern railway line) and passenger trains later travelled along it, today the route is used by a mixed crowd of local residents and out-of-town visitors who experience it on foot, by bike, or on skateboards. After being decommissioned, the rail­ way line was transformed between 2006 and 2014, in an enthusiastic process, from a neglected ‘off’ location into a public zone that gives the area identity and serves as an attractive route for every­ day and leisure use. By giving new life to the route, a 23-kilometre stretch that is almost free of traffic crossings has been created right through Wuppertal, linking the city’s various districts and their surroundings. ‘Railway cycling’ is currently enjoying a European­-wide boom. People’s need for an active daily life and leisure activities close to nature have led to the initiation of some visionary projects for cycling and hiking routes, and these are now being expanded to provide an extensive system of attractive paths far removed from motorised traffic. Thanks to their alignment and their minimal inclines (maximum 3 to 4 per cent), the existing configurations of old railway lines provide the ideal prerequisites for such facilities. The

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WUPPERTAL, GERMANY

first cycle routes along disused railway lines emerged in Germany in the 1970s. Following struc­ tural changes in the economy, the Ruhr region became one of the first areas of focus: numerous routes that were no longer needed for transporting coal and steel by rail were converted. This was the case in the nearby city of Wuppertal. Economic success had led in 1873 to the construction of a second rail line within the city limits. As part of the so-called Rheinische Strecke (Rhenish line), the Nordbahntrasse was built along slopes, virtually parallel to the entire city centre. Although the route was used by trains until 1999, as early as the end of the 1980s public authorities had begun thinking about the possibility of reutilising it for recreational purposes. However, nothing happened due to a lack of capital resources. Then, in a sort of bottom-up ini­ tiative, the idea gained new momentum in 2005 when the association Wuppertalbewegung e.V. was founded. This group, which originally consisted of twenty-one local citizens, managed – through lots of private commitment, perseverance, and good marketing – to bring in around 2.5 million euros in donations, kick off realisation of the project by having feasibility studies drawn up, tap manpower resources, secure financial stability through grant applications and bring together a great many people in the joint effort. The large number of association members and their commitment led to success; the project was completed in three phases of funding, in cooperation with the city authorities. The Nordbahntrasse is today seen as the world’s longest inner-city ‘rail trail’ and is a particularly spectacular and diverse route. The topographical characteristics meant that a number of engineering structures needed to be built when the railway was originally constructed, and these give the route its special character today. Seven tunnels (the longest measuring 722 metres) cut through hills, more than 220 retaining structures secure the surroundings, and four large aque­ ducts (up to 280 metres long and 20 metres high) along with nineteen bridges cross the valleys, providing extensive views of the hilly landscape and the inner city. The finely asphalted route, 6 metres wide, runs tranquilly past locations that could not

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1 Bartholomäus Viaduct, 1973 2 ibid., 2016

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be more different from one another – densely built-up residential areas from the Wilhelminian period and a new development with detached single-family houses, wide expanses of industrial waste­land and enchanted green spaces that have sprouted in relatively narrow areas along the northern slopes. The route also passes numerous former railway stations and industrial monuments located right next to the former tracks. Large plaques, whose design was inspired by the old railway signs, provide information about the bygone railway stops. Some railway structures and sections of track have been preserved to remind people of the original use of the route. Aligned on the side and serving as a connective element are simple posts fitted with LEDs to illuminate the pathway at night, while resting places with bright green bicycle stands, simple anthracite-coloured benches,

and info panels with route maps have been set up at regular intervals. Thanks to the exceptional width of the route, and the fact that the pedestrian and cycle paths run next to one another, it is easy to experience the individual stretches that are punctuated by the variously lit tunnels. The route has been well received and is used in many different ways. And new offerings aimed at different target groups have emerged in the properties bordering the route – from a conventional bike rental to an indoor climbing hall with restaurant and even a rail line for handcars – thus making the options appealing for both young and old. Wuppertalbewegung e.V. continues to support the development of the route and has taken on the role of patron, as it were. Its members are especially proud of the initiatives that were kicked off by the association and from which the city and its residents benefit. — Laura Kienbaum

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3  Route layout 4 19 bridges cross the valleys, providing extensive views 5 The Nordbahntrasse in Wuppertal-Ottenbruch

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BICYCLE SKYWAY LOCATION

XIAMEN, CHINA

Xiamen

COMPLETION 2017 DESIGN DISSING + WEITLING architecture, Copenhagen CLIENT The City Government of Xiamen, Xiamen Municipal Planning and Design Administration PROGRAMME The Bicycle Skyway is a con­tin­uous viaduct that is 7.6 kilometres long and runs between the ele­vated local public transport system and the street level below

At the end of the nineteenth century, foreigners introduced the first bicycles to China in the concession areas of Shanghai and Tianjin. After the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, the bicycle became the most important means of transport. In 1958, more than a million new bikes left Chinese factories each year. Over the following decades, the bicycle was a commonplace means of transport that dominated the perception and exercise of mobility in China. The artist David Hockney, together with the author Stephen Spender, travelled through the People’s Republic in early summer 1981, making sketches and photos that documented the ubiquity of bi­ cycles. There were no private automobiles at that time – a condition that would persist until nearly the end of the century. The illustrations in Hockney and Spender’s book (China Diary, Thames & Hudson, 1982) show, most of all, an absence of the automobiles that now dominate the cityscape. Yet today the bicycle is showing up again, this time as a rental bike on every street corner, competing with the car for the limited space allotted to vehicles. The triumph of the private car in China, begin­ ning in the 1990s, made it difficult for cyclists to get from A to B safely and quickly, and this continues to be the case today. By 2001, there were nearly 10 million cars on Chinese roads. In 2015, there were 140 million passenger cars. Serious

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environmental pollution is one consequence. The rapid decrease in physical activity – combined with a change in diet – has also led to a dramatic increase in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. Of course, there is no direct correlation between a freedom from diabetes and cycling, but the latter undoubtedly affords more physical exercise, making the bicycle more attractive as both a means of transport and a sports device. Back in 2008, the city of Hangzhou introduced a bicycle rental system that allows free use for the first hour. By the time of the G20 meeting in the city in 2016, there were nearly 100,000 rental bikes available. Today, there are more than 16 million rental bikes across the country that can also be used in combination with public transport. However, vandalism of the bikes has been spreading, which has brought the rental system to the brink of collapse in some places. Thus, in addition to further infrastructure measures, it is important to create a positive image, with the goal of encour­ aging users to behave responsibly. The metropolis of Xiamen, with its 3.5 million inhabitants on the south-eastern coast of China, has now given cyclists their own roadway apart from the dangerous motorised traffic. The city’s administration commissioned the Danish architects Dissing + Weitling to design the Bicycle Skyway, a continuous viaduct that is 7.6 kilometres long and runs between the elevated local public transport system and the street level below. In each direction there is a 2.5-metre-wide route with two bike lanes, and the network incorporates ramps, bicycle parking and service stations that are connected at eleven points to the public transport system, with its buses and metro. There is also a bicycle rental system that can be used at any time in combination with public transport. In addition, the ramps make it possible to access public buildings and shopping malls, and the cycle track connects the five largest residential areas with three business districts. With customary Chinese speed, the architects and building contractors completed construction of the elevated bicycle highway in just six months. The steel structure of the viaduct fits unobtrusively into the existing system of elevated roads. The

cycle track is set apart from its surroundings only by its green roadway surface and the night-time illumination of its side railings. The connections to street level are made with elegant curves above the other lanes of traffic. Today’s massive environmental problems are compelling Chinese cities to act decisively. Short decision-making channels and the political structure permit short-range measures that are, in this form, inconceivable in Europe due to planning processes and participation procedures. The diver­ sification of mobility promotes alternative solutions that lead to unconventional and pragmatic concepts. Enabling interference-free bicycle traf-

fic along a bridge structure substantially increases the speed of travel, since the usual traffic rules for junctions at street level do not apply. Added to this is the advertising effect for cycling. With the world’s longest bicycle bridge structure, the city of Xiamen and architects Dissing + Weitling have achieved something that attracts media attention far beyond the borders of China. The images of bicycle-dominated Chinese cities, like those captured by David Hockney thirty-five years ago, will not return, but in China too, the future will be shaped by hybrid solutions in which various modes of transport will contribute in an optimal way to a new concept of mobility. — Eduard Kögel 1 There are 11 entries on the path, which will connect with 11 bus stations and two subway stations 2 Aerial view

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FURTHER READING • Bäumer, Mario; Museum der Arbeit (Ed.): Das Fahrrad. Kultur, Technik, Mobilität. Hamburg, 2014. • Becker, Annette; Cachola Schmal, Peter (Ed.): Stadt Grün. Europäische Landschaftsarchitektur für das 21. Jahrhundert/Urban Green. European Landscape Design for the 21st century. Basel, 2010. • Bendiks, Stefan; Degros, Agalée: Cycle infra­ structure/Fietsinfrastructuur. Rotterdam, 2013. • Blyth, Gavin: Velo City. Architecture for Bikes. Munich, London, New York, 2014. • Böttger, Matthias; Carsten, Stefan; Engel, Ludwig: Spe­ku­lationen Transformationen. Überlegungen zur Zukunft von Deutschlands Städten und Regionen. Zurich, 2016. • Bund Deutscher Landschaftsarchitekten bdla (Ed.): Green infrastructure. German Landscape Architecture Prize 2015. Basel, 2015. • Burdett, Ricky; Sudjic, Deyan (Ed.): Living in the endless City. The urban age project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. London, New York, 2011. • Drohsel, Karsten Michael; Krenz, Arvid; Leben, Jörg; Lösche, Vanessa (Ed.): Aspekte des städtischen Radverkehrs. Schriftenreihe Spektrum des Ver­kehrs­ wesens, Technische Universität Berlin, Nr.1. Berlin, 2014. • Ebert, Anne-Kathrin: Radelnde Nationen. Die Geschichte des Fahrrads in Deutschland und den Nieder­landen bis 1940. Campus Historische Studien Band 52. Frankfurt/Main, New York, 2010. • Fleming, Steven: Cycle Space. Architecture and urban design in the age of the bicycle. Rotterdam 2012. • Gehl, Jan: Cities for People. Washington D.C., 2010. • Gerike, Regine; Parkin, John (Ed.): Cycling Futures. From research into Practice. Surrey, 2015 • Global Designing Cities Initiative; National Association of City Transportation Officials (Ed.): Global Street Design Guide. Washington D.C., 2016. • Graf, Thiemo: Handbuch: Radverkehr in der Kommune. Nutzertypen, Infrastruktur, Stadtplanung, Marketing. Das Hygge-Modell. Ergänzungen zur ERA. ed. by Institut für innovative Städte. Röthenbach a.d. Pegnitz, 2016. • Hoffmann, Melody L.: Bike Lanes are white lanes. Bicycle Advocacy and Urban Planning. Lincoln, 2016. • Stadt Karlsruhe; Neppl, Markus; Ringler, Harald; Stippich, Matthias; Hennig, Christian; Stoll, Benedikt (Ed.): Auf dem Weg zum Räumlichen Leitbild Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, 2015. • Karsten Pålsson: Public Spaces and Urbanity. Construction and Design Manual. How to Design Humane Cities. Berlin, 2017.

• Kretz, Simon; Kueng, Lukas (Ed.): Urbane Qualitäten. Ein Handbuch am Beispiel der Metropolitanregion Zürich. Zurich, 2016. • Kumnig, Sarah; Rosol, Marit; Exner, Andrea*s (Ed.): Umkämpftes Grün. Zwischen neoliberaler Stadt­ entwicklung und Stadtgestaltung von unten. Bielefeld, 2017. • Kuttler, Tobias; Zimmermann, Theresa; Otto-Zimmermann, Konrad (Ed.): Change the way you move. A central business district goes ecomobile. Berlin, 2016. • Louafi, Kamel: Green Islands in the city. Berlin, 2014. • Mapes, Jeff: Pedaling Revolution. How Cyclists are Changing American Cities. Corvallis, 2009. • McLaren, Duncan; Agyeman, Julian: Sharing Cities. A case for truly smart and sustainable cities. Cambridge/Massachusetts, 2015. • National Association of City Transportation Officials (Ed.): Urban Bikeway Design Guide. Washington D.C., 2014. • Oshaug, Mari (Ed.): Bikevibe. Semiannual City Journal, Vol. 1—6. Oslo, 2015—2017. • paper planes e.V. (Ed.): Radbahn Berlin, Zukunftsperspektiven für die Ökomobilestadt. Berlin, 2017. • Parkin, John (Ed.): Cycling and Sustainability. Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 1. Bingley, 2012. • Pooley, Colin; Jones, Tim; Tight, Miles; Horton, Dave; Scheldeman, Griet; Mullen, Caroline; Jopson, Ann; Strano, Emanuele: Promoting Walking and Cycling. New perspectives on sustainable travel. Bristol, 2013. • Pucher, John; Buehler, Ralph (Ed.): City Cycling. Cambridge/Massachusetts, 2012. • Rammler, Stephan: Volk ohne Wagen. Streitschrift für eine neue Mobilität. Frankfurt/Main, 2017. • Sadik-Khan, Janette; Solomonow, Seth: Street Fight. Hand­book for an Urban Revolution. New York, 2016. • Sonne, Wolfgang: Urbanity and Density in 20th Century Urban Design. Berlin, 2017. • Thormann, Olaf; GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig (Ed.): Bikes! Das Fahrrad neu erfinden. Munich, 2017. • Wehrli-Schindler, Birgit: Urbane Qualität für Stadt und Umland. Ein Wegweiser zur Stärkung einer nachhaltigen Raumentwicklung. Synthese des Natio­ nalen Forschungsprogramms „Neue urbane Qualität’’ (NFP 65). ed. by Leitungsgruppe NFP 65. Zurich, 2015. • Wolfrum, Sophie; Janson, Alban: Architektur der Stadt. Stuttgart, 2016.

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BIOGRAPHIES MATTHEW ASHTON is an architect and researcher based in Malmö, where he co-­ founded the architectural practice SP-ARC together with Sofie Tolf in 2014. He is currently completing post graduate studies in architecture and social justice at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. MARTHA BAYNE is a writer and editor in Chicago, and the editor of Rust Belt Chicago, an anthology of essays, poetry, and short fiction, 2017. Her features and essays have ap­ peared in Belt Magazine, Buzzfeed, the Chicago Reader, Crain’s Chicago Business, the Chicago Tribune, the Baffler, Latterly magazine, and other outlets. ANNETTE BECKER studied history of art, archaeology, philosophy and business administration in Mainz, Munich and Rome, and holds a doctorate in history of art. She works as a curator at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt am Main. HENDRIK BEHNISCH b. 1985, studied politics, history, and Scandinavian language and literature in Berlin and Helsinki. After returning from Finland, he began work at the publishing house Patzer Verlag. The publisher produces various trade journals in the green sector. Behnisch worked there as an editor for the publications Neue Landschaft, Stadt + Grün and Pro Baum.

STEFAN BENDIKS b. 1971, studied architecture in Karlsruhe and Tampere. He is a director of the interdisciplinary firm Artgineering in Brussels, where he researches and designs public spaces at the intersection of urban planning and mobility. He was a professor at the Aca­demy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2014/15 and has authored Cycle Infrastruc­ ture, Fietsland (Cycling nation) Meer fiets-meer stad (More Cycling — Better City), and the cycling strategy for Groningen. Bendiks is an expert member of the Dutch Cycling Embassy. CARLO BERIZZI is Engineer and Architect and works at University of Pavia (Italy) as coordinator of the AML (Architectural Maker Lab) and Assistant Professor in Architecture and Urban Composition. His research focuses on urban transformations and housing. He is president of AIM (Association for Metro­ politan Development) in Milan and he is founder of GA Milano Association, member of the international network Guiding Architects, who promotes architecture of Milan. He is the author of Milan an Architectural Guide. LAURA BLISS is a staff writer at CityLab, the urbanism and culture magazine published by the Atlantic, where she covers transportation, in­ frastructure, and the environment. Her work also appears in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Los Angeles magazine, GOOD, The L.A. Review of Books, and beyond. GAVIN BLYTH is a London-based writer and editor specialising in architecture and design. His book, Velo City: Architecture for Bikes, explores how bicycle-related design has become one of the hottest fields in architecture. He has contri­ buted to several books on architecture and design, including Norman Foster: Works 6 and Dymaxion Car: Buckminster Fuller.

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ANNEKE BOKERN b. 1971, studied art history and English in Berlin. Since 2000 she has been working as a freelance architecture and design journalist in Amsterdam. Her writings on Dutch architecture have appeared in many publications, including Bauwelt, Baumeister, db, Detail, the German edition of Domus, Mark Magazine, and Topos. In 2004 she founded architour, an agency for architectural tours. KLAUS BONDAM b. 1963, CEO Danish Cyclists’ Federation since 2014, has longterm experience promoting cycling. He is trained as an actor and stared in the internationally acclaimed Dogme-film ‘Festen’ (1997). As Mayor for Technical and Environmental Affairs for the City of Copenhagen, 2006—09, he was a key leader in making Copenhagen one of the world’s best cities for cyclists. As Director at The Danish Cultural Institute/ Benelux (2010—14), he promoted Danish bicycle knowhow inter­ nationally. MARTIN BRAATHEN is a freelance writer and curator based in Oslo, Norway. He is trained as an architect at NTNU/ Norway and UdK/Berlin, and as a curator at the Whitney Independ­ ent study program in New York. He has been the editor of Norwegian architecture journal Arki­ tekt­nytt from 2014—2017, a curator at the Norwegian Centre for design and architecture (Norsk Form/ Doga). He is currently working on a PhD in architectural history. MARCO TE BRÖMMELSTROET holds the position of Asoociate Professor in Urban Planning at the University of Amsterdam and is the founding academic director or the Urban Cycling Institute. He leads several large international research projects and teach­ ing programs around cycling.

JOSE CARPIO-PINEDO is an architect and planner with experience in public space and transport consultancy in the public and private sectors. His main specialities are urban design, spatial analysis, public space, walkability and pedestrian planning. At the bigger scale, Jose has worked on transport-­land use planning integration, transport-oriented developments (TOD) and city-wide pedestrian stra­tegic masterplans. He is a researcher and teaching assistant at Madrid Polytechnic Univer­‑ sity (UPM) — Urban and Regional Planning Department. His research navigates between urban proximity dynamics, multi-modal network analysis, urban mor­ phology and retail location. KEES CHRISTIAANSE b. 1953, studied architecture and urban planning at TU Delft. From 1980 to 1989 he worked at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, becoming a partner in 1983. In 1989 he founded his own office, ir. Kees Christiaanse Architects & Planners, known since 2002 as KCAP. Between 1996 and 2003 he taught architecture and urban plann­‑ ing at TU Berlin. Since 2003 he is professor at the ETH in Zurich. STEVEN FLEMING is the director of Cycle Space International, an agency helping architects, developers and cities adjust for the age of bike transport. His books Cycle Space and Velotopia (2012 and 2017) outline a bicycle centric approach to architecture and city planning. He has held aca­demic appointments at the uni­versities of Newcastle, Tasmania and Canberra in Australia, and Colum­bia and Harvard in the US.

JAN GEHL b. 1936, Architect, Professor (ret.) of Urban Design, The School of Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenha­gen, co-founded Gehl Architects in 2000 with Helle Søholt and held a Partner position until 2011. He is currently a Senior Advisor at Gehl and continues to research and develop the people first approach through his books and lectures. Publi­ cations include Cities for People, New City Spaces, New City Life, How to Study Public Life and most recently People Cities. Major City Improve­ment projects include: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Rotterdam, Riga, Edinburgh, London, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Amman, Seattle, New York and Moscow & Shanghai. He is an honorary fellow of RIBA, AIA, RAIC, and PIA. JOLISA GRACEWOOD is a writer, editor, and cycling advocate in Auckland, New Zealand. She is the Communications Manager and Deputy Chair of Bike Auckland, the non-­ profit advocacy group working for a better city for people on bikes. With a PhD in Comparative Literature, she has published work in literary journals and co-­ edits an annual collection of great New Zealand non-fiction. LAURA KIENBAUM b. 1981, studied architecture in Hannover and Aarhus, earning her doctorate in Hanover. In 2008 she founded SAM UND PLANKTON ARCHITECTURE; since then she has also been work­ ing as co-curator at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum and as a lecturer in architectural theory and design methodology; She published on residen­tial architecture and infrastructure works, and has also written generally about design and research in architecture. DORIS KLEILEIN b. 1970, received journalism training at Bertelsmann in Nuremberg and studied architecture in Berlin and Winnipeg (Canada). Since 1992 she has published works on architecture and urban development in Germany and abroad. Worked for various architects, including Kees Christiaanse in Rotterdam. In 2005 she co-­ founded bromsky Architekten in Berlin. Since 2005 she has been an editor in Berlin for Bauwelt and Stadtbauwelt.

EDUARD KÖGEL b. 1960, studied urban and landscape planning at the Gesamt­ hoch­schule Kassel. In 2007 he earned his doctorate at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. From 1999 to 2004 he was a research assistant at TU Darmstadt, and other teaching assignments include TU Berlin. He is an author and curator with numerous pub­ lications on architecture and the city in Germany and abroad. He currently works in Berlin. LUDGER KOOPMANN b. 1954, has a degree in social work and is an electronics engineer. He is deputy federal chairman of the ADFC, where he is responsible for transport policy, with a focus on a transition in the means and methods of transport. Koopmann has been a member of the ADFC since 2000, serving on the Bremen state executive committee since 2001, including a tenure as state chairman from 2005 to 2010. He played a key role within the ADFC in developing a new transport policy programme and infrastructure guide­lines that take parti­ cular account of the interests of all people who (want to) ride bikes THOMAS KOSCHE studied geography, sociology, ethnology, and historical geography at the University of Bonn. Since 1986 he has been working at the TECHNOSEUM (State Museum of Technology and La­ bour) in Mannheim, where he heads the collections department. He was curator of the major 2016 exhibition “2 Wheels — 200 Years. Freiherr von Drais and the History of the Bicycle”. KATHARINA KRÖGER b. 1980, studied geography (Bachelor of Arts with Honours) and environmental management (Master of Science) in Nottingham, UK. Since 2003 she has been working at Transport for London (TfL). On behalf of TfL, Ms. Kröger leads broad-based projects for promoting the environmental alli‑ ­ance. Her work focuses on integrated and sustainable transport planning.

STEFANIE LAMPE b. 1984 in Heilbronn. Studied art history and Applied Studies of Culture and Society at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Since 2009 freelancer in the press and public relations department and as research assistant at the Deutsches Archi­ tekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt/Main. BARBARA LENZ b. 1955, studied geography along with German language and lit­ erature in Stuttgart, where she earned her doctorate and habilitation. From 1989 to 2001 she was a research assistant at the University of Stuttgart. Since 2002 she has been working at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), where she heads its Institute of Transport Research since 2007. Lenz is also professor of traffic geography at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. KARIN LEYDECKER b. 1956, studied German language and literature, art history, and protestant theology in Mainz, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, earning her doctorate in 1988. She has taught on the perception of architecture at the University of Karlsruhe and Karlsruhe University of Education. Leydecker regularly writes for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and for professional journals as well as magazines for the general public. She has written numerous books on architecture and historic preservation. IAN MELL is an Environmental & Landscape Planner with expertise in green infrastructure research. He is a Lecturer at the University of Manchester having previously worked at the University of Liverpool and in local government. He has experience working in the UK and internationally on urban green space issues focussing on their financial and communal value, and how green infrastructure can help shape more sustainable planning.

LESSANO NEGUSSIE b. 1984 in Berlin, studied architecture at University of Kassel. Between 2007 and 2015 he work­ ed for David Chipperfield Architects, Studio Olafur Eliasson and Haus der Kunst, Munich. Since 2016 research assistant at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt/Main. MARKUS NEPPL b. 1962, studied architecture at RWTH, Aachen. In 1990 he co-founded ASTOC Architects & Planners, Cologne. In 1999 he was appointed professor of urban development and planning at TU Kaiserslautern. In 2004 he assumed the Chair of Urban Planning and Design at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Since 2009 he has been serving as chair of the design advisory council of the City of Tübingen and member of the expert advisory committee of the DGNB and since 2015 as a member of the design advisory council of the City of Ulm; in 2015 he was appointed to the academic advisory board of the Deutscher Städtebaupreis (German urban development award). SIMONE RASKOB heads the City of Essen’s Department of Environment and Construction since 2005. She holds a degree as a qualified engi­ neer in landscape management from TU München and worked as a landscape architect in Kolding, Denmark, from 1986 to 1988. 1995—2001, she was responsible for the planning and construction department as municipal planning director while also serving as executive director of the Gesell­schaft für Wirtschaftsför­ derung und Stadt­entwicklung (Society for eco­nomic promotion and urban development), Gött­ ingen. Sub­sequently she managed until 2005 Wasserstadt GmbH in Berlin as well as the Société de Développement AGORA s.à.r.l. et Cie, Secs, Luxembourg. She is also the project manager of “Euro­ pean Green Capital — Essen 2017”.

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TILL REHWALDT b. 1965, studied landscape architecture at TU Dresden, where he was a research assistant at the Institute for Landscape Architecture from 1990 to 1996. In 1993 he founded his office in Dresden, completing projects in Germany and other countries, including France, the Czech Republic, and China. In 2007 he was awarded the German Landscape Architecture Prize. With visiting professorships in Berlin and Prague, Rehwaldt also works as an author and competition juror. He is currently president of the Federation of German Landscape Architects (BDLA). ANDREA REIDL b. 1968, has been working as a journalist since 1998. She focuses on the topics of cycling and sustainable mobility and works freelance for various magazines and online media. Since 2014 she has been a member of the German Federal Ministry of Trans­port’s advisory council on cycling. She has worked as a chemical lab assistant, studied sociology and cultural sciences in Bremen, and worked as a trainee for a daily newspaper. ULRIKE REUTTER b. 1961, studied spatial planning in Dortmund, where she also earned her doctorate. From 1987 to 2011 she worked as a transport expert at the Research Insti­tute for Regional and Urban Development (ILS) in Dortmund. She was a professor at the Institute for Mobility and Transport (imove) at TU Kaiserslautern from 2011 to 2015, and has been pro­fessor for public transport systems and mobility management at the University of Wuppertal (BUW) since 2015.

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STEFFEN DE RUDDER b. 1961, studied architecture at TU Berlin and worked as an architect from 1990 to 2002. In 1996 he was a lecturer at Depart­ ment of Art and Visual History (IKB) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and from 1999 to 2009 he was a research assistant at the Chair of Urban Architecture at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. He earned his doctorate in 2006 and was awarded a DAAD fellowship in 2010 at the Academie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam. He was a lecturer at the Erfurt Uni­ versity of Applied Sciences from 2010 to 2015, a visiting pro­fessor at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Dessau in 2013, and has been associate professor for urban planning and design at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar since 2013. JANETTE SADIK-KHAN is one of the world’s foremost authorities on transportation and urban transformation. As New York City transportation commis­ sioner from 2007—2013, she over­saw historic changes to city streets. She now works with mayors around the world to reim­ agine their cities as a principal with Bloomberg Associates. She chairs the National Association of Transportation Officials, imple­ menting people-focused global street design standards. PETER CACHOLA SCHMAL b. 1960 in Altötting. Studied architecture at the TH Darm­stadt. 1989—93 he worked as an ar­ chitect for Behnisch + Partner, Stuttgart and Eisenbach + Partner, Zeppelinheim, before joining the Building Construction Depart­ ment of the TU Darmstadt from 1992—97. 1997—2000, he was a lecturer for design at the FH Frankfurt/Main. He has been a curator since 2000, becoming director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt/Main in 2006. In 2016, he was Commissioner General of the German Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Ex­hi­ bition in Venice. He has published widely and is a member of numerous juries and commissions.

EVELYN STEINER received her architectural degree from ETH Zurich. She has worked in various architectural firms in Zurich, Rome and Barcelona, and earned a master’s degree in art history with a focus on ex‑ ­hibition and museum studies from the University of Bern. After completing a traineeship at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt am Main from 2012 to 2014, she was curator at the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel from 2014 to 2016. Since 2016 she has been working as a freelance architect, publicist and curator. CHRISTIANE THALGOTT completed an interior design apprenticeship in 1963. She studied architecture in Braunschweig and Munich. She was municipal planning director in Kassel from 1987 to 1992, and in Munich from 1992 to 2007. Since 2003 she is honorary professor for urban development and planning at TU München. From 2003 to 2009 Thalgott served as president of the German Academy for Urban and Regional Spatial Planning (DASL). Since 2007 she has intensified her work in the Federal Association for Housing and Urban Devel­opment (VHW), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Association of German Architects (BDA), the Federation of German Landscape Architects (BDLA), and with the Werkbund, in juries and urban consultancy. LEAH TREAT was appointed Director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) in 2013. Since she took the helm PBOT launched Port­land’s long-awaited bike share system. She also crafted a Vision Zero policy that was unanimously adopted by City Council. Under her leadership, Portland has become the first City in the Coun­try to adopt design standards requiring cycle tracks in new developments.

MERCEDES VIDAL LAGO holds a degree in environmental sciences from the UAB. She worked for more than ten years in the field of urban planning and ecology, formulating instruments to rethink cities with sustain­ ability criteria. She was involved with Sagrera and Sant Andreu neighbourhood associations and was vice president of the FAVB (Barcelona’s Federation of Neigh­ bourhood Associations); par­ ticipated in Water is Life and the Alliance against Energy Poverty. She is a representative of United Alternative Left political party, and since 2015 Councillor for Mobility for the city of Barcelona, Councillor for Horta-Guinardó district and president of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona. CORDULA VIELHAUER b. 1972 in Berlin, studied architecture in Berlin and Barcelona, writes about architecture, design and urbanity for Bauwelt, Domus, Detail, Baunetz and others, lives in Berlin. SIMON VINCETT has cycled for transport most of his adult life and been a professional cycling advocate for 15 years with Bicycle Network, Australia’s biggest bike riding orga­nisation. Like any cyclist, Simon appreciates architecture most when it facilitates a smooth ride, connects with a network and clearly establishes the rider’s place in the transport system. ALLYN WEST lives in Houston and edits and writes for the Houston Chronicle. Previously, he worked as a writer for the Rice Design Alliance and Swamplot. He graduated from the University of Houston in 2015 with a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing. RENATE VAN DER ZEE is a Dutch writer and journalist. For the British newspaper The Guardian she wrote several articles about cycling in cities worldwide.

PICTURE CREDITS ABBREVIATIONS b=bottom, c=centre, l=left, r=right, t=top front cover: COBE and Gottlieb Paludan Architects: Nørreport Station, Copenhagen/ Denmark, 2015, © Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj — COAST 1 1 o © Kurt Liese (harald-reportagen.de) 11 u © Grünflächenamt Frankfurt am Main 13 o © iStock.com/CrazyD 13 u © Foto: Ulrich Lamm, Bremen 14 © Oliver Franke/Tourismus NRW e. V. 18 o © „Fliegende Blätter“, Band 109, S. 13, München 1898, TECHNOSEUM 18 u © „Fliegende Blätter“, Band 105, S. 220, München 1896, TECHNOSEUM 20 o © bpk-Bildagentur, Foto: Hanns Hubmann 20 u © bpk-Bildagentur, Foto: Wolff Tritschler 21 © TECHNOSEUM, Foto: Klaus Luginsland 28 © NYC DOT — Heidi Wolf 31 © NYC DOT — Julio Palleiro 32, 33 © NYC DOT 34 © Kirsten Bucher, Frankfurt/Main 36, 37, 42 u, 44, 45 u, 47 © Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, P.C. (MNLA) 37 © nyc.gov 39 o © Quennell Rothschild & Partners 39 u © Starr Whitehouse 40 © BIG — Bjarke Ingels Group 42 o, m, 48, 49 © Mathews Nielsen Land scape Architects, P.C. (MNLA), Photo: Elizabeth Felicella 45 o © Photographed by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners 53, 56 o © Stadt Groningen 56 u © photopat transport/Alamy Stock Foto 58, 59 u © LOLA Landscape Architects and TOPOTEK 1/Guidelines document for the inner city of Groningen published by the Municipality of Groningen in 2017 59 o © Stadt Groningen 60 o © Rob’t Hart 60 m, u © KCAP Architects & Planners Rotterdam 68, 71, 77 © Ajuntament de Barcelona 72, 74 u, 75 © Adrià Goula 74 o © Lola Domènech 76 o © Lourdes Jansana 76 u © Ravetllat-Ribas 78 © Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona 79 © Òscar Giralt/Ajuntament de Barcelona 80, 81 o © Arriola & Fiol Arquitectes 81 u © Arriola & Fiol Arquitectes/ Photo: Beat Marugg 84 o © unit ZÜRN 84 u © White Arkitekter

 8 o, 91 u, 95 l © Jochen Tack 8 88 u, 93 o © AGFS/Peter Obenaus 91 o, 94 © Opterix, Johannes Kassenberg 93 u © RVR Regionalverband Ruhr 95 r Jochen Schlutius/RTG 96 o, u © spb 96 m © sbp/Michael Zimmermann 104, 106, 108 u, 109 © The City of Oslo’s Bicycle Office 104 r, o © Morten Brakestad 108 o © OpenStreetMap 110 © Urban Infrastructure Partner AS/ Photo: Åsmund Holien Mo 113 © Hundven-Clements 114 o © Camilla Jensen 114 u © Dronninga landskap AS 117 © Tove Lauluten/FutureBuilt 124, 131, 132, 133 o © C. Bruce Forster 127, 129 o © Portland Bureau of Transportation 129 u © Photos courtesy of TriMet 133 u © Mayer/Reed, Inc. diagram over Googlemaps photo 134, 135 © C. Bruce Forster, courtesy of Mayer/Reed, Inc. 139 © Ian Mell 142 © MESS Stadtplaner Amann & Groß Part GmbB 145 © Stadtplanungsamt Karlsruhe 152 o © Danish Cyclists’ Federation, Foto: Mikkel Østergaard 152 l © Cykelfaergen.com 152 r © Danish Cyclists’ Federation, Foto: Nicklas Jessen 155 © Danish Cyclists’ Federation, Foto: Søren Hytting 156, 166, 167, 269, 270/271 © DISSING + WEITLING architecture 159 © Mærsk Tower by C.F. Møller Architects, photo by Adam Mørk 160 © Christian Lindgren 161 o © Barbara Feichtinger-Felber 161 u © Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes 162 o, m/l, m/r © COBE 162 u, 247, 248/249 © Gottlieb Paludan Architects and Lars Rolfsted Mortensen 164, 165 o © Rasmus Hjortshøj — COAST 165 u © COBE and Gottlieb Paludan Architects 168, 169 © Olafur Eliasson Cirkelbroen, 2015 Christianshavns, Kanal Copenhagen, 2015 Photographer: Anders Sune Berg, Courtesy of A gift from Nordea-fonden to the city of Copenhagen 170 © Cycle Superhighways, Capitol Region of Denmark 175, 179 © Gehl Architects 178 © Stadsarkivet, City of Copenhagen 184, 185 © Jannes Linders 186, 187 © Benthem Crouwel Architects 188 o, 189 o © Duccio Malagamba 188 u © Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos 189 u © Rijksmuseum 190—193 © Monk Mackenzie Architects

1 94, 196, 197 u © Johannes Marburg, Genf 197 o © ffbk Architekten AG 198—201 © paper planes e. V. 203 o © Arhitektura d.o.o. 203 u © Miran Kambič 204 © Alex S. MacLean, Landslides Aerial Photography 205, 207 o © Scott Shigley 207 u © Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc. 209 © ipv Delft 210, 214 o, 215 © Jonnu Singleton/SWA 211 © Photo by Jim Olive, courtesy of Buffalo Bayou Partnership 212 © SWA 213 © Tom Fox/SWA 214 u © SWA, Bayou Grenways 2020 216 © Ibrahim Elhayawan 217 © Various Architects 218, 220 o, 221 © Hufton and Crowe 219, 220 u © Studio RHE 222, 223 © Transport for London 224 © Ayutamiento Madrid 225 © West 8 226 © Burgos & Garrido, Porras La Casta, Rubio & A-Sala and West 8 227 o © Georges Fessy_Dominique Perrault Architecte_Adagp 227 u © Jeroen Musch for West 8 228, 230, 231, 251 © LAND 232, 233 © SCHOYERER ARCHITEKTEN_SYRA 234 © Peter Carlsson 235 © hauschild + siegel architecture 236, 237 © Ole Jais 238, 239 © Cox Architecture 240, 242 u © FUNK WA10 Architekten Zwingel Dilg Färbinger Rossmy, Foto: Michael Heinrich 242 o © Masterplan von Ortner & Ortner, Aktualisierung durch WagnisART 243 © Foto: Massimo Fiorito 244 © Hunter King 245 © FriendsofLafitteGreenway 246 © Gottlieb Paludan Architects and Ole Malling 250, 252, 253 © Area 24 S.p.A. 255 o, m © Leonardo Finotti 255 u © LoebCapote Arquitetura e Urbanismo 257 o © cepezed Lucas van der Wee 257 u © cepezed 258, 259 © Ector Hoogstad Architecten 260, 261 © Ector Hoogstad Architecten — Petra Appelhof 262 © NEXT architects/ Photography: Jeroen Musch 263 o © NEXT architects 263 u © Mastum Daksystemen/ Maurice Iseger 265 o © Wolfgang Bügel 265 u © Rolf Dellenbusch 266 © Wuppertalbewegung e. V. 267 o © Christa Mrozek

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IMPRINT This catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibition ‘Ride a Bike! Reclaim the City’ presented by the Deutsches Archi­tek­tur­museum in Frankfurt am Main from April 21 to September 2, 2018.

BOOK CONCEPT Annette Becker, Stefanie Lampe, Lessano Negussie

Published by Annette Becker, Stefanie Lampe, Lessano Negussie and Peter Cachola Schmal on behalf of the Departe­ment of Culture and Science, City of Frankfurt am Main Cultural Affairs Department.

LIBRARY RESEARCH Christiane Eulig

This publication is also available as an e-book (ISBN PDF 978-3-0356-1525-8; ISBN EPUB 978-3-0356-1534-0) and in a German language edition (ISBN 978-3-0356-1547-0).

ASSISTANT Lucia Seiß

LAYOUT, COVER DESIGN AND TYPESETTING Ondine Pannet, Lisa Pflästerer & David Voss; Bureau David Voss, Leipzig TRANSLATION FROM GERMAN INTO ENGLISH David Koralek (Cities and projects) Ian Pepper (Introduction and essays) TRANSLATION FROM DANISH INTO ENGLISH Christine Andersen (p.153/154 and p.246/247)

© 2018 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland

COPYEDITING John Sweet

Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

PROJECT MANAGEMENT Katharina Kulke

Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF ∞

PRODUCTION Amelie Solbrig

Printed in Germany

PAPER Hellofat matt, 135 g/m2

ISBN 978-3-0356-1548-7 987654321 www.birkhauser.com

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PRINTING optimal media gmbh, Röbel

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018936777 BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFOR­MATION PUBLISHED BY THE GERMAN NATIONAL LIBRARY The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb. dnb.de. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-­use of illustrations, recitation, broad­casting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. Chosen in order to facilitate readability are either masculine or feminine forms of personal pronouns. This by no means implies a discriminatory attitude toward the corresponding gender, but should be understood gender-neutral and in the spirit of linguistic simplification.

With the kind support of

Supported by:

on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure within the National Cycling Plan 2020 (NRVP).

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