Case Study extracted from Salat, Serge. 2021. Integrated Guidelines for Sustainable Neighbourhood Design. Urban Morphology and Complex Systems Institute 2021. © UMCSII.

Walking and cycling are the most environmentally friendly ways to get around a city, and both can provide significant benefits in terms of health, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, road safety, and equity. Cities as diverse as Bogota, Copenhagen, Montreal, and Barcelona are pioneering the promotion of walking and cycling. There is a growing need to curb transportation emissions to reach net zero - need to shift to alternative modes with integrated strategies and high targets (50%) of commuting by bike to work and school (like in Copenhagen). Copenhagen cycling strategy is part of the city target to become the first carbon neutral city by 2025. Simultaneously, targeting carbon neutrality needs to be coupled with the intent to make cities more liveable and vibrant. Copenhagen exemplifies a powerful integrated strategy to reach transportation net zero, leveraging on compact city, accessibility, networks of connected streets and bike lines and sustainable lifestyles. Thus, the case study demonstrates how integration of different strategies is necessary to achieve the goals outlined by the shared vision on Green and Thriving Neighbourhoods. 

Key partners and actors

The main stakeholders in cycle planning are the City of Copenhagen, principally its Roads and Parks Department, whose investment plan defines the annual framework for cycle path construction. The Bicycle Account is developed and maintained by the City of Copenhagen to publish cycling statistics. The Bicycle Account is a document that is compiled every two years by the City of Copenhagen [currently by the Technical and Environmental Administration]. This census focuses solely on bicycle use around the city. To integrate the cycling plan with the public transport networks, other stakeholders are engaged in providing bicycle parking. The three main investors in bicycle parking improvements are the City of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Transport, and Danish State Railways. The Cycling Embassy of Denmark and the Danish Cyclists’ Federation assisted in formulating, implementing and monitoring the policy, and are the main advocacy groups for the country’s, and city’s cyclists.

Shaping a compact urban form and land use with articulated density and accessibility

Planning urban form for articulated density and accessibility is key. In the case of Copenhagen, the bike network efficiency is made possible by fifty years of compact planning dating to the famous Copenhagen ‘Finger Plan’. Its core spatial strategy concentrated growth along transit-served corridors. Since the original Finger Plan, created in 1947, the city has been organised by a compact regional structure. Urban development is concentrated along city fingers linked to the railway system and radial road networks, and the city fingers are separated by green wedges that are kept free of urban development.

By looking at the ‘Finger Plan’ map (see finger plan below), it is possible to see immediately the strong alignment between planning for articulated density, urban form, accessibility, and transport performance. This alignment allows Copenhagen to target 50% bike commuting to work and school. Copenhagen’s effective land use and spatial planning, therefore, strongly influence its environmental performance and support low-carbon green growth.

Moreover, the Finger Plan aims to provide good development opportunities for the business community by making a diverse range of location options available that meet the future needs of modern businesses. It seeks to ensure that the right business is in the right location, such as near highways for transportation and distribution businesses and near stations for major regional institutions, headquarters, and office buildings.

Planning bike lanes with continuous routes and shortcuts making bike travel quicker and safer

A bicycling city is a more liveable city because it reduces road wear, increases life expectancy, reduces congestion and pollution, and is less expensive to build than other modes of transportation. As a result, it’s no surprise that Copenhagen wants to be known as the ‘City of Cyclists’ by 2025. The PLUSnet system, shown below (see PLUSnet system map below), is a street planning strategy for the development of ‘slow mobility’ by 2025. By that year, an additional 50,000 citizens are expected to be cycling in the city, making Copenhagen the world’s first city for slow mobility. The objective of the strategic plan is the integration of the ‘new’ and the ‘old’. Maintenance and upkeep of the old cycle paths is a basis for the construction of new cycle paths and junctions for safe and comfortable mobility for all cyclists. The proposed PLUSnet system will target congested routes installing three bike lanes on either side of the street – four lanes total on streets that are bidirectional – allowing cyclists to ride at their pace; a space for those commuting and a space for those riding leisurely wanting to chat without incessant bells interrupting them. Parking comprises initiatives with developers, businesses, and homeowner associations.

Transforming Copenhagen into a more liveable city and biking into a lifestyle

The PLUSnet strategy for the realisation of city infrastructure has identified four key points on which to develop the project:

• The first is City life: redesigning all existing city streets by 2025 to change the point of view of mobility. The needs of pedestrians and cyclists become central. For this reason, new parking spaces and services for two-wheelers are planned, and the implementation of LED lighting, light points directly in the road surface, to facilitate the mobility of bicycles.

• The second is Comfort: integration, by 2025, between the new bicycle lanes, the city’s businesses and the private and non-private companies joining the project. New parking areas are planned near high-density commercial areas and near ‘business’ areas; new Bike Sharing systems integrated with the city’s transport network for fast, problem-free ‘parking’ of bicycles throughout the metropolitan area.

• The third is Travel Time: rationalisation of slow mobility travel time. Thanks to the construction of new infrastructure, such as bridges and cycle paths in the green areas of the city, and the extension of the already constructed paths, the travel time of the metropolitan routes is expected to be reduced by 15% compared to the current time. In support of the infrastructure, the project envisages an increase in traffic information thanks to real-time news from the e-bike service. The data is obtained through a digital platform sending information to Smartphone applications and digital billboards along the cycle routes.

• Fourth and last point: Sense of Security. PLUSnet wants to increase cyclists’ sense of safety and therefore plans to widen carriageways and improve road markings. Statistics already show a significant change since 1996, with a 72% decrease in road accidents involving cyclists.

Lessons Learnt

The recipe for success in Copenhagen was to integrate cycling into urban and transportation planning and policy, and to commit significant resources to making cycling safe, time-efficient, and enjoyable. The key to success is good governance, which combines long-term ambitious planning with the implementation of extensive bicycle infrastructure. Another important factor is Copenhagen’s political commitment to increasing bicycle use. Therefore, three main lessons for decision makers can be extracted from this reading:

• Policymaking that aims at fostering sustainable modes of transport need to approach planning holistically, shaping a compact urban form and land use with articulated density and accessibility together with new infrastructure and services.

• Carefully plan the traffic strategy, choosing which modes of transport – bicycles, public transport and cars – should have priority along the city’s key routes.

• Aiming at the design of all inner and abandoned spaces in the city to preserve the compact and dense nature of the urban system, so that cycling can take place within a reasonable range for all citizens.

References

City of Copenhagen 2011. Good, Better, Best: The City of Copenhagen’s Bicycle Strategy 2011-2025. Copenhagen, Denmark. Technical and Environmental Administration Traffic Department.

2017. The City of Copenhagen's Bicycle Strategy. Sharing Cities Alliance.