Copenhagen, Day 0

     June 25, 2023.

Observations on road use while having pizza sitting outside Dal Forno on Værnedamsvej:

I stopped for a slice of pizza and watched how cars and cyclists used this street. Værnedamsvej is a side street with some smaller restaurants and stores. There was no specified bike lane and so most cyclists used the middle the street. My guess is that they felt safe doing this because the road is a short side street so they can see oncoming vehicles immediately and since the length is a short distance, they don’t have to worry about cars behind them because they won’t be on the street for very long. Compared to most bikes I see in Portland, the bikes here look heavy to me. Most of them are low-step frames – which are used by both women and men to emphasize comfort and ease of use although sometimes they are referred to as “women’s frames.” The frames are thicker – likely they absorb bumps in the road better, but this means they are heavy and can’t go as fast. They also look heavier to pick up. Cyclists appear to sit more upright. People are wearing casual, everyday clothing instead of clothing specific to working out on a bike.

After I finished eating, I continued down the road to the store Samsøe Samsøe to buy a few t-shirts. I spoke with the saleswoman about why I was visiting and she told me that she uses her bike, but she said she makes sure she always buys a cheap one. Her current bike is the third one that she owns because she’s had two stolen.

Other notes: a lot of the sidewalks here are not flat – they are paving stones. Although this looks beautiful, much like the Belgium blocks style paved streets the US had in the early 20th century, they are likely to be a problem for people with disabilities. Even rolling my luggage on them was challenging. I have only seen a few people use wheelchairs here. They were motorized ones and I one of them was traveling down the street instead of the sidewalk (though this was a side street). I’m not sure how well the paving stones work for people using walkers and canes. This city clearly has a lot of visitors. I hear English, German, Dutch, and French spoken frequently here. Although English is clearly the common language that non-Danish speakers switch to when speaking to Danish people. During the night hours the children’s television station shows images of characters from their shows sleeping instead of repeating the channe's shows, in order to let kids know they should be sleeping and not watching TV, which is pretty clever!

Copenhagen, Day 1

     June 26, 2023.

What I have learned from the lectures that has surprised me: 

I have found all the presentations very interesting so far, but one that really stood out to me was Bicycle Parking at Future Metro Stations by Cecilie Breinholm Christensen (Customers & Operation). I was surprised to learn that there is actually a lot of planning behind bike parking. During college, I took a History of Architecture class. One of our guest speakers was a professional who worked at an architectural firm the specialized in university buildings and I remember him saying that one of the primary concerns during the planning process was professors having enough vehicle parking close to their offices. I understood that parking is a primary concern for car owners, but prior to our class, I did not think about parking also being an issue for cyclists. The speaker told us that bike parking satisfaction correlates to overall satisfaction with their Metro experience.

 It's an interesting idea about how they set up some bike parking at metro stations, see how they are used, and then add more parking according to that. I was surprised to learn that underground stations have both underground and above-ground parking. The speaker said that Metro users don't feel that underground bike parking is as safe as above-ground parking. I wonder why that perception exists? I would like to talk to local cyclists about why they feel that way.

Copenhagen, Day 2

     June 27, 2023.

What I have learned today:

Sadly I missed this day of the the field trip because and the long bike ride to the technical institution because I came down with food poisoning. I have been planning on taking this course for years, so it was a total bummer to lose an entire day of the field trip for this reason. ☹️  I never left my hotel room while I was dealing with this problem.

Copenhagen, Day 3

     June 28, 2023.

Describe three stops, with pictures, from our bike tour with Raw Mobility:

Underground bike parking on campus

I was absolutely not expecting this many bikes to be here, as it looks so small from the outside.  The descent into it was a bit steep and easy to pick up too much speed if you weren't careful, but there were stairs along the side. I'm not sure this is the best design, but it looks like they were space-limited and they did have warning signs. I wonder how safe this is in the winter when there could be ice.

Children's playground - traffic safety themed

This children's playground we visited has roads, sidewalks, blue marked bikeways, crosswalks, a roundabout, and parking spaces - all miniaturized at a scale to feel "just for them" to five-year-olds. As you can see from the photos, the children sure had fun playing here, even if they were still getting the hang of the actual rules of the road. Something like this would be wonderful in one of the Portland parks, with the bike lanes painted green instead.

Mixed used used zone in new development near our last stop

After the tour ended, we were instructed to find out way back to our hotel, by ourselves, or to go anywhere we wanted. Not too long after leaving the group I went off the main drag and ended up going through a newly-build development. This reminded me of the side streets in American suburbia, where people set up basketball nets facing the street and kids would play and bike in the street due to the fact that few cars actually drove on those side streets. Those streets were still designed with vehicle traffic in mind, but over time the people living there would adjust them to how they actually used them. This zone in Copenhagen, on the other hand, was designed from the beginning to be a mixed use zone. It is paved so vehicles can drive here, but it doesn't really look like a road. The sign indicates it's mixed use, with play being one of them. The circles painted on the pavement mimic the circles of the seat pillars and the tree planters. The benches, picnic tables, and other sitting surfaces make it feel closer to a park, even though it's passible by vehicle.

Copenhagen, Day 4

     June 29, 2023.

Why are Copenhagen's parks important for livable communities? What is your favorite public space or park you have been to in Copenhagen? Is there a place in Portland or other city you think should be redesigned?:

Children make lifelong connections at parks and playgrounds. The children playing on the octopus in the Black Square park were having a lot of fun. The theme of the Black Square parks was global influences and the octopus structure is from Japan to fit with that theme. While we were in the park the children playing on it were shreaking with joy, they were having so much fun.

For adults, parks have multiple functions. They are places where you can meet up with friends and family, but you don't need to pay anything to do so, like you do at cafes and restaurants. People-watching is an activity that city-dwellers enjoy. It is relaxing. Parks are great places for that.

Copenhagen has multiple levels of privacy in their outdoor-spaces. There are the public parks that all have access to at any time. Then there are the internal courtyards that are inside of apartment encircles. To access these semi-public places, you need to live in one of the apartments facing the courtyard. This gives makes the space feel quieter and more secluded, children who live in these dwelling units leave their toys there overnight. The people you would meet there are your direct neighbors. Then there are people's private balconies. Those are only for the people living in each unit. People living in these apartments have three different privacy level options for being outside.

It is hard to pick a favorite public space or park, but if I lived in Copenhagen I would appreciate the greenway bike paths. My favorite bike path system in the United States is in Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island. My favorite part about biking on them is they include many stretches where they drift away from the roads. It feels like going on a side adventure through nature. The greenways here in Copenhagen also would have the same effect if I lived here and would be wonderful to include on my bike trips around town or being out on errands. Cities have a lot of visually hard surfaces to look at, so these parks, courtyards, and greenways are ways to give cityfolk a break from the concrete, stone, brick, and asphalt.

Seeing all the different styles of parks in Copenhagen, I think the playgrounds in many of Portland's parks should be redesigned to be different from each other. This is happening at some of the newer parks - for example Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham has a nature-based play area made in part from Doug-Fir trees that were cut down from the park due to laminated root rot and Cully Park has a unique climbing blocks area incorporated into the playground. Too many of the playgrounds in Portland parks are generic and similar to each other (like Oregon Park). If more of the playground sets were unique, it would make for memorable experiences for the kids, because each park they visit around town would be different and exciting.

Copenhagen, Day 5

     June 30, 2023.

Bicycle tour

I was pleased to see that wind turbines are considered okay here. I asked our tour guide if there was backlash to installing new wind turbines. She said years ago the Danish did have groups of people who were against them because they were new, but over time people accepted them, and now with the invasion of Ukraine Danish people appreciate renewable energy sources for both political and economic issues. There are new luxury condos on the waterfront, with a full view of the water with wind turbines in the distances. I think wind turbines look cool, or at the very least not any worse than a building in the distance, yet there has been a lot backlash to installing them in the US. It gives me hope to see that the Danish seem to like them.

Bispeengbuen and URBAN13

I like the idea that this nonprofit sprung up specifically for this purpose and was designed to be temporary. That keeps the focus on this one mission and the organization then later won't morph into a whole different idea.

They noticed that boys were the ones mostly using the activity space that when girls went they never went alone. They focus on getting activities that are engaging to girls, but also provided places (like the classroom we were in) for non-sports activities.

I really liked this modular classroom. It felt sunny and bright. I actually forgot we were under a highway!

Aalborg, Days 1 & 2

     July 3-4, 2023.

Reflections on the town:

This very much feels like a university town, quieter in the summer.  The history of this town is that about 100 years ago the waterfront was industrial. The shipping port still exists, but the economic emphasis of the town has shifted from industrial to the local engineering university. There are some dedicated bike lanes and tracks, but during our bike tour of the city we were often in the road next to vehicles. Vehicles were closer to us, more so than any time I can think of in Copenhagen. On the other hand, biking in the lanes feels less stressful here though because there are few cyclists - Copenhagen feels like MarioKart by comparison.

I like the art painted on sides of the buildings. It reminds me of Reykjavik- bringing in art, color, and emotion into a gray landscape. Portland has also been installing murals and art on the side of buildings and walls and I hope we keep doing this.

I didn't find the waterfont area to be very inviting, but this might have been due to the cold and rainy weather we experienced during our short visit. They had a great swimming area set up, but even in early July it felt too cold to swim. In addition, our guide told us that the water quality was not good enough at the moment for swimming. So if it's early July and there are multiple reasons why we cannot use the swimming area, when can it be used?

I found this town was great to visit for a few days, but it was too small for my tastes to live in because I am very much a city person. That said, this set up is perfect for a university town, because when you are a student, most of your day is spent studying and working within your school, so you don't need the distractions of a larger city. The car-free zone in town reminded me a lot of Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado.

Reflections on Rene Gundersen of COWI's talk about the engineering work of developing mass transit in the North:

Aalborg - although this location is remote, it is competing with other areas of Denmark for growth, so public transit connections are important. Upgrading the public transportation give the city room for growth and activity. It also contributes to the calming of the streets. The solutions they came up with needed to fit within the facades of existing buildings. And important part of making people want to use buses and light rail is to make it more difficult to use vehicles (see photo below of the segment removed from the road). When done correctly, this will contribute to the city's identity.

In 2022 COWI made it a part of their mission to not work on projects that deal with fossil fuels. In 2050 they plan on being fulling carbon-neutral, with a reduction to 70% by 2030. This is a significant pledge to make considering how much energy goes into making concrete.

BRT - was the best way to bring transportation to the North. They planned both lightrail and bus, but the national government did not want to spend the money on lightrail.

Malmo

     July 6, 2023.

Reflections on Malmo:

Malmo is a town in Sweden that is considered in a commuter zone of Copenhagen. Since it's in a different country, they have organized their bike infrastructures a bit differently. The most noticeable difference than in Denmark is that in Sweden they use two-way bike paths. Their first bike paths were installed as two-ways (see photo below), however new bike paths that are being installed in Malmo are one-way ones because cyclists found two way lanes more confusing. I noticed that the two-way bike paths are a little bit confusing as a pedestrian - we needed to look both ways for cyclists before crossing them. Though I'm sure if I lived in this city I would adjust to that. Our tour guide noted that pedestrians feel safer from cyclists if they are on a different level than bike paths. At one street there was a traffic circle specifically for bikes (see photo below). Our guide noted that they are not installing more of them because cyclists were confused about how to use them, however as we watched, it appeared as though the cyclists navigated the circle without any issues, though we were there during a low-traffic time. I wish we had more time in Malmo and Sweden!

Reflections on Lars Ekman's Vision Zero talk:

Vision Zero was established by the Swedish government in 1997. "No one should be killed or seriously injured in the road system." The focus on Vision Zero is not to prevent crashes, but instead prevent injury and death. Vision Zero sees the consequences of death and injury as unacceptable, not the crashes themselves. So if a situation is designed in a way where vehicles are occasionally damaged but nobody gets hurt, then it is seen as a success, because vehicles are fixable or replaceable. This also put responsibility on the system designers, and less on individual use

A core component of Vision Zero is getting private companies involved in this - see it as a continuation of the themes of improving the workplace: safety, sustainability, and now add Vision Zero to that. Currently in Sweden, commercial drivers are driving less safely than personal vehicle drivers and they are driving less-safe vehicles. So improving how people at work drive will improve safety of the entire fleet.

Although Sweden started working on Vision Zero many years ago, other countries quickly caught up once they adopted it (there was a graph in the presentation that showed this). So the message of this presentation is a hopeful one - the best time start working on Vision Zero was back when Sweden started it, but the second best time to start is today! I do think this will be a hard concept to pitch in the US though. The US is very much an individualist mindset country ("Give me Liberty, or give me death!") whereas Denmark is somewhat more towards collectivist mindset. I think the idea that road structures might be designed to damage vehicles will be a problem. Also shifting responsibility from the individual user to the system designer would have a lot of conservative Americans decrying that framing as "the nanny state."

Closing Thoughts

     July 7, 2023.

Reflections overall:

Rene Gundersen of COWI's talk about establishing transportation up north confirmed to me that the best and cheapest way to provide mass transit is with bus lines. Unfortunately "the bus" has some stigma to it, where as subways and light rail lines are more compelling. I was so excited when I moved to Portland to ride the street car and I was thrilled that they extended it to the east side of town. Streetcar sounds wonderful because it's plays on nostalgia. I like the streetcar when I use it, but the fact of the matter is that buses are much more efficient in terms of both cost of installation and run times. BRT buses are designed to look more like subway cars, which is smart. Once people start using the bus, people usually like it. I think if urban designers want people to try out the bus, they should focus on making our fleet of buses look as modern as possible.

I used two different rental bikes in Denmark. I liked the bike our tour provided me with in Aalborg better than the rental one in Copenhagen. The one in Copenhagen had a basket on the front, which I only used once and mostly felt like it was in the way. Wearing a backpack worked will with biking here, as it does for me back in the States. The bike in Aalborg was lighter and less squeaky so it felt like a smoother ride. Both bikes had only one hand break - I preferred it on the right handlebar because it kept my left arm available for making signals. I did use the pedal brakes occasionally, but it was something I was out of practice with since childhood. I prefer my personal bike to both of the rental bikes, which explains why I loved it so much when I lived in Colorado Springs and Durango (the downtown of both those towns is much flatter than Portland). Both the rental bikes only had three different gears to shift within. My bike has 21 (7 x 3) and I missed having more options. That said, I don't need 21 different options. Somewhere between five to ten probably is optimal for my usage.

I continue to be jealous of European standards for paid time off from work. Companies give four to six weeks of vacation as a standard. Although my current job gives me four weeks vacation time, two weeks sick time, and maternity leave, this is the first company I have worked at to do so and it still feels luxurious to me. Most companies I worked at gave only two weeks total of paid time off, or if they did have special sick leave, you needed to get a doctor's note if it was more than two days in a row. Most companies I worked at didn't pay for time on juries either, which actually is a big deal for me because I get called every three years. Every time I hear about how much support people get here for free time, I think about how much better my mental health would have been if my previous employers gave us similar amounts of time instead of getting as much work out of us as possible.

The last time I was in Scandinavia it was a visit to Iceland, which was colder than I was expecting, so I packed a bunch of warmer clothes. I wore some of them up in Aalborg, but I could have brought less with me. I wish I packed more socks because I rarely wore my sandals and instead wore my sneakers most days. I found some great teeshirts in Copenhagen so I bought a whole bunch of them to have for both the trip and for work when I get home. I had one power-converter with me. Based on previous travel, I thought I could buy another one at the airport, but I didn't see any. Another one would have been nice, but at least I had one.

Unfortunately I was not able to do any urban sketching during this trip. During the week we were very busy. I was exhausted from our activities during the days and I needed time to write the daily blog. During our free weekend it rained a lot. I took my art supplies with me to Reffen on Sunday evening because the weather looked clear, but then of course a rainstorm rolled in while I was there. I thought about taking my art supplies with me when I returned my bike on Friday, but I thought it would be too difficult to manage with returning my bike. Of course, right near the bike shop there was a wonderful park and the weather ended up staying clear for the rest of the day. I took a bunch of photos so I will have to do with making art when I get back. When I first arrived I wished I remembered to bring my binoculars with me so I could do some birdwatching while I was there, however with the rainy weather and how busy we were, I ended up not having much time for that. Plus, we were mostly in the city so there are fewer birds there.