Today was the last day on our touring bikes. We were off on our last long ride from Utrecht to Amsterdam. The ride was 44km through the countryside and along canals and rivers. Along the way, we stopped at the Castle De Haar, but didn’t get to see the main castle because of the time and the cost, so we just sat in the grass and played some riddle games. After a nice break, we were back off to Amsterdam. Mikah, Wally, Jaden, and I were all the way in the back and there was a group, led by Adam, that broke away at a fast pace. We decided to see if we could catch the group way out in front and took off on a sprint for quite a while. By the time we finally caught up to the group, they stopped to wait for everyone else, of course, but it was still fun to be on a big bike path, with little traffic, and just go as fast as we could for a while. Almost the entire ride was on bike paths that were separate from the road, which was very nice and enjoyable. The ride took a little over 4 hours and all the sudden we road up to some buildings and we were in Amsterdam. It made me think of how the two cities were separated from a lot of farmland and rural areas and not connected through urban sprawl places in the US. We were in the countryside and then, bam, we were in Amsterdam. That is one thing that has been consistent throughout the big cities we have been to- the density of the cities and the lack of urban sprawl, compared to the US. Once we got to our hotel, I needed a cold shower. The temperature was 87 degrees with the humidity somewhere around 40%, so I was sweaty and sticky. After a nice cold shower and getting our bikes from our hotel, the Bicycle Hotel, Jaden, Sean, Micah, and I went out to explore and find a snack. We walked around an area that is an outdoor market and I had to go to another vape shop because I broke the vape I got in Malmo. Sean then split off from us and we returned to the hotel to get ready to go for a swim. A group of us road our bikes north to take a ferry across Markermeer, which I thought was part of the saltwater inlet of the North Sea, but I found out that it was dammed off from the sea in 1932, making it a fresh water lake. The ride over to the swim spot was right in rush hour, a little after 5pm, and the number of bikers was insane. There was a constant flow of bikes everywhere we went. It was actually a little scary trying to cross streets, not because of the cars, but because of the river of bikes you had to cross. After a nice swim, Jaden, Micah, and I went to find some food and settled on a bar that I later found out was about 100ft from the red-light district. After a delicious burger and a cold beer, we went back to the hotel where we split up with Jaden and met up with Wally. We decided to go out and explore the city a little and ended up in the red-light district. Honestly, it was crazy and kind of sad to see. The women were just in windows in skimpy outfits and there were thousands of tourist and kids walking around looking at them. I have never seen anything like it before. By this time, I was getting tired, so we returned to the hotel to get some sleep before our 9am meeting the next day.

The day started out with a 15-minute bike ride out to Ronald’s house where we all met and got ready for the day’s journey. The agenda was to bike out to the River Rhine, a stop at a small lake to swim, meeting up with Ruud, one of Ronald’s colleagues, in Houten for a tour, and then dinner at Theehuis Rhijnauwen, a “pancake” house. The ride out to the lake was a beautiful ride that consisted of windy roads and old, World War II bunkers. Once we got to the River Rhine, the bike path turned into a small road that had two-way traffic despite it being barely wider than a one-lane road. The road is popular for motorist and motorcyclist because of its windy turns where you can get some speed outside of the city. When we got to the lake, I took a quick dip. The water wasn’t too cold, but the wind was blowing, so I got out and bathed in the sun while watching some of my classmates play a form of ultimate frisbee in the water.

The next stop was to meet Ruud in Houten, a strategically planned suburb of Utrecht. I’ll post a picture so you can get a visual of the suburb and its design. Cutting right through the middle of Houten is the train tracks with its own train stations accompanied with an underground, bike parking structure. So even though Houten is 15km away from Utrecht, you can still make it to the city center by train in 10min or by bike in about 25min. I’ve learned about transit orientated developments, so it was cool to see one that was planned out so well. There is also only one main road that circles the suburb with one road through the middle. There are entrances to each neighborhood loop from the main road and each loop and entrance has a maximum of 600 homes to keep the traffic low. They also planned it out, so the furthest home isn’t too far from the main entrance to keep drivers from driving fast. To get around the center of Houten, you must use a bike. There were even signs in the loops that reminded drivers that cars are guest to cyclist on the roads. It was cool to see a suburb designed so well!

The next stop was the Pancake house. It was very busy in the restaurant, but we got very lucky and a group that had table reservations canceled so we got a table for all 23 of us pretty quickly. They had all sort of pancakes and I couldn’t decide if I wanted a savory or sweet pancake, so I got one that was half bacon and cheese and half apple and raisin. One pancake was a pizza pancake with greens, goat cheese, and pastrami. While waiting for our meal, some of us went out to try Ronald’s wife’s e-bike. I had never been on one and I was blown away with how much power the pedal assist had. I think I may need to get an e-bike for my commute to campus, so if anyone in my family is reading, early Christmas present…? Anyways, my pancake was delicious, and after a group photo the we headed back to the hostel to prepare for a little night out together. 15 of the 17 students all went out to get drinks together, which was a lot of fun!

Two photos of some views on our ride!

My delicious pancake!

New style of biking, the “low-rider”.

Hear is a map of Houten. You can see the railroad through the middle and the grey is the main street that circles Houten.

Saturday the 20th- We planned on meeting with Ronald at 10am for a little bike tour, but mother nature decided otherwise. There was a torrential down poor and a little thunder and lightning, but we are flexible on this trip, so we pushed the meeting time to 10:30am and Ronald did some pre-bike ride talking in the hostel lobby until the rain slowed down. We lucked out and the rain cleared, and the sun even came out, making for a beautiful day. To start off the tour we headed out to the west side of Utrecht so see how they connected housing on this side of town, that was developed in the 70s and 80s, to the center of the city. We stopped along some nice green space with buildings on either side. I wasn’t sure why we were stopping here until Ronald told us we were standing on part of a mile-long stretch of a highway that they had build a platform above, making it into a tunnel. Not only did this turn this space into a nice green space with a with a bike lane north and south, but it also acted as a bike path that connected the west side of the city to the city center. It was incredible to think that it used to just be a normal highway until it became covered and converted into something much more. Our next stopped sneaked up on us as well. We biked across a bike and pedestrian bridge and went down a little off-ramp style path and then Ronald stopped at the bottom where he pointed out a structure under the bridge. They had built a school whose roof was part of the bridge off-ramp. Our final stop was what I thought to be just a stop to get some food, but Ronald had another surprise for us. We got food and sat on some grass on a raised planter and Ronald pointed out how the streets at the intersection were designed. I honestly didn’t even realize it was even a street we were sitting along. The design turned it into a shared space for bikes, pedestrian, and cars, just by changing it from asphalt, with painted lanes and traffic markings, to bricks with no lines or markings. This tour really showed me how some little changes in design can make things so different and create such a different space than ones designed around cars. I will put some pictures with some more description on the bottom of the post.

Later, in the evening, Wally, Micah, Dylan, and I did what Marc and Rebecca want us to do- get lost. We went and got pho for dinner and then just went exploring, taking lefts and rights whenever it felt right. We ended up outside of town near the local soccer stadium. It was really fun just riding around and consuming a new city, without any maps at all. After a probably close to two hours, we found our way back to the hostel without checking a map once, which really surprised me. After some dessert, Wally and I didn’t really feel like going to sleep yet, so we basically did the same thing, but on foot this time. We just walked and talked about life and what we are learning and experiencing on this trip. This was around midnight, and it looked like rush hour. The amount of people out biking was incredible. There were hundreds of people out biking in packs up to 10-15 people. We both were blown away and were talking about how cool it would be to live in a city like this that has so much energy and people out walking and biking all the time. This trip is really making me rethink life as I know it and how different other places are. I want to believe that we could move more into the direction of biking, walking, and public transit in America, but at the same time it seems like we are light years away from having cities like this. Wally and I talked a lot about how much could be solved if we all biked and walked more. We also talked about how awesome this course is and how it is so much more than just biking and biking infrastructure for us. It has really been learning about an entire culture and political climate that works together with biking to make an entirely different lifestyle. I hope that somehow I can translate everything I am seeing and learning to people back home and be a part of the change I want to see in the future!

This is where they built on top of the existing highway. The red star is where we stopped and the yellow stars are the where the highway turns into a tunnel.

This is taken from the red star in the picture above.

This is the school build under the bridge!

Ronald standing in the street that looks more like a plaza, explaining how they redesigned this intersection.

Here is another view of the street.

You can see the same store in the photo below that was before the redesign.

Before the redesign.

The red star is where we were sitting, listening to Ronald.

Yesterday, the 18th, I was in three countries in one day. We started the day off early, 5:30am, to pack all our checked luggage into the van because we had to walk to the train station. We took the train from Malmo to the Copenhagen Airport and from their we flew into Amsterdam. Once in Amsterdam, we took a train to Utrecht. I slept on each leg of this journey because I was up a little too late on Wednesday/Thursday morning. When we got to our hostel at 11:30am, we found out our rooms wouldn’t be ready until check-in time at 2:00pm so even though I was extremely tired, I went and picked up my bike and got some lunch. I haven’t had a lot of time to get out and bike around the city, but after a nice 2hour nap, I went out to get some falafel with a few of the guys and walked around the canals near our hostel. This city, from what I have seen so far, is a beautiful city with a deep history. The city was founded in 70 AD by the Romans, which is hard for me to even fathom growing up in Oregon, which was founded in 1859. Some of the students have had the opportunity to travel and see historical places, but for me this is something I have never experience since I have never left the west coast. I have heard some students say they don’t want to hike or bike to a castle just to see a bunch of bricks, but for me, there is some type of magic being in an area or building that has so much history. I feel like I talk about it every time I post a blog, but this trip continues to be such an amazing experience and opportunity for me that not very many people get, I mean there is only 16 other students with me on this trip. Hopefully on my next blog I will be able to talk more about my experience biking and exploring Utrecht, but right now I am currently sitting in a laundry mat, doing all my laundry that I haven’t been able to do because, until I got into Malmo, I couldn’t find any stain remover, and if you know me, I stain everything I wear.

On another note, however, we did get to go meet up with Ronald today, the 20th, who is a traffic engineer here in Utrecht, but after his presentation, it seemed like he was more of a social engineer because of how they plan around the people, not cars. For me, this was really one of the most interesting professional meetings we have been in. Ronald gave us some history of The Netherlands, which really helped me understand how they have gotten to where they are now, the second-best city in the world for cycling. The part that interested me the most though was about the biking culture here. He really focused on the behavioral and social aspect of biking, especially for the children, who are the potential, future car drivers. Here, the children learn how to bike at a very young age and, on top of that, parents bike with them on their bike at an even younger age. This makes biking, not driving, the normal thing to do here. Biking opens the world for kids and teenagers, and you can’t even get a driver’s licenses until you are 18 years old. This really made me think of my childhood. When I was a kid, I use to bike around all over the place and it gave me a sense of independence and freedom, but what really opened my world was when I turned 16 years old and got my driver licenses. Living in a suburb with low-density, there wasn’t a whole lot of places I could bike to, but when I got my car, I was able to do so much more. Biking here also is a has a social aspect to it. You meet more people and, with less cars, there is more space for outdoor plazas and places to hangout. You can also bike with your friends and meet new people when you are biking and walking. The public spaces in the cities we have visited are always so full of people and it really shows that cities aren’t just a place to live, they provide much more than that. We also visited a parking structure that had parking for 4,200 bikes and it was full of bikes and we visited one that, once completed, will have over 12,000 parking spots. I’m excited to get out and bike this city more. This city is completely planned around bikes and I have never seen so many people biking. I’ll report back later!

Canal right by the hostel.

Cool tunnel to down to the canal.

This was the bike parking structure that had 4,200 bike parking spots.

Ronald said that, “it’s not just a roof, it it’s an icon” about this covering between the central station and the mall.

July 15th, Sunday, was a day of rest at Helsingor. Wally and I slept in until 11:30am after staying out a little late the night before, seeing what the nightlife in Helsingor was all about. Nothing much to report back on that. After a little lunch, at this cool food court, inside of an old warehouse and writing my last blog, Wally and I sat out behind the hostel drinking cup after cup of coffee. It was nice to just relax and talk about anything from environmental justice to the purpose of life and getting to know Wally better. That evening we had a nice student led, group dinner on the back lawn and a little bonfire with Danish S’mores. The next day we were off on another bike ride, 31km, to the island of Ven, which is an island in Sweden. We took two ferries along the way to Ven and then it was another day of rest for me. I went into our little cabin as soon as we got there and took a nice nap and then woke up to another student led, group dinner and then I was off to bed to rest up for another long bike ride to Malmo. It was really nice and needed for me to have a couple days of rest. I feel like I never stopped moving in Copenhagen. I was living off of the energy of the city and then when we got out of the city and into a more rural area, I hit a wall and needed to catch up on all the sleep that I missed. Today, the 16th, Ryan, Brenna, Tenley, and I decided we wanted to “Lance Armstrong” this 48km ride to Malmo. By this, I mean we wanted to go faster than the group and try and get a nice work out in. About 10 miles in we lost Brenna because she couldn’t keep up with our pace, sorry Brenna, and this was when the “Power team” was born. It was really fun and nice moving at a fast pace and getting in a great workout on the way to Malmo. Ryan had his speaker on the whole time and we were so into biking with intensity that we even took our shirts off while biking. Looking back at it now, I probably should have worn some sunscreen because my shoulders are a little crispy, but I think it should turn into a tan.. I really wanted to get to the hotel because I was on the last pair of underwear and socks and really needed to do laundry. Come to find out, they don’t have laundry here, but Marc and Rebecca stress being flexible, so I took what I learned from my aunt and hand-washed all my socks and underwear. Ryan, Tenley, and I went and got lunch, ahi poke bowl for me, and then we got ice cream as well. I then went to a local vape shop because I lost one and broke my other, and if you know me that is a travesty. Nicotine addiction is no joke. There at the shop, I met a nice 23 Swedish guy who worked there and we talked for 30 minutes. One of my favorite things on this trip has been meeting new people and learning about what life is like for them. After that, we went to a group pizza in the park and now I am currently listening to DJ Jaden’s music with Wally and Mikah, sipping a beer and I’m going to go ahead and enjoy the rest of the night. Talk to you all soon!

Route from Helsingor to Ven.

This castle was built in the early 1300s and is the oldest structure I have ever been in. It is in Helsingborg where we stopped after our first ferry ride from Helsingor. A few of us paid to go inside and go all the way to the top.

This was a quick little quick pit stop right before our last ferry of the day to the island of Ven.

The beginning of the ride today, before we lost Brenna.

View from today’s ride.

Route the power team took today, minus the first five miles I didn’t get logged.

Yesterday, we started off with an early, 8am, meeting at the Generator Hostel to go over our bike ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor. As I packed my last Generator Hostel sandwiches for the road and returned the key to my bike, I reflected on the amazing week I spent in Copenhagen and all the great people I met along the way. From meeting with professionals from Gehl, Copenhagenize, the parks department, and BIG Architecture during the day to backflipping off a houseboat into the harbor at Midnight and everything in between, it feels like I was in Copenhagen for a month even though the time flew by. Copenhagen held true to everything I could have ever imagined and more. Before coming on this trip, I had only ever biked around recreationally. Back home I drive my car everywhere I go, and I am always running late. I end up driving recklessly trying to get to places on time and I get agitated with other drives. I joke about it with people, but it is kind of true when I say it, about how I get flipped off at least once a week when I am driving. Being here and not driving for over ten days now, I can feel the benefits of biking to and from places instead of driving. I felt more connected to Copenhagen than I do back home. When I drive, I am seeing the world at faster pace, but when I bike, I am so much more aware of things around me. I can see why there is a higher sense of community here than back home. During the last big election, they had an 80% turn out on voter, which shows how much more people feel connected to their community. Not only do I feel more connected to the city and the people, I also feel healthy and happy biking around. Even the trip over to Helsingor was so easy and safe. The ride was 48 Km and it was almost completely on one continuous bike path that took us all the way up here. There were so many people out in cycle gear with nice road bikes riding along the path. I was thinking about how different it was biking here compared to trying to bike the same distance along the Oregon coast on Highway 101. I never once worried about getting hit by a car. The ride up here was so beautiful too. We followed the coastline all the way up here and went through the countryside with open fields and pockets of forested areas. The coast and beaches here are not what I expected, especially being so far north. The water is so clear and blue, it almost looks like a tropical ocean. As I write this blog right now, I am sitting on the beach at the hostel looking out towards the bay with Sweden on the other side. I don’t even know how I am getting college credit for this trip. Even though I am learning so much, it doesn’t even feel academic to me. We don’t sit in classrooms and get lectured. Everything we do is interactive and so much fun. I feel so lucky to be here and learning with my “classmates” who are all amazing and very passionate about making the world a better place. I am excited to see what the rest of the trip has in store for me. Since my last post, we went to a rooftop cocktail party, met some new local Copenhagen residents who took Ryan and I from Refshaleon, on their little boat, across the harbor to their houseboats, and so much more. I have talked to and met more new people here in a week than I do in months in Eugene. There is just so much going on. You can just grab a six pack of beer and go to a nice park or plaza and strike a conversation with people from all around the world, which is something you can’t do in Eugene. I also stopped at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art on the way to Helsingor and spent a couple hours there. There was some Andy Warhol’s there which was cool to see and some very interesting art. Anyways, I’m off to a group dinner and bonfire on the back lawn of the hostel!

Our route from Copenhagen to Helsingor.

A couple photos of the views on the way to Helsingor.

Pit stop break with a beautiful view of this pond.

Inside one of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrored rooms at the Louisiana Modern Art Museum. 

My bike for the long ride.

Today we went to Trafiklegepladsen park to meet with someone who works for the parks department here in Copenhagen. This park is one of 27 staffed parks here in Copenhagen that have been around since 1939 and are all paid for with tax money. These parks are something that are unique not only to Denmark, but around the world. Each one is staffed with 2-4 people and there is an office at each one. At a lot of the parks there is equipment like bikes and other toys that they provide for the kids. They run based on 4 principles which are: play movement, communication, providing a meeting place, and safety in the community. The job for the staff isn’t just to monitor the park, they provide a wide range of services to the kids and parents who use the parks. Through games and other activities they want to help educate the children about things like conflict resolution, farming and gardening, and community building, all while staying active. The staff is also there to be adult role models for children, especially in disadvantaged communities. There is even more parks in areas that are lower income and the parks there usually have 4 staff members instead of 2. The parks provide so many things for these children and really reflect the culture here in Denmark. They even have children, age 13-18, who can work at the parks and get paid to do it. Children are even allowed to come to the park by themselves as long as they are  at least 6 years old. Once we were done with a little Q&A session we were free to go roam Trafiklegepladsen, which has a mini road system that looks just like the roads here. It is used to teach children, and even adults, how to ride bikes in the city and teaches them the different road signs and right-of-ways. It was really awesome to watch parents and their kids walk around and bike this area simulating real traffic. It looked just like the streets here in Copenhagen, the sidewalks even looked the same with cobblestones. We were then tasked to visit to 5 other staffed parks around the city. I paired up with Sean and we decided 5 parks to visit all around Copenhagen and to not use google maps while doing it (well at least as little as possible). Once, we got to the first park, we met up with Tenley and Finley. Finley wasn’t feeling well so Tenley teamed up with us for the rest of the day. The first park we went to was called Tarnlegepladsen. It had different features that all represented different famous historical buildings here in the city like the Church of Our Savior. There was a ton of kids and there parents there in the park and it had little garden plots for the kids to garden in. We then headed to the next park which is the oldest staffed park in the city, but we ended up at the one right down the street from it. Here we met Lise Lunderskov, a staff member at this park. She told us some information about what her job is like. She said she more a social worker than anything and said it is really about being a trusted adult for the children to talk with when they don’t feel like they have anyone to talk to. She said she even helps adults with the behavior and parenting. She also talked more about the children who work there. When they get a job at the park they have to behave like it is a real job. If they can’t make it to park they need to call and let them know. It is really meant to teach them how to be responsible and what having a job is. They even had to fire one of the children because they weren’t responsible enough, which could be a very valuable lesson for them. We also learned from her that Norway is trying to learn from Copenhagen so they can implement staffed parks there too. Going to these parks and seeing how full they were with children and parents was an amazing site. I think the way children are raised here is a huge contributor to the culture of this city. Below I’ll put some pictures of the parks we went to and a map showing where we went. Oh and I also learned a new term for a very hands on parenting, like helicopter parenting, called curling parenting, which I thought was funny.

Here is the map we used that has the parks in Copenhagen. The triangles are staffed parks and the circles are regular parks. The stars on the map indicate that we went to that park!

This photo is at Trafiklegepladsen park and as you can see it looks just like the street here in Copenhagen. (8 pink triangle on map)

This photo is in Trafiklegepladsen park as well and Wally here is 6’2 so that helps scale the size of the mini road system. (8 pink triangle on map)

This was the next park we went to where we were met by Tenley and Finley. This park’s name is Tarnlegepladsen and it had features that looked like historical places here in Copenhagen like the Church of Our Saviors and The Round Tower. (13 pink triangle on map)

This is the third park we went to, Hans Tavsens Park ost. In the picture above you can see some of the garden bed plots that the children can use to garden. (14 Orange triangle on map)

This is another photo of Hans Tavsens Park ost where we met Lise Lunderskov. (14 Orange triangle on map)

This is a chicken coop at Hans Tavsens Park ost ost. The chicken were on vacation at another park because of a problem with rats according to Lise. (14 Orange triangle on map)

This is the oldest staffed park in Copenhagen called Hans Tavsens Park ost vest. (11 Orange triangle on map)

This was at my favorite park, Valbyparkens naturlegeplads. In the photo you can see families making some pancake or crepes over the fire. (11 red triangle on map)

This is another photo of Valbyparkens naturlegeplads. (11 red triangle on map)

This photo is at Remiseparken which was farm based and had all sorts of animals for the children to help take care of. Here is this photo is the large chicken coop. (18 grey triangle on map)

Here is one of the goats at Remiseparken. (18 grey triangle on map)

Today is my sixth day in Copenhagen and I feel like I am falling in love with this city. Copenhagen is like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. I know I’m more or less on a vacation so it’s hard not to be enjoying myself, but the atmosphere here is so vibrant. Before coming on this trip, I wasn’t feeling super inspired about my academics and was in a little bit of funk, but being here and seeing how the urban form impacts the livability and livelihood of the community is really inspiring me and getting me excited about a future career in planning. I feel so grateful to be here on this trip and to be getting the opportunity to hear from professionals from Gehl, Copenhagenize, and our local professionals from this Eugene. It is hard for me to even write about all the things that I am thinking or that I have done because my mind has been so stimulated. Biking around, I am constantly seeing so many new things and trying to take it all in. Today, we had the opportunity to meet with Em, a UO alum, who has been living here for almost a year and a half doing an internship for DIS, a study abroad program here in Copenhagen. Hearing about her experiences living in Copenhagen and her interpretation of the culture was very informative and it was cool to a perspective coming from another young American. After a little Q&A with her, we all went on a bike ride on an old rail track that is now a bike path, to Frederiksberg Have park. From there, Micah, Wally, and I took off on our bikes and tried getting back to the hostel without using the map. After about ten minutes and not seeing anything anyone of us recognized, we stopped to find out where we were and realized we no where near where we thought we were. We did a quick pit stop at a hot dog stand and beverages at 7/11, which I have to say, makes American 7/11’s look weak. By the time we were getting close to the hostel, we went right by the Dronning Lousises Bro Bridge during rush hour, which is the most biked bridge in the world, and has over 35,000 cyclists going over it every day. It was quite a site. Just seeing that during rush hour there was no car traffic, there was just bike traffic. It really goes to show how many people are biking every single day and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. It looked like the peloton during the Tour de France. Then, to cap the evening off at 19:00, Kelsey, Wally, Finley, Ryan, Brenna, Kyra, Tenley, and myself rented a little boat to explore the canals and the harbor. The top speed of the boat was only 3 km/h, but it didn’t matter, it was so much fun. We brought some adult beverages, meat, cheese, bread, veggies, humus, and a bluetooth speaker. The weather was perfect and there wasn’t too much wind. We were supposed to only have the boat for a 2 hour rental, but underestimated the speed of the boat and got back to the rental dock 40minutes late where the staff were all waiting for us (luckily we didn’t get charged extra!). This trip has been a dream so far and I’m excited to see other cities, but I will definitely be sad to leave Copenhagen. This is the first city I have ever been to abroad and I think it will always have a special place in my heart and I know I will be back again some day!

There two links should be videos you can open..? New to this.

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Video of us on the boat

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Video of bike traffic near the bridge

Hot dog pit stop!

Harbor view from the boat!

Picture of me thinking of something to say for the game “never have I ever”

Today our class met with the CEO of Copenhagenize and former mayor of Copenhagen, Morten Kabell. He gave us a presentation on how Copenhagen’s city was overrun by cars in the 1950s and how they have shifted into a city where over 50% of its citizens bike every single day, even in the rain and snow. This took a lot of time and the demand of citizens to take their city back from cars and car parking. In the presentation, Morten showed us the infrastructure that they have placed to make this city bicycle friendly and then we had the pleasure of going on a bike tour with him to see it in person and ask questions. In this blog post I am going to post some pictures of some of this infrastructure and describe why it is an important piece to the urban form.

This photo shows multiple different types of infrastructures that make biking, walking, and public transit easier. This road only has two lanes of traffic, no street parking, and designated lane for the bus stop showing that the streets aren’t planned soley for moving as many cars as possible. The bike lane is raised higher than the road and the sidewalk is raised from the bike lane. This keeps cars from drifting into the bike lane and cyclist from going onto the sidewalk. The bus stop also is out on a island so people can enter and exit the bus without disrupting the bike lane. Bus riders can wait for the bike lane to clear to cross over to the sidewalk. Also in this picture is someone using a cargo bike, which you see all over Copenhagen. The cargo bike can be used to transport kids, people, dogs, and of course, cargo. This eliminates the need to drive if you need to pick up anything you can’t carry on a bike. We also learned today that even the blood banks and sperm banks use cargo bikes because it is actually faster than using a vehicle to transport. Morten also told us there is even a funeral cargo bike in Copenhagen that transports coffins! I would love one of these bikes to take my dog over to the dog park so I didn’t have to drive and get dog hair and mud in my car.

In this picture you can see a protected left turn lane for cyclist. Here in Copenhagen, the design for bike lanes are like mini streets for bikes. A lot of the bike lanes traffic signals just for cyclist. Riding a bike here reminds me of when I was a kid and went to safety town and rode around the streets of a mini city to learn the ways of a street. The bike lanes here don’t really feel like bike lanes, they feel like bike roads. In fact, Copenhagen bike lanes are usually at least 6 to 11 feet wide. Here you can bike safely with a buffer between you and the street.

This photo shows the standard raised bike lane and sidewalk buffers, but also has the buffer of parking between street traffic and cyclist to make it safer to bike. You can also see Sean safely signalling to stop while I take a picture on my phone while biking, not recommended.

Here Sean shows us this awesome piece of infrastructure for cyclist. At some intersections this foot rest and push bar is here to help cyclist get moving through the intersection faster when they get a green light. This isn’t just for comfort. When bike traffic is backed up it helps increase the speed of the bike traffic through the intersection, especially during rush hour, yes bike rush hour!

This is a bonus photo of Sean’s excitement for cargo bikes. Think of all the amazing things you could transport with these bikes!!!

On Wednesday, July 3rd, I arrived at LAX to catch my flight to Oslo, Norway for a connection flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. I honestly had no idea what to expect. This would be the first time I have ever been outside of the United States and I was excited, but nervous. During the weeks leading up to this trip, I didn’t do much research into the places I would be going and even if I did I wouldn’t have been able to comprehend how different it is to any place I have ever been. I grew up in Springfield, OR and the furthest west I have traveled is Hawaii and the furthest east I have gone is Tuscan, AZ. I have lived in the suburbs of Springfield for a majority of my life and you can’t get anywhere by bike in less than 20-30minutes. It has always been more convenient for me to drive everywhere I go because I can get anywhere in Eugene or Springfield in less than 30minutes, even during rush hour. There is also ample parking wherever I need to go, other than the U of O campus. Here in Copenhagen, I have yet to see a parking lot that has more than 10 parking spots, and only a couple parking structures. There isn’t any stores with giant parking lots out front. In 20minutes I have been able to get to one side of town to another on a bike and feel completely safe doing it. I have seen more bikes backed up at traffic lights than I have cars and way more parked bikes than cars as well.  This class is about learning from the cities and countries that we are visiting who have placed the infrastructure for biking and designed their cities around sustainable transportation instead of around automobiles and the impact that has on their citizens and the urban form. My hope for this blog is to try and translate what I am experiencing here the best I can and to share my travel experiences throughout this trip.