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.