The city of Copenhagen has made a dramatic shift in how people get around the city over the last few decades. This bar graph (below) shows the Norrebrogade street redesign before and after. All the forms of transportation have dramatically improved… except for pedestrians.
Around town, I’ve noticed the side walks are quite narrow at times. When bicycles are the predominant form of transportation and the average person owns 1.5 bicycles, there is an abundance of bicycles indeed!
This picture shows a sidewalk pinch point where pedestrians, frankly anyone, but especially those with alter abilities would have a hard time walking around this bicycle sticking out onto the sidewalk.
(Photo below, outside the central Copenhagen train station) I witnessed people having to navigate around bicycle parking. I actually saw someone trip and fall on the ground in this exact spot.
Don’t get me wrong, there are pedestrian only zones throughout the city. For example (image below) there are pedestrian shopping zones, residential shared streets- and areas where bicyclists are supposed to walk their bikes and yield to pedestrians. Although, in general you can do what you want on a bicycle here…
Perhaps the next phase for Copenhagen is to continue to expand its bicycle containment parking infrastructure and allow for pedestrians to have increased mobility within the city, no doubt they will continue to increase the ‘Italian’ style pedestrian promenades and cafe/shopping zones.
Below is one of my favorite bicycle parking examples: the sunken grade of the parking facility here also facilitates the drainage of storm water away from the pedestrian plaza zone.
Close up of the parking system below. The bicycles are parked below grade of the plaza which helps to define the programming of the space.
The pavement and sidewalk systems here have their pros and cons. The sidewalks are narrow indeed and at times the cobble stone pavers provide for an uneven surface.
My first impression about the sidewalks was that they might be uneven and hard to navigate for the elderly or those in wheelchairs. However, I did hear from an urban planner that blind persons like the center line of cobbles in between the concrete pavers (pictured above) as a way to stay centered on the sidewalk. This is the typical Copenhagen sidewalk (concrete pavers with a center row of cobble stone pavers down the middle).
The paver system does allow for ease of access for utility workers. (Image below) The pavers can be lifted up, repairs made and then replaced. This seems cheaper and less invasive than needing to cut, jack hammer, and remove asphalt or concrete.
The typology of bicycle tracks throughout Copenhagen is shown below.
There are curb separations between each of the different forms of transportation. I’m not sure if I’m sold on this system.. I do see pros and cons of the design. I like the curb between the cars and bicycles more than the curb between bikes and people. In a way though this track system creates a more orderly transportation experience, by encouraging users to ‘stay in their lane’ however, at times pedestrians (when crossing to a bus stop or to cross the street)might be caught off guard by the cycle tracks double curb system and same by the cyclists- I saw locals on bikes not paying attention and crash on the curb, as well as tourists. I would tend to ride closer to the middle than the right of the bicycle lane because of the curb. That being said, I think some form of separation is important between these different forms of transportation (in a city that hits nearly 50% bicycle commuter rates, this system might help to protect pedestrians from bicycle traffic) -at a basic level a textured pavement that indicates the change of program (like cobble stones or truncated dome pavers) can help to inform users.
Often, at pedestrian crossings, the road is lifted into a slight speed bump, and the bike track and sidewalk meet at grade.
See ya later Copenhagen!