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The Cycling Embassy of Denmark (CED) is a Danish network organization dedicated to the promotion of cycling as a means of transportation and Denmark as a cycling nation by capitalizing on the deep rooted Danish cycling culture to offer solutions to urban planners across Europe and the world in the areas of urban planning, bicycle infrastructure development, and cycling promotion.
The CED was founded on 12 May 2009 during the 2009 Velo-city conference in Brussels. The Danish ambassador to Belgium, Jørgen Molde, conducted an inauguration ceremony that attracted the attention of the Danish and international press as well as politicians and urban planners in attendance at Velo-city. [1]
The CED comprises a network of Danish cities, companies and associations, including:
During the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the CED awarded New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg the first ever Leadership Award for Cycling Promotion. [2]
In 2010, Roelof Wittink was awarded with the Leadership Award for Cycling Promotion during the Velo-city Global conference in Copenhagen. [3]
Copenhagen is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of around 1.4 million in the urban area, and more than 2 million in the wider Copenhagen metropolitan area. The city is on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road.
Mikael Colville-Andersen is a Canadian-Danish urban designer and urban mobility expert. He was the CEO of Copenhagenize Design Company, which he founded in 2009 in Copenhagen, and he works with cities and governments around the world in coaching them towards becoming more bicycle-friendly. He is the host of the urbanism documentary television series The Life-Sized City, which premiered in 2017 on TVOntario and in 2018 on various other international channels including Finland's national broadcaster YLE and Italian broadcaster La Effe. Season 1 of The Life-Sized City was nominated for five Canadian Screen Awards in 2018.
EuroVelo is a network of 17 long-distance cycling routes criss-crossing Europe, in various stages of completion. When completed, the EuroVelo network's total length will almost be 90,000 km (55,923 mi). As of November 2022 more than 56,000 km (34,797 mi) were in place. EuroVelo is a project of the European Cyclists' Federation (ECF).
Jan Gehl Hon. FAIA is a Danish architect and urban design consultant based in Copenhagen whose career has focused on improving the quality of urban life by re-orienting city design towards the pedestrian and cyclist. He is a founding partner of Gehl Architects.
The European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) is a non-profit member-based umbrella federation of local, regional and national civil society organizations that promote cycling for both transportation and leisure.
Cycling advocacy consists of activities that call for, promote or enable increased adoption and support for cycling and improved safety and convenience for cyclists, usually within urbanized areas or semi-urban regions. Issues of concern typically include policy, administrative and legal changes ; advocating and establishing better cycling infrastructure ; public education regarding the health, transportational and environmental benefits of cycling for both individuals and communities, cycling and motoring skills; and increasing public and political support for bicycling.
Velo-city is a series of cycle planning conferences that started in 1980 in Bremen. The name Velo-city is a small play on word using the French for bicycle – vélo, and Velo-city can also be read as velocity or speed. European Cyclists’ Federation owns the series name, and the ECF Board is the decision-making body for Velo-city.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen (SHL) is an international architectural firm founded by a group of Danish architects in 1986 in Aarhus, Denmark. It currently has three offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, as well as Shanghai, China. In 2018, Schmidt Hammer Lassen became part of global architecture and design firm Perkins and Will.
Frederiksberg is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less than 9 km2 and had a population of 103,192 in 2015.
Events from the year 2009 in Denmark.
The NZ Cycling Conference is a series of cycle planning conferences started in 1997 in Hamilton. Since 2001, the conference series has a biennial schedule. The conferences are one of the key ways of exchanging expertise about planning and design for cycling in New Zealand. Starting in 2012, the scope of the conference includes both walking and cycling, by combining the previous Living Streets Aotearoa biennial NZ Walking Conference series, and was rebranded "2WALKandCYCLE". The most recent conference was held in Palmerston North in July–August 2018.
Cycling in Copenhagen is – as with most cycling in Denmark – an important mode of transportation and a dominating feature of the cityscape, often noticed by visitors. The city offers a variety of favourable cycling conditions — dense urban proximities, short distances and flat terrain — along with an extensive and well-designed system of cycle tracks. This has earned it a reputation as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. Every day 1.2 million kilometres are cycled in Copenhagen, with 62% of all citizens commuting to work, school, or university by bicycle; in fact, almost as many people commute by bicycle in greater Copenhagen as do those cycle to work in the entire United States. Cycling is generally perceived as a healthier, more environmentally friendly, cheaper, and often quicker way to get around town than by using an automobile.
Events from the year 1936 in Denmark.
Copenhagen City Bikes or Bycykler København was the bicycle sharing system of Copenhagen, Denmark. Launched in 1995 with 1,000 cycles, the project was the world's first organized large-scale urban bike-sharing scheme, which, unlike its Dutch predecessor, featured what are now considered basic elements such as coin deposit, fixed stands and specially designed bikes with parts that cannot be used on other bikes. Riders paid a refundable deposit at one of 110 special bike stands and had unlimited use of a bike within the specified downtown area. The scheme was funded by commercial sponsors. In return, the bikes carried advertisements, which appeared on the bike frame and the solid-disk type wheels. When the programme was abolished in October 2012, some 1,500–1,700 bikes were still in service, out of a total of 2,500 put onto the streets.
Manfred Neun is a German entrepreneur and a key figure in cycling advocacy. He is the former president of the European Cyclists' Federation and actively advocates for cycling and utility cycling in Europe and abroad.
Cycling in Denmark is both a common and popular recreational and utilitarian activity. Bicycling infrastructure is a dominant feature of both city and countryside infrastructure with segregated dedicated bicycle paths and lanes in many places and the network of 11 Danish National Cycle Routes extends more than 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) nationwide. Often bicycling and bicycle culture in Denmark is compared to the Netherlands as a bicycle-nation.
Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except where cyclists are barred such as many freeways/motorways. It includes amenities such as bike racks for parking, shelters, service centers and specialized traffic signs and signals. The more cycling infrastructure, the more people get about by bicycle.
EuroVelo 7 (EV7), named the Sun Route, is a 7,409 km (4,604 mi) long EuroVelo long-distance cycling route running north–south through the whole of Europe from the North Cape in Norway to the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The route passes through nine countries, and from north to south these are: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Malta.
There is debate over the safety implications of cycling infrastructure. Recent studies generally affirm that segregated cycle tracks have a better safety record between intersections than cycling on major roads in traffic. Furthermore, cycling infrastructure tends to lead to more people cycling. A higher modal share of people cycling is correlated with lower incidences of cyclist fatalities, leading to a "safety in numbers" effect though some contributors caution against this hypothesis. On the contrary, Older studies tended to come to negative conclusions about mid-block cycle track safety.
Controversies have surrounded dedicated cycling routes in cities. Some critics of bikeways argue that the focus should instead be placed on educating cyclists in road safety, and others that safety is better served by using the road space for parking. There is debate over whether cycle tracks are an effective factor to encourage cycling or whether other factors are at play.