Mikael Colville-Andersen, Livable streets for people
Mikael Colville-Andersen is a Canadian-Danish urban design expert and CEO of Copenhagenize Design Co. He is advising cities and towns around the world regarding bicycle urbanism, re-establishing the bicycle as transport in cities, policy, planning, communications and general urban design. Mikael is also the host of “The Life-Sized City” TV-series about urbanism around the world.
FILMED IN Frederiksberg , DENMARK 2018
EGA-TALKS is produced by Erik Giudice Architects: interviews with experts in the field of architecture, urbanism and related areas. EGA Talks is part of EGAs ongoing cross disciplinary research aiming to envision a sustainable future.
Livable streets for people
The idea of a sustainable and resilient city is nothing new. I think it is as old as cities themselves. They have always been resilient. That’s why they are still here. That’s a pretty good indicator, right?
Really we have been resilient. We have been sustainable. Trying to figure out how to package that better. Something that is transferable. Where you can take this great thing that Copenhagen does and put it into Toronto, or that amazing thing that Medline in Colombia does and put that directly into Stockholm.
I like to boil everything down to it’s simplest form and be incredible pragmatic. Just boiling it down to something simple. It makes it easier and more effective. The cities or the clients will have a really quick result.
I just want to do away with this tech based over complication of everything in our lives. We need to look at the streets of our cities. We need to look at the people who live in our cities. They are the resilient ones. They are the ones that have to struggle with daily challenges.
The people are the ones that can give us the sustainability that we need. So really, if you want to create a resilient city. It is engaging your already resilient citizens, asking them for their ideas, not being so arrogant as we have been for so long. Thinking, the urban planners they can take care of that. The architects they know what to do. It is this elitist approach. Witch doesn’t really match the desires of the desires of the citizens.
I should just be able to walk out on any street in any city of the world and say, yes I belong here.
There is no incredibly arrogant swathe of asphalt. With cars and an intersection and I’m just the guy trying to cross the street and the buildings are out of scale and there are no public space in front of it. I am suppose to look up and say: Ooh! Architecture! And then, where do I sit outside this building?
Everything should be street level.
You can have a sky rise city. So it’s not always about architectural scale. For me, everything is about the streets.
The streets for a millennia, has been the most democratic spaces in the history of homo sapiens. They belong to us!
We have had many decades of transport ”dictatorship” Where we have only put our efforts into providing space for more cars. Narrowing our sidewalks. If you look at photos of New York in 1920ies. The sidewalks where massive, because of the volume.
Historically, these democratic spaces. We did everything in the streets. We had small apartments, but we went out into our ”living room”, The streets. We bought and sold our goods. We transported ourselves. We flirted. We gossiped with our neighbors. Our kids played in the streets. Everything happened there. In the public arena.
Now we are different in our cities. We have nice apartments, big or small, doesn’t matter. So we spend a lot of time, in front of Netflix or whatever we do. So we use the streets less. But it is in our urban DNA. To go out onto the streets. Because we are humans. We want to interact. So understanding the psycological urban needs of our citizens is incredibly important.
When they pedestrianized the main through fare through Copenhagen in the 1960ies. Strøget. The worlds largest pedestrian street. The Danes, where allegedly where complaining.
”No, we don’t want that! We are not Italians, we don’t want to walk! That’s what Italians do. They are going for their walks in their piazzas and stuff.”
And then the next day. After they just went ahead and did it anyway. The next day I guess the Danes realized that they were ”Italians”. Or that Italians are ”Danes”. Or that we are just homo sapiens.
We need to get back on the streets. We need to encourage people to use them. We need to make it an enjoyable space.
Just me walking down to my shop. In any neighborhood in the world. I don’t need to enjoy it. I don’t need to go:
OH MY GOOD! THIS IS AMAZING! JUST WALKING TO MY SHOP!
I should have it in my head that: This is enjoyable, oh there is a neighbor. Just looking around doing all the things that we do. That really is the goal. Putting democracy back onto the asphalt. And limiting the destructive capabilities of automobiles.
Making a lot of inroads into more sustainable transport. And more enjoyable, sticky destinations in our neighborhoods.
This map is a record of incidents in New York City where vehicle drivers have endangered pedestrians, bicyclists and other drivers.
It was created for people like you to report about any crashes or "near-misses" that you witnessed or happened to you, whether just now, recently or in the past.
Here's my helmet cam footage from the Rush Hour Race yesterday. As you can see, I stopped at every red light. Seriously, I only made two greens the entire way.
Though it's not on by default, the video is available in 1080p, if that's what you're into. Sorry about the shakiness. Hopefully LivableStreets will cut it together with the other racers' videos and make it into something cool.
Oh, and here's a link to my route on Google Maps, in case any of you were wondering.
Thanks again to Lee Toma of Bike Milton for lending me his camera for the event!
Yours,
Josh
PS: That's my mom that you can hear me hugging at the end. She was very proud.
It was my first race ever, and I came in first. I'm batting 1,000. Maybe it's time to retire, while I'm still on top.
Thanks again to LivableStreets for asking me to participate, I had a blast. If you don't know about LivableStreets, definitely check them out. It's a really great organization, and they're always looking for new members.
And thanks to everyone who came out and rode with me, and to my competitors Ken and Laurie. I couldn't have done it without you guys!
The video will be up as soon as I figure out how to upload the video. EDIT: here it is!
I have a confession to make: I'm not a racer. That's why I think it's a little funny that I've committed to represent all cyclists in the Rush Hour Race.
On May 14th, a driver, an MBTA rider, and a biker will be racing from Davis Square to Kendall Square to prove which mode of transport reigns supreme. And I'm gonna be the biker.
It's all part of LivableStreets' celebration to kick off Bay State Bike Week. It's a great idea, and I'm proud to live in a city that would be host to such an event.
I have to admit, I'm a little bit nervous. I've never participated in an organized bicycle race in my life. Don't get me wrong—I absolutely love riding fast on my bike, but I'm more of a commuter/transportation/fun times cyclist than a racer.
However, as a dedicated bike advocate, I'm sworn to do everything I can to promote cycling in all its incarnations. I'm excited to participate, and to show everyone that when it comes to getting around during rush hour, biking is the undeniable winner. Racing, prepare to meet commuting!
Yours,
Josh
PS: I know the race is scheduled for a Monday morning, but come out and show your support if you can! That's how this sort of thing becomes an annual tradition.
PPS: I forgot to mention that I'll be recording the race on a borrowed helmet cam, to prove that I obeyed all traffic laws on my route. I'll be posting the video here after the race, so stay tuned.
PPPS: Also, there will be free bike tuneups at the finish line! I don't know about you, but that's exactly the kind of thing that'll get me out of bed and over to the Genzyme building on a Monday morning.
