10 principles for livable transportation, by Jan Gehl & Walter Hook

  Last week, the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) released Our Cities Ourselves: 10 Principles for Transport in Urban Life, a publication explicating “ten keys to building successful cities” and “show[ing] how cities from New York to Nairobi can meet the challenges of rapid population growth and... [read more]

Designing For People: Something To Lean On

<!--break--> We all know that Copenhagen is the bicycle capital of the world. They have such a fantastic infrastructure setup for the hoards of cyclists that they are now able to begin focusing on the friendly little details of urban bicycle life. What’s the latest and greatest on the streets? A little something to lean on. The... [read more]

from Copenhagenize: Bicycle Commuter Superhighways

<!--break--> There’s a fine line between drawing inspiration from a place and imitating it. Best practices may be just that, but not every best practice can be applied to every place. And so it was with a little wariness that I visited copenhagenize.com. It’s easy to be intoxicated by cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Freiburg,... [read more]

COP15: The answer is blowin’ in the wind

<!--break--> 1%, 4.5%, 20%, zero. Those numbers stuck in my mind after a boat tour of an offshore wind farm near Copenhagen. One percent is, roughly, is the share of global electricity generated by wind. 4.5 percent is the share of electricity in the EU that comes from wind. 20 percent is the share in Denmark, the world capital of... [read more]

European Green City Index Released: City of Copenhagen Ranks Highest, Kiev at Bottom

<!--break--> A sustainability ranking of 30 major European cities was released today in Copenhagen, the Scandinavian city that besides hosting the UN COP15 climate talks, has been chosen as top scorer in the new European Green City Index.The study, sponsored by Siemens AG and developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked 30... [read more]

Word of the Day: Subnational

<!--break--> You hear a lot of the same words and phrases in conversations these days. In DC circles it’s probably most often “public option” and “Nobel Prize.” For NFL fans maybe “Broncos” or “Rush Limbaugh.” Hollywood gossips have replaced “Michael Jackson” with “Jon and Kate."But for anyone paying attention to climate policy... [read more]

David Byrne: "I Will Find a City, Find Myself a City...to Bike In"

<!--break--> Last night's City Arts & Lectures program on "Bike Advocacy and the Urban Environment" featured former Talking Heads maestro David Byrne as lead-off for a panel friendly to the two-wheeled revolution that is transforming select cities in the US and abroad. Byrne, who recently published Bicycle Diaries (Viking), acted... [read more]