| RESEARCH PROJECT |ENHANCING BIKEABILITY THROUGH A MULTISENSORIAL APPROACH | JEY ALONSO* | 2017 |

Abstract Aalborg is a city where cycling is practiced however not increasing day by day.

This is in a way related to the infrastructure between inner city and East Harbour area which overall has a weak connection in means of cycling infrastructure. We have studied the cycling superhighways from a multisensorial perspective and developed a route in order to enhance the experience of cyclists who commute to the harbour and the city, challenging the one planned by the municipality.

Analysis has been conducted in terms of soundscapes, smellscapes, visualscapes, surfaces and accessibility as well as a Lynchian analysis. Furthermore, proposals for a better experience of cyclists throughout the route has been developed and made twelve spot-analyses. In the light of these analyses, we developed three interventions and created a general catalogue to enhance the experience of cycling. Our detailed proposal lies on the roundabout where Tranholmvej and Ă˜ster Uttrup Vej intersects. Apart from design proposals, we have analysed other municipal actions related to encouraging change of habits and practices among commuters. Based on a comparison with a case study in the Netherlands, we have proposed a a number of policy recommendations, which include coalition planning, that could further complement the infrastructural changes.

Attached documents Attached to this report we deliver a disc including visual ethnography documentation, interviews and questionnaires documents and other data coming from our field-study. Moreover, we also include four maps detailing the sensescapes and route characteristics.

Table of Contents

2.c. Sensescape

18

2.d. Design and policy in Denmark

21

CHAPTER I

2.e. Design and Policy in Netherlands - The Case 6 of Groningen

24

1.a. Background and motivation

7 2.f. Guidelines comparison

28

2.g. Practice change

28

2.h. Place and non-place

28

9 2.i. From theory to practice

31

1.b. ‘Mobility is more than A to B’: why cycle paths need more attention than a layer of asphalt

7

1.c. New trends in cycling mobilities: e-bikes and ‘bike highways’ 1.d. Cycling strategies

10

1.e. Research Question

12 CHAPTER III

32

1.f. The Harbour

12 3.a. Philosophy of Science reflection

33

1.g. Structure of the report

14 3.b. Methods introduction

33

3.c. Site selection

33

CHAPTER II

16 3.d. First-person perspective – body as a research tool 34

2.a. Introduction

17 3.e. Visual-ethnography

34

2.b. Bikeability

17 3.f. Eye-tracking experiment

34

3.g. GPS tracking

35 4.g. Conclusion

3.h. Sound measurements and recordings

35

3.i. Observations and recruitment

35 CHAPTER V

80

3.j. Interviewing and surveying

36 5.a. The new route proposal

81

3.k. Mapping

37 5.b. Policy recommendations

87

3.l. Study trip

37 5.c. Tranholmvej bridge proposal

88

3.m. Reflection

38

CHAPTER IV

76

CHAPTER VI

96

40 6.a. Conclusions

97

4.a. Comparison of two routes connecting Aalborg city centre and East Harbour

41

4.b. Accessibility analysis and commuters’ survey

42

4.c. The route and its sensescape

45

4.d. Elevation analysis

69

4.e. Guidelines compliance of the current and future infrastructure

69

4.f. Flow analysis of four chosen spots

73

6.b. Limitations

97

6.c. Future research

98

Reference list

100

1.a. Background and motivation

countered by cyclists and incorporating them into design practices. This is in line with the materialities turn in mobilities studies, sketched out by Jensen, as he points out that “the enrolment of the human body into designed systems, sites and infrastructures creates complex assemblages where materialities are not Cities all around the world are looking for ways of becoming more resilient in the just external to the human, but rather permeable as in what here will be termed face of abrupt climate changes. This requires city officials to look for alternatives a deep relationship of ‘osmosis’.” (Jensen, 2016, p. 593). Therefore, we also wish to traditional ways of going about their business. Whether it’s looking for reto question the neutrality or passiveness of the materials used to pave cycle newable sources of energy, preventing and managing floods and droughts, repaths and understand it as an active part of the rider-bike-path assemblage. As ducing carbon footprint or changing the mobility patterns, the authorities need Farías notes, the advantages of such an understanding of city lie in the fact that to adopt a new approach towards all areas of urban life, one that will be susit “allows us to move away from a notion of the city as a whole to a notion of tainable. In this project, we wish to ask how can this be translated into mobility the city as multiplicity, from the study of ‘the’ urban environment to the study of practices. Based on the example of Aalborg and its East Harbour, we shall inmultiple urban assemblages” (Farías, 2011, p. 369). quire, whether and how increased bike-friendliness, or what one might call bikeability, can contribute to this wave of changes. In particular, we are interested in In order to answer the aforementioned questions, we shall invoke a methodolinvestigating and challenging the limits of the bicycle as a means of transport for ogy including video-ethnography, GPS tracking, participative ethnography in the commuters heading towards out-of-town locations, such as the industrial area form of virtual ridealongs, as well as strategic document analysis and a comparative study with another, similar sized European city, i.e. Groningen. In particular, around the Harbour. we shall compare the design and policy practices in Aalborg with those of Groningen, which boasts one of the highest bike modal shares in Europe.

The background for this is the advent of new technological developments, in particular, the increasing popularity of the electric bikes, or pedelec (pedal electric bicycle), coupled with the spawning of bicycle superhighways that reach far into the suburbs or even neighbouring cities. These developments are rooted in the changing ecological awareness of both city planners and its dwellers, as 1.b. ‘Mobility is more than A to B’: why for many environmental activists the bicycle is regarded as “a utopian mode of cycle paths need more attention than a layer of asphalt transportation, one ideally suited for a more egalitarian and ecologically sustainable society” (Furness, 2010, p. 59). Furthermore, we wish to better understand the necessary cultural underpinnings of a mobility practice change, as well as In the following paragraphs we shall discuss briefly, how ‘mobilities’ perspective the tensions at the institutional level between the actual will to undertake chang- can enrich the understanding of cycling infrastructure. When governmental aues and the will to use bikeability as a greenwashing tool or merely for branding thorities design cycling paths, the usual concerns would be about the length and purposes. Here we shall also try to understand how the municipal plans aim at width of the path and the materials that would be used. However, on an open altering the mobility balance of power on the outskirts of Aalborg, resolving the bike lane that goes through a suburban landscape, a cyclist might be affected by ‘power-ridden clashes’ (Jensen, 2007) and how they challenge ‘the King of the its attractiveness of the view, the smell of the greenery or the animals around Road’ (Bjerre Mikkelsen, Smith, & Jensen, 2011). At the same time, since the or sounds around that are caused by the vehicles. However as Jones (2005) puts project is very much embedded in the mobilites turn framework, we wish to look forward, the embodied understanding of cycling that is affected by and affecting at how can cycle paths be designed in a way that includes “the more than A to B” others has not yet much reached to transport geographers and policy makers. aspect. Hence, this will encompass a better understanding of route planning, sig- Because of the labels, as a sustainable transportation mode, it is however marnage making, as well as paying close attention to the different sensescapes en- ginalised. It is right in “between of a motorized vehicle and on a foot pedestrian”.

7

Chapter I - Introduction

(Jones, 2005) Andrade et al (2010) have observed that there is a lack of research that explores the role of design in enhancing cycling. As a reference ‘Cycling in Netherlands’, which is a report that has been prepared by Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (2007), has identified five built environment aspects that act as key qualities: coherence, directness, attractiveness, safety, and comfort. Moreover, they have distinguishments to target groups who use the bike for different reasons like for going to shopping, recreation, going to school and work and as a public transport/biking in the chain, through examples from all over the Netherlands and the world. Adding more into these, they have also created practical measurements.

Andrade et al’s exploratory research has been done in Vestergade Vest and Mageløs and questioned cyclists to understand their criteria. The value of safety and width of the bike lanes being the most important however are they all it takes to create an efficient bike lane?

pletely unfiltered and breath-taking view of a quintessential monument to modernity […] And what is more precious than to be treated, on a late night ride along the Hudson River, to a private showing of lights reflecting in the water from tall buildings on the palisades of the opposite bank, while sailboats rock in the river’s currents?” (Petersen, 2007, pp. 37-38).

Cycling not only gives us the advantage to move more freely than we would with a motorised vehicle, also gives us the chance to experience encounters with other cyclists which are ‘greetings and reassurance’ that are not blocked by the glass windows. Even more, it can become a “violent spatial competition that plays out between travellers who move by other means” (Petersen, 2007, p. 38).

Furthermore, Andrade et al. (2010) elaborate bikers position in today’s cities more on seeing it as a ‘particular embodiment and appropriation’. And thus looking at cyclists from the ‘view of a saddle’ has more sensory inputs which are in ‘interplay with cycling infrastructure and biking technologies’- which they also call it as ‘cycling hardware’. More into this interplay, there has been evolved a set When looking from a Mobilities Turn perspective Jensen (2014) thinks that of cultural norms and guidelines and eventually the norms for ‘good cycling be“biking should be seen as an embodied mobility practice” and he quotes Elliot haviour’ has been created. and Urry (2010) about when practising “such bodies perform themselves in-be- We want to look more into the ‘view from the saddle’ bringing the sensescapes tween direct sensation of the ‘other’ and various ‘sensescapes’. Bodies are not into account and there for sure will be- as Elliot and Urry (2010) puts forward, fixed and given, but involve performances, especially to fold notions of move- that the travel “involves lumpy, fragile, aged, gendered, racialized bodies”. (Elment, nature, taste and desire into and through the body”. (Jensen, 2014, p. 31) liot and Urry, 2010, p. 16) Furthermore, the travel always includes movements In synthesis, we would want to look more into how the bike lanes are perceived and some sorts of amusement and irritation. through bodily senses. In this case, we will stick to Mobilities Turn perspective because of the equal importance of sites and material spaces and embodied Elliot and Urry (2010) draw upon the body experience of a traveller where it performances of human motions. performs “in-between direct sensation of the ‘other’ and various ‘sensescapes’.”

(Elliot and Urry, 2010, p. 16) Though bodies are not fixed and given, they involve To give us a frame, Lawson (2001) talks about the limitations that the environ- performances, particularly to hold ‘notions of movement, nature, taste and ment can create for our movements and effects on our senses like how far we desire into and through the body’. This attention to the bodily sensations is one can move within certain circumstances and additionally, with whom we are ‘mo- of the key markers of our project. bile with’. Building upon this Petersen (2007) contributed by examples of unique moments that could only be caught by cycling either visual or social experiences.

“To commute by bicycle, for example, is a choice to breathe in the dangers of diesel pollution, which the city’s poorest dwellers take in by design. But such a choice also, ten minute hence, gives access to a com-

Chapter I - Introduction

8

1.c. New trends in cycling mobilities: e-bikes and ‘bike highways’

to use for different types of users, including elderly people. E-bikes already have a 9% market share in Danish bicycle sales (Larsen, 2016), placing Denmark as one of the biggest markets for e-bikes in Europe.

At the same time, the notion of cycling superhighways is gaining momentum, with cities like Copenhagen leading the way. According to the official Danish cycling strategy, entitled Denmark - on your bike! The national bicycle strateLooking through the ‘mobilities turn’ glasses needs to be supplemented with an gy (2014), Denmark will spend around DKK 180 million on Cycle Superhighways understanding of the current trends in mobility cultures, and cycling in particu- and better bicycle parking facilities in the coming years. As has been pointed out lar. Time-space compression is a commonplace phenomenon nowadays, but for in this document “Cycle Superhighways with few stops at intersections and with cycling, the distance still plays an important role in determining the level of its a high standard can change perceptions of what is regarded as an acceptable use as a mode of transport. According to a Cycling Embassy of Denmark, 85% and natural cycling distance” (Denmark- on your bike! The national bicycle stratof all trips are under 5 km and only 2% are longer than 15 km (“Facts about Cy- egy, 2014, p. 31). The examples of planned improvements to the current cycling cling in Denmark”, n.d.). These statistics clearly indicate that there is a certain infrastructure that can help transform them into Cycle Superhighways include distance preference among bicycle users and that above a certain threshold peo- (Denmark- on your bike! The national bicycle strategy, 2014, p. 32): ple switch to other means of transport. This can, however, change in the upcoming years with the rapid popularisation of electric bikes coupled with changes in 1. Green wave at traffic lights the cycling infrastructure, entailing the construction of bicycle superhighways.

2. Division into Fast Track and Comfort Track These two developments can profoundly transform, how the bicycle is used, po3. Marking lights along the Super Cycle Highway tentially substantially increasing the range of bicycles.

4. Park and bike (parking facilities) 5. Comfort accessories such as footrests The e-bikes, although they have been around for more than a century, are cur6. Service stations with e.g. bicycle pumps, drinking water etc. rently experiencing a renaissance, with sales increasing all around the world. Ac7. Separation of bus passengers and cyclists cording to a report titled Global Pedelec Market to Reach 37 Million Units by 2019 released by Technavio, a market research company, the market consists The strategy emphasises that such superhighways should also be built in mediof two types of e-bikes, i.e. electric bikes and pedelecs. The electric bicycle has um and small-sized cities, as well as recognising the potential of combining them an integrated electric motor aligned to the pedals of the bicycle, uses Li-ion with e-bikes, which could help substitute car trips on longer distance trips. It chargeable batteries, and has a range of maximum 99.4 miles (160 km) on one has been used in the biggest cities of Denmark but also smaller cities like Viborg single charge. Meanwhile, according to Technovio, pedelecs are a combination too. Viborg municipality has created Central Jutland Bicycle Star Project in order of the electric bike and conventional bicycle, since they have hub motors, to connect residential areas with educational facilities and workplaces. Other which transmit power and force to the wheel with the help of the driving chain. medium size cities like Herning, Helsingør, and Svendborg has also implemented As Vlakveld et al. (2015) point out “According to EU regulations, bicycles with a Cycle Superhighways. In our project we shall include the above mentioned in pedal-assist electric drive system, officially named pedelecs (from pedal electric both analysis and design processes to assess the compliance of the currently cycle) but mostly referred to as e-bikes, may supplement human pedalling with existing and the planned infrastructure. no more than 250 W of electric power and only up to a speed of 25 km/h.”

(Vlakveld et al., 2015, p. 97) We see in these legal regulations that the power of Naturally, there are challenges that need to be overcome before a mass adope-bikes is limited as is the speed, which is aimed at ensuring that they are safe tion of e-bikes can take place and the cycle superhighways reach a desired qual-

9

Chapter I - Introduction

ity and are common place. There has been considerable research into a wide array of issues relating to the increased popularity of e-bikes, mostly concerning the safety aspects of riding on them (Vlakveld et al., 2015; Rose 2011; Fishman & Cherry, 2016). In particular, there is a risk that their use might increase the probability of accidents and severe injuries of senior citizens, for whom the mental workload while cycling is the greatest (Vlakveld et al., 2015).

tance by reducing the number of stops at intersections and increasing connection with public transport hubs.

Aalborg Municipality- Bicycle Action Plan

The Aalborg Municipality has a dedicated cycling program directed by the Spatial and Environmental Management called ‘Aalborg Cykelby’. This program has the In this context, we wish to investigate, how these two new trends in cycling purpose of formulating new policies, plans, infrastructures to increase the use of can transform the bikeability of Aalborg, with a special focus on one of the bikes in the city. It also shares useful information for cyclists, such as the status longer commuter routes planned in the following years, i.e. the route to the of routes and trails, location of parking spaces, free-to-use pumps to inflate tyres Aalborg East Harbour. and others services. Aalborg Cykelby is also responsible for the ‘Cykelhandling splan’, in English ‘Bicycle Action Plan’. Developed in 2013, the Plan is targeting every-day cycling, aiming at making the bike a natural choice for children, elderly people and commuting to work, making Aalborg one of the leading municipali1.d. Cycling strategies ties in bike-use in Denmark. By the Plan’s horizon of 2025, the goal is to increase the number of citizens who use the bike several times a week from 44% of the In this section we will look at how the strategies at both national and municipal population to 60% and to increase the number of satisfied or very satisfied citizens in regard to the cycle network from 49% to 60%. level shape the future bicycle landscape.

Danish National Bicycle Strategy Looking at bikeability from policies perspective, it will be useful to talk about Danish National Bicycle Strategy. The Ministry of Transport of Denmark has prepared a set of strategies where they talk about their policies for the whole Denmark and their core concepts and concerns for implementing improved cycling infrastructure. To start with, the strategies have been categorised as “everyday cycling”, “active holidays and recreation”, “new and safe cyclists”.

For each category, the ministry has a different set of strategies and plans. Our interest in this set of strategies has been mostly on Cycle Superhighways. To encourage and persuade more people to commute by bike in ‘everyday cycling’, accessibility and direct routes have been key focus areas for the Ministry of Transportation. Especially looking at the statistics about the short trips, onethird of trips of less than 5 km are made by cars. These trips could be replaced by bikes, as well as trips between 5 km to 10 km.

Looking more into Cycle Superhighways and its relation to bikeability, the cycling networks are thought to be improved by their link to traffic hubs. Furthermore, they are aiming to improve the perception of the existing accepted cycling dis-

Chapter I - Introduction

Horizon Number of cyclists Citizens who ride several times a week ‘Satisfied/very satisfied’ citizens with the cycle network Children being driven to school by car

Injured cyclists in traffic

2012 100 index 44%

2017 103 index 50%

2025 110 index 60%

49%

55%

60%

25% in urban areas

20% in urban areas

15% in urban areas

31% in rural areas 37 (2010)

25% in rural areas 22

20% in rural areas 19 (2020)

10

Horizon Commuting trips by bike inside Aalborg/Nørrensundby area Bike-public transport multimodal share Leisure trips by bicycle Leisure trips over 5 km made by bicycle

2012 27%

2017 30%

2025 40%

0,4%

2%

5%

14% 5%

17% 7%

20% 10%

As far as commuter routes are concerned, the Plan affirms there are actually 3 routes in the city, designed specifically to improve commuting between large residential and work areas: the University route (between the city center and the east campus of Aalborg University), the Southern route (between the city center and the southern outskirts along Hobrovej) and Visse route (between the city center and Visse).

New commuter routes in the Plan are set to connect 4 new areas: Bouet (an office area to the north-east), Aalborg Airport, Vestby (area to the west of the city centre) and, the most relevant for this project, the East Harbour.

To achieve these numbers, 5 different action areas are addressed in the plan: •

Commute-cycling

•

Multimodality

•

Children on bikes

•

Road safety

•

Leisure-cycling

For every area, the plan assesses the current situation, the goals and the budget needed for the infrastructures to reach the goals. Regarding the infrastructural aspect, the plan assesses different new routes, estimates the cost for each of Planned routes connecting Aalborg center to the East Harbour (own elaborathem. This has been done for a total number of 103 possible routes, the plan tion based on Aalborg Cykelby, 2013) selected 45 for development and 20 were assigned to priority routes to be developed first, 10 in the urban area and 10 in the rest of the municipality. The priority Regarding our project, the plan identifies three possible connections with the is evaluated based on, among other things: East Harbour. From north to south, the first one (red dotted line on the map) is the route coming through the industrial area of Aalborg Portland and then • Traffic numbers for cars, trucks and bikes along Rørdalsvej, it is identified as bike lane/bike path category. Only the first stretch of this route exists in the present day stretching from the city to a few • How many children are expected to use the path meters after the industrial complex.

• Consistency of the cycle network •

Accident statistics

•

Expected capital expenditure

11

The second one is the route starting from Østervangsvej, continuing on Jens Baggesens Vej, Aftenvej, Øster Uttrup Vej and reaching the harbour along Tran-

Chapter I - Introduction

holmvej (green dotted line on the map), categorised as a future commuter route.

happened to pass nearby a cowshed and notice the acute smell. This experience unconsciously created a ‘landmark’ in the mental map of the trekking and when The third option (blue dotted line on the map) follows Humlebakken and then coming back along the same way, the trekker will surely remember the particuTranholmvej to the harbour. This route is categorised as the prioritised one, even lar spot and maybe relate it to the walking distance left to go back to the starting though is the less direct from the central dense urban area. Of the three routes, point. only the northern one keeps a flat profile, the others two are crossing a low hill (between 45 and 50 meters at the road crossings, according to Google Earth) But it’s not only about different senses, as also stated in the previous introduclocated to the east of the city centre and following a north/south axis. tion, we are experiencing a time of transformation for the bicycle infrastructure, with the advent of electric bikes and the so-called ‘bicycle super-highways’, so in Moreover, the first intermediate time horizon of the plan is 2017, so it could our project we are also investigating how design is evolving when adding these be expected a monitoring of its application and possible changes and develop- elements to the pot. Moreover, we are also looking at the design practices in a ments in its content, based on the actual progression towards the goals stated. similar-sized city to Aalborg, Groningen in the Netherlands, investigating if and how the public actors are considering and using these elements in the design of routes and policies that affect cycling. To draw a list of subquestions that lay underneath our main research question:

1.e. Research Question As stated in the previous section, our aim is to design a cycle route to be used by commuters between the city of Aalborg and its East Harbour, located circa 8 km from the city centre. Our intention as Mobilities students is to bring to the design of the route more than just a layer of asphalt enabling people to move from A to B, bringing more themes to the table. So, we have formulated our research questions as follows: How to design a cycle route with a multi-sensorial approach building on the “bike-highways” concept from the Aalborg city centre to the East Harbour and adjacent industrial area?

We are exploring a multi-sensorial approach because humans don’t rely only on visual clues but have more senses at work when navigating through the world: smell, touch and sound are also used in a more or less conscious way. Since Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City (1960), architects, planners and urban designers put an increasing level of attention on the perceived visual elements of the built environment as paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks. But these elements also have a ‘raison d’être’ when considering the other senses. As an example, to anyone who has ever done a trekking in a mountain environment

Chapter I - Introduction

• • • • •

How can different senses be included in the design of a cycle route?

How to design a cycle route both for standard and electric bikes?

How to push the ‘bicycle super-highways’ in a multi-sensorial approach?

What factors need to be addressed when designing a route for commuters?

How can other municipal actions change cycling practices through non-infrastructural interventions?

1.f. The Harbour After presenting the research question, we would now like to focus on the site that has been selected for our project (for specific reasons behind the site selection of this particular route are described in Chapter III, Methods). In the following paragraphs we shall describe the role that Aalborg Harbour plays in the life of the city, in particular by presenting its history, present and future expansion plans.

Regarding the routes aforementioned, we put our focus on two of them, the northern route crossing the industrial area of Aalborg Portland and the central

12

route through Ă˜ster Uttrup Vej.

Central route (Google Maps, 2017)

(Google Maps, 2017) The main port of Aalborg is situated on the East coast of the city and around 10 km away from the city centre and well connected to the airport and the highways, it owns up to 3 million square meters and it has many properties and services including offices, storage rooms, business solutions, and different kinds of freights such as loadings, cargo, containers and bulk. Moreover, the harbour has an extension in the city in a very important location, being the narrowest place on the Limfjord and being the original location.

History, present and future of Aalborg Harbour

Northern route (Google Maps, 2017) Both routes have in common the starting and departure point, in terms of starting point we have chosen the Nordkraft for being located in the city centre and well-communicated with the path lines, and the end stop is the East Harbour of Aalborg.

13

Before presenting the current role of the Aalborg Havn, it is illuminating to look at how it has developed over the centuries, and how it has been pushed ever further away from the city centre. Historically, there was only one harbour in Aalborg, the one in the city centre and it was crucial in the Middle Ages and in the industrial era. In 1682 the port was the only port in the fjord giving permissions and it consisted in private wharfs. It was in 1805 when the harbour was

Chapter I - Introduction

expanded to the east to trade with Greenland. From this point onwards, the harbour was moving gradually its focus to the East. In 1821 the Nyhavn was built and it started the ship callings. Years after, an oil port was built. In the decades of 1950 and 1960, the oil port increased and expanded rapidly. In the 70’ the works began to establish the harbour, which nowadays is referred to as Aalborg Østhavn. In the next decades, two piers were built and the container terminal was established (Aalborghavn.dk, 2017).

‘A port in balance requires sustainable efforts in each of the Ports of Aalborg’s three roles: As a business ... We will reduce our energy consumption by 40 % by 2020 (…) As frame (...) We will be the market leader in the supply of environmentally sustainable logistics services and facilities, properties and infrastructure. As integrator (...) We will ensure that the business areas achieve international standards in terms of sustainability and local environmental cooperation.’ (Aalborghavn.dk, 2017)

Nowadays, the harbour is continuously expanding, and according to the future plans (Physical Vision 2025) of the harbour (Aalborgkommuneplan.dk, 2017), there is a need to expand 200 ha, which 150 ha will be dedicated to business with specific location requirements. In fact, the business areas will be expanded 25 ha on the land side, 12 ha on the water side and 90 ha on the west side of the harbour. This would mean an increase in traffic which the municipality has already included in the future Tranholmvej road by its expansion by two more lanes. According to the Environmental Impact Assessment for the expansion of Tranholmvej (Rambøll, 2016), the new two lanes will have a combined width of 8 m and the road is supposed to accommodate an increase in the traffic volume from 14,500 AADT (annual average daily traffic) currently to 20,000 AADT in 2025.

Some of their initiatives encompass led lighting outside, inside and in freezers, a renovation of the office building to obtain an 83% reduction of the energy demand, as well as renovation of many freezing systems and introducing new eco-cranes.

Despite all of the immense success and economic importance of the East Harbour for the growth of the whole city, there is an unbalance of the mobility cultures there, in other words, the place is heavily influenced by the freight transport and thus, it casts shadow on soft users, i.a. bike commuters. This is a place where the human scale, which Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl so vigorously advocated throughout their lives, is virtually non-existent, and even a cycle lane along Langerak does not change the picture. This has been recognised by the harbour as it wants to become more environmentally-friendly also in terms of mobility patterns, especially commuting, which is why they pressure the municipality Aalborg Havn’s environmentally-friendly actions to build the cycle path along Tranholmvej (the studied route in our project) to The East harbour has its strength for business solutions in cooperation and lo- increase the use of cyclist commuters. Additionally, the port tries to introduce gistics with companies, therefore, it serves solutions by land or by sea, 24 hours their employees to this eco-thinking, which is why in 2015 the Aalborg Havn A/S, a day of loading and unloading with no worries about sound or light issues due the administrator of the harbour area, 20% of their employees (which constito the fact that the east harbour is quite far from the human dwellings. In terms tute 10 people) participated in ‘Bike to Work’ by using e-bikes. Here we see that of freight, the harbour is able to handle liquid and solid bulk with a capacity of even the actors involved in creating the everyday economic life of the harbour 462.000 m3 and 2,349,372 tonnes, and it is located close to the main transport together with its inhuman scale, as commuters, they wish to resort to a more infrastructures, which enables to ship the goods efficiently once unloaded from humanised form of transportation, that is the bike. the ships. Thanks to this, as a container port, it is the fourth largest port in Denmark (Aalborghavn.dk, 2017).

Nevertheless, the harbour also wants to implement environmentally-friendly changes, thus they work together with ‘green’ companies such as Network for Sustainable Business, Ecosports or Energyvision.

1.g. Structure of the report The report is divided into six chapters, the first one being the introduction. After

Chapter I - Introduction

14

introduction comes Chapter II, which discusses the relevant literature with a particular focus on bikeability, sensescapes, design guidelines from Denmark and from the Netherlands, as well as discussions on the meaning of place and practice change. Next, Chapter III presents our research methods, expalining what was our methodological toolbox and how it was applied, as well as discussing some of the limitations of our study. Thereafter, we discuss the philosophical underpinnings of our research, pointing to the main philosophy of science stance behind our research design. In Chapter IV we discuss the material and data that we managed to gather with the use of the abovementioned methods, relating it to our literature review. In Chapter V, based on the findings from the analysis, we then venture to give our own design and policy solutions that could in our opinion improve the bikeability of the route, in particular by means of enhancing cyclists’ sensescapes. With Chapter VI, we end the report including a discussion of the presented solutions, together with a reflection on potential future research that could further develop both the methodological toolbox for researching the sensescape and help achieving a better understanding of how to design cycling routes that offer not only the shortest commute, but also one that offer a pleasant sensorial experience.

15

Chapter I - Introduction

2.a. Introduction

left no space for cyclists, so they were cycling along with motorised vehicles. As an alternative, cyclists would reportedly use the sidewalks and this createdan unsafe environment for walking. The aim was decided to improve the bike infraIn this chapter we will go through a literature review on the topics that will guide structure and make it one of the seven main bicycle corridors of the main cycling us and be our theoretical background for the analysis and design steps. First, plan (Silva et al., 2011, p. 69). As a solution, one of the car parking rows was rewe are looking at the notion of Bikeability, how it was investigated by a Danish moved to create a space for cyclists. The final finding after the intervention was research project and other international works on the topic, addressing the el- that respondents who started to bike more often, which amounts to 12% of the ements affecting the ability and willingness to cycle. Secondly, we review works respondents, have mentioned enhanced safety as the main reason. done on the topic of ‘Sensescapes’, which means how we perceive the environment around us in mobility situation (at the appropriate scale with the bicycle This research has gathered knowledge about infrastructure and the effects of travel) using all the senses. Then, we get an insight on the design guidelines in bikeability, considering a) social, cultural and demographic changes of the urban Denmark and the Netherlands for cycle infrastructure, in order to analyze the population; b) changes in the urban structure (population density, amount and physical dimension of the infrastructure along our route and address its prob- quality of bicycle tracks, location of facilities); c) changes in bicycle infrastructure lems according to the best practices. Finally, we will also draw on the theories of (new paths, bridges); and d) changes to the route attributes (traffic light, separapractice change and the dualism between place and non-place, to understand tion of bicycle lanes) which give us a frame to look at bikeability in urban areas the impact of the dimensions addressed (bikeability, sensescapes and physical (Silva et al., 2011). design) on the daily practices and on their relationship with the space in which they take place.

These were practical cases in which the bikeability of the urban environment was the subject of the research, but to explain the meaning of the term, we have to look at other works. On the very definition of bikeability, there have been studies conducted like Winters et al.’s (2013) ‘Mapping bikeability: a spatial tool to support sustainable travel’ which has come up with a formula to calcu2.b. Bikeability late what they call bikeability index. The bikeability index was initially identified through studies of an opinion survey about the built environment factors that The Bikeability research project funded by the Danish Research Council, has affect cycling, travel behaviour studies, and a focus group study on neighbourbeen an exploratory research which has contributed the field that has a lack of hood facilities and their effect on cycling. Each study’s contribution to bikeability scientific-based studies. Even though biking has a crucial role in Danish traffic index was necessary in order to create a flexible formula that would be easy system, there has been a decline in the number of cyclists in the past decade. In to use elsewhere for analysing bikeability. And therefore, Winters et al. have order to find out more about the reasons what makes people cycle, three cas- chosen the components of bicycle facilities, street connectivity, topography and es were chosen, based on the criteria of being less than 5 years old, so cyclists neighbourhood land use as the core elements to build up the index. At the end, could remember their travel habits before and after the interventions. they have concluded with a bikeability index comprised of five factors shown to The research was structured as a case based study where three bike infrastruc- consistently influence cycling: “bicycle route density, bicycle route separation, tures with distinct typologies– Vestergade Vest/Mageløs in Odense (shared-use connectivity of bicycle-friendly streets, topography and destination density” space in the core of the city Hans Broges Gade in Aarhus (an extension of a (Winters et al., 2013, p. 870). bicycle route linking the suburbs to Aarhus Central station) and Bryggebroen in Copenhagen (a bridge for bicyclists and pedestrians crossing the harbour) were Wahlgren and Schantz (2014) conducted a research amongst active commutanalysed. (Silva V. et al., 2011, p.67) The case of Hans Broges Gade (Aarhus) ers (pedestrians and cyclists) in the Greater Stockholm area aimed at explorpresents some analogies to our own, as it regards a route connecting inner ur- ing factors favouring or hindering bikeability and comparing the urban and the ban areas to the suburbs. The problem in Hans Broges Gade was it was mostly suburban areas of the Swedish capital. The research was conducted through a for motorised vehicles and car parkings were on both sides of the street. This

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Chapter II - Literature review

questionnaire asking participants (more than a thousand) to rate from 1 to 15 different environmental factors they encounter on their daily commute route, from noise levels to exhaust fumes, the speed of other cyclists, perceived safety, green scenery, traffic lights, etc. It was found that, in suburban areas, the aesthetic factor, the presence of green spaces and cycle paths are stimulating the use of bicycles, while the flow of motor vehicles, the low ‘directness’ of the route and the noise are hindering factors, all independently from one another. When comparing with the urban areas, some factors kept their role, as aesthetics, greenery, and the ‘directness’, but noise and the flow of motor vehicles were no longer hindering factors: in their place, exhaust fumes and congestion became relevant problems for cycling choice.

massive (over)stimulation of the senses stemming from the environment in general; from traffic lights, masses of moving urbanites, commercials, sounds, and visions.” (Jensen, 2014, p. 48)

Those stimuli that Jensen exemplified are what create the so-called ‘sensescapes’ and they are related to other concepts such as ‘experiencescape’, ‘smellscapes’ (Dann & Jacobsen, 2003) and others terms that recently have gotten more attention, will be discussed in this literature section.

When we are talking about ‘sensecapes’, we are referring closely to Bunkse’s definition of ‘landscape’ which is: “a unity in one’s surroundings, perceived through all the senses” (Bunkse, 2007, p. 222). In other words, the connection between the land and its surroundings, the users by themselves and their relations in beThis is an important list of factor that need to be investigated when treating tween them through every sense, thus it is a multisensorial experience. One of cycle infrastructure, as we will do in the analysis chapter. When discussing the the most multisensorial user experience is tourism, where the tourists use the research, authors have mentioned the fact that safety-unsafety factor when in- whole body, and the five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight and sound) to commucluded as a predictor, another factor that is ‘cycling paths’ might lose its role nicate and receive information (Bunkse, 2007). Moreover, the scholar Luecke in because they have already enough importance in suburban areas in means of 2003 stated that there are three different ways of learning by the senses: visual, safety-unsafety. Other predictors of ‘safety’ and ‘unsafety’ are factors regarding kinesthetic and auditory. These three styles are related to different activities, motor vehicles- how dense they are, how fast they go and if they are respectful while the kinesthetic way is related to the physical activities, the visual and audito cyclists on the lane or not. And therefore cycling lanes that are away from the tory respond to optical and aural stimuli respectively. traffic are preferred among the cyclists. Another aspect that has been empha- We think that the majority of the senses has to be covered through our literature sised is the “directness” of the paths which play an important role for cyclists to review, therefore, the ‘sensescape’ will be divided into four parts: ‘landscape’, decide on their choice. In the conclusions, the authors say “The comparison re- ‘soundscape’, ‘touchscape’ and ‘smellscape’. We didn’t include ‘tastescape’ bevealed similarities as well as differences between the areas. Thus, it is important cause of the focus of the project and also because taste and smell are closely to study different environmental settings separately” (Wahlgren and Schantz, related to each other.

2014, p. 8297) and, we should add, also design accordingly to the different settings.

Landscape As the Oxford Dictionary defines, a landscape is ‘All the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.’ or ‘A picture 2.c. Sensescape representing an area of countryside’. Therefore it is understood as a pictorial image almost static for the others’ perspective. Tilley in 2004 in his book ‘The Materiality of Stone. Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology’ stated the As has been written in the previous section, several studies explored the ‘bike- western definition of the landscape as “[…] implying separation and disinterability’ concept in many ways, thus, we want to approach it also based on the ested analytical observation, a particular way of seeing exemplified in the linear user experience, how the user feels the process of cycling (or of just staying in a techniques of perspective developed in landscape painting since the Renaissance particular place) through their senses. […]” This definition confronts directly with the concept of sensing the landscape by different gaze, it is not just a sequence of beautiful scenarios but “a sets of “According to Simmel, the hallmark of modern metropolitan life is the relationships between places, a structure of human feeling, emotion, dwelling,

Chapter II - Literature review

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movement and practical activity within a geographical region” (Tilley, 2004, p.

25).

Through all of these years, several scholars have developed and defined the character of the landscape from the expert approach where the landscape is an object to the subjectivist approach where the landscape is different to every viewer due to the focus being in their experience.

But it addresses noise only on a quantitative level, without investigating how it is actually perceived, something that is at the centre of the idea of Soundscape.

The term was coined by the composer and theorist R. Murray Schafer in 1977 “soundscape is the designation of any human-audible sounding environment.”

(Fowler, 2012, p. 112) Schafer also believes that the audible environment is subjective, therefore, it is subject to personal interpretations and qualitative data, then, the soundscape is important due to the audible signal but also because of Urry’s works in 1990 and 2002 on the ‘tourist gaze’ stated that touristic activi- the relationship between the experience and the sociocultural context. Schafer ties are always engaged with gaze interactions between spaces and people, or divides the sounds into three categories which are keynote, soundmark and sigin between people. Urry distinguishes the ‘body viewer’ and the ‘body mover’ nal. Keynotes are operable in the background continuously with a fundamental and he also categorises the different gazes such as spectral, collective, romantic, tonality e.g. traffic or air conditioner. Soundmarks are related to the community, reverential, environmental, anthropological and mediatized. Furthermore, Urry nature or the culture and are those sounds who people identify clearly as the states that all of these performances are recorded and filtered by the media fo- same as it happens with the landmarks e.g. waterfalls or church bells. Finally, cusing the visual as a spectacle. signals are the foreground sounds that try to attract the attention. These elements will be embedded into our analysis of the soundscape for the cycle route, ‘‘Over time, via advertising and the media, the images generated of dif- identifying the sounds and using this categorization to better describe the sound ferent tourist gazes come to constitute a closed self-perpetuating sys- environment. tem of illusions which provide the tourist with the basis for selecting and evaluating potential places to visit.’’ (Urry, 2002, p. 7) Truax (2001) stated that the soundscape has a communication potential between the environment and the listener and different acoustic displays produce various experiences, therefore the sounds can be seen as a language between Tveit et al. in 2006 with the article ‘Key concepts in a framework for analysing visual landscape character’ characterised the landscape as a visual object influ- the user and the soundscape or environment. enced by the viewer’s experience and stated some indicators such as the stewardship, coherence, disturbance, historicity, visual scale, imageability, complexi- Yang, W. and Kang, J. (2005) summarised people’s sound preferences based on a survey. ty, naturalness and ephemera. (Tveit et al., 2006) However, some researchers like Santos in 2004 argues that other senses like the sound can be included in that ‘gaze’ to get a full concept of place and landscape.

Soundscape Soundscape is a very extensively researched concept in different areas of expertise, ranging from the acoustics to the sociology and urban planning. As an example, it is worth mentioning the Italian ‘Piano comunale di classificazione acustica’ (acoustic classification municipal plan, Italian law n. 447/1995), which regulates levels of noise permitted in the present and future environment and presents solutions and remediation for the existing sources of noise pollution.

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(Yang and Kang, 2005, p. 225) Yang and Kang showed that old people appreciate more natural or cultural sounds while young people appreciate public spaces sounds. They also stated that when visual and audio inputs are related in a scenario, it gives a feeling of total involvement to the user.

In Kang’s book “Urban sound environment” published in 2007, he stated that

Chapter II - Literature review

social factors, expectation, sound experience, and cultural contexts may affect the sound evaluation and comfort with the soundscape. In this book, Kang talks about how to mitigate sounds by modifying urban settings such as the arrangement of the sound reflections to other areas, the introduction of vegetation:

Touchscape

In the past history, the touch sense was usually neglected in favor of other senses like sight or hearing, however, the touch is the most active sense because we get sensorial information through all of our skin at every moment, e.g. we are in “Mature evergreen vegetation (say, >7m wide) may provide a modest continuous contact and relation with the environment through our feet which attenuation of 2–4dBA if the belt is sufficiently high and long, has dense are one of the most sensitive organs, thus, this sense will be essential in movefoliage extending to the ground and can be well maintained (Egan 1988). ment experience as a pedestrian, but also as a cyclist or car driver.

Wide belts of tall, dense trees of a depth of 15–40m appear to offer an extra noise attenuation of 6–8dB at low (around 250Hz) and high fre- The act of walking has the capacity of ‘thinking with their feet’ as Tim Ingold quencies (>1kHz)” (Kang, 2007, p. 176) states “human […] use their feet in countless other ways […] as properties of the systems of relations set up through the placement of the growing human Another mitigation can be built with barriers, he distinguishes many types: Mul- organism within a richly textured environmental context.” (Ingold, 2004, p. 336) tiple-edged barriers in ‘T’, ‘X’ or cross profiles to maximise the attenuation, reac- Therefore, there exists a bond between the environment and the way that we tive barriers e.g. parallel grooves in the ground, barrier with a waterwheel top, ‘touch’ and feel it either by walking or other types of movement such as cycling. can improve 4dB-15dB the sound mitigation. phase interference barriers, phase In the case of walking, it was historically related to the concept of travel. In the reversal barriers, absorbent barriers using microperforated PVC or wood-fibre mid-18th-century, travel became related with the non-walk activities, and the concrete among others materials, reflective barriers, earth mounds, and sus- walking was seen as a mundane activity for people without resources. Finally it pended panels. was in the next century (19th) were walking became a leisure activity around gardens or galleries. From a sitting society to a stepping-machine, Ingold believes Poxon et al. in 2013 in the paper called ‘Perception of soundscapes: An interdis- that the chair and the sitting activity enables a separation between mind and ciplinary approach.’ talked about the positive or negative evaluation of a land- body, hence, thought and action, therefore there is a bond between mind and scape and they distinguish four indicators of that evaluation which are, first, the body when we walk (or move), a way to experience our surroundings. human behaviour and activity, second, the attention, whether foreground or background, third, the information, as it is common that the evaluation would “As people, in the course of their everyday lives, make their way by foot be more positive if the ‘listeners’ can identify the sound due to they can comprearound a familiar terrain, so its paths, textures and contours, variable through hend the surroundings. The fourth factor is the individual differences, returning the seasons, are incorporated into their own embodied capacities of moveto Schafer’s concept, experience, emotions and individual contexts influence the ment, awareness and response” (Ingold, 2004, p. 333) interpretation of the soundscape. Also in 2013, Hall et al. confirmed, unsurprisingly, that sounds that come from natural sources or human activities are pre- Smellscape ferred to sounds which come from machines or transports.

Of all of the senses, the smell is the closest to the memory, some smells’ memOne of the most practised activities in this type of research has been the sound ories reside in the long-term memory, therefore you can live decades without diaries created by soundwalks. The soundwalks consist of walking a pre-estab- smelling a specific scent and then recall it because of olfactory stimuli. lished route in silence for several weeks and then interpret sound in the graphic-written language in their diaries. In the analysis in chapter four, we are devel- Although is a hard task to categorise smells, in history, there is a long list of refoping on these techniques to describe the soundscape of the cycling route to erences and attempts to do so. From Socrates who referred the natural smell of the Harbour. a person as the sweetest one, to the mid 18th-century classification: ‘aromatic’, ‘fragrant’, ‘ambrosial’ (musky), ‘alliaceous’ (garlicky), ‘hircine’ (goaty), ‘foul’ and

Chapter II - Literature review

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‘nauseating’ (Dann & Jacobsen, 2003). Moreover, smells are a big thing in urban environments: Haussmann demolished many buildings in its Paris to introduce fresh air, big boulevards, healthy spaces and good smells. Therefore, it started to relate good smells to good places, especially when we are talking about tourism choices: “they tend to follow the equation ‘nice places smell good, nasty places smell bad’. The inclusion of destination people reinforces the distinction.”

(Dann & Jacobsen, 2003, p. 5). And because of the fact that the past and present olfactory stimuli can be felt in their totalness in any moment, they are paramount in tourism transforming the tourist from a ‘voyeur’ to a ‘dégustateur’ of the ‘smellscape’.

However, there is also a dark side of the ‘smellscapes’ in the history, about racism and sexism where e.g. black people were (and still are) discriminated because it was said that they had a natural bad odour. In Germany, in the case of the Jews, they were discriminated by Hitler because of their ‘smell of Jews and reckoned it was symbolic of their moral turpitude’ (Dann & Jacobsen, 2003, p. 5).

Nowadays people are being more aware of the smells of the world and in the nioibu.com website, you can see a world map created by different smells where the tourists can publish their own smells experiences around the world.

This broad range of senses all affect the mobility practices in an environment, this we will use them as an analytical tool in our route, together with the physical analysis based on the guidelines in the following sections, to identify the critical parts in order to overcome them. Even if the Sensescape is a subjective factor, it is safe to say that the majority of people dislike riding on roads with high traffic noise or the smell of manure as much as they dislike riding on narrow cycle lanes unprotected from heavy traffic.

2.d. Design and policy in Denmark

Goeverden et al. (2015) compared research done as ex-post analysis of these interventions with analysis conducted over more recent interventions, again in the Netherlands and Denmark. The research question was to find if the newer interventions have the same outcomes as the older ones. The results of the different intervention generations were close, in terms of cycling volume, route and modal choice. For cycling volume, it was found that the increase of bicycle use along the route being object of interventions is greater than the increase in its corridor, meaning that cyclists favour improved routes over the rest of the network. Regarding route choice, it was observed that cyclists are willing to take small detours to reach/keep riding on the cycling infrastructure but at the same time, large detours are not accepted. Another finding is that cyclists tolerate fewer detours having an impact on time compared to the ones lengthening the route. When considering modal choice, it is found that the modal shift from the car is low (averaging at 2-3% of the cyclists), while greater shifts are observed in Danish cases from public transport (while in the Netherlands the shift from public transport is around 0%). Then the article moves on to compare safety ratings of a new type of intervention: shared space, which consists of creating a road space where cyclists and motor users are together in the same space, with design solutions slowing down motorised traffic and forcing it to pay attention to cyclists. It is found, through interviews, that shared spaces are considered less safe than segregated ones, but the actual data on objective safety (based on accidents reports) reports an improved performance of the shared spaces.

In the practical and technical design of cycle infrastructure, the Cycling Embassy of Denmark published a document (Andersen et al., 2012) which collects solutions from different study-cases in Denmark, explaining the reasons behind the choices and describing different designs. In the next paragraphs, we will list the main elements of the design of cycle infrastructure that we will take into consideration from this collection.

Types

The document reports a guideline in the form of a table to suggest when the different cycle infrastructures (mixed use, cycle lanes, one-way and two-way tracks, This chapter will go through research assessing design solutions for cycling in segregated tracks) should be implemented based on car traffic volume and car urban and sub-urban environments, to discover the effectiveness and the effects speed, taking into consideration the local specificity that could limit the available of different cycling infrastructures. solutions.

In the 70’s and 80’s new cycling infrastructure was developed in the Netherlands and Denmark, to increase the use of bikes over cars in urban areas. Van

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Chapter II - Literature review

Moving to cycle lanes, the document suggests them to be at least 1,5 m including a 0,3 m white line, either solid or profiled, to make motorists aware when driving over them. (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 78) Materials and elevations

Andersen et al., 2012, p. 53 Width In the case of a two-way cycle track, the Danish official regulations require a minimum width of 2,5 m, but the document notes that the same regulations allow cargo bikes up to 1,25 m, meaning that it’s physically impossible for them to overtake each other or pass on opposing directions, so a larger width is necessary. In the case of high cyclist volumes, the document suggests a width of 3,0-3,5 m. (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 64) In comparison, the one-way track requires 1,7 m although 2,2 m are suggested.

The minimum allows for standard bicycles to pass each other but makes it difficult to overtake a cargo bike. In cities with many cyclists, the suggested width by the document is 2,5 m but 2,2 is appropriate in the case of a lesser volume.

(Andersen et al., 2012, p. 64)

Chapter II - Literature review

In the document, it is stated that the most suitable material when designing a cycle track is powdered asphalt. Its lifespan is ranged between 15 and 20 years, even though it may need repairs after 10 years. It is stated as a material that enhances cycling because it is smooth, yet providing sufficient friction to manoeuvre and brake safely and is also available in different colours, like brown or red. Colours are used to mark different road spaces to be used by different road users, especially on larger cycle tracks, that could be misjudged as secondary lanes, roads or spaces for parking cars. Slabs and paving stones could be used in pedestrian areas that can be crossed by bikes but not as a cycling surface, it is suggested to use them to diversify spaces, “primarily in the shape of bands to focus attention, for example.” (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 70) Cycle tracks, when built along the main road (and not separated), should have an elevation that it’s in-between the one of the road and of the sidewalk, to be achieved through kerbs. The separation between pedestrian space and cycle tracks with the use of kerbs is so frequently used that it became “so familiar that is no longer necessary to mark tracks with the cycle track sign.” (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 64) As said in the ‘Width’ paragraph, cycle lanes can be delimited by a profiled line which creates vibrations and sounds when driven over by cars and other motor vehicles. Another solution is the ‘enhanced cycle lanes’. In the presence of frequent intersections or of limited funding, cycle lanes can be ‘enhanced’ with the use of nailed or glued kerbs (the only exception being at bus stops, where cycle track is compulsory). (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 70) In general, the document suggests that “Less costly solutions such as painted barrier lines or other tactile or colour surface treatments which are common abroad, might be used to a greater extent in Denmark. Less space demanding and cheaper solutions such as nailed or glued-on kerb ramps, etc. could also be used.” (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 64) Intersections Due to the large number of different configurations of roads, cycle tracks, cycle

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lanes, give-way rules, traffic lights, allowed manoeuvre, etc. it is impossible to define how to design in every single case. But the Cycling Embassy in its document lists general principles and solutions. The most general principle is that visibility equals safety. To increase the visibility of cyclists at the intersection, parking is forbidden in the last 10 meters before he intersection. An increasingly common design solution for visibility is to draw back the stopping line for motor vehicles by 5 meters while letting the bikes stop at the intersection. The ‘bike box’ is an evolution of this solution, commonly used in other countries, in Denmark they “do not fit very well with the mandatory wide Danish left turn” (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 67) although the bike box could anyway be preferred with a large flow of cyclists as it enables a larger number of cyclists to move through the intersection during a traffic light phase, rather than a long queue.

“barely acceptable” as cargo bikes face problems passing through. The preferred solution to slow down bikes would be a speed bump or rumble strips. (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 68)

To cross the intersection, usually, bike lanes could be marked and used. In Denmark, it is common to paint the lane surface in the intersection with blue thermoplastic. When the blue thermoplastic solution is not chosen, the cycling space could be marked with a dotted line and bicycle signs painted on the surface. The blue cycle crossings are more visible, but having more than one of said crossing at an intersection can disorient car drivers and have a negative impact on road safety. For this reason, the City of Copenhagen is starting to limit the number of such crossing to two per intersection.

Another theme being discussed is the bicycle right turn over a red light. It is already possible for cyclists riding on the side without road intersection of a T intersection to keep riding without observing the traffic light phase for the rest of the traffic, but they have to give way to the pedestrians crossing on their green light. Other kinds of right turn on a red light are illegal in Denmark, even though as of 2012 (year of publication of the paper), “local authorities in Copenhagen are […] discussing with the police whether signage can be stablished in selected intersections allowing cyclists to turn right on red.” The only exceptions are right turns with the creation of a ‘shunt’ and give-way markings. (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 67)

Finally, roundabouts are a dangerous element for cyclists. The mini-roundabouts for calming traffic (common in urban areas) are often perceived as ‘straight’ intersection by motorists, a possible problem for cyclists willing to turn left: they would have the right of way over the cars going straight, but the roundabout is not perceived as that and drivers could refuse to give the way. With the increase of cycling volume, the roundabout capacity for motor traffic is less than a signalised intersection. In rural areas, roundabouts are better to be addressed with a set-back give-way crossings as they increased safety in rural areas, merging bicycles and motor traffic in rural roundabouts should be avoided. (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 68)

When tracks are intersecting with other cycle tracks, attention should be given to the line of sights so cyclists can see each other and behave in the most appropriate way. When the volume of cyclists is high, give-way rules should be implemented, of course giving priority to the most used track unless there are visibility constraints. Once again, barriers should be avoided and it’s preferable to use elevations by giving the give-way track a slight uphill approaching the prioritised one, though it should not be too steep or it could cause problems for cyclists trying to start riding after a stop. (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 87)

Steepness

The work also reports the effect of hills on a willingness to cycle, noting it is negative. “A small hill doesn’t affect urban transport habits, but ridges and larger hills of only 50 m actually have a major impact on bicycle traffic.” (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 103) The document affirms that hills should be avoided in the planning phase and cities should avoid expanding on hills but rather densify flat areas. When hills are excessively steep, bike lifts, escalators or elevators could be For segregated two-way cycle tracks, it is safe to set the cycle track to give-way deployed, keeping in mind that they are expensive solutions and could be hit by to the side roads. If the roads are very large, placing islands in the middle facil- failure. The authors suggest implementing policies to boost the use of e-bikes. itates the crossing by bikes, if the road has a large volume of motor traffic, an (Andersen et al., 2012, p. 103) on-request traffic crossing would increase safety. Intersections between different cycle tracks are usually regulated by the give-way-to-the-right duty unless Policy the line of sight is poor or one cycle track has a much higher volume than the other. It is also noted that barriers at the entrance/exit points of cycle tracks are It is worth noting in the context that Aalborg has been part of CIVITAS ARCHI-

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MEDES, an EU project, where one of city’s goals was to develop a high class commuter cycling route between the city centre and the university, one of the first cycling superhighways in the city (Civitas.eu, 2017). However, the city also engaged in other, less infrastructure-oriented activities, which included developing commuter travel plans by partners of the project, which included both public and private entities, such as Siemens Wind Power A/S or Aalborg University. Since these commuter plans were developed with strong involvement of the partners of the project, this introduced a sense of ownership of these plans and therefore made a longer lasting change in the organisation. At Siemens, the introduction of this plan also included a trial period of three months, where employees, who previously were car-drivers and commuted for longer than 5 km.

This initiative was supposed to give these employees a chance to have a handson experience with commuting by bike. One of the final recommendations from the final report on Commuter Travel Plans in Aalborg states that such hands-on initiatives have a greater impact on employees awareness, whereas information campaigns have a limited potential, which is not to say they should not be used.

2.e. Design and Policy in Netherlands - The Case of Groningen During our search for design solutions, we decided to do a study trip to Groningen in the Netherlands, as its size is still comparable to Aalborg and a much stronger cycling culture. In fact, the mode share for bicycle trips is circa 60%, they have a well-established network of cycle tracks both in the city and in the suburban area, new cycling projects under development and policies to encourage the modal shift. Moreover, the high modal share also means that there is a conflict between cyclists and other road users (e.g. pedestrians, cars, buses, etc.). As seen in the picture below, the size of the two cities are comparable (the red polygons outline the built urban areas of Nørresunby, Aalborg and the rural island of Egholm on the Limfjord), but the Dutch city has double the population of Aalborg, resulting from a much denser land planning, different from the urban sprawl affecting Aalborg, with its many neighbourhoods of single-family houses and low buildings.

Chapter II - Literature review

Map of Groningen with Aalborg outlines Therefore, we did our trip between the 21st and the 26th of April and we contacted the Municipality, the Province and Groningen Bereikbaar, a public agency promoting bike use for commuters and school children. We got in touch and met, respectively, Jaap Valkema from Groningen Gemeente (municipality), Rolf Dijkstra from Groningen Provincie (province) and Michael Myle from Groningen Bereikbaar. With the first two, we discussed (with an open interview structure, with only some themes and topics to be discussed but without a fixed script) overall strategies, policies, design solutions, considerations over electric bikes, cycle highways, bike users and so on.

Like the Aalborg Kommune, Groningen Gemeente has developed a plan for future cycling interventions and policies called Groningen Cycling City. As Valkema presented it, the plan doesn’t have the goal of increasing the modal share in the city, 60% is already high and the city prefer to increase the quality and enhance the evaluations of its actual network and facilities: the strategy reports that 75% of the respondents to a survey campaign reported a level of satisfaction of 7 out of 10. The main goal of the plan is to bring that score up to 8. In the meanwhile, the city is growing so the Municipality also keeps in consideration how to keep the actual level of accessibility with the increased number of traffic coming from the new inhabitants. The plan is divided into 5 different strategies as follows:

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• The bicycle comes first – a new Bicycle Effect Analysis is required for all new urban developments, main bicycle routes are given priority in maintenance and renovation, building a cycle tunnel under the main train station with cycle parking facilities and heat the main cycle paths to avoid icing (even though Valkema expressed skepticism over this last project); • A coherent bicycle network – developing a hierarchical network with a ‘main’ and a ‘basic’ level, build park & ride facilities, collaborate with the Province on their ‘bicycle route plus’ network; • Space for bicycles – to rationalise the use of bicycles in the city centre to reduce conflict with pedestrians and rethink some parts of the networks where the volume of bike exceeds the infrastructure’s capacity by transforming them into ‘bike streets’; • Tailored bicycle parking – to rationalise the parking of bicycles delivering different solutions for short-, medium- and long-term parking; • The story of Groningen Cycling City – to promote the cycling policies of the city both among its citizens but also promoting at a national and international level.

In the following paragraphs, we collect topics and design solutions that meet the structure of our chapter regarding cycle infrastructure design in Denmark.

commuters from outside Groningen commuting by car. These are the equivalent of what we understand as cycling superhighways in our project and will be used as a reference for our project’s purposes.

The type of infrastructure is also affected by other factors, such as safety and attractiveness consideration. The former results in a preference for open cycle tracks in the countryside, where cyclists want to feel safe and this is guaranteed by the lack of trees, bushes or other objects that would hide the cyclist. The latter can be achieved by striving for a changing environment, which can be done by selecting more scenic routes or ones that are not along main car thoroughfares.

It needs to be underlined, that it is not clear what exactly constitutes the attractiveness of a route, and therefore there are no off-the-shelf design solutions that can be applied indiscriminately. As stated by Dijkstra from the Province of Groningen, they are only beginning to research into ways of enhancing the user experience on bicycle routes, which aims at putting more emphasis on the way time is perceived along the route, rather than on how much time it actually takes cycling a given route.

Width

The width of the cycle tracks depends on two variables according to the cycling strategy of Groningen Province, i.e. a number of cyclists on a given route per day and whether it is a one-way or two-way cycle track. Here we will refer to the Type guidelines for the Fietsroute Plus, that is the cycling highways, as they are our The type of cycling infrastructure, whether it is one- or two-way cycle tracks, main focus. The table below presents these guidelines: cycle lanes or mixed space depends predominantly on the importance of a given route for cycling traffic, the available space and the proximity of the city centre.

Groningen city centre is mostly based on mixed traffic roads, where cyclists have One-way cycle track a priority over other vehicles and where only local motorised traffic is allowed, Width with many traffic calming measures applied. As the cycle tracks go further out Intensity/day/direction 2.5 m from the city centre, and therefore more space on the roads is available, sepa- <500 rated cycle tracks are built, both as one- or two-way cycle tracks. Within the city 500-1500 3m boarders there are Smart Routes, which are major cycling thoroughfares and >1500 3,5-4 m have a priority in the cycling network. They are designed to accommodate large cyclist flows, while limiting a number of potential conflicts with car drivers, by Two-way cycle track separating these two from one another and by giving priority to the cyclists at Intensity/day Width the intersections. The cycle tracks that continue across the city borders all the <3000 4m way to the satellite villages and towns around Groningen (within 15 km distance) 4.5-5 m are part of Bicycle Routes Plus or Fietsroutes Plus network, which should allow >3000 As can be seen these widths are a bit higher than those in Denmark, since the for an average speed of 25 km/h and, therefore, aims at reducing the number of

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one-way cycle track in Groningen should be at least 2.5 m and can be as wide as 4 m, whereas in Denmark the minimum width is 1.7 m and the width of 2.5 m is suggested for cycle routes with high volumes of cyclists. Similarly, for two-way cycle tracks, the minimum suggested width is set to 4 m in Groningen, whereas in Denmark the maximum suggested for this type of infrastructure is 3.5 m. It is worth noting that according to Dijkstra the width of the cycle paths is one of the major components influencing the safety of cyclists, which might explain the widths of cycle paths in Groningen. It might also be part of what Dijkstra explained as a forgiving infrastructure, that is one which allows the users to make errors without immediate punishment in the form of injury. One comment needs to be added to this comparison since the standards presented above are devised for the cycling superhighways in Groningen, whereas the Danish standards are more general, which means they might predominantly relate to urban environments, where there isn’t that much space available for cycling infrastructure.

Materials and elevations

As stated by Valkema from Groningen Gemeente, one of the biggest turn-offs for cyclists is the waiting time on intersections, therefore any stops should be avoided at all costs, even if the route will be longer as a result. This is especially the case for cycling superhighways, where cyclists can ride with a higher average, especially if using an e-bike, and therefore any stops come at a greater physical expense. This is why according to the Guidelines of the Groningen Province ensuring a steady flow through crossings is one of the key priorities when it comes to evaluating directness. Therefore, it is suggested that there are no more than 0.4 stops per km. This can be achieved by minimising the number of crossings with other traffic, giving cyclists priority at intersections, ensuring safety and good visibility, making waiting times for traffic lights as short as possible, up to 60 seconds. Only if these conditions are met, will the cycling superhighway become an attractive alternative to using cars?

Steepness According to the design guidelines, the slope for cycling superhighways should have a Z-value between 0.0333 and 0.0750, which translates to approximately a level difference between 1.8 m and 2.7 m over a 100 m distance. It needs to be underlined that the Netherlands are in general a flat country without substantial level differences throughout the landscape. Therefore similar Z-values might be difficult in other countries, where there are more hills, even if not particularly steep, that cyclists need to climb.

Valkema and Dijkstra explained that, generally, when building cycle paths in the city asphalt is used as it’s cheap and provides a good quality material to ride on.

But on ‘bicycle routes plus’ designed by the Province, which are tracks that connect Groningen with the other centers in the province, the preferred material is concrete, which is more expensive, but provides two benefits: firstly, it has a longer operative life before it needs repairs (meaning that it’s cheaper to maintain in the long run) and secondly, it is a brighter material than asphalt, characteristic that fits with the will of the Province to keep low the levels of light pollution Policy in the rural areas (which requires a limited use of road lighting). By contrast, is not only more expensive to lay down initially but also in the case of works on During our visit, as stated before, we also met with Michael Myles from Gronin‘sub-services’ like water and gas ducts, electric and telephone lines, etc. gen Bereikbaar. It is a joint-venture agency of the Municipality, the Province, the Region, the Ministry of Infrastructure and other public entities. It works in three Again, as mentioned before, the concern of the designers of both the Province different areas: traffic management, marketing and communication, mobility and the Municipality is the different speeds of the users of cycle infrastructure: management. Myles, who works in this last one, introduced us to the policies between mopeds, e-bikes, standard bikes, elderly people and children there is they set up to change behaviours of commuters, targeting especially those mova rather large difference, so there is the need to slow down their speeds in the ing during the morning and afternoon peak hours. To achieve their goal, they vicinity of intersections as car drivers tend to underestimate the speed of the make use of ‘coalition planning’. This way of working is predominantly about fastest users, resulting in crashes. To slow down speeds, the preferred solution is dispersing the responsibility for actions onto a group of actors, rather than the to use speed bumps, but they are only placed on the most dangerous intersec- having only one actor responsible for them, which usually is the state. Through tion as cyclists don’t like riding over them. this approach, it is possible to not only gain additional financing of measures aimed at reducing a number of journeys done by car but more importantly, it Intersections is a way of ingraining strong commitment from all parties involved. As has been

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explained by Myles, in the traditional approach, where the state of other public entity was solely responsible for a certain project, and therefore the sole sponsor of such actions, the outcomes were often not satisfactorily since the engagement of people wasn’t as expected. In the coalition planning approach, the role of the public entity, which wants to introduce a change, is that of a midwife or facilitator, who merely helps other parties in forming the coalition, the idea generation process as well as in the execution. It means to target commuters’ behaviour by involving individual companies (or clusters of nearby companies) and offering free consultancy about mobility management. This encompasses presenting maps and data, which show the level of accessibility to the company’s location from different areas of the province using different transport modes as alternatives to the car as public transport, electric bikes and pedelecs. Groningen Bereikbaar also offers solutions for companies: Myles presented the solution of offering companies in the city centre reserved spaces and electric bikes at park & ride facilities situated on the outskirts of the city, so the commuters can drive there and have access to an electric bike to complete their journey in a sustainable way towards the city centre. Another campaign involves an electric bike producer, handing out free bikes to be used by a company’s workers for a limited period of time (2 weeks) in order to convince them of the ease of use and the advantages of this mode.

Groningen Bereikbaar reaches out companies through organising a ‘directors’ breakfast’ one or two times a year, where they invite directors of different companies in the province to a breakfast meeting to discuss their problems related to mobility. The way Bereikbaar approaches companies is not only by addressing the advantages of cycling mobility regarding travel times and infrastructural quality, they use discourses about health benefits for the workers and environmental benefits due to the reduction of CO2 and other pollutants. Bereikbaar is also pushing together with the Municipality, for a new bike sharing programme with traditional bikes equipped with Bluetooth locks that can be parked anywhere in the city without the need to bring it to particular locations. The system includes GPS location, internet booking and the possibility to report malfunctions of the bike.

A Campaign Example Their cycling campaign has included companies around Groningen and encouraged businessman to use their bike to their work or school. Their aim was to get employees to bike at least twice a week. Their motto for this campaign was “You

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don’t know what you see!”. In Bereikbaar’s blog they let cyclists write about their e-bike experience referring to the motto, one cyclist talks about the things she hasn’t seen before switching from a regular to an electric bike. She concludes her piece by saying “Get the bike! Because you really do not know what you see, feel, hear and miss. The e-bike has made me the last move and I have decided to go 4 to 5 with my mountain bike. Who is in?” (Boer, 2017) Back to the campaign, they explain further the benefits of riding with e-bike by saying “you’ll see people, animals and scenery throughout your trip. Also it will be a benefit for your body and mind. You can save 200kg of CO2 emissions if you cycle 7.5km twice per week.” (Rij2op5, 2017)

2.f. Guidelines comparison Danish guidelines Type Width

Dutch guidelines

Based on speed and car traf- Based on bicycle traffic, mixed fic. use allowed in urban areas, never in rural parts.

Two-way cycle track between Two-way cycle track between 4 3 and 3,5 meters. and 5 meters depending on bicycle traffic.

Chapter II - Literature review

Materials and ele- Asphalt. Elevations used to Asphalt in urban areas, light vations separate road space (kerbs). concrete in rural parts. Elevations used to slow down traffic at intersections (speed bumps).

Intersections Different solutions based on Legal left turn. Priority over any cycle infrastructure, illegal left road if safety allows it, otherturn. Priority over side roads. wise no more than 0,4 stops per km.

Steepness Avoid hills.

Maximum slope 2,7%.

changing how practices interlock. Much like in the case of popularising Nordic walking, described by Pantzar and Shove (2005), in order to set up a new practice, the old associations about a given practice, in the case of our project those of commuting to work by car, need to be superimposed by new ones. Hence, the crucial consideration concerns the interlocking of given practices with the materiality of the built environment and with other practices. This means that changing one practice without changing others might be futile since the interlocking of previously established practices is not challenged.

Mobilities behaviour change can also by analysed with the toolbox devised by Sheller (2012), i.e. the matrix of practices, networks and discourses, where each can be understood at the ‘niche’, ‘regime’ and ‘landscape’ level. This toolbox enables to question, how does the introduction of new technologies change the 2.g. Practice change practices on the landscape level and in this way evaluate whether the intended change towards a more sustainable system of mobility has been successful or In the previous chapters we have discussed, how to understand bicycle infra- not. Following Watson, one could say that “rearranging the details of present structure from a design, policy and user vantage point, however, it is just as cru- infrastructures will only be effective if such interventions set new patterns of cial to include a cultural reading of the current and future mobility systems. We recruitment and defection in train, and if these, in tum, engender system level have already indicated that the introduction of e-bikes and the popularisation transformation” (Watson, 2013, p. 129). of cycling superhighways can have a transformative effect on commuting habits.

Nevertheless, following Kemp, Geels and Dudley it needs to be underlined that Equally important one needs to understand the cultural context of a given prac“system change is rarely driven by single factors such as prices or technological tice change, since depending on the established cultural meanings and values change, but usually involves coevolution between multiple developments” (2012, associated with different modes of transport. In the example of British cities and p. 16). Therefore, the sole introduction of new infrastructures, such as bike su- their cycling cultures studied by Aldred and Jungnickel (2014), we can observe perhighways, and new technologies, such as e-bikes, are not a sufficient condi- how these immaterial factors underpin the different cycling cultures in these tion for a change of practices to take hold. Therefore the success of substituting cities. Whereas some of them associate the bicycle with leisure and therefore an automobility system with a velomobility system hinges on the establishment do not consider it as a legitimate mean of commuting, others have incorporated the bicycle and it now constitutes part of the ‘landscape’. That is why oversimof new sets of practices. By practice we mean: plifications and believing that there is e.g. one “Danish cycling culture” might “a routinized type of behaviour which consists of several elements, in- be misleading and weigh heavily on the final success of a given practice change. terconnected to one other: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, ‘things’ and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotion and motivational knowledge” (Reckwitz, 2002, p. 249).

2.h. Place and non-place

In the previous sections we have discussed how the cycle paths should be designed, what are the best practices in terms of building them and how could The practice theory is critical of the traditional ways of thinking about change such changes in the built environment be understood from a cultural point of as a set of mechanical rearrangements of peoples’ attitudes towards a given view. Now we would like to take a look at how do the transformations of the technology, which should bring about a change in their behaviour. The practice cycling infrastructure and of the cycling culture could be analysed in reference theory talks about conducting change through the re-crafting, substituting and

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to the notion of place. Here we shall mostly draw on Tim Cresswell’s book entitled Place – a short introduction, which was published in 2004. In this book, Cresswell references John Agnew’s definition of place as a ‘meaningful location’, which has three basic components – Location, Locale and Sense of place (2004, p. 7). This definition points to both the material setting of a place, as well as the relationships people form with specific locations, by attaching meaning to them.

This is where a distinction between a place and space comes into play. Space, as defined by Yi-Fu Tuan, is something which is not yet endowed with meaning, therefore can be seen as open and even threatening. From this follows that, according to Tuan, places are then pauses in spaces (Cresswell 2004, p. 8). Tuan discussed space and place from the perspective of experience. He believes space and place should not only be analysed with measurements and maps but also they have to be supported by experiential data. Experience is a cover-all term that represents the various modes of constructing a reality, these modes being ‘sensation, perception, conception’ (Tuan, 1977, p. 8). Moreover, to Tuan, experience means “acting on the given and creating out of the given” (Tuan, 1977, p.

9). About defining space and place, he thinks they are co-dependent concepts, however, place needs space in order to realise itself. He also discusses place making and comments: “planners would like to evoke ‘a sense of place’” (Tuan, 1977, p. 3). His understanding of the body is contrary to the usual understanding as an ‘object’, that is why he describes it as an ‘animated being’, engaged in ‘inhabiting the world, commanding and creating’ (Tuan, 1977, p. 34).

Another important distinction is to be made between place and landscape, the former being somewhere one is inside of, whereas the latter is something to be looked upon. As Creswell notes, place is also a way of ‘seeing, knowing and understanding the world’ (2004, p. 11). This way of defining place can set us free from a ‘facts and figures’ approach, which dehumanises place. Having the above in mind one can look at projects expanding the cycle path network and therefore increasing bikeability of a given city as ways of giving new meanings to the spaces through which a given cycle lane passes. It can also signify an intended change of how the whole city is perceived or understood as a place, both by the locals and by the visitors.

Furthermore, he brings out types of spaces like ‘sacred space’, ‘geographical space’, ‘architectural space and planning space’, cognitive space’, and ‘abstract space’. He also talks about the relations between ‘place and location’, ‘place and landscape’ and ‘place and time’, ‘place and community’, ‘essence of place’ and the terms ‘insideness and outsideness’ which are discussed through the human experience. According to Relph, placelessness is ‘the casual eradication of distinctive places and the making of standardised landscapes that results from an insensitivity to the significance of place’ (1976, Preface, n. p.).

A concept similar to that of placelessness has been developed by a French anthropologist called Marc Augé, who has introduced the term ‘non-place’ to represent the anthropological spaces which lack significance for people, such as airports or motorways. Seeing ‘non-place’ and ‘place’ as complete opposites of each other, he thinks of non-places as a ‘real measure of our time’ considering our time as a ‘supermodernity’ era which is characterised by the ephemeral and the temporary. He draws on Merleau-Ponty, who differentiates ‘geometric space’ from ‘anthropological space’. Furthermore, according to Merleau-Ponty, the narrative has the power that ‘transforms places into spaces and spaces into places’ (Augé, 1995, p. 80). Merleau-Ponty also talks about the natural distinction between ‘doing’ and ‘seeing’ and therefore a distinction between space and place. More into thinking about space, Augé describes the phenomenon of tourism and how the traveller as a spectator becomes the spectacle himself, and his ‘space may thus be the archetype of non-place’ (Augé, 1995, p. 86). Hence the spectators/travellers might find spaces which have no “identity, relations, history” (Augé, 1995, p. 87).

Michel de Certeau, who specialises in history, psychoanalysis, and philosophy and was very much influenced by Sigmund Freud and his works, focused on phenomenology and psychoanalysis in his work “The Practice of Everyday Life” (1984). He talks about space as a ‘practiced place’ and a composition of ‘intersections of mobile elements’ as well as a concept that has variables like ‘direction’, ‘velocity’, ‘time’ and thus sees street space as “geometrically defined by urban planning and transformed to places by walkers” (de Certeau, 1984, p.

124). Moreover, he talks about ‘an absence from the place itself’, which can be As a different point of view on the place, Edward Relph, a geographer, works understood similarly as Augé’s non-place. Where, in this sense, it will be necesmainly on ‘phenomenology of space and place’, ‘depth of place’, ‘placelessness’ sary to break down Augé’s point of view in order to continue the collection of and ‘influence of place and placelessness’. In his well-known book “Place and contributions on space, place and non-place.

Placelessness” (1976) where he identifies and categorises place in terms of space and place, the identity of places, sense of place, placelessness and landscape. Tim Edensor, an anthropologist who has analysed non-space phenomena of road

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shapes in his paper “Defamiliarizing the Mundane Roadscape”(2003), builds upon these definitions of non-place and probably sees non-place as a non-space when he looks at the motorway. While taking his regular route on M6 motorway to arrive, Cheshire, he witnessed and observed several signs, spaces, and objects throughout his drive. For many, driving in the motorways implies an alienation through a kind of a serial “non-space”, however, he criticises the common judgment of motorways being ‘linear’ and ‘featureless’ with his observations. Edensor sees driving as a ‘spatial and temporal routine’, and he also refers to Sheller and Urry’s article “The City and the Car” where they have initiated exploring automobility and their term ‘hybrid assemblage’ for drivers. Moreover, Sheller and Urry suggest ‘a web of connections unfold innumerable sensations and socialites into automobile experiences’ and accept that motorways are “quintessential non-places of super-modernity,” and “sites of pure mobility” (Edensor, 2003, p. 153).

When he drives through rural areas, he makes both remarkable and unremarkable associations. Remarkable ones are about the rise of tourism and leisure, development of agriculture or relocation of industry. The unremarkable ones like “pollarded trees and copses, hedges and fences, old and new barns, green fields and fallow land and streams” are engaged with his senses and sensations also form an ‘”voluntary memory” (Edensor, 2003, p. 159). Edensor regards car travel as a ‘disturbing sensual experience’ when it comes to senses. He furthermore refers to Sheller and Urry (2000) again as their argument is that senses are ‘impoverished’ as sights, sounds, tastes, temperatures and smells are reduced to a two-dimensional visual through a window screen.

In relation to our project, it becomes clear that Aalborg Harbour is not only a location, as it has relations with human production and consumption, thus it is, using Agnew’s term, a ‘meaningful location’ (Agnew, 1987). The harbour is therefore a place with a strong locality and materiality, as it is the gate of the Northern Jutland and one of the largest container ports in Denmark. At the same time, there is a temptation to regards it as an Augéian non-place, as at first sight it seems like a space devoid of significance for humans, much alike other generic spaces of intense mobility like motorways or airports. Especially from the soft road users perspective, the place is heavily influenced by the freight transport and, which can inhibit these users to create a sense of place. There are some parallels with the case of Hirshals, presented at Cosmobilities 2014 by Ida Lange.

Chapter II - Literature review

In that case, the place is Hirtshals, which is also situated in the northern part of Jutland. Hirstshals in decreasing in population whereas the port in growing in business terms and physically.

“The port also contributes to creating a town based solely on transit seen from the perspective of the travellers. The survey results show that few travellers perceive Hirtshals as a place ... Hirtshals can be seen as a ‘terminal town’ ... But as the survey of travellers also shows, Hirtshals is only to a lesser extent a place where people will want to, or are able to, make a stay.” (Lange et al., n.d., p. 9) Hirtshals understanding as a ‘place to stay’ is being shadowed due to the enormous influence of the infrastructures and the bad connection between the ‘terminal town’ and the town itself. In the case of Aalborg and its harbour, the divide is not as abrupt, and although the harbour stands out on the map of Aalborg as something that is not seamlessly interwoven into the urban fabric, the connectivity is maintained and the city is not overshadowed by the harbours activity.

This is in part due to its history, as this place has been constructed with multiple processes, expansions, different establishments and collaborations so it has created a historical meaning as well as a powerful place where companies and different business can grow. In addition to the definition of the port of Aalborg as a place, it is indispensable to think in terms of mobility due to its several functions and the location. On one hand thinking in terms of the location, it is well connected by freight transports, car and trucks by highways, train by the railway, ships by sea and it would be well connected by bike if the plan is successfully executed. On the other hand, a harbour is a place of flows with freight services, involved in a world-wide exchange of goods. In Chapter IV we shall look at how the new cycling connection changes the meanings of Aalborg Harbour as a place, by introducing new patterns of mobility.

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2.i. From theory to practice These theoretical inputs are going to put in practice in the following chapters (analysis and design). The analysis will be developed along two branches, the first being more objective, as an analysis regarding the accessibility of the Harbour (to highlight the isochrones of different transport modes centered on the Harbour), then looking at the current state of the cycling infrastructure along our route and verifying its compliance to both the Danish and Dutch guidelines, studying the flows of cycle traffic along at particular intersection and finally investigate the elevations of the route and several detours. The second branch will involve the sensorial experience derived by riding through all the different environments, which builds a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;mental mapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the route through the inputs of smell, sound, touch and vision.

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3.a. Philosophy of Science reflection

3.b. Methods introduction

The nature of our research question required little thinking about the Philosophy of Science position that we would have taken for the project. In fact, both the quantitative and the qualitative methods needed to be taken into consideration to effectively analyse and build a design proposal for a cycling connection between the centre of Aalborg and the East Harbour. The quantitative level was required to study the accessibility of the Harbour, count and bring into the design the flows of cyclists and also measure the noise levels through the route. But, as seen in the literature review, sound is not only about pressure and frequency, it is perceived differently by individual people and to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, a qualitative layer was needed. Moreover, the qualitative layer was also used to study how the route, with its infrastructure, elevations, surfaces, lighting condition, exposure to weather conditions, smells and dangers was actually perceived by the cyclists themselves. We, in first person, are cyclists ourselves and we rode the route several times, in different weather conditions and in a range of clock times, so we felt confident in using also our own knowledge and understanding of the route other than the ones of the people working at the Harbour and cycling their daily commute on our chosen route. The use of all these different methods that we needed to develop the project (quantitative and qualitative, first-person and third-person knowledge) and the will to use all of them to answer the research question, led us to embrace the position of the American Pragmatism. Its core idea is that thought is a tool for problem solving, in an ever-changing universe that requires an action-oriented approach.

American Pragmatism also pushed us to consider alternatives at every stage of our project, e.g. considering different routing options as detours and shortcuts, using our own experience on riding the route, involving Harbour workers and their own opinions, investigate guidelines for designing bicycle infrastructure in Denmark and the Netherlands.

In our project we have decided to include a wide array of mobile methods that are at the disposal of mobilities researchers. Following BĂźscher and Urry (2009) we have attempted to include methods more appropriate for understanding the sensescape of the selected cycle route, that would allow us to investigate the more down-to-earth aspects of moving from one place to another. This has been especially paramount, since most of traditional and quantitative methods could not help us answer our research question. In the process of data-gathering we have also done some smaller experiments with new tracking technologies such as eye-tracking and GPS tracking, which helped us understand the potentials and the pitfalls of each of them. In the following sections we shall present our methodological toolbox together with its advantages and limitations.

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3.c. Site selection Before introducing the data gathering tools, there is a need to explain the site selection process, which has informed our project. We have set out with a number of themes each of the group members wanted to work with in this semester project, including bikeability, bicycle super-highways, exploring potentials and proposals for design, especially those related to linearity, or how cities can become more resilient through changing their mobility patterns. Based on this set of themes, we have tried to find a common ground and a physical location in Aalborg that would enable us to relate our interests to a specific site. We have therefore looked into the cycling plans of Aalborg Municipality to find if the concept of cycling super-highways is already present in its strategic documents and if so, how and where are these routes supposed to be built. As a result, we have identified one route that drew our interest particularly, i.e. a route connecting the city centre with the East Harbour.

Chapter III - Methodology

3.d. First-person perspective – body as a research tool

3.e. Visual-ethnography

In the initial stages of our project we have opted for experiencing the currently available cycling infrastructure on our own, to better understand how this route actually looks like for a commuter. As we rode our bicycles we were able to bodily experience the route together with its topography, visual attractions and disturbances, as well as trying to find our way on a route that we were unfamiliar with. After the first ride, which also included going along a different route along Rørdalsvej, we have written down our impressions relating to our sensescapes and also to how difficult we found it cycling uphill or against the wind (see attached disc for more details). In this phase of data collection we have used our own bodies and senses as data collecting tools, much in the way Büsher and Urry describe in their writings:

However, we were not only interested in experiencing the route ourselves, but also in being able to carefully analyse the whole route, which is why we also decided to video recordings of the route. The recordings took place on the 2nd of May, on a sunny day. A GoPro camera has been mounted onto the handlebar of a bike belonging to one of the group members. With this set up we have recorded the routes both in the morning and in the afternoon, so that we could include the way the sun operates during these times. The videos have also been used to conduct a serial vision analysis, which is based on the assumption that humans “apprehend urban environments through kinesthetic experience.” (Gordon Cullen, 1961, p. 118) We have also done pictures on the route of points of particular interest, which can be regarded as sort of Lynchian visual landmarks on this route. This data has then been used in the analysis process in a number of ways, which, among others, include:

‘Mobilities involve fragile, aged, gendered, racialized bodies. Such bodies encounter other bodies, objects and the physical world multi-sensuously.

Travel always involves corporeal movement and forms of pleasure and • Identifying landmarks and visual attractions on route; pain. Such bodies perform themselves in-between direct sensation of the • Examining the changes in the surface; ‘other’ and various sensescapes. Bodies are not empirically fixed and giv• Examining obstacles on route; en but involve performances to fold notions of movement, nature, taste • Observing how people behave on the route. and desire, into and through the body. Bodies sense and make sense of the world as they move bodily in and through it, creating discursively Following Pink, we believe that photographing and video-recording on the move mediated sensescapes that signify social taste and distinction, ideology ‘enables us to attend to elements of the ways that people experience and give and meaning’ (Büscher & Urry, 2009, p. 102). meanings to their environments, and in this sense also enables a focus on the sensoriality of place’ (Pink, 2013, p. 81). The footage has been used also in an During this phase we did not rely on any technological assistance in data collec- interview with selected participants, to help them evoke different memories tion and we only did a few photographs to document the field study. Since we which otherwise would not come to light. chose to ride during the commuting hours, that is starting at 7:20 near Nordkraft, we were also hoping to be able to make some observations about whether anyone actually uses the route in its present condition and, if so, what sort of people are cycling on these routes. Because of the time of the year when the 3.f. Eye-tracking experiment observations were done, i.e. late winter (16th March), the cycling traffic was not yet significant with only few cyclists arriving at the entrance of the East Harbour.

As a smaller part of the semester project we have also done a series of minor experiments with eye-tracking technology. Because of the fact that this technology is still in its infancy, our goals with these experiments were rather modest and fo-

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cused on the methodological set-up. Therefore, our research question was: How to prepare and conduct an eye-tracking experiment in an outdoor environment with the use of bicycles? We were also interested into investigating different factors that could affect the tracking of such device, in particular the weather conditions and the lighting. The device used was supplied by Aalborg University and was the Pupil Labs Eye-tracking monocular. The research process involved calibration, preparation, riding through an intersection, data analysis and conclusion. The experiment consisted of three experiments, first, a trial one done around the AAU Create Campus, second done by the researchers on the location of interest, i.e. the roundabout on Tranholmvej/Øster Uttrup Vej/Korintvej, and a third one done in the same location with the help of a volunteer. Unfortunately, the data gathered during this experiment did not provide satisfactorily results and we concluded that this technology is not yet ready to be used in mobile outdoor conditions, and therefore it was not used in our project. Nevertheless, this technology does promise to give useful insights into first-person perspective and his or hers eye-gaze. One final remark needs to be done, that is that eye-tracking doesn’t enable analysing how peripheral vision or other senses, such as hearing, are used in mobile situations.

3.g. GPS tracking In our research we have also decided to use more traditional quantitative methods such as GPS tracking. We decided to engage this technology to be able to record our own routes, with a particular interest for the elevation. For this purpose MyTracks application for smartphones has been used. The tracks have then been represented both through QGIS and Google Earth software and used for comparisons of the different detours available on the way to the East Harbour.

derstanding of the soundscape and therefore we have performed noise level measurements. It needs to be underlined, that because of the limitations of a student semester project we did not have access to professional noise level measurement equipment. In this circumstances we decided to use our own smartphones, where an application called OpeNoise (developed by the Regional Environmental Protection Agency of PIedmont, Italy) was installed, which allows to measure the A-weighted sound pressure level. We conducted sound measurements in ten locations on the route, each lasting 1 minute, both during morning and afternoon rush hours. Additionally in four spots of particular interest for our project, we gathered at least five minutes of sound measurements data. The OpeNoise application records sound level every second and enables to export the data into .txt files. These files were then opened in an excel spreadsheet, where we calculated the minimum, maximum and average values, which were subsequently represented on a graph for the four main spots. After gathering the data and comparing the data gathered by different smartphones, we concluded that the sound measurements proved to be extremely vulnerable and dependant on the quality of the built-in microphones. Therefore, we were forced to repeat the measurements using only one smartphone, to ensure comparability of the gathered data.

Additionally, we added sound recordings to be able to analyse the sources of noise, as this plays an important role in determining whether one’s soundscape is a pleasing or a disturbing one. Here again we recorded one minute, or five in case of four selected spots, of sound recording both morning and afternoon. The data was then analysed and presented graphically on a map.

3.i. Observations and recruitment As we were also interested in finding out if there are people who cycle the route

3.h. Sound measurements and recordings To supplement the visual data, we also wanted to have a more quantitative un-

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with the currently available infrastructure, and if so what are their main characteristics. We have included the following features in our observation forms: • Time;

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• • • • • • •

Direction on the intersection; Age (estimated in 5 years intervals); Gender; Type of bike; Wearing a helmet (Y/N); Wearing a visibility vest (Y/N); Wearing sports clothing (Y/N).

The observations were conducted in four spots (see map below): 1.

2.

3.

4.

Bus stop - Stenbjergvej (Øster Uttrup Vej) Roundabout (Øster Uttrup Vej/ Tranholmvej/Korinthvej) Øster Uttrup North-East (Overvejen/ Tranholmvej) Harbour entrance (Rørdalsvej/Sundet)

‘Recruiting for interview’ spots The observations took place on the 2nd of May 2017, morning between 7:30 and

8:30 and afternoon between 15:00 and 16:00.

Additionally, on the 5th of May, we decided to go out to spots no. 2 and no. 3 in order to try and stop cyclists going through these points. Our intention was to first ask them to draw their route on a map, which we have prepared, then ask them if one of us could join them for a short ride-along interview. In case of one of the cyclists, we also decided to get his contact data, since he was the only one, who cycled the whole route, which we are interested in. Both the ride-along interviews, the on spot interviews and the in-depth interview have helped us to understand better the mental maps of different cyclists, with particular focus on reasons for choosing particular routes.

3.j. Interviewing and surveying As mentioned above, we were able to find one person who commuted the whole route that we were studying and who agreed to join us for an interview. The interview was conducted in the following manner, first we asked the participant to draw a mental map of the route on a blank piece of paper, secondly we took him for a virtual ride along, where we used our previously done footage to show the route, and lastly we discussed the planned changes on the roundabout on Tranholmvej. Throughout the whole interview we asked the participant to tell us about his experiences on the route, related to the sensorial aspects of it as well as to the bad design or dangerous places.

Aside the interview, we also designed a questionnaire that was sent to two companies located in the harbour area, i.e. Aalborg Havn A/S, the administrator of the area, and Siemens Wind Power A/S, a multinational company from renewable energy sector. The first one is located near point no. 4 on the map, whereas the second near point no. 2. There was no one commuting to Aalborg Havn by bike, as we got to know from Brian Dalby Rasmussen, who works as Environmental Coordinator in that company, whereas we met many cyclists from Siemens Wind Power during our field studies, who told us there were many people cycling to work in that company. Obviously, this also has to do with the size of each

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of these companies, as Siemens Wind Power employs many times more employees than Aalborg Havn. Notwithstanding, we decided that it would be beneficial for our project to understand the reasons behind these different modal choices of people working in this area, which is why we prepared two questionnaires, one for cyclists and the other one for non-cyclists. In case of Aalborg Havn we were interested in getting to know, why people don’t cycle, which is why we sent only one questionnaire, whereas in Siemens we were hoping to get to know the reasons behind different transport choices, which is why we sent both questionnaires. At the same time, we wanted to know if the planned changes to Tranholmvej, which include a change to the roundabout near Siemens Wind Power, would and if so, how would they affect people’s commuting habits.

3.k. Mapping In order to represent the collected data visually we used different mapping techniques such as collages, iconography, edited photography or digital drawings.

In terms of sensecape’s visualisation, we differ a detailed analysis from a non-detailed analysis. In the case of the non-detail analysis, an aerial earth photography from google map is used as the basis and canvas for our analysis. We introduce iconographic technique with colours as well as edited pictures to help with the completely understanding of the sensecape. In the detailed analysis, we use the collage technique to visualise the different experiences on the field. Moreover, in this analysis, we draw the movement of the cyclist in different spots as desire lines. We also used mapping techniques such as the digital drawing to show different aspects of our project, in this techniques, Kevin Lynch and his drawings have been a reference.

Although all the visualisations are digital drawings, every technique is a process, therefore, to obtain the final and digital result, we pass different stages such as the mental visualisation where the idea is designed and the mapping technique is chosen, the sketch which is the phase of ‘trial and error’ and when the information and data are translated to graphics, and the last stage where all the data is cleaned and digitalised.

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Mapping process, the sketch.

About elevations, it is worth to mention that Google is not open about the source and the precision of its data. Online forums dedicated to Google Earth and geographic science in general, seem to point out the source as the SRTM data, processed through proprietary algorithms for interpolation. SRTM stands for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, a project carried out by NASA to map the whole surface elevation of the Earth using Space Shuttles equipped with radar technology. The data is sampled every 30 meters in the United States of America and 90 meters in the rest of the planet. People on the forums, also suggests that Google may be implementing LIDAR (much more precise, relying on laser technology) data for some particular parts of the planet. (https://gis.stackexchange. com/)

3.l. Study trip In our semester project we are interested in the notion of bike superhighways

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and how it can be developed and implemented in Aalborg, especially in relation to the East Harbour route. During our search for design solutions, we decided to do a study trip to Groningen in the Netherlands, as its size is still comparable to Aalborg but has a much stronger cycling culture. In fact, the mode share for bicycle trips is circa 60%, they have a well-established network of cycle tracks both in the city and in the suburban area, new cycling projects under development and policies to encourage the modal shift. Moreover, the high modal share also means that there is a conflict between cyclists and other road users (e.g. pedestrians, cars, busses, etc.). The two cities are comparable in terms of the area, but the Dutch city has double the population of Aalborg, resulting from a much denser land planning, different from the urban sprawl affecting Aalborg, with its many neighbourhoods of single-family houses and low buildings.

We did our trip between the 21st and the 26th of April and we contacted the Municipality, the Province and Groningen Bereikbaar, a public agency promoting bike use for commuters and school-children. We got in touch and met, respectively, Jaap Valkema from Groningen Gemeente (municipality), Rolf Dijkstra from Groningen Provincie (province) and Michael Myles from Groningen Bereikbaar.

The first two meetings took place on the 24th and the third one on the 26th of April, each of them lasted around 1 to 1.5 hours. With the first two we discussed (with an open interview structure, with only some themes and topics to be discussed but without a fixed script) overall strategies, policies, design solutions, considerations over electric bikes, cycle highways, bike users and so on. With the last one, we discussed the mobility management strategies developed by Groningen Bereikbaar, which include predominantly the use of different sort of campaigns and mobility management for companies, both publicly and privately owned.

Apart from meetings, we have also done some photo and video ethnography as we rode on the bicycle infrastructure of the city and on the bicycle superhighways connecting the city with smaller satellite towns. This way we were able to gather hands-on experience concerning the cycling infrastructure in the Netherlands (see attached disc for details).

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3.m. Reflection As can be seen, we included a wide variety of research methods, ranging from the more qualitative ones to the purely quantitative. This reflects our pragmatic approach to conducting this research, where we adopted a â&#x20AC;&#x153;whatever worksâ&#x20AC;? stance. At the same time it is important to reflect upon our main data gathering tool, i.e. the smartphone. We used it to record videos, sounds, both interviews and environmental sounds, but we also used it a noise level measurement tool (OpeNoise) and GPS tracker (MyTracks). This indicates an important development in the accessibility of mobile methods also for the laymen, who do not have access to professional equipment. There are, however, some limitations to the use of smartphones as, for example, a sound measurement tool, which stems from the fact that each smartphone is a bit different, with different microphone sensitivity. This may result in major discrepancies between the measurements from different users, therefore making the data not comparable across the whole data set and ultimately unusable. Therefore attention needs to be paid to ensure the comparability of data, which can either be performed by calibrating all the devices against a professional sound measurement tool and then adjusting the recorded data accordingly, or simply using only one device for all the measurements. Even in case of the GPS tracking, there are considerations which need to be taken into account, e.g. before recording the GPS track one should ensure that the starting location has been set properly, because the GPS receiver usually needs a couple of seconds before being able to find the right spot, which can result in very odd GPS tracking. Secondly, the precision of the GPS tracker has a tolerance of around 5-10 m, which can influence for example the elevation profile in unwanted ways. This may change with the introduction of the Galileo satellite navigation system, which is supposed to have a 1-metre precision, but until then these remarks remain valid. Finally, the experimentation with eye-tracking equipment was a very interesting experience, even if not a very successful one in terms of collecting valuable data. One of the main conclusions was that one needs to approach such novelties with a grain of scepticism and avoid thinking that simply by having a new technology at our disposal can somehow give us a perfect understanding of what people actually see. First, this neglects the wealth of other sensorial stimuli used in mobile situations and secondly, even if one is able to get to know the gaze distribution, it does not follow

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that one knows which of the stimuli have actually been given more or less priority in the complex decision-making process that goes on in the minds of people on the move.

Regarding our interview the the employee from Siemens, we received some inputs but less than we hoped for. The reasons are time-constraints, the language barrier (the interview was conducted in english but the employee use of the english language is more geared towards technical vocabulary coming from his enginnering job). Another problem was probably also coming from the mindset of the interviewee, even when asked specifically about his senses, his feelings and inner thoughts about the sensescape during the virtual ride-along, he only mentioned issues about safety and the very physical aspect of the cycle track.

Finally, since our project concerns the understanding the sensescapes of a cycling route, we needed to develop methods that would help us in achieving this goal. Even though there is some literature on the different senses and how they are affected in a urban environment, there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t many that would offer methodological set-ups. This is particularly apparent in relation to the smellscape, which is elusive for technological devices and therefore needs to rely solely on the individual perceptions of the scents experienced on the way.

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4.a. Comparison of two routes connecting Aalborg city centre and East Harbour As we have pointed out in the Introduction, there are two possible routes for cyclists going to the East Harbour, one going through Vejgaard and Øster Uttrup (hereafter: southern route) and another one going along Rørdalsvej and the industrial area along the Limfjord (hereafter: northern route). In the beginning of the analysis we shall briefly compare the two, trying to elicit the advantages and drawbacks of each of these routes. This will lead us into conclusion about the choice of the route that shall constitute the subject of this project.

Elevation profile – southern route (source: Google Earth)

Directness and elevation First, comparing the two routes requires a comparison of their directness and their elevation profiles. According to Danish design practices the cycle routes should be direct, however they do not quantify the measure of directness, whereas the Dutch guidelines applied in Groningen talk about a maximum conversion factor of 1.2 of the distance as the crow flies. In relation to the southern route this conversion factor on the route from Nordkraft to the intersection of Rørdalsvej and Sundet amounts to 1.21 (8.02 km/ 6.59 km), which places it just above the maximum recommended value. By comparison, the alternative northern route going along Rørdalsvej has a conversion factor of 1.31 (8.64 km/ 6.59 km), which means a considerable detour.

Elevation profile – northern route (source: Google Earth) Route attractiveness

Apart from directness and elevation profile, one factor which also plays a major role in route selection for cyclists is its attractiveness. Under this term we understand a combination of greenery, separation from heavy traffic and a changing landscape offered along the route.

In this regard, the northern route along Rørdalsvej offers a rather dull and dreary landscape, at times almost a post-apocalyptic one. This has to do with the fact At the same time, the northern route through Rørdalsvej offers a much flatter that it mostly passes through a heavily industrialised part of the city, which is ride, with the highest point on the route not exceeding 15 m a.s.l., and a total strongly influenced by the presence of a cement factory and the dust coming out elevation gain of around 40 m, compared to a highest point of 46 m a.s.l. and an of its chimneys. As soon as one leaves this area, one enters a long straight road elevation gain of around 63 m on the southern route going from city to the East going through a flat landscape, without any major visual landmarks. The road Harbour (77 m in the opposite direction). At this point we also have to mention itself is frequented by fast moving heavy traffic, which provides for a generally that this analysis was developed with the use of Google Earth’s data that, as al- unpleasant sensescape. ready mentioned in the methods chapter, has an unknown level of reliability, but In contrast the southern route offers a changing visual landscape as one rides still gives interesting insights and understanding of the slopes. first through residential areas with different types of housing with only occasional traffic passing by. Even though there are long stretches without separated cycling infrastructure, the perceived safety of this route is rather high, because of the low traffic volumes and the fact that the route mostly avoids major ar-

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teries. The elevation, which makes the ride itself more physically demanding, at the same time opens up interesting perspectives, thus enhancing the visual experience. There are also many landmarks and greenery along the route as well as changing flora and fauna.

The tool generates buffers based on isochrones defined by the user, displays them online and make them available for download in GeoJSON format for further analysis through GIS applications. It must be mentioned that it does not consider changes in speed due to elevations and that the speeds for bicycles are 18 km/h for standard ones and 22 km/h for electric bicycle. In our case, we pointRoutes catchment area and embedment in official plans ed the origin for the accessibility analysis at the Harbour entrance (intersection between Sundet and Røraldsvej) and ran accessibility analyses for standard bicyA further consideration in the choice of the route had to do with its catchment cles, e-bikes and cars with a 30 minutes range and 5 minutes isochrones. area, which in the case of the southern route is considerably greater in terms of the population that has access to this route. This is because this route doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only serve people cycling the whole stretch from city centre to the East Harbour, it is also used by all the residents living along this route, who simply use it for their daily errands. On the other hand, the northern route does not cross such highly-populated areas and therefore its role in the cycle path network is reduced to a thoroughfare that does not serve as many people living along this route. Furthermore, the southern cycle route is also embedded in the official municipal plans for the expansion of cycle network, whereas the other route is not planned to be a commuter cycle route.

Conclusion and choice Having discussed all of the above issues, we have decided that our semester project should concern the route which has a greater potential impact on the commuting habits of a larger population of Aalborg citizens.

The route also offered a more varied material for a sensorial analysis than the northern route, and therefore a more interesting design intervention.

Harbour accessibility, standard bicycle

4.b. Accessibility analysis and commutersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; survey To start the analysis of our project, we have done an accessibility analysis using a user-friendly online tool developed by the Institute of Geography of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, called OpenRouteService. The tool, (available at https://openrouteservice.org/) uses algorithms developed by the University for different transportation modes on the geographic data from OpenStreetMap.

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These analyses show that the electric bicycle cannot compete with the accessibility provided by travelling by car (thanks to the higher speed and the highway network). But it provides a much better accessibility, compared to standard bicycle, in the urban area, covering much of it with the outmost buffer (the one representing 30 minutes of travel time), leaving outside only the eastern outskirts and the northern part of Nørresundby.

Harbour accessibility, electric bicycle

Having analysed the Harbour accessibility with the use of GIS technology, in order to gain a complete understanding, we also had to look at the actual mobility behaviours portrayed by the people commuting every day to the areas east of the city. Other than the Harbour, in that area there is also a large industrial facility run by Siemens Wind Power, whose commuters would follow part of our route as well. For this reason, we conducted a campaign through questionnaires targeting workers at both the sites. We asked about their commuting habits and choices, their opinions on electric bikes and on the new Tranholmvej expansion, featuring separated roadways for the two directions, each with two lanes and a segregated cycle track, which has to give way to all the other traffic on the roundabout crossings. We used the questionnaires to get insights from the workers and not to use it for quantitative analysis mainly because of the contradictory answers that some respondents gave and the lack of understanding over the proposal on Tranholmvej and its roundabout. This last factor is evident when some respondents said that it would make it faster for them when commuting by bicycle, even if with the new layout they would have to give way to all of the motor traffic. We organized the questionnaires in two different sets of questions, one being for usual bicycle commuters and the others for non-cyclists.

Non-cyclists

Harbour accessibility, car

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In this questionnaire, we get responses from twelve people in total (9 males, 3 females). The main purpose was to gather commuter data about people who mainly drive to the Harbour and Siemens areas. In terms of the age, driver responses have a spectrum from 20 to up 60 years old, with the largest group being between 41 and 50 (6 responses). The most frequent choice regarding the mode of transport is car (own car and car-pooling) with commuting distances represented in the following map. Each letter section is represented with a radi-

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us of 2.5 km, e.g. “A” is 2,5 away from the Harbour whereas “B” is 5 km radius.

work among the Siemens Wind Power and Aalborg Havn employees. We managed to get responses from nine people (4 males and 5 females), all of them being administrative workers. The main reasons behind their choice of using bicycle to commute were health-concerns (7 responses) and the enjoyability of the commute, which came in second place (3 responses), together with it being the fastest and cheapest option for them (3 responses each).

The majority of the respondents never considered using an e-bike to commute (6 responses), against the three respondents that considered using it. Using one our respondents stated that it would make commuting less physically demanding (6 responses), more enjoyable (3 responses), shorter (2 responses), less safe (1 response). Aside from not getting proper physical exercise (6 responses), other reasons for not using an e-bike were its cost (3 responses), the perception that it’s for elderly people was also an important concern (2 responses) and the difficulty to maneuver it (1 response).

Non-cyclists map Some of the respondents stated that they would never use bicycles of any kind to commute to work because of the distance (6 responses) they have to commute or because they have family duties, as dropping children at school in the morning (6 responses). The lack of proper cycling infrastructure (3 responses) is another reason for not commuting by bicycle. Regarding the Tranholmvej expansion, the drivers fully support the new development, even if most of them say that it will not affect their commute (8 responses). Some also say that it would make them cycle more (3 responses). In terms of future changes and municipal actions that would make them cycle more, improving the current infrastructure as well as their maintenance and creating enjoyable and more attractive cycle lanes. But many stated that the distance and the family duties would never allow them to cycle even with specific policies enacted.

Cyclists This questionnaire was intended at understanding the reasons for cycling to

Chapter IV - Analysis

Cyclists map About the Tranholmvej expansion, four respondents didn’t know about the plans and all nine respondents supported them completely. This seems to indicate that for those cyclists having a separated cycle track is much more important

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than being able to safely and quickly exit the roundabout. This might explain, why four respondents thought the changes would make the trip more enjoyable and none thought it would make it less safe. Or, on the other hand, they might not have noticed the fact that bicycles would have to give way to all the motor traffic.

In terms of preferences towards cycling infrastructure and municipality plans, most of cyclists thought it was important to build new enjoyable and attractive cycle tracks (6 responses), and improving the already existing cycle tracks (6 responses), giving more priority to cyclists on intersections (2 responses) and creating visual and sound barriers from car traffic (1 response). One of the respondents, who lives in Nørresundby, also indicated a need for another cycle track along Rørdalsvej, since the route is much flatter than the route through Vejgaard, even though it’s a bit longer.

tion of having an electric bike is often rejected due to the will to do physical exercise on the way to work. A third cycle crossing over the Limfjord might make cycling more appealing for people commuting from Nørresundy, by shortening their daily commute and enabling the bicycles to compete with the car.

4.c. The route and its sensescape

The route connecting City centre with the East Harbour is a route that extends for nearly 8 km counting from Nordkraft, and along this distance, it passes through many neighbourhoods with very different characteristics and history.

To map these different characteristics, we have used a Lynchian analysis of five main elements of a city image, i.e. paths, edges, nodes, landmarks, and districts Conclusion (shown in the next page). Additionally, each of the five identified detours from the officially planned cycle route is compared with the official route through the As shown also by our accessibility maps, for people commuting by longer dismeans of serial vision analysis. This description also entails a sensescape detances it would not be possible to switch to a cycle mode of transport, even scription, which includes the visual scape, smellscape and soundscape. Because with the use of e-bikes, because the distance is too long and the bicycle canof the time constraints of this study, this sensescape represents spring time, and not compete with the car. For people living closer to the workplace, the optherefore it will be different in some regards in other seasons. Nevertheless, a

Location of analysed spots and detours

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Lynchian analysis

general overview of the sensescape can be understood from this study, as many of the characteristics refer to feature present throughout the whole year, e.g. traffic noise and fumes. The maps detailing the sensescapes analysis are attached at the end of this report, we encourage the reader to use the map while reading the following paragraphs.

level around 60 dB in the morning and in the afternoon). In terms of the smellscape, the fumes for car traffic are very much present in this location, although they do compete at times with the smell of the sea or the greenery from Karolinelund park. At the same time, the neighbourhood still bears signs of its industrial heritage, and the tenement housing along the Østerbro street still remind of the working class that used to work in the nearby harbour and factories. Now the Nordkraft and surroundings area undergoes serious changes, with the old harbour being transformed into a cultural (Nordkraft, Musikkenshus) and housing areas with many new residents The beginning of our route is at Nordkraft, which itself constitutes a significant moving in. The officially planned route follows Østerbro and then turns right landmark on the map of Aalborg, being a lively culture centre of the city. There- into Islandsgade, behind Sankt Markus Church, and continuing into Norgesgade fore, the visual input here is extremely present because it creates an artificial until it reaches Østre Alle. However, one can easily miss this turn as there is little landscape and a pleasure for the viewers in relation to the cultural background indication that cyclists should take a right turn, especially since it’s an almost of the city. Furthermore, the square in front of Nordkraft is used as a dynamic 90° turn into a narrow path between two bushes. Both Islandsgade and Norgesspace when skaters, people and concerts gather around sometimes. Despite this, gade are small residential streets with little traffic and allow the cyclist to escape since Nordkraft is surrounded by busy streets of Nyhavnsgade, Karolinelundsvej the heavier traffic going along Østerbro and Hadsundsvej. Therefore, the cyclist and Østerbro, the traffic sound remains the keynote sound (average of noise can choose to follow this quieter route, where as of now the surfaces are more

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disturbing, and the cyclist has to give way to all traffic on intersections. Yet, this route enables the cyclist to have an overall positive sensescape.

Nevertheless, in our analysis, we included another route, that is following Ă&#x2DC;sterbro all the way to Ă&#x2DC;stre Alle, as a possible detour (Detour 1) from the officially planned route. As we found out in the analysis, and in the interview, it seems to be more direct and easier in terms of wayfinding. It needs to be underlined that the overall sensescape of this route is somewhat worse than the other route, because of the proximity of the car lanes, and especially after passing the gas station, where cyclists have to share the road with cars. Here the cultural landscape is lost and the cyclist has to face to the Shell fuel station and the roads with multiple traffic lanes (average noise level around 57-58.3 dB).

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Vejgaard

cyclist, as the car traffic passing through this intersection has to slow down anyway. Taking the detour can also help divide the climb into shorter sections with As soon as one reaches Østre Alle, one enters a transition zone before Vejgaard, sections of flat ride in-between, making the ride more interesting and the climb which is a large transport node, with intense traffic on every street joining the less tiring. Furthermore, the soundscape changes, as one enters even smaller intersection. There is little pleasure in the landscape, soundscape or the smells- residential roads, with very little car traffic in both route choices. The soundcape as they are still predominantly shaped by road traffic, however, our inter- scape is marked by the Vejgaard Østre Skole, which can be regarded a keynote, viewee mentioned that he always choose the route through Østerbro because of a container of signal and human activity sounds. Therefore the general sensthe directness, he sees the other route as an alternative but he is not sure about escape of the cyclist is enhanced even further on this stretch. In this case, our change his behaviour in this part of the route. Once across the street, whether interviewee chose the official route instead of the second detour and he comon Detour 1 or along the official route, one enters Vejgaard with its own specific ments about the existence of many cars on the sides, many speed bumps on the atmosphere of a small city, with Hadsundsvej acting as the main street with its road, and many kids from the kindergarten. many shops, cafes and restaurants. Vejgaard is characterised by its hilliness, and therefore riding through it in the East Harbour direction means a continuous The route reconnects at Østervangsvej, which then continues as Jens Baggesens climb. Depending on whether one follows the planned path through Vejgård Vej, and this part is the Mont Ventoux of the whole route, as one needs to climb Møllevej or the detour through Hadsundsvej, one gets different experiences, as the highest point on the route. Reaching the top of the climb means one apthe first one is a smaller road which bypasses the centre of the district, whereas proaches one of the strongest edges on the route, that is the E45 highway and a the other allows going through the main street. Hadsundsvej offers many visual border between two districts. Because of the fact that the underpass under the attractions, as it is a busy street, however the experience is worsened by the highway is a bottleneck in the whole road system, car traffic intensifies just befact that cars have to share to road with cyclists, especially having in mind that fore reach the top of the climb, and can be perceived as going much faster, even cyclists need to take a left turn. Then the route follows Nørre Tranders Vej, which if it is only due to the relative speed difference. In any case, the E45 highway consists of single family housing and has one landmark, i.e. Vejgaard Church, plays an important role in the whole experience, first because is an enormous which also acts as a soundmark. Compared to Hadsundsvej, this area offers a infrastructure, which creates a visual displeasure, second because of the lack of pleasing sensescape, with many gardens acting as both visual and olfactory at- illumination under the highway and the fact that it works as a sound amplifier, tractors, especially during spring time the scent of flowers and freshly mowed exacerbating the impact of cars on the soundscapes of cyclists (the noise level in lawn are a strong sensorial input. Additionally, the soundscape and smellscape a peak morning hour reached 77 dB, the average being 71 dB). are no longer dominated by car traffic, which is also reflected in sound measurements with lower minimum sounds recorded here compared to Nordkraft (43.9 dB compared to 55 dB).

As one reaches Langgade, the second detour of the route begins, as the official route turns left into this street, whereas a detour takes one until Christen Kolds Vej. The major difference between the two routes is that Langgade is an unremarkable street, one of the many in this area, whereas the intersection with Christen Kolds Vej can be easily remembered as there is a school next to it, and the intersection itself is an elevated one, where safety measures have also been implemented to grant safe crossing for school children (the street has chicanes and is made narrower at this point. This also ensures a safer left turn for the

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Øster Sundby Going under the highway equates to leaving Vejgaard and entering a neighbourhood with a very rustic feel to it, namely Øster Sundby. The climb has its reward, as one begins to descend, a view of farm fields opens up on the right. It is also here where one can decide to take another detour because one can either follow Aftenvej, like the planned cycle route does, or one can take a left turn into Dagvej. On both routes the soundscape and smellscape are dominated by natural sources, and the importance of car traffic diminishes further compared to Vejgaard. During springtime, soil fertilizers or manure can be a particularly strong smell, but its perception as a good or bad smell, depends on whether the person is accustomed to this smell or not. Again, the serial vision analysis shows the differences in the visual panorama of these two choices. If one decides to follow Aftenvej, one will be sharing the road with busses which also use this road. Additionally, one will have to go down to go up again before reconnecting with the other detour at Forårsvej. The third detour, on the other hand, takes one through smaller road with a small lake as a visual landmark and the descend is uninterrupted once one reaches Forårsvej. Our interviewee follows Aftenvej and he complains about the quality of the road saying that “The quality of the road is not the best”.

As Struevej intersects with Forårsvej, there are three visual landmarks, first a pasture frequented by cattle, then a windmill (Øster Sundby Mølle), and finally, relics of an old gas station put in front of a single-family house. The pasture and animals, in any kind of weather occasion reveal themselves out without a question through the smell they spread. This area compared to the inner city has very rare traffic and therefore it is usually the woodnote or cattle sounds around that one would hear while passing by. Because of the narrowness of the roads there is no space for either sidewalks or cycle track, which might act as a detractor from this route. As one descends further one can try to catch a glimpse of the Rørdal kridtgrav with its turquoise-coloured water. Approaching Hundeskov marks the transition between Øster Sundby and Øster Uttrup, as well as the beginning of another detour. However, when one rides through, the barriers slow down the cyclists and block any car to get further. Now almost side by side with the Øster Uttrup Vej, the sounds of cars and vehicles commence to be heard. At a morning peak hour, this part has maximum 73dB and an average of 57 Db. Because of thevehicles on the side, a little bit of fume is also starting to be inhaled.

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Øster Uttrup The officially planned route follows the cycle track along Øster Uttrup Vej with its numerous ups and downs and intersections between cycle tracks passing in different directions as well as smaller roads connecting to Øster Uttrup Vej. As one gets closer to the industrial area in the East the volume of heavy traffic increases substantially, with trucks constituting a large proportion of the whole traffic. At the junction of 5th detour and the official route the highest noise volume has been recorded to be 77 dB both in the morning and in the afternoon and an average has been 62 dB. Mean time, the route has greenery on both sides, only one side is facing the Øster Uttrup Vej. If one follows this road, one can take another detour towards the harbour, by turning left and following Vejrholm and Overvejen. Thanks to this fourth detour, cyclists can bypass a large part of Tranholmvej, and therefore avoid sharing the same road with large trucks going in and out of the harbour. Instead, as can be seen in the serial vision, one passes through a very peaceful, quiet and picturesque village with little car traffic.

The fifth and last detour begins at Hundeskov and follows Jerupstien, a wide track just for cyclists and roller skaters passing through the backyards of a residential area, with many green spaces and very few intersections where one needs to be particularly cautious, as there is no motor vehicle traffic. The detour ends after a sharp left turn next to the busy road of Tranholmvej, where the cyclist is protected from the sight and noise of the heavy traffic by a small dyke up until a roundabout at the intersection of Øster Uttrup Vej, Tranholmvej and Korinthvej. The sound measurement around this point is minimum 55dB and maximum 77 dB in the afternoon.

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Harbour area The last stretch of the official route, which passes through the roundabout at the end of Øster Uttrup Vej follows along Tranholmvej, with its very heavy traffic. There are no particular points of interest on this road, which is a wide and straight road, extremely unfriendly to cyclists. In fact, one of the interviewees went as far as to call it “the killing zone”, whereas another mentioned a person who already three times got hit on this last stretch. The route ends at the intersection of Rørdalsvej and Sundet. Sound measurements at this point is maximum 77 dB and average 62 dB. Furthermore, in our video from the morning commute one sees a woman cycling on this road in a visibility vest, something not very common among cyclist in Aalborg, who is riding very close to the right edge of the road, indicating a high risk perception. Smell around this area is observed to be a mix of fume from the vehicles and fish that arrives to the harbour from Greenland.

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Main route, from Nordkraft to East Harbour (source: Google Earth)

Route with detours from 1 to 4, from Nordkraft fo East Harbour (source: Google Earth)

Detour 5, from west to east (source: Google Earth)

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4.d. Elevation analysis

4.e. Guidelines compliance of the current and future infrastructure

We also carried out an analysis of the elevation profile of the whole route and its detours. Since elevations are detrimental to cycling, being physically exhausting and increasing the amount of time needed to cycle a certain distance, it is important to understand the profile of the route and all the alternatives provided by the detours. The profile of the routes and its detours are as shown in the pictures in the previous page.

In this section, we are going to analyse to compliance of the current infrastructure with the guidelines already presented in the literature review chapter. We are going to look both at the Danish (Andersen et al., 2012) and Dutch (Provincie Groningen, 2016) guidelines, to better highlight the differences between the two when it comes to real-world infrastructure. We assumed 4 different level of compliance (green, yellow, orange, red), as the guidelines are not strictly enforcing design practices but rather indicating proper design solutions. Then, we are For the main route, without any detour, the maximum slope recorded is 11,9% going to analyse the different intersections with motor traffic along the route, on the cycle track along Øster Uttrup Vej, where is descend to meet the cycle highlighting how they are regulated (i.e. if the bicycles or the motor traffic have track underpassing the road and going towards Hornevej. Another critical slope the right-of-way and the presence of traffic lights). At the end, we are presentis the stretch on Jens Baggens Vej immediately west of the motorway, with a ing the planned expansion on Tranholmvej which will affect the last part of our route. slope of 7,9%. Again on the track along Øster Uttrup Vej, between Budumvej and Vejrholm, the route continuously descend and ascend, with a maximum slope Danish guidelines of 7,6%. Compared to the route with all the detour from 1 to 4, we can notice many differences: detour 1 increases the initial slope and is followed by a longer On the mapping on p. 71, the red segments (B-C along the detour and M-O) are levelled section, detour 2 climbs more and then loses the gained altitude (slope given that level of compliance because of the lack of the cycling infrastructure 4,5% on Nørre Tranders Vej before the turn in Christen Kolds Vej), detours 3 and the presence of heavy traffic. Orange segments (C-D, D-E detour, E-H) are has a steep slope at the intersection between Forårsvej and Dagvej (7,0%) as again lacking cycling infrastructure, but the traffic experienced during our cya trade-off for the 6,6% slope on Struervej on the main route and its loss of cle-throughs is much lighter than the one on red segments, even if it’s not as elevation that has to be regained (2,98 meters). Finally detour 4, eliminates the light as the one on yellow segments (B-C main route, D-E main route, G-H detour, long slopes at easternmost stretch of Øster Uttrup Vej, which also comprises the H-I, L-N) where usually we met a car only once for each time we cycled through steepest slope of the whole route, already mentioned before, avoiding a small them. Finally, green segments (A-B, I-M detour, I-M main route) have proper cyhill of 12 meters of road elevation difference. Regarding the fifth detour, even cle infrastructure with the right width according to the Danish guidelines. if it increases the length of the route by 300 meters, it is rather flat (maximum slope 3,7%), working as an alternative to the small hill in the eastern part of Dutch guidelines Øster Uttrup Vej. On the mapping on p. 71, the red segment west of the highway (B-C detour) is due to the lack of proper cycling infrastructure and the presence of heavy traffic, In the end, is worth to remember that the Dutch guidelines suggest a maximum the same as for the Danish guidelines. But east of the highway red segments are slope of 2,7% something really hard to achieve outside of a flat country as the due to the lack of cycling infrastructure in general, as the guidelines by Provincie Netherlands.

Groningen always require dedicated cycling infrastructure in non-urban settings,

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even if the route is using local roads with low intensity of motor traffic. Some orange segments (C-D, D-E detour, E-G) are due to the presence of moderate motor traffic, as in the Danish guidelines. They are not red because in the urban setting, mixed-use road space is allowed when motor traffic is not excessive.

While the rest of orange segments (I-M detour, E-M main route) present cycling infrastructures, they do not comply with the width requirements set by the Dutch guidelines for two-ways cycle tracks. It should also be noted that I-M route and detour even if presenting the same colour, are different because the route has many more stops than the detour. Yellow segments (B-C main route, D-E main route) present mixed-use road space and very light traffic. Finally, the green segment (A-B) is the only one complying to Dutch guidelines, as it has dedicated cycling infrastructure with the correct width.

Intersections About intersection along the route, some are designed to have the bicycles have the right-of-way (green), while for other the bicycles have to give way to motor traffic (red). Yellow intersections are the ones regulated by traffic lights, while the ones coloured half green and half red are dependent on the route considered (main or detour). Both the Dutch and Danish guidelines states that bicycles should keep the right-of-way when intersecting with motor traffic and also that Barrier at the intersection of the cycletracks along Øster Uttrup Vej and Vejrholm. traffic lights should generally be avoided as they force cyclists to stop, which is detrimental to the purpose of making cycling more enjoyable.

Future projects Regarding intersection between cycle tracks or their points of entrance/exit, a frequently solution used in Aalborg is to put in place physical barriers consisting of steel tubes forcing cyclists to slow down almost to and halt and doing an ‘S’ movement to overcome them. This solution is strongly condemned both by the Danish and Dutch guidelines because they both slow down bicycles, reduce the capacity of the track and also limits the use of larger, longer bikes (especially cargo bikes and trike-cycles). Moreover, this kind of solution is often avoided by users, introducing behaviours sometimes more dangerous than the ones the designers wanted to stop.

Tranholmvej is going to get redesigned in the future to allow more heavy traffic, because the growth forecast for the Harbour and the industrial area require adequate road infrastructure. The project (Ramboll, 2016) will upgrade the road to two separate carriages, one for each direction with two lanes each. Moreover, Tranholmvej will also get a dedicated cycle track to protect cyclists from the heavy traffic.

Tranholmvej layout (Ramboll, 2016) The cycle track will be separated from the motor road by 3 meters of grass (it’s

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Compliance to Danish guidelines

Compliance to Dutch guidelines

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Regulation of intersections

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worth to remember that the Dutch guidelines aim for double that distance) and would be 3 meters wide (where the Dutch guidelines indicate at least 4 meters), complying with the Danish guidelines released by the Cycle Embassy.

Two particular spots become of interest for our particular route: the roundabout at the intersection between Tranholmvej and Ă&#x2DC;ster Uttrup Vej and the intersection with Overvejen.

Regarding the roundabout, the cycle track will get a dedicated infrastructure outside the road space for motor vehicles, but bicycles will have to give way to every intersecting motor road, increasing safety (compared to the current design) but slowing down bicycles and forcing them to stop, especially during peak hours.

Tranholmvej/Overvejen intersection layout (Ramboll, 2016)

4.f. Flow analysis of four chosen spots In the following pages we will present and discuss the observations the results of the observations presented in Chapter III.

Roundabout layout (Ramboll, 2016) The intersection with Overvejen will be changed, so only the south-bound direction on Tranholmvej will intersect it. Reasons behind this are the lack of importance of Overvejen, the presence of other route options, and the will to not use give-way intersection on four lane roads, while a traffic light would be an overshoot considering the importance of Overvejen (Ramboll, 2016).

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Øster Uttrup SW (Øster Uttrup Vej/Vejrholm)

Tranholmvej Roundabout (Øster Uttrup Vej/Tranholmvej)

Our observation and the graphical representation show that this intersection has well balanced directions, traffic-wise. The north direction leads to Øster Uttrup, a residential village, and to the Harbour, the west direction leads to the city center, the south to residential areas with schools and the east to other residential areas, some industries and to the Harbour. The balance of the flows means that it’s not possible to determine a leading direction, thus the right of way should be established considering safety (e.g. visual cone angle for cyclists coming to the intersection).

In the morning, the stronger flow is coming from the west and directed to the north. The second strongest flow is the one leading form west to east. It’s important to notice that Siemens Wind Power has entrances on both roads. In the afternoon, the two strongest flows are in the opposite directions than those in the morning. The other flows are marginal.

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Øster Uttrup NE (Overvejen/Tranholmvej)

Harbour entrance (Rørdalsvej/Sundet)

This data shows that the majority of people cycling to/from the Harbour takes the route through Øster Uttrup instead of cycling on Tranholmvej. A possible explanation is that the higher traffic (both ‘light’ and ‘heavy’) on Tranholmvej is hindering its choice among cyclists, which prefer a quieter, cleaner, safer route.

The afternoon shows a higher variety of flow directions, mainly because the intersection is used also by leisure/sport cyclists (recognizable by the use of racing bikes and sport/technical clothing) and not only by commuters.

The observations for the Harbour entrance show that all of the cyclists use this first entrance into the Harbour rather than the one located to the south, still along Røraldsvej. This could be both for the sake of directedness and safety, as the road used to access Harbour areas to the East is wider, has cycle lanes and has a lower speed limit than Røraldsvej.

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4.g. Conclusion As we have shown in the previous sections, the new commuter cycling route includes a wide variety of sensorial inputs, which create a changing sensescape for the cyclists. As we have also shown it can facilitate commuting to work within a large catchment area, even if many of the workers live outside of its range.

We have also analysed the currently existing infrastructure and the plans for the new infrastructure and compared them to both Danish and Dutch design guidelines. Finally, looking at chosen intersection has helped us understand the desire lines of cyclists. In turn, all of this material has helped us to identify the most desirable route, as well as identify the bottlenecks and weaknesses in the currently existing and proposed infrastructure. Based on this, we shall offer new design proposals for chosen spots on the route. However, before we proceed with these proposals, we wish to better understand how this new undertaking can affect the understanding of the East Harbour and Aalborg as a place, as well as reflect upon the sort of practice change that could accompany the creation of this new route.

The Harbour as a place - new “old” meanings The new route connecting the city centre with the East Harbour, even if it uses existing infrastructure to a large extent, introduces and legitimises the bicycle as a valid transport option in relation to everyday commuting. Currently the East Harbour is a place, where private cars and especially trucks are the “King of the Road” (Bjarre Mikkelsen, Smith & Jensen, 2011). The mobility landscape is dominated by fast-moving cargo traffic, which is why cyclists on Tranholmvej are unwanted intruders, often being forced to keep as close to the curb as possible, leaving little elbow room. Therefore, the new cycle route project might be, at first glance, seen as a way of empowering cyclists by the municipality and establishing new power relations between the different modes of transport in this area. The fact that the municipality is planning a route towards the East Harbour also means that it wants to draw this area closer to the city, even if only reducing the perceived distance from it. This can help install this location onto the mental maps of cyclists and non-cyclists as a bikeable destination, which can help alter the mobility habits dominating among the commuters.

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Nevertheless, upon closer inspection of some of the already proposed design solutions for the route, especially for Tranholmvej, might reveal a different picture, one where the creation of the cycle route is merely a by-product of the expansion of Tranholmvej for the motorised traffic. What at first might seem like an attempt to change the balance of power, can be read as yet another step in reinforcing automobility as the main mode of transport on this route. This has been particularly visible in our analysis of commuters, who mostly thought it would change much their habits, or were cheering that there would be less traffic jams. Naturally, when one considers the sheer size of cargo being transported along this route, especially the enormous wind turbine blades, one clearly sees the reasons for this dominance. Notwithstanding, the solutions proposed in the EIA of the new Tranholmvej seem to be worsening cycling conditions, first because of the new organisation at the roundabout, which will make cyclists wait longer before crossing the road, and second because of the elimination of cycling connection through Overvejen for those cycling to the Harbour. Therefore, the new Tranholmvej will first and foremost ensure that no cyclist ride on the road that should be reserved for trucks, hence prolonging the reign of the incumbent “King of the Road”. This points to an interesting finding, that is that simply by devising a route on a map that connects two points far away from each other and branding it as a cykelpendlerrute, or a bike super highway, does not automatically mean that, what one encounters while cycling in reality will actually correspond to the name. As can be seen in the Dutch and even the Danish guidelines, there is much more to a cycling super highway than simply adding it on a map, especially in terms of giving the cyclists priority on the intersections and ensuring as few stops as possible, while maintaining a high level of safety.

Therefore, looking at the Harbour from a place-making perspective, there seems to be little change introduced with the new cycle path, as the seams between the city and the Harbour remain weak. The Tranholmvej still remains a strong edge in Lynchian terms and adding two more lanes only exacerbates this problem. Such a scenario could lead to an increase in the prevalence of cargo traffic in the sensescape of this area, eventually making the whole area even less human-scale than it is currently.

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Practice change

is shifting the responsibility from the local government to local businesses and seeing the role of the municipal actors as facilitators rather than those giving When looking at the new route from a practice theory perspective, one can ask ready solutions, seems to be the key element missing from the puzzle. This might how will it reshape the current mobility practices along the route. As we have be particularly surprising, since within the EU-funded Archimedes project, there observed above, this will put the new route on the mental maps of cyclists, po- have been attempts to share the ownership and responsibility for commuting tentially changing their attitudes, if proper advertisement efforts are undertak- habits, through the creation of commuter cycling plans. Unfortunately, we have en. However, changing attitudes is not enough as we have seen in the criticism of been unable to get in contact with representatives of Aalborg Cykelby to undertraditional mechanistic approaches to behaviour change. Another issue concerns stand the specific reasons for that. the potential uptake of e-bikes by the commuters. Our survey of people who already cycle to work has shown that people are skeptical of e-bikes for a number The Cyklist Forbundet is the organiser of, among other campaigns and undertakof reasons, they’re too expensive, don’t provide enough physical exercise and are ings, “Vi cykler til arbejde” campaign (vcta.dk), which encourages companies to perceived as something for the elderly. Naturally this survey has its limitations register their employees who cycle to work during the month of May, which can as we asked people who already use their own, usually regular bikes (only 2 used then compete among each other for different prizes. The campaign focuses on an e-bike), however it does indicate that there are several issues that prevent such benefits of cycling as the physical and mental health, as well as environmene-bikes from becoming more popular, especially among the car-commuters. In tal-friendliness of the bike as transportation. In comparison to the Dutch camparticular many respondents have indicated family duties as one of the main paign described earlier, it does not try to focus on the mindfulness, appreciating reasons for car-commuting, as well as job-related duties. One of the respondents what one sees and how one experiences a commute from the saddle, rather it indicated that changes to the working hours of day-care institutions would also engages the more measurable advantages of cycling, such as the amount of calbe helpful in changing the driving habits. This points to a very broad understand- ories burnt or the savings of CO2 emissions. This rhetoric is illustrative of a minding of what affects people’s travel choices, and distance on its own may not be set, where arguments that can be quantified are more rational and therefore the main criterion. In particular, this also shows that without understanding how more likely to appeal to the homo oeconomicus inside commuters. However, this these commuting practices interlock with other aspects of daily life, even the disregards the complexity of decision-making and elevates the rational above best infrastructure interventions may have little impact. Our questionnaires have the sensorial, qualitative and ultimately non-measurable aspects of commuting. also revealed that the employer can play an important role in changing the trav- Formel M and its Green Mobility Office, was a mobility management platform el behaviours, especially in facilitating a transition to e-bikes, as some of the that supported municipalities all around Denmark in their efforts to change travrespondents thought it would be a valid step in taking up this mode of transport. el behaviours, especially avoiding single-occupancy of commuting vehicles. The The main actors involved in acting on the “soft” aspects of commuting in Aalborg Green Mobility Office played a crucial role in these undertakings, and had four are Aalborg Cykleby, part of Aalborg Municipality, Cyklist Forbundet, the Danish main areas of activity, i.e. creating mobility plans for businesses in local netcycling association, the Green Mobility Office, a collaboration between public works, creating mobility policies for major units, mobility assessments for new institutions, private companies and universities. areas and mobility services in smaller towns. It needs to be underlined that Formel M, was only a pilot project which took place between 2011 and 2014, and Aalborg Cykelby, apart from managing the cycling infrastructure, is responsible only applied to 25 demonstration projects in 10 participating municipalities, for engaging with cyclists and trying to convince non-cyclists to change their mostly within the Greater Copenhagen Region (Promoting sustainable transport commuting habits. Aalborg Cykelby, seems to have a traditional role in promot- in Denmark, [n.d]). After this project ended and it was positively evaluated, The ing cycling, with its limitations, especially in creating the perception of owner- Green Mobility Office remained and had several other projects and campaigns ship of the cycling initiatives by other stakeholders. This last component, that since then, including Smart Mobility in Loop City, Test en Elcykel, EU project titled

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ENDURANCE, Grøn medarbejdertransport i Øresundsregionen, and Kør Smart Kør Sammen.

At first glance, it suggests that Denmark has similarly good tools for their mobility management as Groningen or the Netherlands does, however, one needs to remember that most of these projects have been developed in the Greater Copenhagen Region and Aalborg was not part of any of these undertakings. This seems to suggest that this platform has not been particularly successful in cooperating with other municipalities and may also indicate that more of these actions should be initiated at regional, rather than central level. It also needs to be underlined that there are no news on the Green Mobility Office’s website since July 2016, which might suggest that this platform is no longer operating. What follows is that there seems to be a lack of political will to continuously support these kind of measures.

These actions, of the municipality, Green Mobility Office and the Cyklist Forbundet, compared to the case of Groningen, where there is a specialised, local agency, Groningen Bereikbaar, that cooperates with both private and public companies, seem to be less systemic and lacking the sort of coalition planning that is the key concept in the Netherlands. Obviously, there are many more reasons behind the differences in cycling cultures of the two cities, however, the sort of wide reaching engagement and participation among different stakeholders, public and private, does seem to be one of the underpinnings of the success story of Groningen.

In the next chapter, we shall try to put forward a range of policy proposals that the city of Aalborg could introduce to have better tools in mobility management, that could, next to the changes in infrastructure, act as catalysts of change in commuting habits.

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5.a. The new route proposal

lights, thus following the originally planned route through Islandsgade, Norgesgade and Vejgård Møllevej. We discarded also the second detour, as the planned route is more direct and doesn’t waste elevation (and cyclists’ energy) with a downhill stretch, when compared with the detour. In Øster Sundby, just east The new proposal of the highway, we decided to design the route along the detour, as again the In the analysis chapter, we have investigated the characteristics of the route elevation profile is better, but also the sensescapes are better, especially the planned by Aalborg Kommune and several detours both in terms of physical fea- visual landscape thanks to a small lake surrounded by nice-looking houses with tures (i.e. infrastructures, intersections, elevations) and sensescapes (i.e. visuals, well-tended gardens. sounds and noises, smells, tactility of surfaces). Our analysis shows the limits of some parts of the route chosen by the Kommune, especially along Øster Uttrup Then the route towards Siemens follows the fifth detour, to avoid the cycle track Vej and Tranholmvej. The new cycle track along Tranholmvej will surely increase on Øster Uttrup Vej, passing instead behind a residential area, along several safety of the cyclists but will have little effect on their sensescapes, as only three green areas and sport facilities, without motor traffic interference. So the route meters of empty space as separation would not influence the traffic noise and comes to Tranholmvej, crosses the roundabout with a newly-designed bridge smells, expected to raise with the expected increase of motor traffic. So, our solution, to keep cyclists safe from motor traffic and to prevent them to stop to give way as proposed in the Tranholmvej expansion project. We aimed for a proposal differs from the one found in the official city strategy. bridge instead of a tunnel because it would act as a landmark both for cyclists Our proposal is for two different routes, both starting from the center of Aal- and motor traffic, making evident the presence of an important cycling infraborg but one connecting to the East Harbour and the other to Siemens Wind structure also to people who don’t commute by bicycles, making them more Power and the companies in its surroundings. Regarding the route choice, start- aware of the possibility to use their bikes safely and away from motor traffic. Our ing from Nordkraft, we discarded the first detour for being on a road with high proposed route does not only have a better Sensescape than the Kommune’s traffic, no cycling infrastructure and with large intersections regulated by traffic one but also a better elevation profile, as already pointed out in the analysis

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chapter.

Route-wide infrastructural interventions

Regarding the connection to the East Harbour, the route continues for a short stretch along Øster Uttrup Vej, then turns to follow the fourth detour through Øster Uttrup. The intersection between Overvejen and Tranholmvej will be changed, as already mentioned in the analysis chapter, so they will only intersect for the south-bound direction, without a cycle crossing. Our proposal is to build a second cycle track along Tranholmvej, on its west side, from Overvejen to the new roundabout at the intersection between Tranholmvej and Rørdalsvej, using the planned roundabout to connect the stretch coming from Overvejen with the one on the east side of Tranholmvej, proceeding to the Harbour. Our proposal avoids long stretches on both Øster Uttrup Vej and Tranholmvej, avoiding their poor sensescapes and the elevation changes on Øster Uttrup Vej, as seen in the analysis. It also requires physical interventions only on the last stretch along Tranholmvej, because the road passing through Øster Uttrup has a limited amount of traffic which will be even lower as the intersection with Tranholmvej will change.

In order to enact these two routes, some infrastructural interventions are required. Some will take place in particular spots and will be developed in the next sections (e.g. the roundabout crossing between Øster Uttrup Vej and Tranholmvej and the new stretch to link Overvejen with the Tranholmvej cycle track), but others will have to be applied extensively along the route. For these, we are not designing detailed intervention, but more guidelines to implement them.

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One element is the signage. The two new routes will need to be recognizable by the cyclist, who should be able to follow them from start to finish. Horizontal signage will be developed similarly to what has been done in Groningen with the Smart Routes, painting recognizable patterns at major intersections and every 100 meters on straight stretches, indicating the direction and the name of the routes, which could be ‘Østhavnen’ and ‘Tranholmvej industriområde’. Adequate vertical signage reporting the same names should be placed at the intersections where the routes turn, to provide more visible information.

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A second element is constituted by safety features. Firstly, all metal barriers on cycle tracks should be removed and replaced with speed bumps, as both suggested by Danish and Dutch guidelines. They provide the same effect of making cyclists reduce speed at tight intersections without having them to almost stop or creating maneuverability problems to larger bicycles. Secondly, along stretches that don’t have proper cycling infrastructures and there is no need to have them (in terms of traffic volumes), it would be beneficial to create traffic-calming bottlenecks, where cars have to slow down, pass one at a time in each direction and engage a speed bump, while bicycles have side spaces to ride through without slowing down. This solution is especially suggested along Nørre Tranders Vej, Østervangsvej, Jens Baggesens Vej and Forårsvej. If present, existing speed bumps should be replaced with the new bottleneck design. In Øster Uttrup no interventions are required, as the road is already narrow and traffic low. Other parts require a redesign to have smoother curves along the cycle track, for example the turn between Østerbro and Islandsgade and the turn leading to the tunnel under Øster Uttrup Vej leading to Øster Uttrup.

Catalogue of infrastructural interventions In the following pages we illustrate a catalogue of the suggested design solutions for the route-wide infrastructural interventions. It’s purpose is to illustrate our own ideas about how these interventions should be implemented along the route, without technical finesse.

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5.b. Policy recommendations

panies, discussing their employees current commuting habits and potential changes (similar to commuter cycle plans developed both within ARCHIMEDES and through Formel M). As the example of Groningen shows, taking advantage As we have pointed out in Chapter IV, the sort of actions undertaken in Aalborg of roadworks to approach companies with mobility consulting proposals is a to influence the mobility culture do not seem sufficient. For this reason, apart good strategy, as it acts on an immediate need for a better commute. This is why from indicating design proposals, which include a new route outline together Aalborg municipality should engage in such measures before the roadworks rewith general traffic calming measures and a number of site-specific designs, we lated to Tranholmvejâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expansion begin. Such timing of the intervention is based wish to compliment these proposals with policy recommendations. There can on the assumption that these roadworks in all probability will cause additional be little doubt that infrastructural interventions are not enough on their own traffic jams, hence inconvenience for commuters. The pain, to use marketing to induce a behavioural change among commuters going to the industrial area terminology, will be visible enough for the company, which makes them more spanning along Tranholmvej. prone to accept mobility consulting from the municipality.

Having analysed both the case study of Groningen and the variety of actions employed by different actors in Denmark, the picture that seems to come out of this comparison is one, where there is insufficient cooperation between the entities involved in promoting sustainable transport solutions. Firstly, neither Formel M nor the Green Mobility Office have been particularly present in Aalborg, as the municipality was not involved in any of the projects run by these mobility management bodies. This indicates a lack of proper communication and collaboration between public actors, which in effect results in lack of proper tools for mobility management in the hands of the local government. Precisely for this reason, we believe that either creating a separate agency or incorporating similar solutions to those applied in Groningen Bereikbaar into Aalborg Cykelby should be considered by the local authorities, if the goals of more environemntally-friendly commutes are to be achieved. In our opinion this would give the agency more ownership of the project and would make it possible to make locally embedded, tailor-made solutions, given that there are different cycling cultures in Danish cities.

The actions of Aalborg Cykelby and Cyklist Forbundet should not only be focusing on encouraging individuals to cycle to work, but should be very much about creating coalitions with companies, schools or hospitals. This sort of coalition planning, a tool widely used in the Netherlands, should also be applied in Aalborg to share the responsibility for sustainable commute with a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Recognizing that the municipality on its own cannot influence the daily transport choices is a crucial step towards a more comprehensive mobility management.

This could be enacted by offering mobility consulting services to different com-

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One of the most important measures in ensuring growth of bicycle use among commuters is to give those who prefer four wheels an opportunity to have a hands-on experience with bikes. In this context, it is worth noting that e-bikes, even if they are not a desired solution on their own, can be beneficial in facilitating a gradual change of commuting habits. Some of the respondents indicated having an opportunity to use an e-bike through their company as one of the measures that could make them take up cycling. Reasons for this lie in the fact that the soon-to-be cyclist doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be very fit and because of the higher speed of the e-bikes will not lose as much time on the commute compared to using a car. This could be done through cooperation with a local e-bike producer (e.g. Promovec from Risskov) to promote this mode among non-cyclists by means of trial periods, where employees can use this sort of bike for a couple of weeks. The obvious limitation, which has been mentioned earlier is the distance, as even the fastest e-bikes cannot possibly compete with the range offered by a car moving on a highway. Nevertheless, as we have shown in the accessibility analysis, the range offered by e-bike can easily help all those commuting within a 10 km radius from the industrial area.

Devising a truly comprehensive response to car-commuting requires addressing the reasons behind car use, which include both work and family related duties.

Therefore, ensuring that people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to use their own cars to perform their job and can use company car should be of great importance. Additionally, enabling people to combine work life with professional duties in a most convenient way, either through flexible hours or offering working from home, can also have a huge impact on commuting habits and congestion.

Obviously, these sort of actions require a far-reaching agreement among politi-

Chapter V - Design solutions

cal parties to maintain the funding of such initiatives, as we see that these types of undertakings had a short life-span in Denmark and the institutionalisation of knowledge and good practices could not take place, as the different mobility management bodies have been dismantled after the financing had ended.

5.c. Tranholmvej bridge proposal Before getting into detail with our design proposal, we would like to show some built projects as references. First, the Cycle Bridge Enschede, in the east of the Netherlands. In this project, the road lanes were duplicated and the cyclists started to cycle avoiding the traffic lights creating a very dangerous scene, thus, the city demanded the construction of a cycle bridge completely separated to the traffic. Therefore, we see this project as a good reference due to its similarity and its solution.

Bridge proposal (Bicycledutch, 2017) Another bridge solution that we believe is a reference for our design and it is in Denmark, is the bicycle snake project in Copenhagen. Here, the context it is not the same because the bridge allows crossing Sydhavnen and it is not a problem related to traffic, however, the bridge with 4 m of width is designed to solve mobilities issues but also to build an icon in the city of Copenhaguen in relation with the cyclists.

Situation before intervention (Bicycledutch, 2017)

The bicycle snake (Dac.dk, 2017)

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Finally, we want to mention Your rainbow panorama project designed by the artist Olafur Eliasson which is a 360º and panoramic structure wich permits to the visitors a circular walk-away with the views of the city of Aarhus. This project speaks up about how the height can enhance the visual landscape and how panorama projects can be designed also in a dynamic way.

the route safer, but it is not enough. “I will prefer a tunnel solution” he concluded.

• Wind power companies explore and improve the growth for the future of renewable power and there are many of them in the Aalborg Havn industrial area. Owing to this fact and with the addition of the future business expansion area of the Aalborg Havn, we see this as a potential opportunity to these companies to make a difference from the rest.

• Our analysis shows that sometimes the total experience of the route can be more important than the directness factor, thus, we think that there is a need for an implementation in the design with ICTs which allows maintaining the sensecape of the fifth detour through the roundabout.

• The possibility to create an icon in this area in addition to solving the traffic danger and the new problems which will be created with the proposal e.g. cyclist will have to wait at least two times to go to the industrial area.

This sort of iconic piece of infrastructure can be a part of establishing new balance of power in terms of mobility, one where cyclists are treated seriously and only as an unwanted but inevitable part of the landscape.

Because of all of these factors, we concluded the design with a cyclist bridge which starts at the end of the fifth detour and continues through the roundabout till the entrance of the industrial area.

(En.aros.dk, 2017)

In order to describe the project, we want to clarify the concept, the mobility and the materiality. The concept: It refers to the possibility of wind power companies Moving to our proposal, first, we have to look at the route which connects Aalto leave a mark in the place, therefore, the bridge will be built as a physical brand borg centre with the Siemens company and other companies within the indusof wind power companies and it is inspired in the wind turbines. The mobility: trial area of Aalborg Havn, here, we see the roundabout intersection of TranThe slope of the bridge is 2.5 %, hence, it will be very easy for the riders to cycle holmvej with Øster Uttrup Vej as the most controversial place in this route. First, it, moreover, the cycle track will be double and with 2 m of width in each direcbecause of our sensecape analysis which shows the roundabout as one of the tion. Regarding technical issues, the height and the length of the bridge also riskiest, and most displeasing spots in the whole route. Second, because our depend on the topography, thus, starting from the south entrance, the length route proposal goes through the fifth detour, a calm cycle path in natural surnecessary will be 120 m and 180 m in the north entrance to reach the height of roundings which is suddenly interrupted by the roundabout. And lastly, due to 4.6 m which is the measurement of the Copenhagen design guidelines for bridgthe future proposal of the Tranholmvej, it is an opportunity to introduce our es above roads. Moreover, on 30th of June of 2016, the “World’s longest wind design in the future development of the area. turbine blade successfully completes its first journey” (Lmwindpower.com, 2017) of 218 km from LM Wind Power’s factory in Lunderskov to Aalborg took place: Then, we reckon the roundabout as our main design spot which is supported by different ‘raison d’être’: “The full cargo measured just under 100 meters long, with a loaded height of 4.47 meters at its highest point – allowing for only 3 centime• As our cyclist commuter interviewee from Siemens said, the proposal of tres of extra space when passing under bridges!” (Lmwindpower.com, creating new cycle paths at the edge of the roundabout is going to make

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2017).

This fact shows that even the biggest wind turbine will fit under our bridge design, thus, it will be no problems with loaded heights. Finally, in terms of materiality, the bridge will be constructed in the metallic structure, in detail the structure will be organised by metallic pillars of 0.30m of diameter and prefabricated slabs which will be supported by metallic ribs. The ribs will function also as a creator of tunnel vision in the beginning of the bridge to avoid the visual contact of the road and the traffic. When the cyclist reaches the roundabout, the project gets benefit for its 4,6m of height and the cycle path splits in two and it makes a more open and panorama space with a green area in the middle for the enjoyment of the riders. In addition to the vegetation layer, the bridge includes led lights all along, and also sound technology to maintain the sensecape of the fifth detour.

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6.a. Conclusions This project has been an attempt to investigate how the use of mobilities’ lenses can inform the design of a future cycle superhighway in Aalborg. The focus has been set on a route that is about to connect the city centre of Aalborg and one of the key drivers of economic development of the city, the East Harbour. In our research perspective, we mainly concentrated on the sensorial aspects of riding a bike, in particular through the employment of the sensescape concept. In order to enhance our understanding of bike superhighways we have also conducted a comparative study with Groningen, a similar sized city in the Netherlands, famous for its cycling culture.

The picture that comes out of our study shows that such an approach can be fruitful in unearthing new potential routes, which may be hidden from a planner’s perspective, relying solely on the map. When we included the sensescape analysis in our toolbox, we stumbled upon unexpected results in the form of new routes, ones that offered a much more pleasing sensorial experience than the officially planned route, be it because of scents or sounds prevailing in a given area. As we have seen in the case of Groningen, the attractiveness of the route plays an important role, especially when trying to appeal to cyclists commuting longer distances. Furthermore, as we could see from our observations and interviews with cyclists, there are detours and shortcuts that will cease to exist once the proposal for the expansion of Tranholmvej comes to fruition. There seems to be little consideration of such mobilities, which remain ‘invisible’ to the planner’s eye, whose gaze is trained to look for efficiency and hence directness of the route, even if only on a map. In this context, we have proposed a new route, which offers three detours from the officially planned route, as well as proposals for new infrastructural interventions along the route, with a particular interest in the roundabout on the intersection of Øster Uttrup Vej, Tranholmvej and Korinthvej. Throughout our analysis, we discovered that this node plays a crucial role on the route, because of the mixing, or intersecting according to the future proposal, of freight traffic with cyclists. Apart from offering conditions for a rather displeasing sensescape, this intersection, in both its current and future state of affairs, poses a real threat to the cyclist’s health and life. This is why we have proposed an infrastructural intervention, which not only guarantees safety but also invites to rethink this area as a ‘place’ and tries to re-establish the power relations between different mobility cultures on this intersection, by giving cyclists a piece of dedicated and iconic infrastructure.

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It goes without saying that infrastructural interventions are barely enough on their own to change the commuting practices. Again, the case of Groningen has revealed a multiplicity of ways of engaging with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, who have a vested interest in changing commuters’ practices. Our comparison with Danish and Aalborg specific actions gave us insight into, why similar undertakings, even if they have been employed in the recent past, have nevertheless not been as successful on Danish soil.

Having all of the above in mind, we believe that the municipality would benefit if it incorporated the following recommendations in their work on new bicycle superhighways: 1. Directness is not always the best solution and sensorial attractiveness, even if entailing a slight detour, should play an important role in designing the route.

2. Cycling superhighways’ infrastructure should not only be a by-product of road expansion projects, but should have a high priority on the municipal roadworks list and encompass dedicated and even iconic solutions.

3. Engaging with different stakeholders, such as companies in the catchment area of the route and cyclists frequenting the route already, should be done in a systematic way, possibly including coalition planning and sharing ownership of projects with other actors.

We believe that these principles can help build better cycling infrastructure that not only looks good on a map, but also is enjoyable for those who will use it in the coming years.

6.b. Limitations When conducting this research, we have been faced with a number of limitations throughout the research process. Initially, since sensescapes is a new term in the field, there are not many methods or technologies out there that facilitate gathering data about sensorial information. When engaging with regular commuters through interviews, it has been up to interviewee’s language ability to describe his experiences, which brought us another limitation. One of the explanations for this might be that English is a second language for Danes and even though people have good basic knowledge of the language they are not using it daily, es-

Chapter VI - Conclusions and future research

pecially to describe their sensorial experiences. This, coupled with the fact that commuting as a practice is simply something commuters do, without really analysing it, made it harder for them to reflect upon their experiences on cycling.

Another limitation that we were face to face with was the fact that we could not reach the people from Aalborg Kommune responsible for cycling projects, who could give us information about the future plans about the planned cycling superhighway connecting city centre with Østhavnen. Even though we have called and sent emails, there has been no response. This might potentially result in some undeserved criticism on our side of the municipal actions, but the lack of opportunity to confront them with the representatives from Aalborg Kommune lies at the core of this limitation. Lastly, due to the timing of our semester project, we could only have data related to springtime. However, it would be fruitful to also study and be able to compare cyclists’ multisensorial experiences during other seasons.

sensecape of different public transport vehicles, the differences between driver and passenger in a private car, and so on.

Finally, another area that could benefit from such studies is tourism, with a reciprocal relationship towards other areas. Tourism researchers are also transdisciplinary and are one of the closest studies to the sensecape concept. In tourism concepts such as ‘thinking with their feet’ (Ingold, 2004, p. 336) or the ‘body viewer’ or ‘body mover’ developed by Urry have been used, hence the sensecape perspective would be a manner to zip all the sensations and experiences through one analysis.

6.c. Future research Our research has the potential for further developments in many different areas, first of all, what we did is analyse and design one case in the field of mobilities and urban planning through the ‘sensescape glasses’ therefore, it should be said that this point of view can be seen in many other fields due to its transdisciplinary condition. Fields such as architecture, social sciences, mobilities, and so on could be analysed from the perspective of the senses to get new research and inputs. Furthermore, a further development of research tools to investigate the sensecape field is also important to mention, as due to this concept still being in its infancy, nowadays there is a lack of knowledge on how to analyse experiences and how to show them or represent them in paper or any other supportive media. Although in our project we did include some participants through traditional ways of researching (interviews, questionnaires), a fair share of the analysis was based on our own experiences, which is why we believe it would be beneficial to further include external points of view in future researches. One possibility to achieve this could be to involve people in the data gathering phase using technologies such as ‘geotagging’ process and social media networks.

Regarding the mobilities perspective for further research, the project can be seen as a method for other kinds of mobilities, in our case the cyclist commuters are the target but other types of transport can be introduced, e.g. analysing

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