the VOL. 12 ISSUE. 35 6-12 JULY 2020
By Shaghayegh Allahdad
COPENHAGEN
TAX DEDUCTION FOR CYCLING TO WORK?
post THE DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH
THE RISE AND FALL OF GREEN MOBILITY IN COPENHAGEN
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openhagen today exhibits a multi-modal transportation dual regime having car-oriented developments in the suburbs while in the inner-city areas, bicycling, walking, and public transportation are the dominating modes of transportation. This trend can be followed in the past six decades with three main transitions and in A new campaign launched by order to understand these trends a revision of history is needed to investigate the following questions: What kinds the Cyklistforbundet cyclists’ of transitions have occurred in urban mobility in Copenhagen? When did sustainability in transportation and urban develfederation has turned heads this opment become a priority in Copenhagen, and how was it translated into planning practice?
week by proposing that people should receive a tax deduction for cycling to work. The point is one of four on a campaign aimed at making it more attractive to hop on the old iron in Denmark. Other points include subsidising electric bicycles and reducing car speeds in urban areas.
The first transition (1950-1970)
The first transition is from a densely populated compact city, where the dominating modes of mobility were public transportation, into a city that spreads out to the north, west and southwest to less densely populated suburban neighborhoods where POLICE ANNOUNCE CAMPAIGN the car plays an increasing role in transportation. To control this exFOR SAFER CYCLING pansion a plan was produced that Recent data demonstrates that became famous as the “finger plan”, and use, and a rebirth of interest in these road-users account for a a spatial niche development. They the bicycle. This transition lasts until large proportion of the total fathe beginning of the 1990s. This petalities in traffic and how they are riod is characterized by economic also more likely to suffer a more stagnation, impoverishment of the serious injury should they not be central municipalities and gradual killed. growth of the suburbs. The decline Last year, 31 cyclists and eight in population within Copenhagen moped riders died and another municipality was translated into a 806 cyclists and 296 moped ridgrowth in the population of neighers were injured. In a number of boring municipalities. Fingerplan for greater Copenhagen.
cases, reckless behaviour on the part of the riders played an important part. Moped riders going too fast are not only putting themselves at risk but also other cyclists and pedestrians who might use the cycle paths or have to cross the road. They also create an annoying amount of noise for local residents. Some cyclists and moped riders also run red lights, cycle on the pavement and don’t take into consideration other road users. The police will also be keeping a lookout for illegally soupedup mopeds – those that have had their cylinders bored so that they can go faster than the law permits. Apart from exposing their riders and other cycle path users to risk, they can also frighten other cyclists and make an unacceptable amount of noise.
From the beginning, our goal has always been to provide people within cities a flexible and sustainable mobility alternative to car ownership while working together with cities to reduce traffic and emissions problems. For more information please visit our website: https://www.drive-now.com/dk/
expected growth to occur along a set of planned suburban train lines radiating from the center of Copenhagen. The idea was to encourage new buildings to be constructed close to the train stations in order to facilitate commuting to the central areas where new jobs would be located; the green areas between the fingers would be preserved for leisure. However not all the selected areas were suitable for development so the authorities were forced to issue construction permits for areas that were not within walking distance to the stations along the finger plan’s suburban train lines.
The second transition (1970-1990) The second transition starts in the mid-1970s in Copenhagen with stagnating growth in car ownership
The third transition (1990-2012) The third transition starts at the beginning of the 1990s, when there was renewed interest in investment in public transportation as a major driver of development in the capital city. This process produced the design and construction of Copenhagen’s metro and the new town of Ørestad. During this period, the city’s economic growth was decoupled from its physical growth. Population density increased in Copenhagen from the late 1990s, with a simultaneous transformation and redevelopment of former industrial sites within the city as well as conversion of undeveloped land into built-up areas (such as Ørestad). Since the turn of the century, lifestyle trends and demographic change favored a focus on inner-city
housing. Infrastructurally speaking, the metro was the most important change the city center experienced during this period. The first line connected the new urban areas in Ørestad and the center of Copenhagen. In 2007, the metro system was extended to the airport and plans were made to develop a cityring line. Major projects during this period include major extensions of highways, which from a sustainable
Copenhagen metro lines.
mobility perspective, the simultaneous extension and development of infrastructures such as the metro and road development has led to an overall growth in car traffic (+23%) and reduction in public transport use (–7%). The different means of public transport ended up competing for users, but car drivers barely changed their means of transportation; however, there was a positive increase in bicycle travel of 24% during the period 1995–2007.
NEW INITIATIVES: CPH 2025 CLIMATE PLAN
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n recent years, Copenhagen has followed sustainable development goals (17 SDG’s) to develop local action plans to reach UN 2030 Agenda, one of which is CPH 2012 climate plan which is the main action for becoming a city with affordable and clean energy with the vision of being green, smart and CO2 neutral city. With the CPH 2025 plan, Copenhagen has not just set an overall goal for the city, but an implemen-
tation plan for no less than 60 specific initiatives in all relevant areas of the city’s energy consumption and produc-tion. The plan consists of three implementation phases, of which the first (2013-2016) has already been completed and evaluated. The current implementation plan (2017-2020) was adopted on 25 August 2016. The City of Copenhagen is launching initiatives that, as a whole, can result in a CO2 reduction of 928,000 tonnes by 2025.
Overview of the 17 SDG’S Continues on page 2