Fromtobikes
SIGRID EHRMANN
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Traffic is the main challenge to achieving Copenhagen’s goal of being the world’s first major carbon-neutral city by 2025 car-freeareas
048 topos ISSUE 119 city of copenhagen Though Copenhagen is a great example for many kinds of sustainable mobility, the city is still working on CO 2 challenges.emissionOne of the biggest goals is reducing car traffic. When it comes to active mobility, Copenhagen is a pioneer. For several times in a row it has been named the most bike-friendly city.
topos 049 UnsplashonSprattAnnieUnsplash,onFebyanPhotos: eco-metropolis and tackle environmental is sues was developed in 2007 and took the city’s ambitions to the next level, Annette Kayser from the City of Copenhagen explains. The cy cling network was expanded and cycling su perhighways to facilitate long distance bike trips created. People can combine bicycle and public transport through measures such as bi cycle parking at stations and the option to take bikes on trains. Most importantly though, the city administration used the power of story telling to encourage its citizens to hop on the bike and ditch the car. Data collection was con sidered another important tool to help build an argument for active mobility. With the help of a team specifically assembled to promote cy cling, Copenhagen was transformed into the world’s best cycling city. Yet despite the active push for green mobil ity, car ownership has been increasing over the past years. The growing popularity of the bike has been detrimental to the use of public trans port rather than complementing it. 34 percent of the trips within Copenhagen are still made by car, a number that has not decreased in years and is far off the actual goal of a maxi mum of 25 percent. Therefore, the municipal ity’s strategy has shifted to a more restrictive Considered a paradigm for bicycle and pedestri an-friendly urban design by many, the Copenha gen model has become so popular that a new ex pression has been added to the urban planning dictionary – to Copenhagenize your city. The Danish capital has taken the top spot as most bikefriendly city several times in a row, according to the Copenhagenize Index. 42 percent of all work or school trips are done by bike on the city’s more than 386 kilometer long bike lanes and around 25 percent of its children cycle to school. Further more, the city also features one of the world’s most modern and efficient metro systems. Yet, to achieve its ambitious goal to become the world’s first major carbon-neutral city by 2025, Copenhagen is looking to tackle the one challenge that it has not been able to resolve so far – reducing car traffic. Mobility is one of the four pillars on which the CPH 2025 Climate Plan, now in its final phase, is based on. Despite its reputation as a cycling city, more than one third of the city’s emissions are caused by vehic ular traffic. A model city for active mobility While cycling had always been an important mode of transport, a new vision to become an
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050 topos ISSUE 119 approach to free up the streets from cars – a measure that is much more difficult to sell, Kayser acknowledges, although most citizens are in favour of reducing car traffic. Introducing new mobility concepts for future urban developments has proven more popular than banning cars in existing neighborhoods. While keeping new developments car-free is not (yet) mandatory, and often opposed by the developers who want to provide ample park ing opportunities for future inhabitants, plan ning applications for new urban areas are asessed for access to the public transport net work, maximum reduction of parking spaces and the inclusion of other incentives to facilitate active mobility.
Transition to a car-free city The urban development of former industrial railroad yard “The Railway District” (“Jern banebyen”) in inner-city Copenhagen, led by architecture office Cobe, is one of the current proposals that seeks to establish a new green and partially car-free city district. The new neighborhood will offer approximately 4,500 new homes and workplaces for 5,000 employees as well as a new public school, sports fields, and a new public park. Urban Creators is part of the consultancy team and responsible for the Sus tainable Mobility Plan. Founding partner Maria Wass-Danielsen considers the integration of new mobility concepts into the design of new urban neighborhoods as a chance to influence people’s choice of transport and reduce car dominance.InThe Railway District, Wass-Danielsen points out, cars will not dominate the streets and priorities are shifted to active mobility and more green public spaces. The district will be equipped with next generation car parking called “mobility centers” where limited private parking is supplemented with shared mobility options for the residents, green last-mile servic es and public transport linked to the existing network. Car parking will be reduced by approx imately 20 percent compared to requirements in other city districts and limited to the mobility centers in the district’s periphery. Therefore, the actual roadway area will be reduced and will allow for green corridors and urban nature as well as attractive cycling and walking conditions in the public space. Copenhagen being one of the world’s leading cycling cities, the district will also provide more than 17,000 bicycle park ing spaces for its users.
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“Five-FingerCopenhagen’sPlan”: The City of Copenhagen is proposed as a car free zone, with connections to its municipalities.surrounding With a populationgrowingand rising emissions from traffic, urban planning and sustainable mobility will have to go hand in hand to contribute to CO 2 neutrality.
Carbon-neutral by 2025?
For everyone – especially vulnerable groups, the elderly or children – to be able to move through and experience the city in a sustain able way, the promotion of walking and cy cling is not sufficient. Danish architect AnneGrethe Foss realized what potential a new pub lic transport system could hold for Copenha gen when, as a young student in 1968 – inspired by the metro in Paris during a study visit – she designed a new metro line between Kongens Nytorv and Østerport as her graduate project. Years later, she would become the CEO of Me troselskabet, and therefore responsible for the implementation of Copenhagen’s new metro system. The construction of the first line was initiated by the development of the Ørestad ar ea of Copenhagen. Profiting from the revalua tion of the land adjacent to the new metro line, the city used the revenue to finance the new public infrastructure which – combined with a surplus from the operation of the new metrolines – made it possible to construct these lines without the need for public funding, according to Foss.Since its opening in 2002, the Copenhagen Metro has been praised for passenger satisfac tion and security, as well as its fully automatic and driverless trains. Because its operation is so (cost-)efficient, Foss explains, trains are oper ating with high frequency, 24 hours a day, creat ing an inclusive public transport system. Cur rently, there are 39 stations in operation, with a further five stations under construction. There is no physical segregation between the stations and the surrounding urban environment as they are fully integrated into the public realm. Special care was taken to use similar construc tion materials and a common architectural language to blend into the local neighborhood. Most importantly, all larger new urban devel opments are required to be located near rail way- or metro-stations, a mandatory require ment for planning approval. Public transport, including the expansion of the metro network and the continued quest to become more energy efficient, is of course also a vital factor in cutting carbon emissions and achieving Copenhagen’s goal of becoming carbon-neutral within the next two years. In the past two years, this effort has sadly been hampered by declining passenger numbers due to COVID-19, but passengers are now fortu nately coming back. There are hopes that the new metro ring line, currently under investiga tion, might further contribute to a reduction of car dependency in the future. Car Free(dom) Efficient public transport connections between the outer suburbs and the city center are an important factor to achieving “car-freedom”, agrees Kathrin Susanna Gimmel, partner at JAJA Architects. Her studio undertakes research into mobility aspects as part of its holistic urban design philosophy. To reduce car trips for both longer commutes and weekend trips, the collab oration between municipalities is crucial, Gim mel explains. While the historic city center with its world-class bicycle and pedestrian infrastruc ture has been hailed as an urban design bench mark, outlying suburbs have been neglected – a relationship that the Danish urban planner Jens Kvorning has referred to as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.To address this unequal status, JAJA Archi tects developed a mobility masterplan for the city as the basis for sustainable urban develop ment of the region: Copenhagen Car Free(dom). The masterplan draws on Copenhagen’s post war planning tool, the “Finger Plan” of 1947. The palm represents the City of Copenhagen and is proposed as a new car-free zone, while the fingers connect it with its surrounding mu nicipalities. Mobility hubs are planned along those fingers where major access roads, light rails, and S-trains are located, so that residents can park and switch to public transport. Ele ments inside the car-free center include Super Boulevards and Super Blocks. Though inspired by mobility concepts from other cities such as Barcelona and Ghent, Copenhagen’s car-free concept has its own distinctive flavour guided by the Finger Plan, the existing infrastructure, and the urban fabric of the city.
The city’s goal of carbon neutrality can still be reached in time, Annette Kayser maintains. But this will be mainly due to reduction in other sec tors and measures of carbon capture, while the specific contribution to CO2-neutrality from mobility has been low. In fact, as other sectors have successfully reduced their carbon footprint, CO2 emissions from traffic now represent a greater share of the city’s overall emissions than ever. Reducing this contribution is an even more challenging task considering the city’s projected population growth of 20 percent over the next decade. Therefore, urban planning and sustain able mobility will have to go hand in hand as struggles with developers continue to push back the car-free agenda, for example surrounding agreements on limited parking spaces due to questions of financial return. Telling powerful stories of green and sustainable cities and mobil ity will become more important than ever.
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Inclusive mobility as a key factor
Working across many of administrative bor ders is not an easy feat, and the car-free(dom) concept remains a highly political subject, con cedes Kathrin Susanna Gimmel. Yet, the key role mobility plays to create sustainable cities highlights the importance for architects to be come more pro-active and not surrender ur ban development and mobility policies to the automobile lobby.