Aug

25

I ♥ Copenhagen

Filed Under Cities, Copenhagen 

Ahh Copenhagen, land of Vikings, Lego Land and Mermaids…

Did you know that urban planning students the world over dream of Copenhagen in the night? And did you know that when they wake up the next morning, they dutifully open their laptops and weave these dreams into research papers and PowerPoint presentations and master’s theses? Its true! Biking Viking

The reason of course is that Copenhagen is generally considered by professional planners and amateur wonks alike to be the poster child of sustainable urbanism the world over. It’s like Portland on steroids. For example:

  • Copenhagen has the longest pedestrian street, called Strøget, in Europe
  • Copenhagen has 2000 free cycles for visitors
  • Copenhagen has been announced as the world’s first bike city in 2008-2011
  • Copenhageners love their bike and cycle year-round, whatever the weather. They pedal more than 1.13 million kilometers a day!
  • Danes are the happiest people in the world!
  • Denmark is the country in Europe with most breweries per capita

Source: www.meetincopenhagen.com

We are pleased to announce that Great City was recently awarded a grant by the SCAN Design Foundation. Over the next year, we will work to educate, inspire and mobilize city employees, elected officials and the general public through the presentation of Danish techniques used to resolve transportation, city planning and energy issues. To kick things off we’ve created an “I ♥ Copenhagen” group on our sister site: my.greatcity.org. Feel free to log in and post photos, stories, or ideas about Copenhagen and tell us what you think Seattle can learn from the great Danish Capitol.

We’re also sending a local correspondent out into the field. Ryan Miller is a Seattle University Student who will be studying abroad in Copenhagen and has offered to blog about his impressions of the City for us. Look out for regular updates about Ryan’s experiences on this blog. We look forward to your ideas and contributions in what we hope will be a collaborative cultural exchange about all things Copenhagen.

Great City.

Note: Biking Viking Image from: nualabugeye

Comments

One Response to “I ♥ Copenhagen”

  1. I ♥ Copenhagen : Great City on September 9th, 2009 3:01 pm

    [...] along with our recent theme of Copenhagen sustainability envy, we’ve teamed up with our friend at International Sustainable [...]

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