Danish bicycle design brand Biomega are taking the world by storm with their bicycles. Here’s an advert/music video I produced for them. Showing off the bicycles, but mostly showing off the lifestyle here in the World’s Cycling Capital.
Mikael Colville-Andersen
A filmmaker and photographer who documents Copenhagen's bicycle culture from an anthropological point of view.
Danish Design and Bicycle Culture
Beaches & Bicycles
There is an enormous amount of bicycle traffic in Copenhagen, as you’ve probably gathered. There are, however, certain events/locations that act as massive bicycle magnets. One of them is the beach. On a hot, summer’s day at our little riviera Amager Strandpark (20 min bike ride from the city) there are literally tens of thousands of bicycles.
Here’s a little film I made about it. My son, Felix – aged 8 – was the cameraman.
Rush Hour – Copenhagen Style
Here’s a short little film that I produced for the City of Copenhagen’s traffic dept. Part of a series of 5 short films that show integral angles of our bicycle culture. This one features rush hour in Copenhagen. Human-powered rush hour, of course.
Bicycle Culture Films
Copenhagen’s tourist office produced this film to promote the Road racing championships in 2001 here in Copenhagen. A charming little film.
Here’s another film that’s become a classic on the internet. I produced this film for the City of Copenhagen’s Bicycle Office to promote our city as a bicycle capital.
Copenhagen Snowpenhagen
Winter snow has arrived in Copenhagen and Denmark. Statistically, 80% of Copenhageners continue to cycle throughout the winter. Rain or shine. Snow or sleet.
Is it our Viking blood that thickens our skin and steels our nerves so that cycling in the snow is considered no big deal?
Hardly. The bicycle has become such an integral part of life that weather plays no great role in whether we ride or not. Decades of normalising cycling and providing the infrastructure is the key.
If you make the bicycle the quickest and easiest way to get around a city, everybody and their dog will do it. On normal bicycles and in normal clothes.
Christmas Trees and Bicycles
Here’s some Copenhagen christmas tree transport. Me and my kids on our way home with the tree.
The seasonal celebration is called ‘jul’ in Denmark, from the Old Norse ‘jól’. It lives on in English with ‘yule’. Originally a pagan festival celebrated at this time of year, the christian influence highjacked the ceremony but the original name lives on. Kind of like the pagan symbol of fertility for the spring festivals – the hare – who still shows up at easter.
December 25 was the first day of the pagan calendar and people used to celebrate all night long to honour the ‘divine mothers’.
Whatever you want to call it, bicycles and christmas trees go hand in hand in Copenhagen.
Here’s wishing you all a very happy season and thanks to all our readers on Denmark.dk’s bicycle department.
Copenhagen Bike Share System Competition Winners
Last night here in Copenhagen the City held a cool and funky awards ceremony to announce the winners of the Open International Design Competition for a new bike share system for Copenhagen.
It was definately the coolest bicycle event of the climate conference and the venue was filled to the brim. Awards, cava, radler beer, canapés and funky DJs. Can’t beat it. Above you can see a 20 minute film of the awards ceremony. I was given the pleasure of hosting the event.
The competition recieved 127 entries from five continents, far more than expected and the standard, according to the jury was extremely high. So high, in fact, that they Jury decided to award two first prizes. Here’s the list.
First Prize: Lots Design, Koucky & Partners
Project: OPENbike.
See more on the competition website.
First Prize:
Thomas Coulbeaut
Project: MyLoop.
See more on the competition website.
Second Prize:
Kaspar Grundahl & Morten Engel
Project: COBI
See more on the competition website.
Third Prize:
Jacob Kristensen & Malte Agerskov
Project: Den Blå Brise / The Blue Breeze
See more on the competition website.
Special Prize for Most Exciting Bicycle Design:
Jung Geun Tak & Shinhyun Kang
Project: Cyclink.
See more on the competition website.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone in attendance for a great evening! You can see all the entries on the website cphbikeshare.com
Climategate: Al Gore RapBattles Lord Moncton
Let the games begin. It’s Climate Change Rap Battle, baby.
Hopenhagen or Carbonhagen? Reality Check T-shirts for pessimists
I’m already fed up with the Climate Conference. Roads closed off for security, the imminent sight of car convoys ferrying leaders and VIPs around [5 cars per leader on average? Plus motorcycle escort? Hmm.]
Not to mention the fact that the carbon emissions from the conference are enormous:
The Copenhagen summit next week will generate vast quantities of hot air. It will see 16,500 people coming in from 192 countries. That amounts to 41,000 tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the same as the carbon emissions of Morocco in 2006, according to The Times.
It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a legally-binding deal from all the hot air at the conference so why don’t we just say it like it is. Welcome back to Square One.
Luckily, there is hope. These Climate Conference Reality Check t-shirts are perfect for the cynic who realises that there won’t be any real deal and who wishes to present that all-important “I told you so” attitude.
They are available in a variety of slogans and with the possibility of choosing president, prime minister or politicians, depending on where you hail from. And while they are available for purchase online [no energy inefficient shop to light or heat] they will be flown to you on a aer-e-oplane. Buy now and show the world your finger is on the pulse of a dying planet.
Snow Protection in Copenhagen
I suppose we could discuss whether or not this is ‘ignoring the bull‘ or not… 
But whatever the case in the winter in Copenhagen protective shields are placed around all the roadside trees in order to protect them from cars splashing salty water and slush. I suppose it’s a cute idea, although whether or not it’s “hyggeligt” is debatable.
It’s one of those tiny details that most people don’t think about and yet which would appear to be an expensive process – putting them up and taking them down in the spring. All to protect the trees from salt. I like the idea. Although the cost of replacing dead trees is probably much higher.
Perhaps we could begin a ‘splash tax’ for motorists to pay for it.
Here’s another variation. In the winter in Copenhagen the bicycle lanes/cycle tracks are given the priority regarding street cleaning and snow clearing.
Rule number one when building dedicated bicycle infrastructure is keeping it clear of debris, parked cars and snow in order to encourage people to ride. When you get to the levels of cycling we have in Copenhagen it also becomes a practical issue.
If the city wakes up to snowfall and the bicycle lanes are covered in snow, there are over 300,000+ people who all of a sudden have difficulty getting to work or school. That’s a lot of people. If they all showed up at bus stops and train stations, the public transport system would implode.
As a result, the bicycle infrastructure is salted pre-emptively if snow is forecast and our cute bicycle lane snowploughs clear the lanes before the roads if the snow sticks.
If the snow persists, people will cycle anyway. They know that the bike lanes will be cleared by the time they head home later on. It takes a bit more than adverse weather to stop the bicycles.
