The Life-Sized City - Copenhagen - S02 E03 - Full Episode

Mikael returns to his home city Copenhagen to explore what life-sized elements are in place to make the city one of the benchmark cities in global urbanism.
At the heart of every city is its citizens. Our perception of cities is slowly changing from a model of mathematical engineering to a human habitat where urban spaces have the potential to be healthy, attractive, interesting and efficient. In this six-part series, urban design expert Mikael Colville-Andersen explores the anatomy and vibrancy of the modern metropolis, highlighting pockets of life-sized goodness in cities around the world.At the heart of every city is its citizens. Our perception of cities is slowly changing from a model of mathematical engineering to a human habitat where urban spaces have the potential to be healthy, attractive, interesting and efficient. In this six-part series, urban design expert Mikael Colville-Andersen explores the anatomy and vibrancy of the modern metropolis, highlighting pockets of life-sized goodness in cities around the world.
#urbanism #urbanplanning #urbandevelopment #cities #activism #telaviv #israel #villes #transit #architecture #upcycling #lifesizedcity #bourdain #anthonybourdain #copenhagen #copenhagenlife #denmark #dansk #kobenhavn
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[@LiveInItalyMagazine]

I love how engaged your children are with the dialogue. Pass it on!💪

[@9robke123]

Fantastic episode! So inspiring. It's so easy to feel like everything is constantly getting worse and worse. Invaluable to deconstruct urban life and highlight all the human effort being put in to make life - holistically - better. The trampolinhuset was particularly touching. Thanks Mikael for making these :)

[@OlivesGarden624]

Theres no way this doesnt have more views with that epic intro

[@marksousa8595]

Awesome series!!! I watch this series originally on T.V.O in Ontario Canada.

[@Foobarski]

I think Ørestad is 26,400 citizens now. However, it is oblong (quite narrow and long) which means the average distance to shops, cafes, ... will be father apart. This discourages walking, and encourages driving.

[@rosspayne9025]

One aspect all great cities have in common,in my experience, is they are flat, . London, Copenhagen, Paris (mostly) New York, Valencia, Melbourne (Australia), and many more are all so walkable because they are flat - and that makes them great bike cities too, once the infrastructure is in place and the car is banned from the CBD (just do it NY and Sydney). I used to live in Sydney (Australia) which could not be described as flat and while it is still relatively walkable (albeit not on a hot summers day) it is way less easy as walking in the cities I mentioned. Of course flatness is no guarantee of walkability but it just happens to be common to my favourite cities. Electric bikes do offer the ability to flatten the terrain of course - so maybe I should have invested in an electric bike. Love your work Mikael, keep it up.

[@NoGloryToRats]

Paris is not flat. But your right Copenhagen is flat,but besides that im quite sure that the reason that its easy and nice to walk or bike around is mostly because of big bike lanes and bike lanes everywhere and the sidewalks are also often big/broad, besides that is locals are quite aware of traffic rules such as always keep to the right side and dont stand in the middle of the road or sidewalk,we like to make traffic running smoothly,alot of tourists and newcomers dont understand that at all mostly,also some of our privileged yuppie's dont often understands these simple rules,in general dont be a obstacle for others,dont stand in the middle of the sidewalk with your baby carriage and take all the space,its really really simple and if you respect those rules people will like you as local as turists,as long as you dont are in they way, because people can be busy and stuff.

[@poulha]

I appreciate your point of view. However, there are a lot of other factors apart from flatness creating a Life-Sized city - I have visited urban developments in Italy, Spain, and Greece eg., not originally developed for cars, but for pedestrians. And they are not flat. Sadly, in many places also, the cars have taken over. EV autonomous cars will change this, as only a few people will cling on to their own cars and instead subscribe to cheap transportation as a service. Cities will be free again, and Life-Sized.

[@mitas3484]

What’s good about the trains is they all accept bikes too, so even if you have longer distances just take the S train to nearest station, bike the rest of the way

[@petedennis5694]

I live here, in Copenhagen, and it’s all true ! Godt gjort, Mikael !🐾🇩🇰❤

[@eskildscott7841]

it´s a bit unfortunate how long ago this was recorded since a lot of mostly positive changes have happened since then, for example i think carlsberg byen has really become an apricated place for the residents

[@rico4.700]

absolutely, i lived next to it and remember it very fondly, there are some jaw dropping plazas

[@j.day-eskesen]

35:34 “what is this? […] It’s actually just a place for cars to turn around […] we just need an area where we want to enjoy ourselves” - if the cameraperson had panned 90 degrees right instead of left, there’s a shared-use green area there in plain view literally a few meters away, with picnic benches, communal outdoor fitness equipment, public BBQs, and even a little jetty with row boats and kayaks for neighborhood residents to use on the lake, free of charge. In the summer, it’s a popular hang out spot, and I was at a neighborhood ‘lake festival’ event there last weekend, where there was local food, live music, craft activities and workshops for the kids, and the yearly rubber-duck race on the canal. It fits the narrative of the piece to paint Ørested as some kind of dystopian failed experiment, but it doesn’t feel that way to the people who live here. There’s definitely legitimately good points made about how Ørested’s vision was (not) realised, but I wish the Copenhagen urban planning inteligencia (not intended as an insult, and certainly not directed exclusively to this channel or the guest from DAC - I’m actually a fan of both btw!) would stop beating up on the place. It’s kinda disingenuous and a little bit lazy just to ride down here, find a few bleak camera angles, judge the vibe without talking to the residents, and disappear.. but there’s actually so much life out here - and so much quality of life too!

[@pennypistorius197]

Great series! I'm from South Africa. As part of my Urban Design Masters course at UCT we did a reciprocal study course in Copenhagen. It was fabulous. But I'd love to see how the people in northern cities like this cope in winter. So far, Ive not seen one of your series (I'm on my third) in which there's any rain or snow or sleet or hail...

[@Memme14]

We get the winter coat or raincoat out of the closet and get on with it. You ride your bike or switch to public transport but with the right clothes you can easily get to work or school. It helps that most people have a relatively short distance to work, school, shopping and activities. Another factor is that Denmark is very egalitarian and a low power-distance culture, meaning that your boss or teacher probably also rides a bike to work and that we have very relaxed or no dress codes at work. There is not a lot of pressure to have complicated, expensive and hard to manage hairdos or to wear a lot of makeup. We dress nice, but bike-friendly, even for business and in any weather.

Denmark isn't _that_ cold. The mean temperature across the year is 7.7˚C, 9 degrees less than in Cape Town.

[@Phalaenopsisify]

You can always add more clothing layers, it's harder with heat when you can't undress more!

[@Foobarski]

Have you considered visiting the Musicon area in Roskilde? It is quite an interesting area. They are far from building up the area, but have gotten quite a bit of the way. I would love your take on it.

[@Infernus25]

So many of the modern development in CPH are going against the human scale, life sized appeal that make so many parts of Copenhagen great. These new buildings and districts often feel cold and sterile with very little aesthetic appeal which then damages the street life and cozy feel of an area.

[@christinaheiberg1625]

Kunne det være ide at lave en opdatering på Ørestad, i stedet for at viderebringe forkerte fakta.

[@chrisbenn]

Du snakker godt engelsk! Uden den gode gamle typiske Danske agsang! :-P

[@paolocruz8392]

33:00 Why not build the shops inside the residential areas instead? If no one is occupying them maybe it can be micro pocket commercial areas?

[@aznhandles]

due to the rent, the prices are sky-rocketing... unless you have you huge chunk of capital income you're set.. but for the rest... it's limited.

[@Santiagothedreamer481]

Another fantastic effort. I love you found a Swedish contributor of Zimbabwean extraction 😊. What a sad policy for Asylum seekers, but it’s good to see the humanitarian perspective enduring.

[@AllistairNeil]

What about Lisbon?

[@poulha]

According to Tony Seba of RethinkX, autonomous EV cars as a service will free at least 75% of parking space in cities. It will no longer be attractive to own a car when you can order an autonomous one i 5 minutes for a cheap price from your phone. So EV autonomous cars are not parked - they are working horses. This leaves a lot of space in cities for bike parking.

[@jfb_ventures]

It's a good video, but I don't agree with statements like, "Any city in the world can do what Copenhagen has done." When the majority of citizens are developed and civilised, then it might be true. You look at Copenhagen through that lens. Go and live in backward, underdeveloped, uncivilised communities, and it becomes a totally different story.

[@karstenjohansen6881]

Frederiksberg is NOT Copenhagen 😂

[@Foobarski]

If bicycles are the vast majority of trips in Copenhagen, why are a majority of the public space set aside for cars weather it be roads or parking spaces?

[@LaustChristensen]

Because the city planners in the fifties (I think) has a very bad case of car brain. They basically wanted to tear down large parts of the city to make way for even more cars.

[@rico4.700]

old legislations unfortunantly

[@tinaindina7032]

A car takes up the space of about 6 bikes? But we definitely need a lot more parking spaces for bikes. And more cleanups to free space in the ones that are there

[@alparslan-carkci]

Your series are extremely inspiring, Mikael and let us see other cities through more interesting and realistic point of views - hope to have you over here in Istanbul!

[@ShannaTrenholm]

This series is fire! So good! Thank you, MC-A!

[@pad9x]

good episode. i love Copenhagen

[@ArthurOfThePond]

great video

[@87Rasser]

Hello. As a bike enthusiast I have to say that Copenhagen has some really big flaws with the bike lanes and bike infrastructure. One issue is that the bike lanes are often very narrow and many people are using these big box bikes (christiania bikes) to transport their kids around. A very bad combination. Also many people who doesn't really know traffic rules are riding bikes all over the city. And on these narrow lanes grandmothers are getting passed by racing cyclists and you can imagine the outcome. As a tourist I would not recommend to rent a bike unless you have experience riding it, because it can be very intimidating and dangerous (because of the false sense of security) to ride a bike in copenhagen!

[@JM3-675]

The head of the bicycle program doesn’t wear a helmet when biking?

[@Onedutchbikeinvalencia]

Hello! From Spain- Valencia city 🇪🇸🚲👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@DanYsns]

Superfin! Godt du fik Ørestaden med :)