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
colville-ander...
colville-ander...

[@LiveInItalyMagazine]

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

[@milawaller]

This is just a great documentary. I am surprised it has so few views. Thank you!

[@OlivesGarden624]

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

[@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!

[@georevox5638]

Asking the people is the first step for a government to create a livable and subsequently successful city. Copenhagen has done a lot of things right despite inheriting architectural and infrastructural monstrosities from the post-war to mid-70s era. There is also the aforementioned Ørestad, which faces the same problems as any other district planned and built by commercial developers, but there is another thing you should have mentioned where Copenhagen really screwed up recently: the metro. Who came up with the idea of ​​building a metro where most of the stations look exactly the same, the inner city stations are extremely deep underground (how many flights of escalators do you have to use and how long does it take to get to the platform in Marmorkirken...), where changing from one line to another takes forever, and in the existing districts everything feels like an afterthought in terms of urban planning. Although the bus system in Copenhagen is pretty poor, there is the S-Tog (where you can take your bike with you, which is impossible in the metro) and the city is well connected to the rest of Denmark by rail, the metro is poorly connected to these modes of transport. A tram with the same capacity would have cost a fraction of the price of the metro, so I cannot understand why Copenhagen built the metro instead.

[@shanash1]

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

[@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 :)

[@FHRider-o1m]

Anne Katrine makes so many excellent points, relevant to my home town of Barnstaple U.K., despite having a bit of great cycling and walking infrastructure, they are still building car parks in the town centre, big retail and giving permission for huge new housing estates that think it’s okay to put a children’s playground in the middle of a roundabout, and park cars all over the pavement. Wish she would come to the U.K. and help us out!

[@marksousa8595]

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

[@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.

[@pad9x]

good episode. i love Copenhagen

[@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!

[@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.

[@Mads-h3l]

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.

[@petedennis5694]

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

[@ArthurOfThePond]

great video

[@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

[@starypes7595]

Ørestad is such a boring area to live, that they even need an advertisement to drag people to live there. I used to live there for 2 months and i hate it there. The only good thing about to get there was a bike ride through Amager Fælled. Sadly, even Copenhagen is doing mistakes as Ørestad..

[@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

[@christinaheiberg1625]

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

[@FHRider-o1m]

I volunteered for Cycling without Age in Exeter, U.K., wonderful times, until the Age Concern hub where we collected people closed. Terrible loss.

[@Onedutchbikeinvalencia]

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

[@Mads-h3l]

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.

[@DanYsns]

Superfin! Godt du fik Ørestaden med :)

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@JM3-675]

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

[@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.

[@chrisbenn]

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

[@rolfkristianknudsen2437]

Its fine with all the bikes in Copenhagen, but the city cant function, on a daily basis without motorizid vehicels. Copenhagen without motorized transportation is simply Utopia.

[@Mads-h3l]

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

[@karstenjohansen6881]

Frederiksberg is NOT Copenhagen 😂

[@dzllz]

And not in the heart of Copenhagen