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Making a bicycle city: infrastructure and cycling in Copenhagen since 1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2018

MARTIN EMANUEL*
Affiliation:
National Research University Higher School of Economics, Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History, 16 Soyuza Pechatnikov, St Petersburg, 190008, Russia

Abstract

Copenhagen is today praised as a truly bicycle-friendly city. The Danish capital earned its reputation as a ‘bicycle city’ early on. The network of bicycle infrastructure developed in the first half of the twentieth century was a result not least of a thriving cycling culture and the efforts made by cyclists’ organizations. In the following car-centric decades this network made cycling a more resilient practice than elsewhere, before cyclists and their lobby organizations managed, again, to pressure policy makers to renew supportive measures for cyclists. The article thus highlights two concepts: road users as potential co-producers of the mobility system as well as the obduracy of infrastructure and its capacity to preserve habits and cultures of the past.

Type
Dyos prize winner 2018
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

*

The research for this article was supported by Sweden's Innovation Agency VINNOVA (grant number 2009-04424) and the Swedish Research Council (grant number 2013-00335). The article is a revised and extended version of the previously published book chapter, M. Emanuel, ‘Copenhagen: branding the cycling city’, in R. Oldenziel et al. (eds.), Cycling Cities: The European Experience: Hundred Years of Policy and Practice (Eindhoven, 2016). Next to his co-editors of the book, the author wants to thank Frank Schipper and the anonymous referees for useful comments to improve the article.

References

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4 The article builds on primary sources from the period 1900–80, primarily the minutes of the City Council (Københavns Borgerrepræsentations Forhandlinger, BF) and documents from Copenhagen City Archives (Københavns Stadsarkiv, KSA), the Archive of the Roads and Parks Administration, Copenhagen Municipality (Vej & Park, V&P) and that of the Danish Cyclists’ Federation (Dansk Cyklist Forbund, DCF). I have also benefited from two collections of press clippings on cycling: the first kept in the City Archives and compiled by Vilhelm Malling, who for many years was engineer in the City Engineer's Office (Stadsingeniørens Direktorat); the second was provided by Jan Grubb Laursen, former associate professor in traffic at Danish Technical University and also a board member of DCF. I also draw upon visual material assembled over the years. Photographs from Copenhagen can be found in the website http://kbhbilleder.dk, which makes available photographs from Copenhagen City Archive and the City Museums in Copenhagen and Fredriksberg. For the late nineteenth century, the key source is Kjerrumgaard-Jørgensen, E.M., ‘Københavns cyklisme i det 19. aarhundredes slutning’, Historiske meddelelser om København, 4 (1947–49), 53116, 176–255Google Scholar. For the period after 1980, half a dozen Copenhagen bicycle planners and activists were interviewed in 2005–06, mostly for orientation. A few of them have provided personal accounts of this period: Krag, T., ‘Urban cycling in Denmark’, in McClintock, H. (ed.), Planning for Cycling: Principles, Practice and Solutions for Urban Planners (Cambridge, 2002)Google Scholar; Jensen, N., ‘Planning a cycling infrastructure: Copenhagen – city of cyclists’, in Dextre, J.C. et al. (eds.), Cyclists & Cycling Around the World: Creating Liveable & Bikeable Cities (Lima, 2013)Google Scholar. Secondary literature taking a long-term perspective on cycling in Copenhagen and/or Denmark includes Albert de la Bruhèze, A.A. and Veraart, F., Fietsverkeer in praktijk en beleid in de twintigste eeuw (Eindhoven, 1999), ch. 10Google Scholar; Nørgaard, J., Cyklisme, bilisme & trafikkens politik: En sociologisk magisterafhandling (Copenhagen, 1981)Google Scholar; Bach Knudsen, W. and Krag, T., På cykel i 100 år: Dansk Cyklist Forbund 1905–2005 (Copenhagen, 2005)Google Scholar; Carstensen, T. Agerwig and Ebert, A.-K., ‘Cycling cultures in northern Europe: from “golden age” to “renaissance”’, in Parkin, J. (ed.), Cycling and Sustainability (Bingley, 2012)Google Scholar; Carstensen, T.A. et al., ‘The spatio-temporal development of Copenhagen's bicycle infrastructure 1912–2013’, Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography, 115, 2 (2015), 114Google Scholar.

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11 Oosterhuis, ‘Cycling, modernity and national culture’; Agerwig Carstensen and Ebert, ‘Cycling cultures’.

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19 Kjerrumgaard-Jørgensen, ‘Københavns cyklisme’, 209–11.

20 Ibid., 213–16.

21 Ibid., 213–27; BF 1895/96, 432–81, 531, 1471–98.

22 Kjerrumgaard-Jørgensen, ‘Københavns cyklisme’, 229–30.

23 Ibid., 230–5.

24 Bach Knudsen and Krag, På cykel i 100 år, 58–9.

25 KSA, Vejkontorets arkiv (VA), V87, Jensen til Direktionen for Vej- og Kloakanlӕg, 23 Apr. 1906; Jensen til afdelingsingeniør Nohr, 12 May 1906.

26 KSA, VA, V87, DCF til Københavns magistrat, 25 Feb. 1910; ‘Udvalgsbetӕnkning angaaende Udbedring af Cyklestien i Østersøgade’, Magistratens 4. afdeling (Mag. 4), 12 Jul. 1910; BF 1910, 226–7, 850–8. Another example, from Østerbrogade in 1913, is mentioned in Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 54.

27 An overview of the most pressing issues is provided in DFC's yearly petitions to Copenhagen's magistrate. The 1909 petition was responded to by the responsible vice mayor, who proposed ‘oral negotiation’ with the director of roads. KSA, VA, V87, DCF (Jensen et al.) til Københavns Magistrat, 15 Feb. 1909; Marstrand til DCF, 5 Mar. 1909.

28 KSA, VA, V87, DCF (Schröder et al.) til Kommunbestyrelsen i København, 31 Oct. 1912; Nohr til Mag. 4, 25 Jan. 1912; Nohr, V., ‘Cykelstier i København. Rapport afgivet til den 3die internationale Vejkongres i London, Juni 13’, Dansk Cyklist Forbunds Aarsskrift (Copenhagen, 1914), 1319Google Scholar.

29 Dansk Cyklist Forbunds Jubileumsarsskrift 1930 (Copenhagen, 1931), 10–12; Nohr, ‘Cykelstier i København’, 12–13.

30 Oldenziel and Albert de la Bruhèze, ‘Contested spaces’.

31 Jensen, Under fælles ansvar, 232–5, 290–6; Larsson and Thomassen, ‘Urban planning’, 23–7.

32 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 63.

33 KSA, VA, V87, Stadsingeniørens Direktorat (SD) (Forchhammer) til Mag. 4, 23 Jan. 1937.

34 KSA, VA, V87, ‘Cykeltrafik i Köpenhamn’, May 1950.

35 Beretning og regnskab, Stadsingeniørens Direktorat, København 1944/45–1955/56.

36 Heller, F., Diagonal genom Europa: Reseintryck 1934–1937 (Stockholm, 1937), 274–6Google Scholar. For criticisms of the behaviour of bicycle delivery boys, see e.g. Boesgaard, E., ‘Københavns Cyklister bør organisere sig og selv sortere Cyklebøllerne ud’, Berlingske Tidende, 11 Jul. 1937Google Scholar; Osign., ‘Et köbenhavnsk Problem – endnu en Gang’, Berlingske Tidende, 13 Aug. 1940. These and other newspaper and journal articles referred to in this section are from the archive of Vilhelm Malling (111–14) kept in Copenhagen City Archives. Regarding the ‘bicycle girl’ as a particularly potent symbol of Danish cycling in the inter-war period, see Kåstrup, ‘Hverdagens beskedne demokrati’; Agerwig Carstensen and Ebert, ‘Cycling cultures’, 40–3.

37 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 63–4.

38 Schønberg, M., ‘Danmarks cyklister kræver cyklestier langs vejene’, Trafik & Veje, 9 (Sep. 2009), 37–9Google Scholar; Emanuel, M., Trafikslag på undantag: Cykeltrafiken i Stockholm 1930–1980 (Stockholm, 2012), 90–3Google Scholar.

39 Dansk Cyklist Forbunds Jubileumsarsskrift 1930, 27–8; Bach Knudsen and Krag, På cykel i 100 år, 61–2; Tvermoes, M., De vigtigste Færdselsregler for Cyklister og Fodgængere (Copenhagen, 1932)Google Scholar.

40 Christina Britz Nicolaisen, ‘Højdepunkter fra Cyklistforbundets historie’, www.cyklistforbundet.dk/Om-os/Om-organisationen/Historien/nedslag, accessed 6 Sep. 2016.

41 Photographs of cyclists giving signs can been found at http://kbhbilleder.dk. Some examples are those with photo ID 47510 (from the year 1931), 46136 (1935), 47441 (1936), 45818 (1938), 699 (1945), 89034 (1950) and 60422 (1955).

42 Bach Knudsen and Krag, På cykel i 100 år, 48; Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 238.

43 Kyhl, S., ‘Opretelse af en Cyklistafdeling under Forenede Danske Motorejere’, Motor, 39 (1932), 675–6Google Scholar; Boesgaard, E., ‘Cyklisterne’, Motor, 27 (1934), 421Google Scholar; P. Langeland, ‘Enrettet Færdsel maa prøves først’, Berlingske Tidende, 6 Nov. 1935.

44 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 62–3; Betænkning om Cykleveje. Fortryk af beretning om Dansk Byplanlaboratoriums virksomhed 1937–40 (Copenhagen, 1942), 3.

45 Sign. Eric, ‘Der vil blive Revolution, hvis man forbyder Cykle-kørsel i den indre By’, Berlingske Tidende, 6 Nov. 1935.

46 Sign. Scap., ‘Cyklen er et folkeligt Klenodie’, Politiken, 1 Oct. 1937; S. Bergsøe, ‘Københavnerne kører paa Cykle fordi de er nødt til det’, Berlingske Tidende, 18 Jan. 1937; E. Boesgaard, ‘Vi cyklende Københavnere’, Berlingske Tidende, 17 May 1937.

47 Emanuel, M., ‘Constructing the cyclist: ideology and representations in urban traffic planning in Stockholm, 1930–70’, Journal of Transport History, 33 (2011), 6791CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hanna, E., ‘Seeing like a cyclist: visibility and mobility in modern Dublin, c. 1930–1980’, Urban History, 42 (2015), 273–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

48 Malling, V., ‘Cykeltrafik i Danmark’, Svenska vägföreningens tidskrift, 62 (1932), 2033Google Scholar.

49 Beretning og regnskab, Stadsingeniørens Direktorat, København 1944/45, 12; Forchhammer, O., Trafik og Trafikmidler. Færdelsmæssige og Byplanmæssige Forudsætninger (Copenhagen, 1945), 27Google Scholar.

50 See e.g. KSA, VA, V87, DCF (Tvermoes) til Københavns Magistrat, 14 Feb. 1923; Mag. 4 (Møller), til DCF, 28 Jun. 1923; BF 1927, 1063–4, 1075, 2102–3, 2147; 1928, 956–7, 965–6; 1934/35, 1486–542, 1520–2, 1537–8, 1541.

51 Malling, ‘Cykeltrafik i Danmark’; Forchhammer, O., Byplan (Copenhagen, 1939), 132–3, 157–61Google Scholar; Forchhammer, Trafik og Trafikmidler, 20–1; Beretning og regnskab, Stadsingeniørens Direktorat, København 1937/38, 3–5. For more details, see Emanuel, Trafikslag på undantag, 125–8.

52 Carstensen et al., ‘The spatio-temporal development’.

53 Synspunkter vedrørende anlægget af Cyklestier, Cyklestriber og Gangstier (Copenhagen, 1938), 10.

54 Ejlersen, T., Kraftcenter og fristad: Københavns historie. Bind 6, 1945–1980 (Copenhagen, 1983), 53–8, 129Google Scholar; Lemberg, K., Alli'vel så elsker vi byen: København og regionen gennem 100 år (Copenhagen, 1985), 7980Google Scholar; Pineda, A. Valderrama and Vogel, N., ‘Transitioning to a low carbon society? The case of personal transportation and urban form in Copenhagen: 1947 to the present’, Transfers, 4 (2014), 422, 13–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 Skitseforslag til Egnsplan for Storkøbenhavn (Copenhagen, 1947), 112; 4. Betænkning afgivet af Kommissionen af 1. Juli 1944 angående en Trafikplan for Hovedstaden (Copenhagen, 1953); København: Skitse til en Generalplan (Copenhagen, 1954), 127–31.

56 Ejlersen, Kraftcenter og fristad, 68, 129–48, 239–58; Larsson and Thomassen, ‘Urban planning’, 36–7; Lemberg, Alli'vel, 86–7; Valderrama Pineda and Vogel, ‘Transitioning to a low carbon society?’.

57 Albert de la Bruhèze and Veraart, Fietsverkeer in praktijk en beleid, 36, 184.

58 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 97.

59 Trafikanalysen 1967: Greater Copenhagen Regional Transportation Study, vol. I (Copenhagen, 1967).

60 Bach Knudsen and Krag, På cykel i 100 år, 25, 41–4; Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 97–9; Agerwig Carstensen and Ebert, ‘Cycling cultures’, 43–4.

61 See e.g. Jones, S.E., ‘Copenhagen: wedded to the sea’, National Geographic, 16 (Sep. 1963), 4579, at 46Google Scholar.

62 Emanuel, ‘Constructing the cyclist’; Oldenziel et al. (eds.), Cycling Cities.

63 Ejlersen, Kraftcenter og fristad, 92–5; Larsson and Thomassen, ‘Urban planning’, 30–2; Lemberg, Alli'vel, 73–4.

64 Jørgensen, S. Elmer, ‘Bilen og planlægningen i Danmark i de store planers årti’, in Rahikainen, Marjatta (ed.), Lokala perspektiv på 1960-talet: Bilen, fritiden och den ökade rörligheten (Stockholm, 2005), 5664Google Scholar; Ejlersen, Kraftcenter og fristad, 116–32, 244–7; Lemberg, Alli'vel, 82, 96–102.

65 Ejlersen, Kraftcenter og fristad, 116–21, 247–8; Lemberg, Alli'vel, 97.

66 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 67–70.

67 DCF 1:5, Referat af bestyrelsesmøde 30 Oct. 1956; V&P, V87, SD til DCF, 21 Jun. 1956.

68 V&P, V87, SD til Mag. 4, 10 Jun. 1959; Archive of the 4th Dep., Copenhagen Municipality (Mag. 4), 320; Københavns Politi, Færdselsafdelingen (E. Groes-Pedersen) til Stadsingeniøren i København, 17 Mar. 1959; DCF 1:5, Referat af bestyrelsesmøde, 7 Feb. 1958.

69 V&P, V87, SD til Mag. 4, 10 Jun. 1959.

70 V&P, V87, SD til Rådet for trafiksikkerhedsforskning, 13 May 1968; SD (Knud Gulstad) til Mag. 4, 11 Jul. 1969.

71 Sign. ‘lan’, ‘De frygter trafikken og lader cykeln stå’, Aktuelt, 23 Jun. 1965; Sign. ‘sha’, ‘Cykeln er overlegen’, Berlingske Aftenavis, 23 Sep. 1966; S. Ahrenkiel, ‘Cyklister udryddes bedst ved MORD’, Politiken, 11 Jul. 1967. Articles from KSA, Malling, 113–14.

72 BF 1967/68, 1800–16, 2768; Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 69–70. See also BF 1969/70, 2598–606.

73 Carstensen et al., ‘The spatio-temporal development’.

74 Larsson and Thomassen, ‘Urban planning’, 36–9, 47–53; Lemberg, Alli'vel, 124–33, 160–80; A. Lund Hansen et al., ‘Creative Copenhagen: globalization, urban governance and social change’, European Planning Studies, 9 (2001), 851–69.

75 Albert de la Bruhèze and Veraart, Fietsverkeer in praktijk en beleid, 36, 232–3; Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 97.

76 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 234–8, 252–63; Bach Knudsen and Krag, På cykel i 100 år, 49–50; Agerwig Carstensen and Ebert, ‘Cycling cultures’, 49.

77 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 220–30; Jensen, ‘Planning a cycling infrastructure’, 130.

78 Lemberg, Alli'vel, 104–5, 123–38; Elmer Jørgensen, ‘Bilen og planlægningen i Danmark’, 63–4.

79 V&P, V.87. Poul Vedel til Mag. 4, 1 Dec. 1970. See also SD (Gulstad) til Mag. 4, 11 Jul. 1969; Referat nr 29 af torsdagsmødet den 10.12.1970; Poul Vedel til Mag. 4, 9 Mar. 1971; Mag. 4 (Wassard), til DCF, 24 Feb. 1976; SD (Gulstad) til Mag. 4, 7 Jun. 1977.

80 U. Jacobsen, ‘Kan cyklen blive et virkeligt alternativt transportmiddel?’, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, 3 Dec. 1975; R. Munch-Andersen, ‘Cyklisten i centrum’, Berlingske Tidende, 4 Jan. 1973. Articles from Jan Grubb Laursen's personal files.

81 Nørgaard, Cyklisme, 261–8; Jensen, ‘Planning a cycling infrastructure’, 130; Bach Knudsen and Krag, På cykel i 100 år, 65, 70–2.

82 Elming, P., ‘Ingen cykelstier’, Cyklister, 4 (1977), 2, 10Google Scholar; Jensen, N., ‘København uden stiplan’, Cyklister, 3 (1977), 1215Google Scholar; V&P, V87, DCF (Behrend) til BRP, Mag. 4, and SD, 26 May 1978, ‘Forslag til stiplan for København (og Fredriksberg)’, Cykelpolitik 78 (Copenhagen, 1978).

83 V&P, V87, Mag. 4, til BRP, 11 Feb. 1980; Afskrift BF 28 Feb. 1980, 86/80; Jensen, ‘Planning a cycling infrastructure’, 130.

84 Carstensen et al., ‘The spatio-temporal development’, 11.

85 Thomas, M., Copenhagen – City of Cyclists (Copenhagen, 1997)Google Scholar.

86 Eir, B., ‘Trafikken i København – hvad er der galt?’, Stads- och havneingeniøren, 7, 11 (1988), 411Google Scholar; Bilen ud af byen: Et debattoplӕg om indre by (Copenhagen, 1987); Krag, ‘Urban cycling in Denmark’.

87 Bisgaard, H., Københavns genrejsning 1990–2010 (Copenhagen, 2010)Google Scholar; Hartoft-Nielsen, P., ‘Faglig debat om Københavns genrejsning’, Byplan, 63 (2011), 5864Google Scholar; Lund Hansen et al., ‘Creative Copenhagen’; Valderrama Pineda and Vogel, ‘Transitioning to a low carbon society?’, 17–19.

88 Carstensen et al., ‘The spatio-temporal development’; Gössling, ‘Urban transport transitions’; Jensen, ‘Planning a cycling infrastructure’, 131–4; Thomas, Copenhagen – City of Cyclists.

89 For a detailed study of contemporary cycling practices, see Larsen, ‘The making of a pro-cycling city’. On how cyclists challenge the car but at the same time maintain the car system, see Freudendal-Pedersen, M., ‘Cyclists as part of the city's organism: structural stories on cycling in Copenhagen’, City & Society, 27 (2015), 3050CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the emergent heterogeneity of cycling in Copenhagen, see also Agerwig Carstensen and Ebert, ‘Cycling cultures’, 48–50.

90 Modal split of all journeys with start and/or stop in the City of Copenhagen. Figures provided by the Bicycle Secretariat of the City of Copenhagen.

91 ‘Regionalt Cykelregnskab’ (Region Hovedstaden, 2014).

92 Interview of Martin Emanuel with Niels Jensen, 21 Jun. 2005, and Jens E. Pedersen, 28 Jun. 2005.