79: Bicycle Urbanism – what comes first: infrastructure or culture? (guest: James Thoem – Director at Copenhagenize)

Welcome to 79th episode of Urbcast, in which we will talk about: Bicycle Urbanism—what comes first: infrastructure or culture?

Probably even if you are not living in Copenhagen, you have heard that it is one of the best cities to bike in. Denmark’s capital city is a great example of bicycle urbanism that changed the way that people move around. But how can the other cities learn from Copenhagen and its bike friendly approach?

Why should we talk about it?

Because even Copenhagen was not a bike friendly city a couple of decades ago. What happened then, that it became one? Let’s talk about the key importance of the bicycle urbanism. But is it infrastructure or culture that determines it?

Why is it worth listening to?

Because James has a vast experience in bicycle urbanism consultancy for city mayors from all over the world. Copenhagenize brings knowledge from decades of bike oriented planning from Copenhagen and shares it with other cities who are willing to become more bike friendly.

About the guest:

James Thoem – is an urbanist and Director at Copenhagenize Design Co. – the multi-disciplinary “go-to team” for cities in all matters relating to bicycle culture, planning, traffic and communications.

Topics that we talked about:

  • Copenhagenize – what is it and what is the history behind it?
  • Why Copenhagen is such a bike friendly city?
  • What is exactly the Bicycle Culture 2.0 about?
  • Should we ‘copenhagenize’ our cities?
  • How can we avoid copying and pasting ideas from Copenhagen into other cities?
  • What is the best tip for the cities that are early adopters of bicycle urbanism?

You get to know more about James & Copenhagenize:

You can listen to the episode at: urbcast.pl/en/episode79

You will find more information at: https://linktr.ee/urbcast or urbcast.pl/en

Music: spear_oh