Tag Archives: Copenhagen

The Cycle Culture

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The cycle culture

Amongst the three places I have lived, Kuwait has literally no cycle culture. In India cycles are driven on the roads along with the other vehicles. When I came to United Kingdom, I found it very interesting that there are special marking on the roads which are meant for cyclists, the lane can mostly accommodate one cycle.

But Denmark just won it all. I walked out of the airport into the metros to find a special compartment in the metro for the cycles. Even the station had allocated rooms for leaving the cycle behind if people wished to. There were lifts suited for the cyclists to get from the underground to the road level.

COPENHAGEN
1.Metro cycle parking within the station (http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/01/metro-bicycle-parking.html)
2.Metro elevators (http://www.flickr.com/photos/16nine/1414613810/)
3.Metro Trains (http://transportblog.co.nz/2012/09/17/public-transport-is-cool/)
4.Cycles on the train (http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/bike-train-copenhagen/)

I was absolutely excited. As I got out of the station, I experienced things I had not seen before.

There was not just one lane dedicated for cyclists, but this lane was wide enough to accommodate more than one cycle. The cyclists definitely dominated the roads unlike the other places I have been to. The clear demarcation for pedestrian to cyclist to vehicles was incredible. Even the signals had three varied signs. One for the pedestrian, another for vehicles and the most incredible one for me, was the one for the cycles.

Copenhagen

Every age group owns a cycle in Copehagen. I was most fascinated when I saw the cycle stands populated instead of parking spaces for the cars.

Copenhagen

As designers, we learn to design as per the hierarchy, starting from the pedestrian , then cyclist and finally vehicles ( public transport first, then private vehicles) for a better and healthy living style. It was indeed a pleasure to witness how this would look in reality.

There were indeed a variety of cycles I had ever witnessed.

During one of our discussions, someone pointed out saying, how in most places, the aim is to get people off the car and onto the cycles, whereas in Copenhagen, they are way ahead of time. In fact they are finding ways to get people off the cycles and onto the roads for walking through the city.

Though there was one thing that intimidated me as a pedestrian, lack of control over cyclists speed.

Playful urban waterfronts

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Passers-by become generaters of urban life

 Urban waterfronts in the UK are often the focus of regeneration efforts, offering attractive settings for higher end residential and commercial development.  However, this often creates a very corporate and sanitised feel, and also restricts and excludes people from the space.

This waterfront setting in Copenhagen, however is a much more creative and inclusive approach, creating urban life, fun and recreation which still acts as an attraction.  The trampolines create an enticing opportunity for passers-by, and combined with the football enclosure, the Danes have cleverly created an attraction, and a reason to pause and marvel at the spectacle before you.

Basketball court provides an interesting stopping point and source of activity on Copenhagen waterfront

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passers-by become generaters of urban life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Bank in London is a prime example of how urban space can be used to both create a resource for a marginalised group (i.e. youths, skaters) and in doing so create a stage and attraction.  The animation and activity this simple (and cheap) solution captivates passers-by.

South Bank provides a stage and resource for skaters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Bank skaters attract an audience of passers-by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approaches such as these acknowledge and capitalise on human nature, and its fascination with watching other people, and the role of public spaces as a stage for doing so.  It also asks how and why people will come to and pause in a space, rather than on providing large scale and expensive economic development, often dressed up as cultural development.

A simple, yet highly successful aspect of South Bank, I believe is quite simply the handrail that divides the space between skater and audience, and crucially provides a comfortable place to watch, resting against the rail- this also prevents the risk of being involved in a skater pile up!  And not a bench in sight!

Copenhagen’s playful waterfront similarly uses simple street furniture to allow people to pause and take stock of the performance, with linear benches lining each side.  The theme at Copenhagen however is much less about spectacle, and more about participation- there is no cohort of marginalised trampoliners to marvel at, rather passers-by become unsuspectingly entangled with the performativity and spectacle.

Using urban spaces in more creative and inclusive ways is increasingly a method used to enliven public spaces, and create foci’s of activity which can support other development.  The idea is that small, and relatively cheap interventions, when done sensitively can produce exciting and unique environments that can create critical mass and sustain other forms of development- a low risk, high return method for stimulating and supporting development.  Particularly useful in a recession perhaps…

 

Playgrounds – The essence of childhood

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Playgrounds- The essence of childhood

I grew up in a formal environment, an apartment complex consisting of its own clubhouse and playground. When I was in pre-school, the playground were well-designed swings and slides, as I grew a little older, they were basketball courts, swimming pools etc. This was the effect of being brought up in a top down approach of design.

But during my holidays, my parents seemed determined to take me and my brother to the place where they grew up as kids. Where the open fields, ponds were my playground. There were no boundaries or limitations to what we did, we along with our cousins and other kids from the neighbourhood  made cricket bats out of the tree barks, we caught butterflies, made swings and little huts, plucked mangoes off the trees, invented our own fishing techniques, the excitement was out of the world.

My playground during holidays

My trip to Denmark, replayed my childhood memories. We saw two different styles of living and designing. The top-down approach in Copenhagen and grass root approach in Christiania.

Copenhagen had well designed creative spaces, the public and private spaces were defined with different types of physical barriers. On the other hand, Christiania was organic and flexible. The private and public spaces where not as distinctly demarcated.

SEB bank, Copenhagen

The concept of Freetown Christiania makes one feel at home, even in the midst of the private space and generates the feel of wanting to stay there. Each house is self-designed and built by the owner of the house, though they do not own the land. That’s exactly how a child’s growing up is influenced. The sense freedom, making them create their own play.

Christiania

There are many housings and schools that have started developing around this approach and are designing and building with the similar ideology. I noticed such influence on playgrounds of housings in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen

And one such school is The Valley School in Bangalore, India (http://www.thevalleyschool.info/). One of my friends who studied from this school is extremely creative and very observant. She has her unique perception and style in everything she does.

The influence of design and living style defines a child’s personality. I noticed a similar example, when we visited a cohousing scheme in Lancaster, where the basic concept revolves around sharing and sense of community. The toddlers seemed to be comfortable even with strangers around them, they were playful and smiled all the while.

These two examples definitely makes me rethink of how designing makes an impact on ones life. The influence of living styles speak volumes in a development of a child. Playgrounds definitely play a major role in shaping how a child grows up.

Claiming Your Space

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Christiania

 

One of my favourite childhood memories is when I worked with my father to build an amazing treehouse.  My wishes were carved by his saw and built with his hammer to become, what I consider, my first designed house.  Once it was finished I spent my time shaping the treehouse into my dream house.  This small piece of work proved that even a child could determine the possibilities of building shelter and shaping the landscape.

Christiania

The idea of building your own shelter to how you decide rarely exists in the world today, except for one community I have just learned about.  This community lives in a place called Christiania, which is located in Copenhagen, Denmark.  The land of Christiania used to be military barracks, but once the military left, locals quickly moved in to take over the vacant buildings and claim the land as theirs.  And no one stopped them.  The old brick buildings found new uses as houses and shops and new houses popped up in the land around them.  Over the years the “squatters” developed into a well-functioning community that now tries to be as sustainable as possible by reusing house materials and recycling on-site.

When I first walked into Christiania I had the feeling that the people had found a way to extend beyond their childhood and build their adult treehouses.  There is no land or housing regulations to restrict building efforts and they could build what they wanted to live in.  The community of Christiania works together to accomplish the building tasks and all the other work that’s needed to have a successful community.  This in return generates a built landscape much more playful and ‘free’ than one produced by a municipality’s approach.

Different from a cohousing scheme, certain residents from Christiania work full-time within the community and not on a voluntary basis.  These workers ensure that tasks like trash pick-up, recycling, carpentry and shops are running properly.  Christiania, in fact, did not feel like a scheme at all.  The community has developed across 40 years, literally growing from the ground up and they have deep-rooted policies and traditions.  The way that Christiania functions is similar to how a city would function, but this time it’s the local people making the decisions.

 

Christiania does share some similarities to other schemes of cohousing.  The Lancaster cohousing scheme in England is very small with a row of housing units along a river.  It was built so people could live in their own apartment, but yet participate in social activities outside of their house in community space.  The people also developed a sense of sharing for the purpose of sustainability or convenience, but in no way have they built their house from materials they found with the helping hands of their friendly community.  Christiania will always remain a unique product of a bottom-up development because the people produced everything without other forces interfering.  This does not happen anymore, at least not in the centre of a major European city.