The Second Most Influential Streetfilm of All Time

With the 10-year benefit for Streetsblog and Streetfilms coming up on November 14 (get your tickets here!), we are counting down the 12 most influential Streetfilms of all time, as determined by Clarence Eckerson Jr.

Cycling Copenhagen, Through North American Eyes

Number of plays: 308,000

Publish date: July 15, 2010

Why is it here? This video was shot during the Velo City bike conference in Copenhagen in 2010. While watching the opening plenaries, the idea hit me: To convey what makes Copenhagen's bike network so incredible, why not get attendees from the United States to talk on camera about their experiences biking in this city for the first time? This was the first Streetfilm to ever hit 10,000 plays in one month, and I hear it's a great tool from advocates all over the world.

Fun fact: I spent my entire five days in Copenhagen shooting while hobbling around on a badly sprained ankle. Why? Within minutes of my arrival and picking up a rental bike, I looked up and saw a group of 25-30 people biking toward me in a protected bike lane. I’d NEVER seen so many bikes! So I leapt off my bike to get this special shot -- and that’s when my ankle went sideways. Ouch! As I spent the days icing, elevating, gobbling ibuprofen, and biking as much as I could handle (walking actually hurt more), I realized that wonderful scene I was in such a hurry to capture gets repeated dozens of times per hour all around Copenhagen. Yeah, there was really no need to rush.

The Streetfilms Countdown so far:

#12: Lakewood, Ohio: The Suburb Where Everyone Can Walk to School

#11: Mark Gorton Interviews Enrique Peñalosa

#10: Zurich: Where People Are Welcome and Cars Are Not

#9: Sneckdowns

#8: Complete Streets: It’s About More Than Bike Lanes

#7: Park(ing) Day

#6: NYC Streets Metamorphosis

#5: Bogotá BRT/Transmilenio

#4: Groningen: The World’s Cycling City

#3: The Case for Physically Separated Bike Lanes