Cities and Countries

In Copenhagen, you never have to travel very far to see a beautiful public space or car-free street packed with people soaking up the day. In fact, since the early 1960s, 18 parking lots in the downtown area have been converted into public spaces for playing, meeting, and generally just doing things that human beings enjoy doing. If you're hungry, there are over 7,500 cafe seats in the city.

Another city, another would-be transit-oriented development undermined by a glut of parking. This time it's Newton, Massachusetts, where plans are underway to build 420,000 square feet of office space, 60,000 square feet of retail, and 190 units of housing at the Riverside terminus of Boston's Green Line, the highest-ridership light rail line in the country.

With Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith hinting cryptically at future plans for congestion pricing in New York, and with public discussion of congestion pricing percolating in San Francisco, it may be timely to check back in with London's congestion pricing system.

Earlier this week, London launched its first two "cycle superhighways" to decidedly mixed reviews. First announced by then-mayor Ken Livingstone in 2008, the cycle superhighways haven't quite lived up to the expectations for safe and fast bike travel implied by their name, as you can see in this BBC News video.

Last month, Streetfilms paid a visit to Copenhagen for the Velo-City 2010 conference. While we were there, of course we wanted to showcase the city's biking greatness. With such an abundance of bike advocates, planners, and city transportation officials attending from the U.S. and Canada, we also wanted to get their reactions to the city's bicycle infrastructure and culture, and ask how it compares to cycling conditions in their own cities.

On Sunday, June 27, Downtown Oakland opened two miles of its streets for traffic-free fun and activities -- zumba dancing, circus arts, BMX bike competitions and performances from local musicians. Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) partnered with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Oaklandish, Oakland YMCA, Cycles of Change, and other civic organizations to create the East Bay's first car-free event in the Ciclovía mold. Preparations are in the works for another Oaklavia in the coming months.

Now for some positive cycling news. Vancouver, British Columbia, in response to an infrastructure-driven jump in ridership, is installing a new separated two-way bike corridor on downtown's Dunsmuir Street. The project itself, part of an eventual network of protected lanes, seems impressive enough. But as this video shows, the would-be "greenest city in the world" absolutely nails the presentation.

Today marks the launch of what Hoboken officials are calling the first citywide car-sharing initiative in the country, with 42 shared cars parked on the streets of the mile-square city. The "Corner Cars" program, which is intended to reduce car-ownership rates, could provide a model for expanding car-sharing across the Hudson. What happens in Hoboken will demonstrate how much car-sharing can reduce traffic in areas where people already don't drive very much.

The Boston metro area has always had plenty of cyclists. But other than a few fantastic greenways like the Minuteman Trail and some forward-thinking bike lanes in Cambridge, they haven't had many good places to ride. In fact, until recently it wasn't uncommon to hear murmurs that Boston was the worst biking city in the country.