
Copenhagenizing Paris - cellover
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2015/11/copenhagenizing-paris.html
======
genug
> the current sub-standard understanding of Best Practice infrastructure

> Best Practice has been established. It's ridiculous to try and reinvent the
> wheel.

> It's simple if Paris wants it to be.

If the author thinks that the understanding of "Best Practice" is substandard,
maybe he should post a link to what he means, instead of leaving the term
undefined and then acting smug about it.

Googling "Best Practice bicycle" returns a number of documents from different
cities. It's unclear which of these (if any) correspond to the author's idea
of "best practice" for cycling infrastructure.

I did find a post by the same author
([http://www.copenhagenize.com/2013/04/the-copenhagenize-
bicyc...](http://www.copenhagenize.com/2013/04/the-copenhagenize-bicycle-
planning-guide.html)) which advertises itself as a "planning guide", but is
actually just a poster made by someone who was apparently more interested in
graphic design than in actually conveying information.

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jmnicolas
As usual with the French left, a lot of wishful thinking but not much will be
done (a lot of money will be spent though). I bet you that by 2020 Paris will
not be the best bicycle city in the world, far from it.

And btw, we French don't have a bicycle culture. For us every day bicycling
(not sport) is for people that can't afford a car (and the rare idealists that
think they're going to save the planet).

I'm always amazed at the number of bikes I see when I go in Germany or Holland
(never went to Denmark). It's not a matter of money, they are richer than us,
it's really cultural.

If you really want to see more bicycles on French roads you need gas to be at
about 2€ / liter (Google says it's about 8 bucks for a gallon).

~~~
louhike
As a cyclist (not an idealist though), I consider the major problem in France
to be the infrastructure. A lot of people do not use their bike because it is
dangerous in the cities and because there are almost no place to park your
bike. I suppose it is because of the car culture as you said. It was not
considered worth it to invest in it until recently.

~~~
crocal
This. And the fact that Paris has a good metro network coverage.

~~~
Arnt
The Paris metro is really nice, but bicycling would be faster if the traffic
lights etc were friendly. It's a nice dense city where you could go far in 20
minutes on a bicycle.

On the metro it's easy to waste 20 minutes just on the extras — walking
to/from the station, inside the stations, waiting for the trains. Each of
these things takes just a few minutes because the stations are close and the
trains run often, but few+few+few so easily =30, particularly if you have to
change trains.

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crocal
FWIW, when you are a Parisian and you know what "copenhagenize" means, someone
claiming to "copenhagenize Paris" is not welcomed these days, considering the
attacks we just suffered.

~~~
teh_klev
You've lost me. Can you explain what encouraging safe cycling spaces has to do
with the recent attacks, and why the former is considered unwelcome?

~~~
crocal
Copenhagenize is a term that was coined after the second battle of Copenhagen
in 1807. During this battle, the British fleet surrounded the city and
massively bombarded it to submission. The entire Danish fleet was seized or
destroyed. The destruction was so complete that a new word was invented: to
"copenhagenize" a city is NOT a nice thing to say.

~~~
teh_klev
I think you've got your facts a bit wrong:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagenization_(naval)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagenization_\(naval\))

 _" Copenhagenization refers to the practice of confiscating the warships of a
defeated enemy."_

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_advocacy#Copenhageniza...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_advocacy#Copenhagenization)

 _" Copenhagenization is a design strategy in which urban planning and design
are centered on making a city more accessible to bicyclists and pedestrians,
and less car dependent"_

I think we can be sensible and infer that they mean the latter, and not some
obscure 19th century naval terminology for confiscating ships, and therefore
no offence intended.

~~~
crocal
I knew that. The sensible thing to do is not to use a term that has a very
violent historical meaning for an unrelated topic. Depending on who you talk
to and when, you may not get a positive feedback. That was my point.

------
atemerev
Cars are for humans, too.

~~~
huskyr
Here are 60 humans and the space required to transport them by car, bus and
bicycle:

[http://imgur.com/mxGXuuR](http://imgur.com/mxGXuuR)

~~~
atemerev
People in prisons take even less space. Freedom is also is in the equation. A
car gives me more choices than a bicycle. If there are too much cars (can
happen), perhaps this city is becoming too big. Why live in crowded spaces, if
there are many alternatives available?

~~~
shoo
i completely agree.

in the future we have less space per person as there are more people, and
politically no-one really wants to talk about population growth or
demographics (unless they want to encourage people to breed faster).

the car is obviously superior to the bicycle for the reasons you state, it is
also obviously inferior in terms of environmental damage.

