250

News

Copenhagen to help inspire other cities to become more bicycle-friendly 

Christian Wenande
October 8th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

13 European cities to motivate one another as part of EU’s Horizon 2020-program 

Copenhagen has been identified as one of 13 European cities that will help inspire one another to become more bicycle-friendly. 

The ‘Handshake’ program is part of EU’s Horizon 2020-program and will see Copenhagen act as a mentor city for Manchester, Riga and Helsinki.  

“Handshake gives us a very exciting opportunity to learn from the best. We want to turn Manchester into a city in which the most obvious and attractive mode of transport is to walk or cycle,” said Chris Boardman, the former Olympic time trial champ and commissioner for cycling in Manchester. 

“The co-operation allows us to get a far better understanding of what Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Munich have done so well.”

Manchester has plans to invest 12.5 billion kroner over the next decade to improve its bicycle infrastructure. 

READ MORE: More investment needed in Copenhagen cycling infrastructure, review suggests

Learning from Amsterdam 
As mentor cities, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Munich will help Bordeaux, Bruges, Cadiz, Krakow, Helsinki, Manchester, Rome, Riga, Turin and Dublin. 

Meanwhile, the Danish capital hopes to learn from the likes of Amsterdam regarding the handling of abandoned bicycles and from Munich in terms of behaviour in traffic. 

The 13 cities met up for the first time in Copenhagen last week to see what the Danish capital has done to make cycling more attractive for its citizens. 

The EU-financed program will span the next 3.5 years and include workshops, study trips and co-operate with the University of Amsterdam to systematise and qualify experiences from the participating cities. 


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”