Week 1: Copenhagen

 Unsurprisingly, Copenhagen has taken the top spot on my list of favorite cities, knocking down Lisbon, Portugal. Walking from the Metro to the hostel on the first night I felt like I was in some sort of replica city like Disney. There were no cars, everything was quiet, clean, and still. Most days, I take a bike ride on my own to explore the city. Biking is so easy and loss stress, that it's an easy transportation choice. When I go to a new city, I normally walk around everywhere and easily get a lay of the land. I've noticed that with biking everywhere, it's taken me longer to find my way around. I look around while I'm biking when I'm on less crowded streets, but it's still a bit confusing. On Saturday, I didn't ride my bike anywhere because I felt like I was missing out on the walking aspect. I also feel like it's easier to miss out on shops and such while biking. But, I'm biking around as a tourist, not a commuter. If I lived here, that tension wouldn’t be as present. Copenhagen has also been the perfect combination of European and modern design. I like that the city still feels like an older European city with the cobblestones and cute buildings, but also has sustainability and walkability - combining the two best things. I also think the modern buildings fit in with the surrounding environment. I'm not sure how they make that work but it doesn't appear as jarring combining the two styles. In Philadelphia, they would build super modern houses next to classic rowhomes and it looked terrible. It also was taking away from the culture and character of the neighborhood. 

Another story I found interesting was how Copenhagen got to where they are. I was under the assumption that some of Copenhagen had always been like this. At the architect firm, we were showed progression pictures and gained historical context to the rise of bicycling. I learned that the city was broke in the 70's and 80's and youth were dying from traffic. As a result, Copenhagen started to build bicycle lanes because they were a cheap way for everyone to get around and safer for youth on the streets. As a planner, it's really interesting to think that Copenhagen built this all out - every bike lane, traffic light, curb cut, etc. It just shows that this infrastructure is possible. 

Other notable features that I enjoy are the abundancy of green space, sense of safety, reduction in noise and air pollution, and public space access. I think its fascinating that they cleaned up the canal and created public swimming pools. It's such an obvious solution but yet genius. Swimming along the canals or in the constructed pools is free, which is another great feature. Our tour guide said that Copenhagen residents can have these nice features as long as they don't do anything stupid. It's funny to watch everyone play on the swimming docks - doing flips and jumping off high platforms. In the U.S. that would never be allowed. There would be someone watching over everything, whistling at you to stop playing around.