Summary of Final Project

The final day of class we all shared 5-7 minutes presentations on a research topic of our choice. It was interesting to hear the wide variety of topics for 16 people! There are so many ideas and concepts for us to bring home. I was struggling to pick a topic I felt connected to. There were many things I enjoyed about the trip but my favorite was the biking. I feel like it sounds boring, whereas most people say "the XX was my favorite." As a true planning nerd, the bike lanes were my favorite. I told Rebecca I really enjoyed the concept of public and private space in Copenhagen and enjoyed the revitalization of the canals. After some brainstorming, she helped me realize all my favorite parts of the trip were about recreation. After concluding on this, I'm not surprised. It aligns with my personality and values. To create a formalized topic, I settled on how Copenhagen has created recreation destinations within the city that are most easily accessible by biking (or walking). The key word for me here is "destinations." I am not just focusing on green space, but rather placemaking for recreation that are very close in distance. Places that are identifiable, and as bad as it sounds, make for a good Instagram photo. The difference I am trying to make is that these places are more unique than going to a park and sitting at the picnic table. I choose to focus on Copenhagen because I didn't feel this recreational aspect in Amsterdam. In my opinion, most quality green space felt far away and bland in Amsterdam. Yes, you could kayak on the canals but the water looked dirty and it didn't seem as popular as Copenhagen. My report is going to start off with an explanation of public space ideology propagated by Gehl and Copenhagen/Denmark's goal of bikeable recreation. Then, I will use my experience in Copenhagen to narrate a few recreational examples. I will go into historical detail on the creation of canal swimming and Copenhill. If possible, I will get data on the numbers of visitors and their means of transit. I will also a transit map highlighting all the recreation destinations I biked to. Lastly, I will share what lessons Oregon/Eugene can learn. We need bike infrastructure, but we also need somewhere to bike to!

Graphic map of the outdoor recreation in Copenhagen that I biked to


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