Headline April 07, 2016/ ''' THE COPENHAGENERS ALL '''

''' THE COPENHAGENERS ALL '''

AT !WOW!'S  FIRST HISTORIC  CONCEPTUAL  HOST   -PAKISTAN, and for that matter, in  the entire  *Developing World*-..........

We are many,so many decades behind our very basic infrastructure needs, that it should and would take us a good century plus, to think futuristic. Bicycle lanes, even  bone jarring, bumpy rides, is not known here.

Bicycles, here, in the developing world.  are the ultimate poverty assets. And for the public record and disclosure, I don't have one. I walk........

Aptly named  *Butchers & Bicycles*  a new firm in Copenhagen, has recently patented a more agile kind that allows the three-wheelers to actually tilt, making it easier to take sharp corners.

Cycle Savers, a local startup, allows users to send  GPS signals to request a mechanic to come fix a flat tire or a broken chain.

But perhaps the biggest sign of the city's commitment to cycling is its decisions to build eight new bike bridges  {also open to pedestrians across the harbor}.

The new-controversial Copenhagen Gate Project at the Marble Pier, the formal name for the high rise bridge, is one of them.

The elevated bridge will unite two new towers containing apartments and offices while still allowing the many cruise ships that dock in the harbor to pass under it.

The construction would ensure that the two building complied with a municipal policy that requires all residences to be no more than 0.3 miles from public transportation.

American architect Steven Holl won the bidding process in 2008 with an eye-catching design that would require users  -bikes and all-  to take an elevator up to the bridge and back down to street level.

But the global economic crisis prevented the city from moving forward with the project until recently. And then the things got really complicated.: Last November, the development company behind the high-rises requested a new plan that would restrict the bridge's use to the buildings' occupants.

Morten Kabell,  Copenhagen's Mayor for technical and environmental affairs, opposes the change.

''The high bridge with public access is what the locals want,'' Kabell says.

The City Council, however, approved the request, and barring any further changes in design or political temperament, that means most Copenhageners will only be able to look at the bridge, and not use it.

    

Which is why a design already seen by some as precious as coming under further criticism. ''It's a magpie architecture,'' says Mikael Colville Andersen, an urban design expert whose company, Copenhagenize, advises cities on bicycle infrastructure.

''You know how magpies are attracted to shiny things?'' 

Copenhagen understands the value of a big, emblematic architecture. But now everything has changed, and the bridge has become totally nonfunctional.''

It is not the first time the city has run into trouble with its bicycle bridges. 

Although the striking Circle Bridge, designed by Icelandish Danish artist Olafur Eliaason, opened to much fanfare last summer, the Inner Harbor Bridge-

A larger project meant to facilitate cyclist commuting by uniting the busy Nyhavn and Christianshavn areas   -has been plagued with problems.

It was originally scheduled to open in early 2013, but its financial backer went bankrupt.

Once it was back on track, engineers discovered that the bridge's two sides, which weren't being built simultaneously from the two shores of the harbor, would not properly meet.

Although that problem was eventually resolved and the final connecting piece was installed over the simmer, the drawbridge remains unopened while further glitches are ironed out.

Instead of opening its elevated bridge to all cyclists and pedestrians, the company responsible  for the Copenhagen Gate has proposed  building a second bridge   -this one a drawbridge  -nearby that would open to the public. But that one would be of a normal height-hardly as wild a ride.    

Which leaves open the question of whether it is worth building the high-rise bridge at all.

Although the city has no shortage of  gee-whiz architecture  -its modern Opera House,  Blue Planet Aquarium and Black Diamond library are all stunning........those buildings function for a broad public.

And Danes are an unusually pragmatic people.

''When you ask people here why they ride bikes,'' says Colville Andersen, they don't say they do it for the exercise or for the environment. They say they do it because-

It's the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B.'' 

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See You all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and the Ecosystem 2011.

''' Bumpy Ride -All '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless