Road Closures, Pedestrianization Key to Successful Urbanization

"If the pedestrian revival has a birthplace, it is [Copenhagen]. Considered a dull provincial burg in the 1950s, the cozy Danish capital now routinely tops international quality-of-life rankings - the ultra-hip current affairs journal Monocle recently declared it the world's most livable city. This newfound prominence rests largely on Copenhagen's inviting city centre, which is latticed with a half-dozen pedestrian-only promenades and a dozen car-free squares, stitched to the rest of the city by one of the world's more extensive networks of bicycle paths.

At the height of summer, a quarter-million people stroll Copenhagen's downtown streets each day, and 36 per cent of residents cycle to work, with the help of more than 300 kilometres of dedicated bike lanes and guided in congested areas by bike-only traffic lights...Most days the Strøget - the city's high street and Europe's longest pedestrian thoroughfare - is a forest of marching feet. Café seats encircle every downtown square, many of them draped on cool days in blankets for public use, with more sidewalk cafes crowding the narrowest back lanes.

The challenge [of pedestrianization and bicycle planning] may seem even greater for Canadian municipalities ...[but] Copenhagen has become a global leader in bicycle commuting despite a winter nearly as cold as that in most Canadian cities and much drearier."