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Biking Into a Better Urban Future

As cities around the world are growing, we need a long-term vision on how they can remain habitable environments for their citizens. Cycling is on the rise as a sustainable, affordable and healthy mode of urban transportation, but after years of car-centric urban planning, cities like Berlin are struggling to catch up with the demand for bicycle infrastructure.

Following the Dutch
and the Danish

The Danish consultancy firm Copenhagenize has helped cities worldwide to improve their biking infrastructure. In their Copenhagenize Index the company ranks cities based on their bicycle-friendliness:

Although Berlin‘s citizens complain a lot about the lack of infrastructure, the city ranks 10th regarding bicycle-friendliness globally! Copenhagenize gives Berlin high credit for the citizens‘ extraordinary motivation to cycle and the rising number of cargo bikes in use, which proves that the citizens are ready for a car-free daily life.

Still, Berlin cannot (yet) compete with cycling- utopias such as Copenhagen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, these cities are the winners of the ranking, but the Dutch and Danish have been working on it for many years.
Copenhagenize came to the conclusion that also in Berlin „only improving the infrastructure and creating a better cycling network will now bring the city forward.“

What Motivates
Berliners To Bike?

The German newspaper Tagesspiegel is investigating the status quo of bicycling in the city of Berlin. Based on their survey and sensor data, we present here insights on the current situation:

Why Do People Feel Unsafe on Their Bikes?

Green Miles of Berlin

Morten Kabell (Copenhagenize) recently said in German newspaper SZ: „The first thing you need to do, is make cycling safe,“ and thanks to the successful „Cycling Referendum“ proposed by the residents of Berlin to the city government, the focus is now on cycling as a sustainable mode of urban transport.

To increase the safety of bicyclist, the city of Berlin started to plan „protected bike lanes“ on streets where vehicle traffic is especially dangerous for cyclists. The first green bike lane was opened in November 2018, but this is just the beginning.

The referendum has also lead the government to introduce a new law for all future urban planning. It requires that all bicycles and public transportation are to be considered as a priority over all other types of personal vehicles on the road.

Testing a Bicycle
Highway for Berlin- Kreuzberg

However, for some Berliners, these changes are not being implemented fast enough. Three years ago, a collective of biking enthusiasts proposed an initial concept for a cycle highway through Berlin, running under the public transport highline U1.

Since then, they have refined their initial design and upon a successful proposal, it is now being taken into consideration by the municipality.

In April 2019 the city of Berlin will determine the feasibility of one part of the highway going through Kreuzberg, one of Berlin‘s most popular and fastest growing neighbourhoods.

The new „Radbahn“ will be an opportunity to showcase and experiment with many innovations in urban mobility. The founders imagine the first part of the cycle highway to „invite the whole world to feel and experiment how Radbahn would look like one day.“

Becoming a
Future-Proof City

The way in which Berliners are demanding a better cycling infrastructure for their city is inspiring for anyone who also feels that their city needs to improve road conditions for cyclists.

Berlin is the perfect example of how public engagement and cooperation of residents and government can lead to improvements of the urban framework. This way, Berlin is taking steps towards becoming a future-proof living environment for its citizens.