6 ms·

Copenhagen Cycles with the Young, the Old, the Busy and the Dead

66 points by dankohn1 7y ago

hestefisk 7y ago
One of the meh reasons people love their bikes in DK is the high tax on cars. It is considered a luxury good. The taxation is approx 200% on market price, similar to Singapore.
- tonyedgecombe 7y ago
  85% for cars up to approx $27,000. https://skat.dk/skat.aspx?oid=2244599 https://skat.dk/skat.aspx?oid=2244599
  - flexie 7y ago
    You are both kind of right and wrong. It's actually 85 percent for the value of the car up to approximately $28,500 in 2019 figures, and then 150 percent on the exceeding value. But: Add 25 percent VAT to it as well. So take a standard car which is $40.000 without taxes. It will be: (28,500x1.85+11,500x2.5)1.25 = 101,844. So it is more or less like a 155 percent tax. Take an expensive car which is $80,000 before tax: (28,500x1.85+51,500x2.5)1.25 = $226,844 That is like a 184 percent tax. On top of that, there are other taxes that you have to pay yearly or biannually, including a tax depending on mileage, another depending on weight, and there is also heavy taxation on gasoline. On your bike, you pay the 25 percent VAT.
    - ptr 7y ago
      Wow, and I guess the same taxation is applied on cars imported from Sweden/Germany? But how do you enforce that within Schengen? Might of course be an automatic check during registration, but is there no loophole?
      - jan_g 7y ago
        Yeah, there isn't free flow of car registration in EU or within its Schengen area. If you buy a car in another EU country you need to register it in your country of residence and it will be taxed and slapped on with various fees according to local rules. Another example, if you move from let's say Germany to Denmark, it's incredibly easy in many ways, but not when it comes to your car. You're allowed to have it on your German registration papers for 6 months, then you have to register it according to Danish rules, which comes with a hefty tax payment. You can choose to not do that, but then whenever you get pulled over by police, they will check the papers and fine you heavily for not registering the car in Denmark. Many expats decide to not bother at all and just sell the car in their home country. There may be a loophole somewhere, but for the regular person there is no avoiding the taxman.
    - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
      >So take a standard car which is $40.000 without taxes. Is that really the median car sold in Denmark? I'm doubtful.
      - flexie 7y ago
        Not in Denmark because of the tax, but in other countries with similar wealth it's pretty standard. In the US and in Germany it's around $35,000.
        tonyedgecombe 7y ago
        So take a standard car which is $40.000 without taxes. Not in Denmark because of the tax You seem to be contradicting yourself :) Actually I did have a dig around after my comment and I'm surprised just how much people are spending on their cars. The median wage in the UK isn't much higher than the median new car price.
- Thlom 7y ago
  Tax on cars is the same or higher in Norway (Except EV’s), and here we love our cars, not our bikes.
  - ChuckNorris89 7y ago
    Infrastructure makes the difference not taxation. If biking is a pleasant experience people will adopt it en masses. If it's a drag on their life then people want to drive instead. Simplez. Give me a nice bike path network throughout the city and I get rid of my car tomorrow. But those kind of projects are too complex for lazy politicians who seek to fix everything with taxation and call it a day.
    - anarsdk 7y ago
      Completely agree. I'm saving time and feeling a lot safer biking through Copenhagen compared to driving a car.
      - Galaxeblaffer 7y ago
        So you really feel safer on a bike than in a car ? Not that I feel unsafe biking in Copenhagen but I definitely feel much more safe in a car, metal cage around me and all that
        Vinnl 7y ago
        I think I feel safer cycling in a city that's designed for cyclists first, than I feel in a car in a city that's designed for cars first, yes. Though certainly the time spent not driving a car gives most of the unsafe feeling in the latter city.
  - altacc 7y ago
    We now also love our electric bikes! That seems to be a big factor for getting many people cycling around Oslo's suburbs.
- karrwasz 7y ago
  Not really a luxury good since salaries are extremally high in DK. The tax was a barrier several years ago, but nowadays it's not a big deal.
kazinator 7y ago
> “People here say there’s no such thing as bad weather,” said Ms. Gulsrud, 39. “Only bad clothing.” Bullshit from people who take 1 km trips in a pancake-flat town, on department store cruiser bikes.
- dang 7y ago
  Can you please not post flamebait? Bicycling turns out to be one of the most flamewar-prone topics that exists, and the flamewars are particularly dumb.
- Twixes 7y ago
  If you say so.
- golemiprague 7y ago
  That's true but you can use electric bikes for those more hilly or hot places, take a look at Tel Aviv for example, everybody are on electric bikes or scooters even though the infrastructure there is much worst than in Copenhagen, but it is still better than a car.
- journalctl 7y ago
  What a remarkable testament to the power of automaker advertising that something as banal as riding a bike gets people so upset.
mirimir 7y ago
> "People here say there’s no such thing as bad weather," said Ms. Gulsrud, 39. "Only bad clothing." That's true for anything outdoor in winter that involves physical exertion. Bicycling, running, cross-country skiing, whatever. Cotton and down can kill you. Because they tend to get soaked with sweat, and then lose insulating capacity. So you want silk, wool or polypro fleece, and Goretex.
- Cougher 7y ago
  "Cotton and down can kill you." It isn't like they - or most of the rest of us - are climbing Everest here.
  - mirimir 7y ago
    I guess that you've never lived somewhere that's way below freezing in the winter. Or at least, worked up a sweat outside, there.
    - Cougher 7y ago
      The New England climate that I've lived in for the bulk of my life is very close to Copenhagen's. I also love the winter and I exercise vigorously almost daily, working up a sweat out in the woods. Amazingly enough, most people during the course of human history didn't have access to fancy fabrics, yet we managed to not get "killed". Living in a city has the added advantage of having any number of heated establishments that you can step into if you're about to die.
      - mirimir 7y ago
        Hey, sorry about my tone. My experience is in areas with far colder winters. And cross-country skiing for long distances through public land, with only occasional shelter. Before there were cellphones.
- Grustaf 7y ago
  As much as I like silk and wool, considering that it very rarely goes below freezing here in Copenhagen I wouldn’t say it’s an issue. Besides, the town is completely flat, so not much sweating.
Grustaf 7y ago
> Nearly half of all journeys to school and work in Copenhagen take place on bicycles. And people like it that way. Why wouldn’t they like it that way?
- aaron695 7y ago
  Because we have fought hard to leave the manual labour of the past. The death, poverty, rape, famine, violence, sadness, intolerance it brings. So to have manual labour used for half of all journeys and be consider good is a surprise. I really don't find this a hard thing to understand?
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
  Not too long ago the streets of Beijing and Saigon were the same, but people didn't like it that way and moved first to motorbikes and then cars as soon as they could.
  - Grustaf 7y ago
    Ah, maybe from the point of view of Americans and people from poor countries people bike because they have to, but in Europe it’s mostly because it’s convenient, healthy and pleasant.
    - ced 7y ago
      In developing countries, cars are status symbols. Once everybody can afford one, that stops being the case.
      - Grustaf 7y ago
        Yeah exactly. The funny thing is that the US still has that developing country mindset about cars and other creature comforts. I wonder why that is.
    - pintxo 7y ago
      We might also want to look at climate differences between locations. Denmark and Netherlands have a rather enjoyable e with regards to biking. Other places less so. The other factors are possibly geography and the pure size of the location.
timzaman 7y ago
Copenhagen? Visit Amsterdam. Crazy amount of bikes for decades now.
- vanderZwan 7y ago
  Just the Netherlands in general. In fact, Amsterdam has so many tourists that don't understand how biking works in the Netherlands that you're arguably better off in just about any other Dutch city.
- nothrabannosir 7y ago
  Copenhagen has a constant PR push for international recognition of their biking prowess, including such histrionics as labelling themselves the “bike capital of the world.” Of course, we all know who that really is; the silent captain who needs no validation. A good wine needs no bush ;) (with <3 :) )
- Scarblac 7y ago
  Amsterdam isn't particularly good for cycling compared with other Dutch cities. I like Groningen ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWf5fbSUNAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWf5fbSUNAg ) because they designed infrastructure so that it is often faster to take the bicycle than the car in the city (in Amsterdam that happened more or less by accident).
  - Vinnl 7y ago
    Also interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzWe4VHLHU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzWe4VHLHU
  - smartbit 7y ago
    Groningen is particular interesting because their were (probably) the first city in the world that gave priority to bicycles and public transport. On 19 sept 1977 the Verkeercirculatieplan [0] came into effect that prevented cars from passing through the city center. Cars had to circle around the old center. This revolutionary plan was envisioned by a couple of young politicians of the Social Democratic party, in particular Jacques Wallage, who took power in 1972 [1] to form the first Dutch left wing B&w [2]. [0] https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkeerscirculatieplan_Groningen https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkeerscirculatieplan_Groni... [1] http://benohofman.nl/verhalen/bestuurscrisis http://benohofman.nl/verhalen/bestuurscrisis [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_van_burgemeester_en_wethouders https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_van_burgemeester_en_...
Cougher 7y ago
". . . a vengeful breeze forces damp chill to the bone. Sullen gray clouds occupy the sky, dispensing an apathetic drizzle." It's an interesting subject to be sure, but it's hard for me to want to read the rest of the article when the first paragraph finishes like that.
- toomanybeersies 7y ago
  I like it personally. I don't particularly care for reading fiction, but I enjoy creative writing. It gets boring reading too many technical articles that are dry as sawdust.
- Symbiote 7y ago
  That seems like an accurate description of Copenhagen weather in November.
INTPenis 7y ago
To anyone fascinated by the "dead" part, here's the actual link: https://www.bededamerne.dk/rustvogncyklen https://www.bededamerne.dk/rustvogncyklen I live near Copenhagen and hadn't noticed this. Probably because I don't watch TV. I love it.
spodek 7y ago
> “Why wouldn’t you bike? It’s stupid not to bike.” This article seems aimed at Americans. After all, it's our paper of record. America doubles down on cars over and over again. Building roads and widening them intending to reduce congestion, causing more congestion. Ride-sharing intended to reduce congestion, causing more congestion. Now self-driving cars intending to reduce congestion, will cause more congestion. We spend billions making the same mistakes. New York's biking infrastructure, while laudable, pales in comparison to the roads we build everywhere else. We have so much potential. Instead we create obesity.
- fnord77 7y ago
  “we” don’t double-down on cars. Some billionaire activists in the country have an anti-public transportation agenda and lobby hard against mass transit projects.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    If I asked all the people I know if they would prefer a detached house with a front yard, backyard, two car garage, driveway, or if they would prefer living closer to other people in smaller residences so that bicycling and walking places was possible, I’m willing to bet everything I own that pretty much everyone will choose the first option. The obesity statistics alone would make it hard for me to believe most people would vote against de prioritizing travel by cars. Hopefully it is possible to get some change on a city level though. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
    - bobthepanda 7y ago
      We have culturally ingrained the idea of a nice suburban garden home for the better part of a century. If you just ask them directly of course everyone will say they prefer it. Of course, framing of questions also matters. “Do you want your child to have a safe walk to school”, “Would you like to have an alternative to sitting in traffic”, “Would you like a grocery store within walking distance” are all essentially questions in the same vein that would garner different responses. Average house soze in the US has also gotten comically large over the past few decades. Square footage per person has basically doubled in the last 50 years, but it’s not like furniture has doubled in size. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/new-us-homes-today-are-1000-square-feet-larger-than-in-1973-and-living-space-per-person-has-nearly-doubled/ https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/new-us-homes-today-are-1000-s... It’s also worth noting that even if a majority of people want the nice suburban big house, it’s not 100% of people, and yet it is the overwhelming majority of new construction. This is reflected both in housing prices (urban areas command much higher prices per sq ft) and complaints about gentrification in historic areas that have the bones to support these kinds of environments.
nrki 7y ago
I would encourage anyone to visit Copenhagen and cities in the Netherlands to see how non-car-obsessed cities are like. And generally how well things work. People in general are happy, healthy - they live slow - there are very few homeless. It's like living in the future. But it will never take root in Anglo countries until their obsession against "communism" goes away. I think that their drive towards socialism is the logical way for humanity to save ourselves. Working together towards health, happiness, progress and survival.
stefs 7y ago
> “It’s A to B-ism,” said Mikael Colville-Andersen, a raffish bicycle evangelist who preaches the gospel of Copenhagen to other cities. “It’s the fastest way from point to point.” i live in a smaller city of 300k people, i own a car but ride my bike as much possible. i've been to the hospital several times recently for prenatal classes (my girlfriend took the bus). once i was late, really pushed it and it took me 8 minutes (on my bike, that is). last time we were due for an examination and took the car - the same distance took us 28 minutes, 3.5 times as long.

66 points by dankohn1 7y ago

One of the meh reasons people love their bikes in DK is the high tax on cars. It is considered a luxury good. The taxation is approx 200% on market price, similar to Singapore.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago
85% for cars up to approx $27,000. https://skat.dk/skat.aspx?oid=2244599 https://skat.dk/skat.aspx?oid=2244599
- flexie 7y ago
  You are both kind of right and wrong. It's actually 85 percent for the value of the car up to approximately $28,500 in 2019 figures, and then 150 percent on the exceeding value. But: Add 25 percent VAT to it as well. So take a standard car which is $40.000 without taxes. It will be: (28,500x1.85+11,500x2.5)1.25 = 101,844. So it is more or less like a 155 percent tax. Take an expensive car which is $80,000 before tax: (28,500x1.85+51,500x2.5)1.25 = $226,844 That is like a 184 percent tax. On top of that, there are other taxes that you have to pay yearly or biannually, including a tax depending on mileage, another depending on weight, and there is also heavy taxation on gasoline. On your bike, you pay the 25 percent VAT.
  - ptr 7y ago
    Wow, and I guess the same taxation is applied on cars imported from Sweden/Germany? But how do you enforce that within Schengen? Might of course be an automatic check during registration, but is there no loophole?
    - jan_g 7y ago
      Yeah, there isn't free flow of car registration in EU or within its Schengen area. If you buy a car in another EU country you need to register it in your country of residence and it will be taxed and slapped on with various fees according to local rules. Another example, if you move from let's say Germany to Denmark, it's incredibly easy in many ways, but not when it comes to your car. You're allowed to have it on your German registration papers for 6 months, then you have to register it according to Danish rules, which comes with a hefty tax payment. You can choose to not do that, but then whenever you get pulled over by police, they will check the papers and fine you heavily for not registering the car in Denmark. Many expats decide to not bother at all and just sell the car in their home country. There may be a loophole somewhere, but for the regular person there is no avoiding the taxman.
  - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
    >So take a standard car which is $40.000 without taxes. Is that really the median car sold in Denmark? I'm doubtful.
    - flexie 7y ago
      Not in Denmark because of the tax, but in other countries with similar wealth it's pretty standard. In the US and in Germany it's around $35,000.
      - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
        So take a standard car which is $40.000 without taxes. Not in Denmark because of the tax You seem to be contradicting yourself :) Actually I did have a dig around after my comment and I'm surprised just how much people are spending on their cars. The median wage in the UK isn't much higher than the median new car price.
Thlom 7y ago
Tax on cars is the same or higher in Norway (Except EV’s), and here we love our cars, not our bikes.
- ChuckNorris89 7y ago
  Infrastructure makes the difference not taxation. If biking is a pleasant experience people will adopt it en masses. If it's a drag on their life then people want to drive instead. Simplez. Give me a nice bike path network throughout the city and I get rid of my car tomorrow. But those kind of projects are too complex for lazy politicians who seek to fix everything with taxation and call it a day.
  - anarsdk 7y ago
    Completely agree. I'm saving time and feeling a lot safer biking through Copenhagen compared to driving a car.
    - Galaxeblaffer 7y ago
      So you really feel safer on a bike than in a car ? Not that I feel unsafe biking in Copenhagen but I definitely feel much more safe in a car, metal cage around me and all that
      - Vinnl 7y ago
        I think I feel safer cycling in a city that's designed for cyclists first, than I feel in a car in a city that's designed for cars first, yes. Though certainly the time spent not driving a car gives most of the unsafe feeling in the latter city.
- altacc 7y ago
  We now also love our electric bikes! That seems to be a big factor for getting many people cycling around Oslo's suburbs.
karrwasz 7y ago
Not really a luxury good since salaries are extremally high in DK. The tax was a barrier several years ago, but nowadays it's not a big deal.

kazinator 7y ago

> “People here say there’s no such thing as bad weather,” said Ms. Gulsrud, 39. “Only bad clothing.” Bullshit from people who take 1 km trips in a pancake-flat town, on department store cruiser bikes.

dang 7y ago
Can you please not post flamebait? Bicycling turns out to be one of the most flamewar-prone topics that exists, and the flamewars are particularly dumb.
Twixes 7y ago
If you say so.
golemiprague 7y ago
That's true but you can use electric bikes for those more hilly or hot places, take a look at Tel Aviv for example, everybody are on electric bikes or scooters even though the infrastructure there is much worst than in Copenhagen, but it is still better than a car.
journalctl 7y ago
What a remarkable testament to the power of automaker advertising that something as banal as riding a bike gets people so upset.

mirimir 7y ago

> "People here say there’s no such thing as bad weather," said Ms. Gulsrud, 39. "Only bad clothing." That's true for anything outdoor in winter that involves physical exertion. Bicycling, running, cross-country skiing, whatever. Cotton and down can kill you. Because they tend to get soaked with sweat, and then lose insulating capacity. So you want silk, wool or polypro fleece, and Goretex.

Cougher 7y ago
"Cotton and down can kill you." It isn't like they - or most of the rest of us - are climbing Everest here.
- mirimir 7y ago
  I guess that you've never lived somewhere that's way below freezing in the winter. Or at least, worked up a sweat outside, there.
  - Cougher 7y ago
    The New England climate that I've lived in for the bulk of my life is very close to Copenhagen's. I also love the winter and I exercise vigorously almost daily, working up a sweat out in the woods. Amazingly enough, most people during the course of human history didn't have access to fancy fabrics, yet we managed to not get "killed". Living in a city has the added advantage of having any number of heated establishments that you can step into if you're about to die.
    - mirimir 7y ago
      Hey, sorry about my tone. My experience is in areas with far colder winters. And cross-country skiing for long distances through public land, with only occasional shelter. Before there were cellphones.
Grustaf 7y ago
As much as I like silk and wool, considering that it very rarely goes below freezing here in Copenhagen I wouldn’t say it’s an issue. Besides, the town is completely flat, so not much sweating.

Grustaf 7y ago

> Nearly half of all journeys to school and work in Copenhagen take place on bicycles. And people like it that way. Why wouldn’t they like it that way?

aaron695 7y ago
Because we have fought hard to leave the manual labour of the past. The death, poverty, rape, famine, violence, sadness, intolerance it brings. So to have manual labour used for half of all journeys and be consider good is a surprise. I really don't find this a hard thing to understand?
9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
Not too long ago the streets of Beijing and Saigon were the same, but people didn't like it that way and moved first to motorbikes and then cars as soon as they could.
- Grustaf 7y ago
  Ah, maybe from the point of view of Americans and people from poor countries people bike because they have to, but in Europe it’s mostly because it’s convenient, healthy and pleasant.
  - ced 7y ago
    In developing countries, cars are status symbols. Once everybody can afford one, that stops being the case.
    - Grustaf 7y ago
      Yeah exactly. The funny thing is that the US still has that developing country mindset about cars and other creature comforts. I wonder why that is.
  - pintxo 7y ago
    We might also want to look at climate differences between locations. Denmark and Netherlands have a rather enjoyable e with regards to biking. Other places less so. The other factors are possibly geography and the pure size of the location.

timzaman 7y ago

Copenhagen? Visit Amsterdam. Crazy amount of bikes for decades now.

vanderZwan 7y ago
Just the Netherlands in general. In fact, Amsterdam has so many tourists that don't understand how biking works in the Netherlands that you're arguably better off in just about any other Dutch city.
nothrabannosir 7y ago
Copenhagen has a constant PR push for international recognition of their biking prowess, including such histrionics as labelling themselves the “bike capital of the world.” Of course, we all know who that really is; the silent captain who needs no validation. A good wine needs no bush ;) (with <3 :) )
Scarblac 7y ago
Amsterdam isn't particularly good for cycling compared with other Dutch cities. I like Groningen ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWf5fbSUNAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWf5fbSUNAg ) because they designed infrastructure so that it is often faster to take the bicycle than the car in the city (in Amsterdam that happened more or less by accident).
- Vinnl 7y ago
  Also interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzWe4VHLHU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzWe4VHLHU
- smartbit 7y ago
  Groningen is particular interesting because their were (probably) the first city in the world that gave priority to bicycles and public transport. On 19 sept 1977 the Verkeercirculatieplan [0] came into effect that prevented cars from passing through the city center. Cars had to circle around the old center. This revolutionary plan was envisioned by a couple of young politicians of the Social Democratic party, in particular Jacques Wallage, who took power in 1972 [1] to form the first Dutch left wing B&w [2]. [0] https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkeerscirculatieplan_Groningen https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkeerscirculatieplan_Groni... [1] http://benohofman.nl/verhalen/bestuurscrisis http://benohofman.nl/verhalen/bestuurscrisis [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_van_burgemeester_en_wethouders https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_van_burgemeester_en_...

Cougher 7y ago

". . . a vengeful breeze forces damp chill to the bone. Sullen gray clouds occupy the sky, dispensing an apathetic drizzle." It's an interesting subject to be sure, but it's hard for me to want to read the rest of the article when the first paragraph finishes like that.

toomanybeersies 7y ago
I like it personally. I don't particularly care for reading fiction, but I enjoy creative writing. It gets boring reading too many technical articles that are dry as sawdust.
Symbiote 7y ago
That seems like an accurate description of Copenhagen weather in November.

INTPenis 7y ago

To anyone fascinated by the "dead" part, here's the actual link: https://www.bededamerne.dk/rustvogncyklen https://www.bededamerne.dk/rustvogncyklen I live near Copenhagen and hadn't noticed this. Probably because I don't watch TV. I love it.

spodek 7y ago

> “Why wouldn’t you bike? It’s stupid not to bike.” This article seems aimed at Americans. After all, it's our paper of record. America doubles down on cars over and over again. Building roads and widening them intending to reduce congestion, causing more congestion. Ride-sharing intended to reduce congestion, causing more congestion. Now self-driving cars intending to reduce congestion, will cause more congestion. We spend billions making the same mistakes. New York's biking infrastructure, while laudable, pales in comparison to the roads we build everywhere else. We have so much potential. Instead we create obesity.

fnord77 7y ago
“we” don’t double-down on cars. Some billionaire activists in the country have an anti-public transportation agenda and lobby hard against mass transit projects.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  If I asked all the people I know if they would prefer a detached house with a front yard, backyard, two car garage, driveway, or if they would prefer living closer to other people in smaller residences so that bicycling and walking places was possible, I’m willing to bet everything I own that pretty much everyone will choose the first option. The obesity statistics alone would make it hard for me to believe most people would vote against de prioritizing travel by cars. Hopefully it is possible to get some change on a city level though. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
  - bobthepanda 7y ago
    We have culturally ingrained the idea of a nice suburban garden home for the better part of a century. If you just ask them directly of course everyone will say they prefer it. Of course, framing of questions also matters. “Do you want your child to have a safe walk to school”, “Would you like to have an alternative to sitting in traffic”, “Would you like a grocery store within walking distance” are all essentially questions in the same vein that would garner different responses. Average house soze in the US has also gotten comically large over the past few decades. Square footage per person has basically doubled in the last 50 years, but it’s not like furniture has doubled in size. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/new-us-homes-today-are-1000-square-feet-larger-than-in-1973-and-living-space-per-person-has-nearly-doubled/ https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/new-us-homes-today-are-1000-s... It’s also worth noting that even if a majority of people want the nice suburban big house, it’s not 100% of people, and yet it is the overwhelming majority of new construction. This is reflected both in housing prices (urban areas command much higher prices per sq ft) and complaints about gentrification in historic areas that have the bones to support these kinds of environments.

nrki 7y ago

I would encourage anyone to visit Copenhagen and cities in the Netherlands to see how non-car-obsessed cities are like. And generally how well things work. People in general are happy, healthy - they live slow - there are very few homeless. It's like living in the future. But it will never take root in Anglo countries until their obsession against "communism" goes away. I think that their drive towards socialism is the logical way for humanity to save ourselves. Working together towards health, happiness, progress and survival.

stefs 7y ago

> “It’s A to B-ism,” said Mikael Colville-Andersen, a raffish bicycle evangelist who preaches the gospel of Copenhagen to other cities. “It’s the fastest way from point to point.” i live in a smaller city of 300k people, i own a car but ride my bike as much possible. i've been to the hospital several times recently for prenatal classes (my girlfriend took the bus). once i was late, really pushed it and it took me 8 minutes (on my bike, that is). last time we were due for an examination and took the car - the same distance took us 28 minutes, 3.5 times as long.