Climate Demonstration Cycle Chic

Hot off the presses - or rather the memory card - are these Climate Demonstration Cycle Chic shots.

Earlier today Felix and I rolled out to what was expected to be a highlight of the current climate conference here in Copenhagen. A massive demonstration that walked from the parliament to the conference centre.

The photo, above, is the demonstration's finest, chic'est Copenhagen avec bicyclette.

It's worth mentioning that the temperature was just above freezing.

Here's another excellent cycle chic Copenhagener.
The news here in Copenhagen is reporting that 100,000 people took part and it really was a brilliant demonstration. It was amazingly global with different languages spoken all around you. Many people stood along the roads and watched. Felix and I walked with the crowds for a while and then pulled over to just stare in awe at the masses of peaceful demonstrators.

It was great that he could see this. You have to go back decades to find a demonstration of this size in Copenhagen.

The number of bicycles was amazing, too. Families with cargo bikes, citizens of all ages walking their bikes, you name it. This chap is the clear winner of the Cycle Chic pour hommes award today.


Here's Felix standing in the cargo bay of our Bullitt cargo bike, from where he watched the world - literally - go by.

Dance for the Climate

Dance for the Climate.
Spread this video like a virus. It's available in 20 languages.
Do your own dance and upload it.
www.dancefortheclimate.org

Stefan from Cycle Chic Belgium worked on this amazing project.

Cycle Parade

I rode in a little cycle parade last week in association with a C02 neutral festival here in Copenhagen. Here's two of the other cyclists. You can read more about the parade and the festival over at Copenhagenize.com.

Design Ecology! Neo-Green Marketing Strategy

If you're interested in marketing, green issues and design [and can read German] there's a splendid book available called Design Ecology! - Neo-Green Marketing Strategy. Written by Jutta Nachwey and Judith Mair, the book covers the new wave of sustainable and enivironmental marketing here in the new millenium.

The Pitch
"Ecology and sustainability are moving increasingly into the focus of corporate communications. The old visual cliches of the eco-design have been exhausted. Communicating "Corporate Green" is important to many companies. With modern visual language and stylistic diversity, they have changed tactics to fit the modern world.

Design Ecology! presents 70 international brands, from small "self-made" labels to global brands, which exemplify the growing need for sustainability and enivironmental friendliness and the interest in social and ethical issues. All through communication and design strategies and listening to audience needs."

I'm pretty thrilled that Copenhagen Cycle Chic was chosen to be included in the book. The backbone of the blog is the photography, of course, but it has been fun developing a marketing strategy and visual identity. It's a rather unfinished work but a little design recognition warms the heart. And it's always fun to read a review of the design and the blog.

"Director Mikael Colville-Andersen refers to his streetstyle blog as 'Bike Advocacy' The photos, which incidentally are taken on the way to work, kindergarten or the supermarket, focus on the especially chic Copenhagen women on their bicycles.

Over 500,000 citizens cycle each day in the Nordic metropolis and clandestine bicycle capital of the world. Colville-Andersen exploits the wholly unpretentious and yet stylish coolness factor of the bicycle.

It is not a lyrca-clad Lance Armstrong imitation but rather cycling as a 'way of life'. Cozy, trendy and environmentally friendly.

One sees lively ladies in skirts and dresses with waving hair, high heels and together with her boyfriend, a dog in the basket or a child on the back. On an obesity list of 108 countries, Denmark tops the list with the fewest overweight people. Germany is at 61! If you ride to work each day, over a week the calories you have burned is the same as fasting for one day.

The blog has an historical angle, too, like the bicycle's role in the suffragette movement and it links to other witty sites like British Cycle Club 'Tweed', Fahrradsozialismus and there are guest photos of cool bicycle fashion from Berlin, Portland and Amsterdam.

The Cycle Chic concept is mainly communicated through photography and although the photos are often similar, devoted fans are never bored thanks to the diversity of the shots, different angles and the involvement of the urban environment. The main point of the flood of images: Cycling is a cult.

Mikael Colville-Andersen designed the logo [font: Gill Sans] and the entire blog, where he also uses Helvetica Condensed Bold. Since the photos are the primary focus, the logo should be simple and elegant, but as unobtrusive as possible. Nevertheless it is concise enough to be used in different variations on stickers, posters and t-shirts or on a mousepad featuring the Cycle Chic manifesto."

The book Design Ecology! is available on Amazon.de [Germany].

Steel Town Cycle Chic & NY Times Article

One simple and yet brilliant guest photo today, from Larry Strung in Hamilton, Canada. Larry is a photographer with a wonderful photo series called Hamilton365. Here's what Larry says about why he took this photo and why his project is important:

Hamilton is mostly a "blue-collar" town, which means working class people that for the most part have been employed in the steel industry. That industry is in decline, so there is quite a bit of poverty while the city changes its economic direction. It has so much potential, but the biggest difficulty is changing attitudes. The really poor ride bicycles (if they are fit enough) because they can't afford a car. The new "industry" in the city is centered around a very good university that has it's most recognition from work in the health care field - so there is lots of new work related to this in local hospitals as well. The university and health-care people are the ones interested in using and promoting cycling. The former steel workers cannot get employment in this new industry, so there is a resentment present. The bulk of the population relate riding bikes to either the new "white collar" workers who are displacing them, or people so poor that they cannot afford a car. So they tend to be aggressive towards cyclist when driving in their cars...

My project, www.hamilton365.com , is an attempt to change the attitudes about the people of Hamilton. From the outside, Hamilton has always had a reputation of a "tough" town - something to be avoided. Even from within, people have a poor attitude about themselves. I have found that if you can get beyond the outside appearance, in most cases the people have a very warm and open heart. So the goal is to change the perception of being a city full of threatening people, to a city full of "people of character". When the perception is that people are full of character, they become interesting to get to know instead of to be avoided.

For cycling, the city is just about perfect. It is a harbour city - on Lake Ontario. In an east-west direction the city is perfectly flat. In a north-south direction, the city is bisected by a "mountain" - it's actually just a big hill. We have a land form here that is referred to as an escarpment - a single hill that goes for hundreds of kilometers. It's the same land form that Niagara Falls goes over. So we can practice our hill-climbing skills on this escarpment, and commute to work along the flat without building up a sweat. The World Cycling Championships were held here in 2003.

I think that Hamilton will come around in terms of being a cycling city, but it will take a few more years and a few more confrontations yet.

One little note from me: There is a great opinion piece by Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times today, about Denmark and the things we do which can inspire others. Have a read.

Los Angeles Cycle Chic

Photo: Gina Ferrazi / Los Angeles Times
You HAVE to love this article and photo from the Los Angeles Times about a guerilla gardener movement taking root in L.A.

They make seed bombs and toss them onto neglected lots and such, causing plant life to grow. What a groovy idea! And the photo is brilliant - Copenhagen Cycle Chic goes to Los Angeles.

The caption for the photo: "With the seed bombs stowed in her red bag, the stiletto-wearing Caroline takes off on her bike in search of vacant patches of public space. To plant the seed bombs, she digs holes with a trusty tool — the heel of her shoe. “Stilettos work really well,” she says, grinning."

There is a cool photo series about how to make seed bombs, from whence the above photo comes.

Thanks to David for keeping us in the loop by emailing this story. A propos the comments on the previous post about Choosing a Bicycle, he signed his mail: "David (who only owns one bike with a chainguard AND fenders)".
:-)