“Want to know what cycling means to Danes? Go to Copenhagen and stand next to the Dronning Louises Bro, the Queen Louise Bridge”, advises with a smile James Thoem, director of Copenhagenize, a design agency specializing in bicycle-friendly urban infrastructure.
“Every day, this ‘bicycle highway’ built in 1887 sees more than 40,000 people pass by on their two-wheelers.” An endless river of cyclists, whose rapid, silent and disciplined flow flows from the heart of the capital to the outlying district of Norrebro, and vice versa. And again, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Denmark is a monarchy on two wheels. The small Scandinavian country of 5.8 million inhabitants, designated by the “World Happiness Report 2022” [établi par les Nations unies] as the happiest country after Finland, hosts 1is July 3 the first three stages of the Tour de France. Never has a better starting point been chosen.
A few figures to prove it: nine out of ten Danes own a bicycle. The country has 12,000 kilometers of cycle paths and paths. In Copenhagen, there are five bicycles to one car, and the inhabitants of the capital cycle every day 1.4 million kilometers, this distance increasing to 8 million kilometers for the whole of Denmark.
In terms of funding, for the city of Copenhagen alone – where 44% of daily journeys between home, work and school are made by bicycle, and where the first track entirely devoted to bicycles dates back to 1892 –, more than 200 million euros have been invested in cycling infrastructure over the past ten years. But it was in 2022, declared “Year of the bicycle” by the Ministry of Transport, that investments took off: an envelope of 458 million dollars [près de 440 millions d’euros] has been made available in the multiannual budget, of which 64 million [61 millions d’euros] will be spent this year.
Danes cycle for life, from cradle to grave. You have to see it to believe it: on the cycle paths parade cargo bikes carrying babies a few weeks old. Children learn about the Highway Code very early on and learn to ride on cycle paths thanks to themed play areas, such as the Traffic Playground in
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Source of the article
The sun 24 hours (Milan)
Founded in 1865, it is the Italian newspaper of reference in economic matters and one of the best-selling daily newspapers in Italy. Austere, he is nevertheless extremely well informed. To consolidate its leadership, it now tends to leave more room for non-economic news, with some success.
The newspaper was born from the merger of two daily newspapers: Il Sole, created in 1865, and 24 Ore, born in 1945. It has several offices in the country: one in Milan of course, one in Rome and nine in the main cities in Italy like Naples, Turin, Boulogne, Palermo etc.
The good health of the title enabled it to launch weekly supplements in the field of finance (Plus, on Saturdays), the home (Casa24 Plus on Thursdays) regional news (Nordovest, Nordest, Centronord, Sud, Wednesday), the free temple (Ventiquattro, Saturday of each month) and men’s lifestyle (IL, monthly). Its excellent Sunday supplement devoted to culture, Domenica.
In accordance with the new editorial line of the title, there are more and more generalist articles with articles dedicated to fashion, travel, health, etc.
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