Make a plan, start small and scale up

By Lasse Pedersen

There is no doubt that our region faces many challenges. We are a relatively small dispersed population occupying a vast geographic area that is subject to extreme subtropical weather. Couple that with historical and continuing inequalities, a looming climate change impact and the rising cost of living, one would naturally ask how and where do we even start?

I do not have the answers, but I wanted to share a story from my homeland (Denmark) of how something started small and then grew very large – in fact became world leading.

In the late 1800 an invention from Europe became popular with the upper class in Copenhagen. A self-propelled mobility device called a bicycle! The first dedicated bike lane was constructed in 1892 to relieve congestion from the horse riding paths and conflict arising thereof. Since then the network was gradually increased as bi-cycles became popular with the working class commuting to and from the factories.

But it wasn’t a smooth ride up through the century. Despite some innovative urban planning after the second world war with high density housing combined with lots of green spaces, by the 1960s the automobile had run in favour and city planners saw cars as the future and bicycles as outdated. They sketched visions to add new urban highways and take out bike lanes that were considered a waste of space.

But then came the global oil crisis of 1973 when oil prices quadrupled within a few days as Middle Eastern supplies stopped selling fuel. That led to many Danes question the wisdom of following the American example of city planning. A proposed highway that would have paved over lakes in the city sparked protests. A busy street in the center of the city was pedestrianized (despite fierce opposition). This street is now the famous shopping street called “Strøget”. This all helped to pushed the city in a different direction and a plan for a citywide bike network were developed.

Since the 1970s the city has invested annually in improving and expanding the network and Copenhagen now has 250 miles of bike lanes—with curbs that separate them from car traffic—17 recently built bike bridges, and cycle “superhighways” that let suburban commuters ride into the city without stopping at traffic lights. There are presently more bicycles in Copenhagen than inhabitants and the council voted in 2013 unanimously to be the most bike-friendly city in the world. In 2019 it was estimated that 62% of residents biked to and from school/study/work.

Just look at this video to get a sense of how many Danes commute in Copenhagen.

The reason I wanted to share this story is not because I am advocating for a copy/paste solution, but merely how something started small, got some good planning behind it and then became a success that not only changes how people commute, but address other issues like cost of living, health and general wellbeing. It also created a culture and equality that had benefits in other area of society.

We don’t have the privilege of large sums of local government money floating around in the Far North, so we need to be innovative and find solutions that works in our unique local context. Whether it be environment, social, economic or cultural sphere.

In terms of creating a cohesive multimodal mobility network in Kerikeri and surrounds we are just in the infancy. There is now finally officially recognition that the area needs a spatial plan for both Kerikeri CBD and the surrounds. But we need to start somewhere and it’s disappointing that we are yet to invest in any separated bike lanes or paths.

I believe one local solution to create better and safer mobility in Kerikeri is to utilise all the green spaces we have in between developments (or future developments) for cycle paths. But it requires a proper plan and foresight with council already now ensuring we have these corridors available for a future network. Such paths I suggest would be less cost to establish than trying the expand the existing roadways to facilitate cycle lanes. For Kerikeri specially we could have stunning green corridors from e.g. Waipapa (including the new sports complex) straight in to Kerikeri travelling less than 4km. Such network should be focus on targeting commuters and getting children safely back and forth to our local schools or sports facilities, rather than a focus on tourist as have been the previous priority in our region.

There is also area of Kerikeri where due to the development and existing road design we have boxed our self into a corner and may have limited options available. However, that shouldn’t prevent us from improving the design and make is safer for all users of the network. E.g. the Kerikeri Road have only shared narrow footpaths with numerous hidden driveways. The existing roadway is quite wide and with proper planning could we create safer alternative?