ex.alp: Von Rädern und Teenagern

Bo Grönlund ist Architekt und Professor am Center for Urbanism in Kopenhagen. Im Interview spricht er über die Unterschiede zwischen Wien und Kopenhagen und wie er sich nachhaltige Stadtlanung vorstellt.Mr. Grönlund, do you know aspern Seestadt? I have heard of it and I have seen the plans but I don't know enough about it. What is important to provide in such a city for young people? There are two kinds of young people one has to think about. On the one hand there are the teenagers that have moved in with their parents and grow up there. You need to have activities for them. What we are doing now in scandinavia is implementing for example large skater landscapes, where young people actually can live a rather dangerus life as a skater or they can also do some other dangerous things such as climbing walls or doing parcours. Ofcourse we have youth clubs for teenagers indoors as well but I think that it is very important that they are located close to the city center where there are lots of other people. We had the tradtion that we kept saying that nature is good for young people and the cities are bad, so we put them away as far as possible from the other people. But I think that it is very important to have the young people in the middle of development. And then you have to live with the problems. It is important for the upbringing of young people that you don't make this kind of age segregation in the city. On the other hand you have students who also need to be close to the central parts and not put on the edges. What do you think about mobility in cities? How important is it for young people? Young people need public transport until they are old enough to have their driving licenses. It is very that we don't get a situation like in the United States where parents have to be taxi drivers for their children. They need to be able to move around, otherwise they will be locked up in the house. Another alternative is car sharing, although its impact on transport is very small at the moment. In Copenhagen for example many people are cycling. But for cycling you also need to consider the landscpe. It has to be rather flat. Moreover you have to have bike lanes and the whole discussion needs to be discussed from a biker's point of view. Also you have to think about the whole traffic system, for example the traffic lights. But as for that, many lobbies have been growing, and the importance of cars is decreasing. The bike for example, is the fastest way of transport within 10 kilometers. How could you integrate bikes more in general traffic? In Copenhagen we are currently testing two different systems for bikes. On the one hand a recreational system a fast bicycle system for commuting.