Copenhagen Tales II: Amager—From wind energy to biomass to bikes

The east end of Copenhagen’s Amager island is home to incredible public spaces and serves as a major green energy hub for the region.

With wind farms, a high-tech waste-to-energy plant, a biogas fueling station, and nature park, the region pulls together renewables, nature, and sustainable transportation in a highly visible and accessible way.

This post documents a leisurely cycle trip throughout the northeastern edge of Amager.

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Urban planning and transportation lessons from Mexico part II: Mexico City

Mexico City’s metropolitan area is home to 22 million people and is as energetic and chaotic as you can imagine. With such a concentration of people, ideas, and economic activity, it has become one of the great cultural, business, and transportation nodes of the globe. From its days as one of the world’s smoggiest locales, the city (also known as “the D.F.” or “distrito federal”) has come a long way in some of its transportation decisions, but has much work ahead of it to improve the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. Continue reading…

Urban planning and transportation lessons from Mexico part I: Oaxaca City


Travelling to international cities is a fantastic way to experience different urban environments.

Recently, I had the fortune to visit both Oaxaca and Mexico City where I took in as much as I could in terms of urban planning and transportation. Both locales have an incredibly vibrant and colourful street culture and face massive challenges—particularly Mexico City—with regard to auto congestion.

But we can learn a lot from Oaxaca and Mexico City as they nail a number of fundamentals in “good urbanism” and are home to some really innovative programs and ideas.  Continue reading…