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Architect peddles idea of cycling city

THE Danish architect commissioned to redesign Sydney has a simple message for its residents: get on your bikes.

Henriette Mortensen and her boss, Jan Gehl, hope one day to see cycle lanes down George and Elizabeth Streets and a traffic system that favours pedestrians, not cars.

"Pedestrians have too much to struggle with in Sydney, and much more can be done to make walking more attractive," she said. Her first priority: get Sydneysiders to cycle to work. "In 20 years we will all be doing it," she said.

Ms Mortensen and Mr Gehl have been commissioned by City of Sydney council to conduct a $210,000 Public Spaces and Public Life Study to improve use of open areas in the city. Ms Mortensen said she would not be riding her bike while working in Sydney in May as "I would be killed".

But she hopes the harbour city will adopt suggestions to make it more like Copenhagen, where one-third of all commuters cycle to work. "Cycling is now so popular we have congestion in the cycle lanes and are considering increasing their size from 1.5 metres to 2.5 metres," she said.

The biggest hurdle the architects face is changing commuters' attitudes towards transport and the city. "At the moment there is a lot of focus on trying to get the traffic through the city. We are saying that we want to shift the emphasis on cars and put more focus on walking and cycling and relieve the city of some of the pressure from traffic," said Ms Mortensen, who bikes to her office every day.

"The spin-offs will be less pollution and more people taking exercise by cycling and walking to work."

The plan for Sydney will include linking existing public spaces such as Martin Place and Pitt Street Mall with pedestrian-friendly streets that have limited access for cars. Traffic lights will be designed to favour the flow of walkers, not cars.