Adelaide isn't Copenhagen

Adelaide. The car-commuting capital of Australia. Of course we couldn’t possibly be compared to a northern European capital famed for its walkability, pervasive cycling culture and vibrant street life. 

This is Copenhagen: Human scaled buildings with active frontages, shady green trees, lots of bikes, and the design of the street says people are first, cars are guests.

This is Adelaide: Tall buildings with stark frontages, no trees, narrow footpaths and the majority of the road space given over to cars. My brother and I are cycling sandwiched between the door zone of the parked cars and two lanes of 50km/hr traffic.

It would be folly to think that Adelaide could ever become a place like Copenhagen. 

But what if I told you that Copenhagen wasn’t always the walkable paradise it is now, and that it too used to be car dependant like Adelaide?

And what if I told you that the very same people responsible for transforming Copenhagen into a vibrant place for people also wrote not one but two plans to achieve the same in Adelaide?

I was shocked when I learned this, and I think it’s something not many people are aware of. Adelaide can be provincial like that: we don’t compare ourselves favourably to other cities, or even think we can be anything other than what we are today. For this reason, it is my aim to write a series of posts unpacking this story: the what, the why, and, well, the what-if. What if Adelaide could become like Copenhagen? What would it take? I posit that this isn’t as far-fetched an idea as most would think. 

Let’s try the comparison I made at the start of this post again. This is Adelaide: Human scaled buildings with active frontages, shady green trees, and the design of the street says people are first, cars are guests. There would be bikes if there weren’t just so many people filling up the space. Adelaide can be like Copenhagen - what are we waiting for?