Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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rising sea levels (which could rise by 40 to 130 centimetres by 2100) could
have an amplitude of 190 to 280 centimetres above the current mean sea
level. One recent team estimated that an increase of 50 centimetres in the
water level over the next 50 years would cause total losses amounting to
EUR 2.0 billion. 43 These economic losses, though significant, would remain
manageable by the local economy and are not comparable to the level of
devastation of a Katrina-like event, whose likelihood in Copenhagen has a
probability largely below 1 out of 1 000 years (Hallegatte et al., 2008). The
last flood in Copenhagen occurred in 1872. 44
Copenhagen is renowned for being the ―City of Cyclists‖, due to its
large number of cycle tracks and high bicycling rate. With a cycle track
network of over 300 kilometres, the City of Copenhagen has invested
considerably in improving cycling conditions. For example, in 2002, onethird
of the budget for road construction was earmarked for cycle tracks,
reinforced cycle lanes, and the opening of new routes (City of Copenhagen
Cycle Policy 2006-2012, 2002). Although some smaller and medium-sized
cities in Europe, such as in Groningen or Münster, sometimes have higher
percentages of bicycle use, among large OECD cities, Copenhagen has one
of, if not the highest, rates of bicycle use. In 2006, 36% of Copenhageners
bicycled to work, and the City of Copenhagen is attempting to raise this to
50% (City of Copenhagen, Bicycle Account, 2006). In addition,
Copenhagen can also pride itself on a considerable percentage of trips made
by walking, although relatively low in comparison with the benchmark cities
(Figure 1.31). As there are concerns about comparability of the data on this
subject, Figure 1.31 must be interpreted with caution. Moreover, data on
many cities are lacking, but it seems that this can be explained by the
marginality of bicycles in the modal splits in these cities. One can assume
with some certainty that the metropolitan areas in Figure 1.31 are at the
forefront as regards bicycle use.