Change in flow around the City Hall Square after the new Metro City Ring and COVID-19
Mapping of the patterns of flow in the area around the City Hall Square, carried out by Copenhagen Solutions Lab in collaboration with Gehl, shows a clear effect of the opening of the Metro City Ring and COVID-19
In collaboration with Gehl, Copenhagen Solutions Lab has mapped the patterns of flow in the area around the City Hall Square from September 2019 to September 2020.
The mapping was originally carried out with the aim of measuring patterns of flow before and after the opening of the new Metro City Ring in order to examine which effect the opening of the Metro City Ring would have on the patterns of flow at and around the City Hall Square. However, the original mapping was suddenly challenged by COVID-19 and the following lockdown of Denmark in the spring 2020, that from one day to another put especially the city center in Copenhagen on hold. The mapping has therefore ended up showing both the effect of the Metro City Ring and COVID-19 on patterns of flow at and around the City Hall Square.
In order to map the patterns of flow, the project has made use of data from online surveys (with more than 1500 respondents from the Copenhagen Citizens’ panel), Lived Experience data collected by Gehl (Sept. 2019, Feb. 2020, and Sept. 2020), flow data from The Copenhagen Metro, traffic data from JC Deacux and counting from Springboard’s sensors.
As mentioned, the mapping was challenged by the sudden COVID-19 lockdown, but also by periods with repair of the metro and in that connection closing of the metro staircase at the City Hall Square.
Selected results from the mapping
The effect of the opening of the Metro City Ring on flow
- After the opening of the Metro City Ring, a clear peak load with cyclists developed in the morning and afternoon, but in an overall perspective there are more pedestrians than cyclists at the City Hall Square.
- Since the opening of the Metro City Ring there has been an 120% increase in pedestrian activity at the City Hall Square and almost the same increase in people staying at the City Hall Square.
- Results from online surveys show that the citizens in Copenhagen feel that the City Hall Square has become more accessible after the opening of the Metro City Ring.
The effect of COVID-19 on the flow
- During the lockdown in Denmark in the spring 2020 the movement activity decreased with more that 80% in the city center in Copenhagen, while it increased with 21 % on Nørrebrogade and 15% on Amagerbrogade
- The week before the lockdown the sensors registered 589.808 people at the City Hall Square, while the week after the lockdown only 188.446 people were registered and a couple of weeks later only 64.590 people were registered during one week.
- The online surveys show that the citizens feel more insecure in using public transportation (bus, metro and train) after COVID-19. At the same time there has been an increase in cycling, walking and using the car as means of transport.
- The online survey has also observed new behavioral patterns during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Before the lockdown 21% responded that they were likely to talk to people in the public space, while this number increased to 40% during the lockdown in the spring 2020 and increased further to 53,1% after the reopening (sept. 2020).
See the overall and general results from the mapping here
