Copenhagenization is a concept in urban planning+design related to the Copenhagen's bike-friendly infrastrature/culture.
Copenhagenize is a blog that discusses news related to bike culture in Denmark. They recently did a piece on Baisikeli, a Danish bike charity program. This is how it works:
When a bike gets stolen/lost in Denmark the owner gets compensation from their insurance company. If the bike is later retrieved, the insurance company owns/keeps the bike. The companies usually scrap these bikes BUT Baisikeli made an arranged with several Danish insurance companies so that they get the bikes instead. These bikes are shipped to bicycle workshops in Africa where they are repaired by local mechanics and sold to local distributors-who sell them to the local population. Baisikeli has projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. In Ghana, bikes were given to children in outlying areas so they can get to school. Bikes are also converted into work bikes for carrying water, food, and firewood (in photo above). Niels Bonefeld and Henrik Smedegaard Mortensen are the creaters/developers of this project. To get financing they rented some of the scrapped bikes to tourists+leased them to foreign students and companies in Denmark. The bikes used for renting are repaired by The Copenhagen Recycling Company (KGC) who hire unemployed Danish citizens and train them to fix bikes-giving them a trade. $$ made from rentals is used to ship containers filled with Danish bikes to Africa.
*single tear*
