Velo-city 2010, the world’s largest bike advocacy and planning conference, unfolded beautifully in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week. More than 1,000 people from 57 nations attended—elected officials, planners, engineers, architects, journalists and non-profit leaders representing all kinds of bicycling organizations, including Bikes Belong, to talk about how to make bicycling better.

Summarizing the key takeaways of an action-packed, dawn-to-dark, four-day conference isn’t easy, so for now, we’ll focus on the bicycling experience in Copenhagen—a city of 500,000 residents that is widely recognized as perhaps the world’s best city for cycling.

• Thirty-six percent of all commuting trips to work and school in Copenhagen are currently made by bike, but city leaders aren’t satisfied. They’re aiming for 50 percent by 2015. They’re also working to reduce serious bike rider injuries by 50 percent during this same period.

• During the last 15 years, bike rider safety has already improved dramatically. In 1995, the city suffered 231 cyclist deaths; in 2008, the total was 92 serious injuries or deaths.

• Sixty percent of Copenhageners ride a bike every day. (This doesn’t mean they ride for all trips, and the percentage drops during the winter.)

• Bicycling in Copenhagen is promoted primarily as the fastest way to get from point A to point B, anywhere in the city. Yes, residents are aware of all the other benefits—health, air quality, climate change, fun, etc.—but bicycling is seen first as quick and convenient.

• Copenhagen does a solid job of counting bike trips. On one bridge in the northern part of the city, more than 10 million bike rides were tallied during the last 12 months by a wheel-actuated counter. That’s 37,000 bike riders per day!

• While not all streets have separated bikeways, much of the city is laced with a three-level street transportation system. First, next to buildings, is a sidewalk. Then comes a distinct bikeway that often features a unique pavement treatment (color or texture) that differentiates it from the adjacent roadway and sidewalk. Bikeways are often lined on both sides by bricks, and are often a few inches lower than the sidewalk. Finally, there’s the roadway itself, which is again a few inches lower than the bikeway. By the way, we saw almost no on-street parking for cars.

• To discourage cars from coming into the heart of the city, parking fees have been set at $5 per hour.

• Bicycling between 6 a.m. and noon is made faster by “The Green Wave,” which synchronizes traffic signals on major bike routes so that riders never hit a red light if they pedal at 12 miles per hour (20kph).

• Copenhagen estimates that it spends between $10 million and $20 million per year on bike infrastructure additions and improvements. (Many U.S. cities are now spending similar sums, so there’s hope!)

• Copenhagen boasts close to 30,000 cargo bikes and the city provides special on-street parking for these efficient, human-powered transporters.

• A top-notch presentation about bicycling in Copenhagen is available here in a PDF format.