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Swimmable Cities

swimmablecities.org

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Re: Swimmable Cities

#151

Post by turtlesdown11 »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #19
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Why you can't swim after the rain? Does the water get dirty, or else?

Runoff water (which contains nutrients, metals and organic compounds) add to the volume/discharge of the water system while also increasing the amount of suspended material in the water (turbidity).

The increase in water discharge also causes sediment to lift from the bed where e coli bacteria live happily in the sediment (think of shaking a bottle with solids that have fallen to the bottom). The potentially harmful bacteria is now suspended in the water for a few days, also growing in number as a result of the runoff nutrients until the increase in the water volume drops and the water can no longer suspend the sediment.

This cycle is the largest reason why, it's not just the runoff (which can also contain animial feces with e coli, etc), it's the runoff with nutrients stirring up the water and lifting e coli which then feasts on the nutrients.

https://www.usgs.gov/publications/escherichia-coli-bacteria-...

Re: Swimmable Cities

#152

Post by seszett »

elric wrote: post #78

In Belgium, we don't even have swimmable pools. There are too few of them, their opening hours are worthless, going for a swim is stupidly expensive (~8eur), and many pools now require that you show them ID before you're allowed to enter. In all, it's become extremely unpleasant. The results are as depressing as expected: more drownings (especially in the north sea) every year, and kids can barely stay afloat anymore…

Same experience as the sibling, here in Antwerp. The swimming pool I sometimes go to is 4 euros (2 euros for people less than 25) and for 5 euros there's an open air heated swimming pool on Linkeroever.

Also this summer one could swim in the Bonaparte dock, in the old harbour in the city center.

I suck at swimming though, although I grew up on the Atlantic coast right next to the sea and bathed daily each summer. So I prefer shallow coasts rather than swimming pools.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#153

Post by Aeolun »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #148
jodrellblank wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, they were. “In its evidence to the committee, the Environment Agency said that in 2021 the environmental performance of water companies was “at its lowest ever level” and the performance of most companies was declining.”” - https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/cleaning-up-failures-in-w... “Sewage spills in the UK hit a record high in 2023, amplifying public anger at the state of the country's dirty rivers and the…

That tells us nothing useful about the state of things 15+yrs ago. Only that 2023 was the worst. Could have been bad for 100yrs, just the worst in 2023.

I’m inclined to think the words would not be so scathing if we were talking about a 5% increase in pollution.

Maybe I’m too optimistic?

Re: Swimmable Cities

#154

Post by Aeolun »

bounder wrote: post #100

This is a great initiative. It is weird if you think about it. Why are our waterways in many cities so polluted and dangerous that you can't use them safely as a human(or any animal)? We should take more care about making the environment we live in safe and accessible for everyone. Amsterdam (and many other cities in the Netherlands) have swimmable parts. I'm coming from Groningen myself and there the government made…

I don’t think that as a child in the Netherlands I ever contemplated that water might be dangerous for any reason other than drowning. It’s bizarre to hear that it’s true in any first world nation.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#155

Post by moffkalast »

0xEF wrote: post #137
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Is there specific agencies or services that will help look into relocating? My wife and I visited briefly a few years ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. It was everything we wanted that North American cities just don't offer due to our heavy vehicle-centric urban planning.

If too many Americans move there it'll just become the naval equivalent, everyone driving around in their massive twin outboard speedboats rolling coal to go grocery shopping and nobody will be able to swim anymore there either lol.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#156

Post by yurishimo »

AdamN wrote: post #97
gchadwick wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP but my partner lived in Copenhagen for two years. As with all of Scandinavia fluency in English is very common, practically universal in cities so you can happily live there without speaking a word of the local language. Also unlike most of Europe it's a lot more acceptable to just assume English is spoken and lead with that rather than stumbling through in the native language to start with. That said it's sti…

> you will want to learn Danish for social purposes Are non-Danish speakers really going up to B2+ Danish, even if they live in Copenhagen for a decade? It seems like Danish people would still speak better English and non-Danish people would almost certainly speak better English.

I live next door in the Netherlands in a city in the south. You don't learn the language because it's required to survive but to be polite and assimilate and make local friends. All of the Dutch friends I currently have are other expats, but now that my language skills are better, I'm trying to make more friends that I only speak with in Dutch.

Also, once you get to B2, you will naturally get to C level if you interact with the language every day. It might take years, but you'll get there!

Re: Swimmable Cities

#157

Post by chasd00 »

0xbs0d wrote: post #95
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Living in Copenhagen as well. Came in the comments to find exactly something like this :) We are privileged more than most in this regard.

Yes you are, I visited a couple years ago. My boys found the topless sunbathing intriguing. Haha

Re: Swimmable Cities

#158

Post by yurishimo »

CalRobert wrote: post #55
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

This American in the Netherlands eyes his filthy canals with envy of the Danes.

I just moved to a Dutch city with a large canal and I'm definitely jealous that you can't swim in it! Luckily we have a lot of small recreational lakes that are clean and have other accessories for swimming.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#159

Post by johnofthesea »

TheFragenTaken wrote: post #36
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

It's just fun/sad reading about the concept of "swimmable cities" when you've taken it for granted all your life. Most cities with fjords or channels here, have "harbour baths" - essentially outdoor swimming facilities with springboards and tanning beds. Would have thought these existed elsewhere.

It is probably not that uncommon. I've been swimming both in Oslofjord and Danube (AT, SK).

Re: Swimmable Cities

#160

Post by coreyh14444 »

0xEF wrote: post #137
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Is there specific agencies or services that will help look into relocating? My wife and I visited briefly a few years ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. It was everything we wanted that North American cities just don't offer due to our heavy vehicle-centric urban planning.

Someone at this company gave me some advice a while back: https://gatewaytodenmark.com/ - but I don't know if they mainly focus on corporate clients or what.

In my case, I came via "Startup Denmark" where I started a company here and had a Danish co-founder: https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Applying/Work/Start-up%20Den...

But now I'm preparing to switch to the Pay Limit Scheme as I got a fulltime offer: https://nyidanmark.dk/de-DE/You-want-to-apply/Work/Pay-limit...

The process isn't easy per se, but from what I hear it is miles better than US-immigration.

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