I've spent a short time in Copenhagen, but in that time I was able to get a sense of what a multi-functional and diverse city it is. In addition to all the crazy modern architecture they have (not to mention BIG and JDS) Copenhagen has a very unique urban fabric that makes the city active.
Copenhagen is located on Zealand, the most western island of Denmark. It is located on the Oresund Bay and has been a center for trade and commerce since the Middle Ages. Its name is derived from “merchant’s harbor.” The city is made up of many districts that create a diverse urban fabric.
Copenhagen has been at the forefront of environmental scene. Before anyone else really acknowledged our impact on the environment, they established their Ministry of the Environment in 1971 and in 1973, passed their first environmental law. Since then, Copenhagen has been developing itself as a comprehensive eco-friendly city, embracing ecologically responsible lifestyles on all fronts.
One of the major instigating events that set Copenhagen on its path was the oil crisis in 1974. At that time, Denmark was 90% dependent on oil; and like most other countries, Denmark was hit hard by the rising prices of oil. Realizing the danger if this were to happen again, the Danes decided early that they did not want to be dependent on foreign oil.
The government tried to introduce the building a nuclear power plant, but the Danish people organized a movement against it and the government gave up on the idea. They also did not want to use nuclear energy afraid of possible consequences, remembering the tragedy of Chernobyl. The Danes were even strongly against the nuclear power plant built across the bay in Sweden near Malmo. The Danes were also aware of the fact that nuclear energy is not long-term; it cannot sustain us forever. So if they couldn’t use oil or nuclear energy, what was left? Denmark was the first and largest producers of wind turbines in the world, first developing the technology on the 1970’s. Now offshore wind farms account for 4% of the city’s energy consumption.
At the same time, Copenhagen was changing. Copenhagen, as an industrial city, was greatly affected when many industries left in the 70’s and 80’s to move to developing Asian countries. The city shifted from an industrial city to a service oriented city with administration, creative businesses, and knowledge-based businesses. This transition created a new economy in the city as well as a new environment. Copenhagen has been cultivating its urban culture and trying to attract people to the city.
Current Efforts
Public transportation in the city has a developed network with the Re-tog (the regional trains), S-tog (the suburban trains), Metro, and bus system within the city. However, many Copenhageners don’t use the trains within the city much. I even asked a cyclist for directions if I wanted to get there with the metro, and he had no idea how to use the metro system. With extensive cycling infrastructure like dedicated bike lanes, special cycling greenways, bicycle traffic lights, and ability to bring bikes on other transport systems, Copenhagen is definitively a cycling city. Thirty-six percent of people commute by bike every day. The city even provides City Bikes, where anyone can borrow a bike within the city for a deposit of 20 kronor. Bicycle-culture in Copenhagen has been picked up and dubbed by other cities as “Copenhagen-izing.
Despite the city’s immense growth, Copenhagen has kept its total energy consumption the same.
90% of construction material is recycled
75% of household recycling is used again to produce heat for the households.
97% of homes are heated using waste heat from Copenhagen’s power plants.
Solar collectors at becoming more prevalent in households.
There is a new model to promote the direct involvement of public in wind turbines. Because the city cannot fund everything on its own, people can buy shares (75% of their 5,500 turbines are privately funded and owned by coops). Newer wind turbines can produce up to 3mW of energy. Three hours of energy collected by a wind turbine could sustain the average Dane for a whole year.
Transportation breakdown: 32% bike, 30% car, 20% bus, 13% train, 5% walk.
Culture
The Danes have a very democratic culture that is based on debate. Their previous social democratic government helped to drive environmental projects, but the people were always very involved and engaged in the discussion as exemplified by their movement against nuclear power plants. From this dialogue, sometimes comes radical change because they are not always just looking for the right solution. This is what keeps the people of Copenhagen open to new ideas and makes willing to change.
Where can Copenhagen go from here?
Copenhagen plans to be carbon-neutral by 2025.
Make the dense city more efficient by planning amenities close to public transportation stations, maintaining clean harbors for the environment and for recreation, developing more green park areas to cool the city and absorb rain, reducing car traffic to create a quieter safer urban life, redeveloping the city’s brownfield sites to long term sustainable districts.
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