Hansen, Thomas Brydensholt

Jeppesen, Julie Lund

Saust, Sebastian Lund

Skov, Marie Mi

This study examines the spatial and social conditions for public culture created within the present planning practice in Copenhagen and how public cultural spaces can contribute to a more socially just and sustainable urban development. The examination is based on a case study of seven different development areas along the Copenhagen harbourfront, all situated within a timeframe that spans from 2003 until 2018. The analysis is based on empirical spatial mappings of characteristics in the case areas, as well as critical readings of documents and plans issued by the Municipality of Copenhagen. The areas of the harbour are being negotiated in terms of function, spatial form, architectural qualities and socio-economic coherence with the surrounding city involving public and private actors and stakeholders. The spatial analysis indicates an unequal re-allocation of space in the harbour, where space is reserved and symbolically defined for those who are able to acquire ownership of property, resulting in a tendency for private space to melt together with public space, creating rigorous public spaces throughout the harbour. The present development creates a problematic setting for the potential creation of public cultural spaces, grounded in a cultural ideal, that is ephemeral, shared and value rational. The neglection of cultural priority in planning not only becomes a question of access and right to the city, it also indicates a non-sustainable approach to the inter-urban competition that is grounded in cultural attractiveness. The future of the sustainable city, must therefore rely on plannings capability to create synergy effects between the economic, social and cultural dimensions, thus treading culture as an equal, if not completely central, dimension of city planning

The Overlooked Cultural Dimension. Urban Planning in Copenhagen Harbour

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Roskilde Universitet