NEW COLUMN: Denmark’s Town & Cities – Ørestad: Denmark’s Newest ‘Town’

New Column in The Danish Pioneer Newspaper: DANISH NOOKS & CRANNIES: Its Towns and Cities – By Dick Andersen

Ørestad: Denmark’s Newest “Town” . . .

“Town” is probably not the right word. It’s a planned, massively conceived new suburb of Copenhagen, near the sound after which it is named. It is, however, the greatest new urban nook in the Kingdom, and perhaps in Europe. Its crannies are expected to top 120,000 new Copenhageners by 2025. As of 2012, only 7,445 newcomers took up residence there though.

Its name is Ørestad, taking its moniker from the channel that divides the Copenhagen island of Amager from Sweden, a narrow strait that is crossed by a tunnel-and-bridge combination linking the two countries by rail as well as bus and auto…which suggests the new Sjælland suburb might be as handy a place of residence for citizens of Scania as well as Denmark.

But it’s more than another red-tile roofed suburban Danish development! It’s planned to be a contemporary city suburb that successfully reduces car usage and foul emissions via an immense expanded mass transit network. The goal is to eliminate commuting altogether, says Nick Foster. Arkld, a Finnish studio, was commissioned to draw plans following an international competition.

I suspect it will be a thoroughly “green” addition to the metropolitan mix, a state-of-the art community that will cause the world to marvel.

Although all of this began following the Folketing’s early 1990s decisions, the global economic slowdown made going “full steam ahead” virtually impossible.  Despite that, a new Danish Radio & TV complex with one of the world’s most expensive concert halls has been constructed, plus dozens of new high rise apartment complexes.

We’re told up to last year, 65 buildings have been constructed, which includes over 3000 apartments.  Because an educational campus is included in the plan, it is projected that up to 20,000 new residents will be students, which means a lively assortment of cafes and shops keyed to that demographic are anticipated…at least the students are hoping for that inclusion.

The apartment structures may be contemporary in appearance, but they look no different than tall apartment units elsewhere in the world.  Perhaps I’m being too picky, but I really hoped for something more imaginative than copying the postal cubby holes that exist ubiquitously around the planet.  Yet, they are all fairly new which gives them somewhat of a shimmering “Wow Factor.”  But that newness will wear off soon enough.

Bjarke Ingels, a Danish international star in the world of architecture, has demonstrated some unique concepts in his designs for Ørestad housing that require a second look. The VM buildings, constructed like the alphabet letters they are, provide unimaginable views and over 80 apartment floor plans.

Ingels and his BIG firm also designed 8-House, which looks something like two ski slopes hinged together in the middle with grassy roofs.  That’s probably the most unusual architecture so far built in the new area.  And they’re gathering high praise from other architects.

Fields, Denmark’s largest shopping mall is already ringing its cash machines. And Scandinavia’s largest exhibition and conference center has been attracting congresses of all sorts for years.  It’s known as Bella Center.  Nearby is Scandinavia’s largest hotel, Bella Sky.

Both the conference center and hotel benefit from being near Kastrup International Airport, the nation’s largest, although Metro trains provide speedy transport into the Copenhagen city center and beyond, as well as Malmö.

Ørestad’s location was formerly rural, and is now divided into four urban districts, an  area 600 meters wide by 5 kilometers long on the island bordering Islands Brygge to the north, Tärnby to the east and the Kalvebod Commons to the west.  It’s really quite a beautiful region.

Yet not all Danes are pleased with the present results.

“There is really very little life for a place with that kind of density, which can be attributed to a too-large scale, endless broad straight roads, and a humongous shopping center stifling development of smaller, nice shops in the ground level,” wrote one critic. “This might all change of course, and hopefully the residents will come to terms with these problems.”

Another one wrote, “Ørestad is completely over-hyped. I actually don’t think it’s well-planned and there’s no intimacy about it.”  Still another stated, “It is the exact opposite of every thing that Danes believe in and are proud of…it is the exact opposite of sustainable.” Then the writer adds a startling note, “It’s the exact opposite of Copenhagen.”

Well, there are those who are ecstatic about the new city that’s being developed, but they are probably not shouting as loudly as those who prefer red tile roofs and red brick houses or its 21st century architectural equivalent.

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