Quality of life and built spaces? The example of Copenhagen makes clear that both are connected, as the book “København. Urban Architecture and Public Spaces” reveals. The title was recently printed in its second edition. We publish a paragraph from the forward of the editor Sandra Hofmeister.
CopenHill, Architecture: BIG, © Ehrhorn Hummerston
Arne Jacobsen’s Heirs: New Horizons in Copenhagen
Architecture from Denmark is writing stories of success. It is designed in international teams and regarded in many countries as a trademark for bold, carefully implemented projects and masterplans. To delve into the origins of this success and better understand the idea of architecture as an enrichment of public space, it’s worth looking at the urban architecture and public spaces that have emerged in the city in recent decades. Copenhagen today has about half a million inhabitants and is one of the smallest capitals in Europe. Yet its contemporary building activity is exemplary in many aspects, and many other metropolises are learning from Copenhagen.
Superkilen Sorteplads, Foto: Visit Copenhagen
Reinventing a Capital
This book presents buildings and sites in the Danish capital whose architecture has made a significant impact on public space over the past ten years. Descriptions of these select buildings, plazas, and infrastructure projects are grouped into four chapters. Public spaces, sports and leisure, culture and education, and housing are key building blocks in the ongoing process by which Copenhagen is successfully reinventing itself with an eye to the future. The project reviews are complemented by essays on major development projects, such as the revitalization of the harbour and bicycle infrastructure. Interviews provide insight into the critical urban vision of various architects. This multifaceted portrait of Copenhagen and its contemporary architecture also reveals the city’s future-forward self-image. The horizon stretches from Arne Jacobsen to his heirs and from the Jet Age into the post-pandemic era. The Covid-19 pandemic brought the Jet Age to a screeching halt. But what has become all the clearer is the importance of everyday urban qualities in the analogue life of the city and its inhabitants – perhaps without air travel but almost certainly by bicycle. In this context, public space and the city represent promising perspectives for people. And Copenhagen is well underway in making these ideas a reality.
Read the full intro and see al projects:
København. Urban Architecture and Public Spaces, Sandra Hofmeister (ed.), Edition Detail, Flexcover 15x19,5 cm, 31 pages, 2nd Edition, Munich 2025m, ISBN 9783955535384
