Copenhagen, Denmark: Green City amid the Finger Metropolis

Abstract

Copenhagen has a long tradition of being a “green” city in the sense of practicing sustainable urban planning. This characterization ranges from the green regional planning of the 1930s and the region’s pattern structure, laid out in the “Finger Plan” from 1947, to the objectives of the municipal plans that have been updated every four years since 1989 and prioritize public transportation and introduce guidelines for sustainable urban renewal and construction and climate planning.

Notes

1. “Planning in Greater Copenhagen,” Kai Lemberg, director of general planning, City of Copenhagen, 1970.

2. “Regional Planning in the Greater Copenhagen Region, 1945–1978,” Hovedstadsrádet (Metropolitan Council), May 1978.

3. “Bidrag til regionplanlægningens historie” (Contributions to the History of Regional Planning), preliminary report, Ministry of the Environment, March 2004.

4. “Københavnsegnens grønne områder” (Green Areas of the Copenhagen Region), Egnsplanudvalget, 1936.

5. “Skitseforslag til egnsplan for Storkøbenhavn” (Finger Plan), Egnsplan-kontoret, 1947; “Copenhagen Regional Plan,” a summary of the preliminary proposal, 1948–49.

6. “Finger Plan, 2007,” national instruction of the physical planning in the metropolitan area, July 2007.

7. “Bekendtgørelse af lov om planlægning, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 93 af 24. september 2009” (Danish Planning Act), 2009.

8. “Københavns Kommuneplan, 2009” (City of Copenhagen Municipal Plan, 2009), Finance Administration, 2009, http://www.kk.dk/kommuneplan.

9. “Metro,” Ørestadsselskabet (Ørestad Development Corporation), 2002.

10. “Cykelpolitik, 2002–2012” (Bicycle Policy), July 2002.

11. “Grønne cykelruter” (Green Bicycle Routes), City of Copenhagen, 2001.

12. “Byrumshandlingplan” (Action Plan for Urban Spaces), City of Copenhagen, 2006.

13. “Metropol for mennesker” (Metropolis for People), City of Copenhagen, 2009.

14. “Parks Policy,” City of Copenhagen, 2004.

15. “Byrumshandlingsplan” (Action Plan for Urban Spaces), City of Copenhagen, 2006.

16. “Byrum i København” (Copenhagen City Spaces), City Architect’s Department, 1996.

17. See Jan Gehl, Cities for People, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2010.

18. “Local Agenda 21,” City of Copenhagen, 1997.

19. “Københavns Agenda 21,” 2004–2007.

20. “Dogme 2000: Environmental Management toward a Sustainable City,” Copenhagen Environmental Protection Agency, 2001.

21. “Københavns miljøregnskab, 2009” (Environmental Accounts of Copenhagen, 2009), 2009.

22. “Miljø i byggeri og anlæg” (Environment in Construction), City of Copenhagen, 2009.

23. “Borgerdialogstrategi” (Political Decision on Citizen Dialogue), City of Copenhagen, 2001.

24. “Miljømetropolen” (Eco-Metropole: Our Vision for Copenhagen, 2015), City of Copenhagen, 2007.

25. “Københavns Klimaplan” (Copenhagen’s Climate Plan: CO₂-Neutral in 2025), City of Copenhagen, 2009.