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OPINION: Building on Amager Common risks destroying Copenhagen’s green image

Copenhagen must drop its plans to build on Amager Common, one of the largest wild areas of any European City, argue local artists and activists Maria Zahle and Jason Dungan.

Published: 12 May 2021 15:08 CEST
OPINION: Building on Amager Common risks destroying Copenhagen's green image
Lærkesletten, where the proposed Fælledby will destroy the habitat of crested newts, wild deer, larch etc. Photo: Morten Sørensen

Copenhagen is known internationally as a “green” city, and Copenhagen city council has been keen to promote the idea of biodiversity and sustainability in their public statements. But right now, Copenhagen is moving ahead with the destruction of a large area of Amager Fælled, or Amager Common, one of the largest areas of wild nature within any European city.

The proposed development, Fælledby, will be a city-within-a-city, containing two thousand apartments, a school, a hotel, and businesses. It is planned to be built on Lærkesletten, a part of Amager Fælled which contains natural habitats for a range of rare and protected animals.

It is projected that 7,000 people will make their way in and out of this development every day, putting increased stress on the rest of Amager Fælled, and making it increasingly difficult for animals to live in their habitats. The presence of the Fælled means that Copenhagen has a rare amount of nature and biodiversity so close to the city centre – it is truly what allows Copenhagen to exist as a “green city” in the first place.

One more bite of Amager Fælled 

To many local politicians and property developers, however, the Fælled is an opportunity for generating revenue, putting at risk the very possibility of Copenhagen as a “green” space. For the past 30 years, parts of the Fælled have already been absorbed into other developments, such as Ørestad North, the Danmarks Radio complex, and other areas. Many in Copenhagen now fear that the municipal government will continue with this process of developing patches of Amager Fælled until it no longer exists as a natural space.

The city’s argument is that it needs more money, and more places for people to live. We would argue that there are a number of other solutions to Copenhagen’s housing problems that can be explored, without destroying our precious local nature. Two thousand apartments with high rents are not going to solve Copenhagen’s housing crisis.

Back due to popular demonstrations 

The Friends of Amager Common (Amager Fælleds Venner) are a group of more than 20,000 residents who are fighting to keep Amager Fælled free from new developments, in order to keep the whole of Amager Fælled as a natural habitat for animals and a recreational area for local citizens.

They have so far had success in keeping Amager Fælled free from new builds since plans to build on Strandengen were scrapped in 2017, due to popular protests.

And they believe it can be done again, once and for all!  As Steffen Rasmussen, the spokesperson for Amager Fælleds Venner says: “Copenhagen city council has a great biodiversity plan. It would be even greater if politicians actually followed it.”

A public demonstration on Sunday will start at 10am on the mountain at Amager Fælled, overlooking the building site.

Here the performance group Becoming Species will form a parade with animal masks and costumes imitating the threatened species of Amager Fælled. From the mountain they will sing and dance bringing the wilderness with them all the way to City Hall (Rådhuspladsen). You can also join the demo directly at Rådhuspladsen at 12 o’clock this Sunday.

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DENMARK EXPLAINED

‘Relaxed, traditional, tight-fisted’: What Copenhageners think of people from Jutland

People from Copenhagen aren't known for having the most positive feelings towards their country cousins on the Jutland peninsular. The Local asked some Copenhageners what they really thought.

Published: 15 April 2024 16:07 CEST
'Relaxed, traditional, tight-fisted': What Copenhageners think of people from Jutland

It may strictly be a separate city but few places are as deeply Copenhagen as Frederiksberg, the leafy independent municipality in the centre of the Danish capital, and the people The Local spoke there to all had their views about people from Jutland, even if some of them had Jutlandish roots themselves. 

Jeppe, 19, one of a group of young men getting on the metro, said that many Copenhageners thought of Jutlanders as being beer guzzlers who were tight with money.   

“I think a lot of people see them as kind of greedy, that they don’t necessarily want to spend much money,” he said. “The other thing is they drink a lot of beer, not just at parties but in the workplace.

“I think they’re more traditional, as well,” added his friend Bertrand. 

Sanna, a Copenhagener with a Swedish-Finnish background, agreed that one stereotype about Jutlanders was that they were “cheap”, but added that paradoxically, they were also in her experience more ostentatious. 

“They like more branded clothes, and they spend money on bigger cars,” she said. “Copenhageners don’t show off their money in the same way that people from Jutland do if they have it. It’s much more bohemian here. Even if you are in a higher position, you can still be super-bohemian and go to a secondhand store.” 

Ann, a young woman with a septum nose piercing whose family come from Jutland, said that in her experience people on the peninsular were more conservative. 

“They are very traditional and most of them only care about their own backyard. They don’t really care about cultural opinions like racism, sexuality, the environment,” she said. Jutlanders, on the other hand, she said, tended to dismiss Copenhageners as “woke”. 

Lila, 49, who moved from Jutland to Copenhagen as a young woman, said that Jutlanders tended to be a lot more narrow-minded. 

“I think it’s easier to come from Jutland to Copenhagen than the other way around. People in Jutland are more judgemental…maybe they’re insecure, I don’t know.” 

Silke, 19, who was walking past the Royal Danish Academy of Music, said that she believed people from Jutland to be unusually voracious meat-eaters. 

“I feel like a lot of people are vegetarians in this city,” she said. “And if you talk about Jutlanders, we say they eat a lot of meat or that vegetarians don’t exist over there.”

Valentin, 18, who was on his way to the Rema 1000 supermarket, said that as someone who had grown up in Copenhagen with a Jutlander father, he could understand both sides. 

“Normally they [Copenhageners] think people from Jutland all just work on the farm and only eat potatoes,” he said. “It’s very disappointing to hear about it, but quite funny. People think they’re simple people.”  

Others gave a more positive view, however. Several people The Local spoke to appeared envious of Jutlanders’ less stressful lives and saying they tended to also have more time for one another. 

“They’re also seen as more relaxed — I would say it’s not only negative — I think people, even the ones living here, think that Copenhageners are a bit stuck up and could relax a little bit more,” she said. 

Jesper, 55, said that as a born and bred Copenagener, he had worked with Jutlanders all his life and always found them “extremely nice”. 

“Of course, it’s a different pace. Here, everybody’s so stressed: it’s ‘dat’, ‘dat’ ‘dat’ ‘dat’ [tapping one hand against the other to mark the tempo]. “That’s not the same there. It’s more relaxed — in some ways, not always in business, I must say — but in normal life.” 

Steen, 70, agreed that Jutlanders tended to be more pleasant to one another than Copenhageners were. 

“We don’t like each other as much as they do in Jutland. People like each other more and help each other. We don’t do that,” he said. 

Peter, 66, who came to Copenhagen from Jutland as a young man, argued that the apparent conflict between the two was mostly light-hearted banter.

“We’re having a bit of fun with one another,” he said. “It’s not that serious.”

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