In Copenhagen, an interesting competition The Sustainable City of the Future is taking place

One of the most interesting architectural competitions of this year has started in Copenhagen. The subject of the competition is the conceptual design of the development of a large area of the existing port. The competition is announced as international and is prepared with such care that one cannot help but feel despair at the approach to similar issues in our conditions, where the roles of both elected and unelected representatives usually end with an opaque selection of a developer and the public is typically left with nothing more than tears. After all, it was precisely in Copenhagen that a similarly well-structured competition for the Carlsberg Brewery site was held two years ago, yielding interesting results.
But back to the current competition. The competition site Nordhaven, covering an area of 200 ha, is located near the center of Copenhagen and is surrounded by water on three sides. It has a very strong potential for creating a new lively and pulsating urban district with its own identity and character. At the same time, it has all the prerequisites for planning in the context of sustainable development. The area is projected to house 40,000 residents and provide an additional 40,000 jobs in buildings with a total floor area between 3 and 4 million m². The winning project is to be presented as an example of a new understanding of urbanization that respects ecological, social, and economic sustainability at the United Nations summit to be held next year in Copenhagen, which will focus on climate change.
The owner of all the necessary land is CPH City & Port Development, in which the city of Copenhagen holds 55% and the state holds a 45% share. This company is responsible for the development not only of the Nordhaven site but also for several others across Copenhagen.
The basic competition materials are available on the competition website, and more detailed maps will be sent to interested parties on DVD for 25 EUR. As previously hinted, "basic materials" should be understood with great respect in this case. In addition to presenting the entire intention and the site, a short film and mainly 14 extensive articles are prepared as "bait," representing the intention in terms of broader relationships, natural conditions, transportation, anticipated functional use, operational relationships, etc. Two articles concern a public workshop from April of this year, where the latest trends in planning similar projects (as per the preparation for the London Olympics in 2012) were not only shown to the public, but also allowed the public to actively participate in the preparation of the competition brief. However, the most interesting article addresses the issue of ecological sustainability concerning the specifics of the competition site. It was processed for the needs of the competition by the company ARUP.
The competition deadline is September 26, 2008. Prizes and rewards amount to 3 million DKK (400,000 EUR). Anyone can submit a proposal; no authorization is required, etc.

Further information and competition materials can be found on the competition pages at www.nordhaven.dk.