Urban greenspace round 1

URBAN GREENSPACE ROUND 1

Yesterday we toured multiple urban parks in Copenhagen. This involved 12 miles of walking, which allowed for many other things to be seen. Here's this week's question and answer followed by images from the five parks we visited.

What functions does public urban greenspace perform in a city in general, and specifically in Copenhagen?

Public urban greenspace performs many things for many cities. As we discussed in class today, these spaces have strong economic, social, and ecological impacts that are mostly positive. Each city takes advantage of them in different ways, and I personally love the method in which the people of Copenhagen do. While visiting the first park, Amaliehaven, I saw many tourists, as it is adjacent to the Queen’s Square. Public greenspaces as a use for tourism can be seen in many cities, for example Central Park in New York. Another couple of local people I saw there seemed to be escaping the wind and just relaxing inside the park. This is something I have seen in every park, but it is very fitting in the slowed down, relaxed lifestyle of the people of Denmark. The people do not rush everywhere. Most people are leisurely strolling from place to place, fulfilling their day to day needs at a moderately slow tempo. Since this park is small, I did not see many bikers or runners as I did in other parks.

The next park I did see many bikers, and this park is known as Kastellet. It is the old fortress which never seemed to be used or really attacked, as most attackers went around it during their raids (the British did this, for example).  There were many bikers, some of which were on tours, riding across the bridge into the center of fortress to have a look around. Many runners were on the top of the ramparts as well. Kastellet is also home to the Secret Service as well as a war memorial for those lost in all of Copenhagen’s battles.

The third and the fifth park we visited had a lot of stuff in common. These parks were Ostre Anlaeg and Ostedsparken. These parks are very windy, and provided a fantastic getaway for anyone in the city with their sheer scale. In the later we saw a meeting of some middle school or high school students who appeared to be celebrating something, possibly the upcoming Danish holiday and were clad in costumes. I also saw many sports being played in Ostre Anlaeg, such as soccer, basketball, and childhood games.

The fourth location was the Botanisk Haven, where many species of plants from Copenhagen are grown. A massive greenhouse exists towards the center as well, housing some non-regional plants. We saw some people picnicking here, but a couple people were actually studying plants or gardening.

My overall perspective is that the parks here are used much more frequently and positively then back in the United States.

Amaliehaven

Kastellet

Ostre Anlaeg

Botanisk Haven

Ostedsparken

I will also be posting reflections of feelings in the parks and what not sometime soon. Yea, I gotta get a lil artsy and architectural on this trip, so be prepared for "how the space felt" posts.