Urban Greenspace Round 2

URBAN GREENSPACE ROUND 2

Yesterday we toured some of Copenhagen's more modern parks. We toured four in total, all of which had different qualities. These four were Frederiksberg Park, Assistens Kirkegaard, Superkilen, and Mimersparken. The parks were an actual park, a cemetery, a partially cement and grass park, and a similar park subsequently. This was very good experience, as each one held special qualities that allowed them to be defined as a park on many peoples' standards. The question of the day from our professor Toby was...

 Compare and contrast one of Copenhagen's contemporary public parks with one of its historic ones

The two parks that seem the best to compare and contrast that we visited are Superkilen (completed in 2012) and Ostre Anlaeg (completed in 1870). Both of these parks are very well used and I was able to see that first hand when we visited, but they have incredibly different styles. Superkilen has a very integrated, urban style where the people that visit are all participating in recreational activities. Ostre Anlaeg has a rather removed, relaxed style which consists of many opening and closing spaces. Both have their uses, but I believe that Ostre Anlaeg has a much better quality which allows for a broader multitude of activities to take place.

This is my view because of the feeling Superkilen promotes. Superkilen is a very flat space in general, and has very few benches to relax on. It is more like a thoroughfare for bicyclists than a place to come relax. When we visited, many people were exercising or doing active sports, which is incredibly useful at a park, but it also had many vast, concrete surfaced spaces. These spaces made Superkilen feel desolate, especially when no one was occupying them. The green space black square was the most well used of the spaces, as many children were playing on the octopus jungle gym and parents were standing around. This had some more seating, which is why I enjoyed it more, as parents could relax as their children played. The green zone was very thin, and had the only greenery in the park. It also housed a skate park basketball arena combination, which should have been placed in one of the other parks to integrate styles a little better. The conclusion of the park was at a giant, flat, black bull figure and a donut shop sign. The major issue I had with these, is they don’t truly act like land marks. They appear false and forced, whereas a Danish statue or something Danish would have been equally useful and much less gaudy. Overall, I don’t particularly define Superkilen as a park; I define more as an urban public recreation area which includes a bicycle byway.

Ostre Anlaeg I define as a true park. This place has locations in which to escape, to gather, to play, to reflect, and to relax. Ostre Anlaeg was personally my favorite park out of the nine we visited Wednesday and Thursday. I define a park very similar to how Toby has defined it, as a place to relax, escape the city, and possibly commune with friends and family. These are all traits of Ostre Anlaeg. While walking through the beginning of Ostre Anlaeg, I took a diversion off the trail to investigate the deeper parts of the park, and strolled down a beautiful staircase into an absolutely breathtaking rose grove where I had absolutely no view and could hear no noise from the city. I easily could sit in a place like that for hours, and there were many similar occasions as we walked farther through. Another moment that I recollect well from meandering through the park was noticing the soccer and basketball courts nestled into the park with trees separating them from the road. The soccer court was completely filled with children playing a game, and the basketball courts had a couple games of pick up happening. This proved to me that the opportunity for sports existed, and was frequently used, which fulfilled Superkilen’s purpose in two much more integrated ways. At the end of the park I also observed many young middle school or high school students convening in costumes, and having a grand time in an open grassy space. All of these moments I experienced confirmed my early enjoyment of the park as a place accommodating for all things that a park should provide.

Some natural differences in Ostre Anlaeg and Superkilen caused some of these differences as well. The difference in dates is one major difference. Another is the width and length allotted for each park. Ostre Anlaeg is much larger. Superkilen’s design intent was also to integrate the society of differing cultures in its area, which is most easily done through sports and openness. Besides these differences, the question of which defines a park better, Ostre Anlaeg or Superkilen, goes to Ostre Anlaeg, since it accommodates what Superkilen intends to do as well allows for relaxation and a personal experience. Superkilen is so far integrated into the urban landscape that it allows no escape, which is essential for a park.

I apologize for the long post readers and Toby, I just felt as there was a lot to discuss with this prompt. Here's some pictures:

Frederiksberg Park

 Main entrance with lined trees

 Main lawn

 Cara and Elena

 A cool bridge

 A beautiful lake

 rocks

 The elephant enclosure designed by some famous architect

 Baby elephant

 Tree

 Water fountain and carving

 Mound

 Creek from a bridge

Tree in which children say goodbye to there binkis

Assistens Kirkegaard:

Park on the way 

 Main corridor

A sidestep away 

side path 

random open wa 

 beautiful tomstone

tombstone

back of church 

 front of chuch

 very interesting architectural connection between building

pocket park 

tombstone of philosopher and his family

Superkilen:

building integration 

bike locks 

another elephant 

an octopus 

 fountain 

 black square

 gymnastics

 Non native plan

 Skate and basketball combo

Seating

Mimersparken:

overpass

urban climbing wall 

Sandy seating

Still unfinished on some drawings, but I plan on completing more this weekend and putting them up on here as soon as possible. Enjoy my names of images, I'm pretty original.