(Condé Nast Traveller, 2020)
What if our cities were more than a concrete jungle, radiating heat? What if our cities allowed for people to move freely, without traffic jams and congested walkways? What if our cities were powered with renewable energy sources? What if our cities prioritised waste management? What if our cities promoted healthy living and community spirit? What if our cities were built to withstand their climate?
What if our cities could do it all?
Last time on this blog I talked about how important it was to understand the context of your project. Knowing the materials you are going to be using, the people using your product, the weather conditions it will face and the ecosystems it will be existing within is vital to ensure its success.
This way of thinking is what ecological engineering is all about!
We introduced ecological engineering in this blog’s last edition as “the design of sustainable systems, … which integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both” (Scott D. Bergen, 2001).
We also talked about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a call to action across the world to strive for 17 goals in their countries, cities, and communities.
This week, I would like to expand on the ideas of ecological engineering by talking about a past, present and ongoing project in a major capital city that I think encapsulates the spirit of ecological engineering perfectly.
But maybe project is the wrong word, as it’s not really just one project it’s more like several initiatives in all different aspects of live that combine to achieve a smart and sustainable city!
The city that we will be talking about today is…Copenhagen!
Before we dive into its amazing ecological engineering, let’s backtrack a bit and get to know it’s context.
The city of Copenhagen, Denmark, has a population of around 660,000 people. The biking culture in Copenhagen is huge, 62% of people bike to work or school (Wired, 2019).
In terms of weather, Copenhagen’s warmest month, July, has an average maximum temperature of 21.2oC and its coldest month, January, has an average max of 2.5oC (Weather Atlas, 2024). As well as being pretty cold, Denmark is known for its rainy weather. The average annual rainfall in Denmark is around 600mm and Copenhagen has on average 170 wet days in a year (Mapes, 2020). Due to its latitudinal location on the Earth, Copenhagen also experiences a wide variation in daylight hours between summer and winter: from 7.8 hours of daylight in December to 17.4 hours in June (Weather Atlas, 2024).
Copenhagen is also a popular tourist destination, 19 million overnight stays were recorded in Denmark in 2022 (Copenhagen Post, 2023)
I think that’s all we need to know about Copenhagen so far…but what about Danish culture?
One of the most important parts of Danish culture is hygge (pronounced “hoogah”). Roughly translating to ‘getting cosy’ it can be better described as the Danish art of taking things slow, enjoying the company of friends and family, discussing life, and creating a warm (and cosy) atmosphere (Denmark People and Culture, 2018). Although definitely able to be enjoyed in the summer months, it really comes in handy in those freezing winter months where daylight is minimal: sharing a warm meal inside with loved ones is a great way to survive the dark and the cold.
Another part of Danish culture, especially popular in Copenhagen, is their love of cycling! As I mentioned before, the majority of people use cycling as their main mode of transport. So, let’s take a look at why it’s so popular and the many benefits of a cycling city.
Copenhagen has over 400km of cycle lanes in the city (Denmark People and Culture, 2024). These wide bike lanes allow cyclists to overtake each other, have their own turning lanes and are separated from the car lanes by a row of parked cars, or cobblestone paving. This protects cyclists from accidents!
(Ramblers Highway, 2010), (Cortright, 2019)
Other infrastructure such as bicycle highways, rest bars at traffic lights and ample parking promotes this healthy lifestyle!
(Garten and Landschaft, 2016), (Garrett, 2018), (Bicycle Dutch, 2018)
As Copenhagen and its surrounding suburbs make up quite a large area, many people use a combination of public transport and cycling to get to work or school. This combination of transport is supported by their train and train station designs! Every train has carriages reserved for bikes, and train stations accessed by stairs will have ramps along the side, to wheel your bike up and down.
Bike carriage in a train in Copenhagen and an example of stairway rails for easy bike access (Cycling Embassy of Denmark, 2019), (TINLIZZIERIDESAGAIN, 2013).
Biking is popular even for families. It is not uncommon to see these cargo bikes loaded with children, adult family members, grocery shopping or dogs! Clearly the easiest way of transport around the city, it will not stop large families commuting together.
Three-generations of a family riding together in a cargo bike (Cycle Chic, 2008).
However, cycling wasn’t always this popular. As automobiles became popular in the 1950s and 1960s it looked as if Copenhagen would follow modern cities around the world, replacing bike paths with major highways. However, protests for a car-free Copenhagen and concerns over pollution and climate change helped cycling become popular again!
Denmark also has high taxes on cars and petrol, incentivising Danes to live a car-free and bicycle-filled life.
Cyclists in Copenhagen also experience health benefits and contribute to a lower carbon society. Cyclists “reduce CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnes a year, on average” and “every kilometre travelled by bike instead of by car means €1 gained in terms of health benefits” (Denmark People and Culture, 2024).
So, I think it is pretty clear how the engineering of a city can benefit the people that live there and how it benefits the city in return.
Denmark has made use of its topographically flat land and promoted a healthy lifestyle for its citizens which in turn reduces carbon emissions! And this happens in all seasons of Danish weather: rain, hail or snow!
The use of the flat terrain in Denmark to turn Copenhagen into one of the best bike-friendly cities of the world is a great example of using the environment and site context in a way that benefits humans.
This could also be viewed as an ecosystem service, defined as the “contributions of ecosystem structure and function (in combination with other inputs) to human well-being” (G. Anda Ruskule, 2018).
There are many large-scale examples of ecosystem services such as “the regulation and stabilisation of climate, water flow, and the movement of nutrients” (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2010).
Ecosystem services also benefit humans in ways to do with their aesthetic, cultural and spiritual value as well!
A great way of describing ecosystem services and linking them to human well-being is shown in this diagram below.
(G. Anda Ruskule, 2018)
But what are some smaller ways that we can use nature’s self-design and benefit from its processes?
For Copenhagen, that would be its green spaces and green roofs!
Green roofs are roofs on buildings that are fitted with plants, grass or even trees. They have many benefits such providing thermal regulation to a building, promoting biodiversity, and reduce rainfall runoff (Hassell, 2007). They also contribute to lowering the urban heat island affect (Hassell, 2007).
Since 2010, the City of Copenhagen has required that all new municipal buildings with roof slopes less than 30 degrees need to have green roofs (Interlace Hub, 2023).
So, let’s take a look at why green roofs in Copenhagen make the most of their ecosystem services.
- Firstly, remember how rainy Copenhagen is? Green roofs can absorb between 50 to 80% of Copenhagen’s annual rainfall, resulting in less water making its way to the ground causing floods or filling sewers (Klimatilpasnig, 2013)!
- Green roofs also provide natural temperature regulation, providing insulation in winter and reducing the cooling load in summer (Hassell, 2007).
- By reducing the cooling load and providing insulation, green roofs also indirectly reduce the energy consumption of buildings, which in turn reduces CO2 emissions (Hassell, 2007).
- Green roofs contribute to lowering the urban heat island affect, reducing the temperatures in cities by a couple of degrees (Klimatilpasnig, 2013).
- Green roofs improve local air quality by producing oxygen and water quality as the plants retain contaminants from rainfall, so they do not infiltrate into the surface runoff (Hassell, 2007).
- They also contribute to the aesthetics of the city, by adding colour and green oases to an otherwise concrete jungle!
As well as green roofs, Copenhagen also has extensive green spaces on the ground! Over 80% of people living in the Municipal area are only 300m from a park or other green space (Cömertler, 2017).
These green spaces have advantages such as climate moderation, reducing pollution, controlling rainwater runoff, promoting biodiversity, reducing noise, and increasing the aesthetic value of a city (Cömertler, 2017).
An example of a University accommodation building in Copenhagen that has used both green roofs and green spaces in its design (Kragh Berblund, 2023).
Copenhagen has used the systems of nature as part of green roofs and green spaces in their city to improve their citizens quality of life. They have also applied the principles of ecological engineering by making use of its flat terrain and designing a bike friendly city which in turns provides benefits to the environment by lowering carbon emissions.
As well as this, Copenhagen aims to become carbon neutral by 2025 by reducing waste, introducing Life Cycle Assessments to any new construction, investing in circular solutions and engaging citizens in this goal (Circular Cities Declaration, 2022). They are really aiming to do it all!
By combing all of these practices, they are also working towards the targets of A LOT of the Sustainable Development Goals: Good health and wellbeing, Clean water and sanitation, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities, Responsible consumption and production, Climate action, and Life on land.
So, I think it’s pretty clear how Copenhageners are using ecological engineering and ecosystem services to consider their site context and use natures services to benefit human well-being. Combine this with their appreciation of hygge and it’s obvious why Danish people are some of the happiest on the planet (Lyndsey Matthews, 2024)!
Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them about how to make our environment work for us…
Thanks for reading!
I have made a short video to test your knowledge on what you’ve been reading which you can watch below.
Works Cited
Bicycle Dutch, 2018. Is Copenhagen a City of Cyclists?. [Online]
Available at: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/is-copenhagen-a-city-of-cyclists/
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Cömertler, S., 2017. Greens of the European Green Capitals.. IOP Conference Series. Materials Science and Engineering, Volume 245.
Circular Cities Declaration, 2022. Circular Cities Declaration Report 2022. [Online]
Available at: https://circularcitiesdeclaration.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/CCD-Report-2022.pdf
[Accessed 30 April 2024].
Copenhagen Post, 2023. Visiting Denmark: Tourism on course for record-breaking summer. [Online]
Available at: https://cphpost.dk/2023-06-27/news/visiting-denmark-tourism-on-course-for-record-breaking-summer/
[Accessed 24 April 2024].
Cortright, J., 2019. Copenhagen: More Than Bike Lanes. [Online]
Available at: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/8/16/copenhagen-more-than-bike-lanes
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Cycle Chic, 2008. Springtime Cargo and Supermums and Dads. [Online]
Available at: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/2008_05_04_archive.html
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Cycling Embassy of Denmark, 2019. Bike plus train –an attractive model. [Online]
Available at: https://cyclingsolutions.info/bike-plus-train-an-attractive-model/
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Denmark People and Culture, 2018. What do we mean by “hygge”?. [Online]
Available at: https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/hygge
[Accessed 24 April 2024].
Denmark People and Culture, 2024. A nation of cyclists. [Online]
Available at: https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/biking
[Accessed 26 April 2024].
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2010. Ecosystem Services: Key Concepts And Applications. Occasional Paper Series , Volume 1.
G. Anda Ruskule, I. V. M. V. P., 2018. THE GUIDEBOOK ON “THE INTRODUCTION TO THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICE FRAMEWORK AND ITS APPLICATION IN INTEGRATED PLANNING”. University of Latvia, Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences.
Garrett, A., 2018. Monitoring And Evaluation Of Cycle Superhighways. [Online]
Available at: https://vb.nweurope.eu/media/4575/cha_cycle-superhighways-monitoring_anna-garrett_24-may-2018-4.pdf
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Garten and Landschaft, 2016. Life Between Buildings. [Online]
Available at: https://www.garten-landschaft.de/life-between-buildings/
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Hassell, C. a. B. C., 2007. Green Roofs, London: CIBSE.
Interlace Hub, 2023. Green Roof Policy – Copenhagen. [Online]
Available at: https://interlace-hub.com/green-roof-policy-copenhagen#:~:text=In%202010%2C%20the%20city%20of,used%20buildings%20to%20underground%20garages.
[Accessed 30 April 2024].
Klimatilpasnig, 2013. Green Roofs Copenhagen. [Online]
Available at: https://www.klimatilpasning.dk/media/631048/green_roofs_copenhagen.pdf
[Accessed 30 April 2024].
Kragh Berblund, 2023. Skovbrynet Basecamp. [Online]
Available at: https://kragh-berglund.com/public-space/skovbrynet-basecamp/
[Accessed 30 April 2024].
Lyndsey Matthews, M. B., 2024. These Are the World’s Happiest Countries in 2024. [Online]
Available at: https://www.afar.com/magazine/the-worlds-happiest-country-is-all-about-reading-coffee-and-saunas
[Accessed 30 April 2024].
Mapes, T., 2020. Weather in Denmark: Climate, Seasons, and Average Monthly Temperature. [Online]
Available at: https://www.tripsavvy.com/denmark-monthly-weather-averages-4134974#:~:text=The%20annual%20rainfall%20in%20Denmark,average%20of%20170%20rainy%20days
[Accessed 24 April 2024].
Ramblers Highway, 2010. Dissecting the Copenhagen Bicycle Path. [Online]
Available at: https://ramblershighway.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/dissecting-the-copenhagen-bicycle-path/
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
TINLIZZIERIDESAGAIN, 2013. Copenhagen Part 3: Bicycle Infrastructure. [Online]
Available at: https://tinlizzieridesagain.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/copenhagen-part-3-bicycle-infrastructure/
[Accessed 29 April 2024].
Weather Atlas, 2024. Climate and monthly weather forecast Copenhagen, Denmark. [Online]
Available at: https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/denmark/copenhagen-climate
[Accessed 24 April 2024].
Wired, 2019. The 20 Most Bike Friendly Cities in the World, Ranked. [Online]
Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/most-bike-friendly-cities-2019-copenhagenize-design-index/
[Accessed 23 April 2024].
Engineering for the World 