Copenhagen’s New Artificial Island Hits Rough Seas
Swedish officials have joined Danish critics in registering concerns that an island-building plan — a signature test of Copenhagen’s development model — could have environmental risks.
The proposed site of Lynetteholm, an artificial island set to be built in Copenhagen’s North Harbor. The green area shows Lynetteholm’s outline, the red area shows an already existing island called Refshaleøena, and the yellow an existing water treatment plant that will be relocated when Lynetteholm is complete.
Source: City of Copenhagen
This March, the Danish Parliament starts deliberating on a massive engineering project: the construction of a new artificial island called Lynetteholm. If approved, a 1.1 square mile (2.8 square kilometer) land mass will emerge from the harbor waters just north of Copenhagen’s city center; by 2050, it could be built-up with enough homes to house 35,000 people.
Lynetteholm is supposed to not only ease the Danish capital’s chronic housing crunch but also act as a springboard for an ambitious rethink of the city’s infrastructure. Revenue from the housing development would fund a new tunnel under the harbor, through which a subway line would be routed, as well as a section of beltway providing swifter journey times from the airport to the wealthy suburbs that form Copenhagen’s so-called Whisky Belt. The project, conducted by a public-private corporation called By og Havn (City and Harbor) that is co-owned by the city of Copenhagen and the national Ministry of Transport, would reshape both Copenhagen’s coastline on the narrow Øresund Sound and its transit network.