Copenhagen’s New Hotspot Is a Trailblazer for Sustainability
Nordhavn, a former industrial shipyard on the city’s northern edge, is becoming the coolest place in town—and the future of urban planning.
It’s a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Nordhavn—on the outskirts of Copenhagen—and the former shipyard bubbles with life. Along the waterfront, Gen Zs clad in swimsuits and frayed denim shorts dive into the water and lounge on the neat wooden decks. Cafes buzz with patrons, leisurely drinking coffee and sinking their teeth into slices of rye and fresh pastries.
The transformation of this formerly industrial area has been more than 10 years in the making, and it isn’t set to be complete until 2050, when it will have housing for 40,000 inhabitants and workspace for another 40,000. But in the past 18 months, it has begun humming with unprecedented action, with enough completed buildings to house almost 5,000 residents and office workers across the former shipyard.