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Water is to bring Kokkedal together

Water is to bring Kokkedal together

Moving water moves people This is the basic philosophy behind the "Blue-Green Garden Town" project from Kokkedal in northern Sealand. The project won a competition to plan Denmark's largest climate-change-adaptation project.

A team led by Schønherr A/S, with Bjarke Ingels BIG and Rambøll Danmark A/S as assistant consultants, is behind the DKK 118 million project.


The project is to show how rainwater can actively be used to bring residents in Kokkedal, a typical suburban area closer together and create life and happiness in the centre of the town and in the river valley. The vision is to demonstrate how local management of increasing amount of rainwater can go hand in hand with urban development and establishment of recreational value and new active spaces in which residents can meet. A partnership composed of Fredensborg Municipality, Realdania and two social housing societies is behind Denmark's largest climate-change-adaptation project. The project is also being funded by the Danish Foundation for Culture and Sport Facilities.

 

The project area covers a 69 ha. urban area with a river valley, schools, day-care institutions, recreation centre, shopping centre and a number of residential areas. A total of around 3,000 people live in the area.

 

The winning project addresses the task in a three-pronged plan: the river valley, the town centre and the traversing main path, which combined will meet the needs in Kokkedal for climate change adaptation and greater social cohesion between the parts of the town.

 

The river valley is to be brought back for residents. This will be by establishing several recreational areas along the river with space for water games, football, golf and footpaths. Biodiversity and nature conservation will also be improved.
The town centre will have an entirely new cohesive structure, that encourages outdoor life. The structure will be linked together by three sub-elements: The urban carpet, the lawn and the island.

 

  • The urban carpet is a cohesive plain which links all the important outward-reaching functions in the town centre and includes public spaces.
  • The second element is the lawn; a large green grass floor with space for sports facilities and to act as a framework for visible recreation.
  • The final element is the island, linking the lawn and the urban carpet. The island acts as an urban meeting point with skateboarding and roller-skating parks and the town's new symbol: Vandets Tårn (the tower of the water).

 

kokkedal

Figure 1. Activities in the river valley

 

"The Blue-Green Garden Town is a winning project with potential to upgrade the entire town and give Kokkedal a new start. We can look forward to a new sustainable urban area in which water will help join residents together and create a real community. I believe that this project can help make Kokkedal a better and safer place to live," said Thomas Lykke Pedersen, mayor of Fredensborg Municipality.

 

Lars Simonsen, chairman of the judging committee and the municipal planning and climate committee, continues:

 

"We have a project which innovatively and creatively combines classical climate change adaptation with urban development and I believe it will form a new school of thought in the future, not just in Denmark but also abroad. Now, together with residents in the area and stakeholders, we have to fine-tune the project to give it the right expression before the first spade strikes the earth".

 

Hans Peter Svendler, executive director at Realdania, said:

 

"The winning proposal is a splendid idea for an overall plan for Kokkedal which simultaneously solves the acute rainwater challenge and creates a number of unique meeting and activity spaces in an exciting outdoor environment which can contribute to tying together the different districts in the town more closely and to creating a community across social groups. We expect that other municipalities will also be able to use the proposal as an idea for how climate change adaptation and urban development can go hand in hand".