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== Freetown Christiania ==
== Freetown Christiania ==


Freetown Christiania, also known as Christiania, is an intentional community and commune of about 850 to 1,000 residents, covering 7.7 hectares (19 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in Copenhagen. It was temporarily closed to visitors by residents by consensus in the plenum in April 2011 and a later occasion, but later re-opened.
''''' see separate article:''''' [[Freetown Christiania]]
 
Christiania has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. Since then, relations between Christiania and Danish authorities have been strained. Since the beginning of the 2010s, the situation has been somewhat normalized and Danish law is now enforced in Christiania. {{W|Freetown Christiania}}
 
Christiania is a famous and controversial experiment in resistance, persistence and self-rule. Despite attracting half a million tourists per year, and being one of the most-visited sites in Denmark, it remains poorly understood by the outside world.
 
Christiania has long pioneered a more ecological way of life, with a minimum of formal rules, and its DIY urbanism operates in accordance with three fundamental principles:
 
*Self-administration and responsibility
*Solidarity
*Balance with nature
 
=== Self-administration and responsibility ===
Christiania’s citizens and businesses are divided into 14 self-governing districts, each imaginatively named, such as Dandelion, the Blue Caramel, and Psychedelic Action. Decision making is primarily organised through monthly meetings – a General Meeting, which includes all residents, and Area Meetings, which include those who live in a particular district. All decisions are made according to direct, consensus democracy, meaning they have to be agreed upon by everyone. While this can result in slow and cumbersome decision-making, it has also been a key factor in maintaining the community as a cohesive whole, in the face of its existential battles with the state.
 
Here we can already see a real difference between how ‘economic democracy’ is normally thought of – for instance, a worker’s co-operative operating as an island of democracy in the market – and the ‘deeper’ form of economic democracy evident in Christiania. While capitalism treats people and ecology as mere ‘externalities’, offsetting all sorts of harms and inequities onto them, the businesses and initiatives developed by Christiania’s residents are an integral element of the society from the very beginning. Moreover, residents have a direct say in what type of businesses get to operate in their local area, and the community collectively decides each year the sort of financial contribution those businesses will make to the running of the community.
 
Christiania is home to over 90 different initiatives: galleries, sports clubs, workshops, cafes and much more. Drawing on a long-standing culture of economic democracy in Denmark, these are generally run along collective lines, as co-operatives, or based on volunteer labour. Rather than the mini-dictatorship found in the modern capitalist workplace, decision making is shared and collective, according with Christiania’s horizontal structures.
 
=== Solidarity ===
When people first occupied the military base in 1971, amidst a housing crisis in Copenhagen, living conditions were tough. While some buildings were luxury former-officer’s quarters, many dwellings didn’t even have doors or windows, let alone heating or sewerage facilities. The community got together to create a village from scratch, collaborating to renovate and construct the unique dwellings and shared infrastructure we see today. Owning or inheriting private property is shunned by Christianites, which prevents property speculation and landlordism, meaning that land and buildings are the domain of everyone and no one, simultaneously.
 
A series of collective workshops sprang up in the 70s and 80s, meeting the early need for stoves and other household furnishings, often out of recycled materials. The Green Hall – a former military riding house – acted as a central distribution point for recycled building materials salvaged from construction sites around Copenhagen. Workplace gender stereotypes were challenged with the formation of a Women’s Smithy, an economic and creative space for women which, today, trains the next generation of Danish blacksmiths. A group of friends, furthermore, established a bike shop, to cater for transport needs. This culture of hands-on creativity ultimately gave rise to the famed Christiania Bike: a three-wheeled box bike that enabled residents to move children and building materials around an 84-acre site on which cars have been banned. The bikes are a true success story, now exported all over the world, transporting Christiania’s story everywhere they go.
 
Over the years, this collaborative economy enabled the creation of Christiania’s own extensive sewerage infrastructure, a comprehensive refuse collection and recycling service, its own childcare facilities, maintenance of its own paths and roadways, and much more. Amongst the community’s employees (building staff, childcare workers, administrators, rubbish collectors etc.), no worker is paid more than anyone else, avoiding the vast income inequalities, exploitation and hierarchies we see in so-called ‘developed’ societies.
 
To pay for all of this, a common fund was created. While in the 1970s this was ad hoc, with money stored in an old cigar box, it would evolve into the very comprehensive funding system evident today. Christiania’s budget is debated and decided on collectively every year, through a transparent participatory budgeting process. Meanwhile, delegates of businesses meet with each other on a regular basis to discuss common issues or concerns and, rather than the ‘beggar they neighbour’ ethos typical under capitalism, businesses agree to pick up slack in financial commitments when one or the other runs into trouble. This collectivity adds to the richness and resilience of the whole.
 
Balance with nature
In an early demonstration of ecological consciousness, a key element of Christiania’s founding mission was to ‘show that psychological and physical pollution can be prevented’. The community has been a pioneer on this, in many senses. The site is car-free, meaning that people get around by bike or on foot, whatever the weather. This mobility culture (echoed in Copenhagen more broadly) is the envy of many towns and cities, and bore the fruit of sustainable innovation in the form of the pioneering Christiania Bike. Streetlights are intentionally kept to a minimum, adding to the feeling of being a rural enclave in the heart of a city. This drastically reduces light pollution, and is all the better for the abundant wildlife which lives on the site.
 
This ecological principle is a constant work-in-progress, of course. Community energy systems, for instance, are gradually replacing the dirtier home-made stoves which originally provided space heating from coal and wood. These district heating systems are primarily run on wood pellets, but the community has also recently started harvesting geothermal heat from the lake they sit around for a number of dwellings. Christianites even administer their own trade-in scheme, where the replacement of less efficient ovens and stoves is subsidised, alongside a program of housing upgrades to reduce energy use.
 
As we approach the 50th anniversary of this extraordinary human endeavour, we should celebrate all that Christianites have achieved in the face of decades of opposition from the state. They have created a participatory economy, devoid of many of the flaws we see in socially and ecologically destructive capitalism. Their lack of property ownership tackles the speculative heart of capital, while practices of economic democracy run deep in everyday life. While the question of how such experiments can ‘scale up’ is often asked, that seems beside the point; more relevant is what can be learned from Christiania, in terms of an economy based on social equity and ecological balance, and how other communities can harness and practice these learnings in their own ecologies. <ref>[https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/freetown-christiania-economic-nowtopia-heart-european-capital-city/ opendemocracy.net]</ref>


== Initiatives by topic ==
== Initiatives by topic ==

Revision as of 18:04, 16 January 2020

Global action day copenhagen.jpg
Copenhagen is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.[1] It has also received the title of "European Green Capital 2014" as a result of its environmental record and its ambitious goals. [2] For a number of years, Copenhagen has ranked high in international surveys for its quality of life. Although it is one of the world's most expensive cities, it is also one of the most liveable with its public transport, facilities for cyclists and its environmental policies. [3]

Freetown Christiania

see separate article: Freetown Christiania

Initiatives by topic

Climate action

The municipal policy is to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% before the end of 2015.

Copenhagen aims to be carbon-neutral by 2025. Commercial and residential buildings are to reduce electricity consumption by 20 percent and 10 percent respectively, and total heat consumption is to fall by 20 percent by 2025. Renewable energy features such as solar panels are becoming increasingly common in the newest buildings in Copenhagen. District heating will be carbon-neutral by 2025. New buildings must now be constructed according to Low Energy Class ratings and in 2020 near net-zero energy buildings. By 2025, 75% of trips should be made on foot, by bike, or by using public transit. The city plans that 20-30% of cars will run on electricity or biofuel by 2025. [4]

Coasts

Copenhagen and the surrounding areas have three beaches with a total of approx. 8 kilometres (5 miles) of sandy shores within 30 minutes cycling from the city centre. These include Amager Strandpark, which opened in 2005 with a 2 km (1 mi) long artificial island and a total of 4.6 km (2.9 mi) of beaches, located just 15 minutes by bicycle or a few minutes by metro from the city centre.

The beaches are supplemented by a system of Harbour Baths along the Copenhagen waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands Brygge and has won international acclaim for its design. [5]

Community energy

In 2001 a large offshore wind farm was built just off the coast of Copenhagen at Middelgrunden. It produces about 4% of the city's energy. [6]

Cycling activism

Kobenhavn cykelby.jpg

Cycling in Copenhagen is - as with most cycling in Denmark - an important means of transportation and a dominating feature of the cityscape, often noticed by visitors. The city offers a variety of favourable cycling conditions — dense urban proximities, short distances and flat terrain — along with an extensive and well-designed system of cycle tracks. This has earned it a reputation as one of the most—possibly the most—bicycle-friendly city in the world. 36% of all citizens commute to work, school or university by bicycle; in fact, more people commute by bicycle in greater Copenhagen than cycle to work in the entire United States. Cycling is generally perceived as a healthier, environmentally friendly, cheaper and often quicker way around town than by public transport or car and it is therefore municipal policy for the number of commuters by bike to go up to 50% by 2015. [7]

wikipedia:Cycling in Copenhagen

copenhagenize.com - Copenhagen - the City of Cyclists

Environment quality

Years of substantial investment in sewage treatment have improved water quality in the harbour to an extent that the inner harbour can be used for swimming with facilities at a number of locations. [8]

Food activism

Copenhagen Street Food, food market in the heart of Copenhagen

Wefood

Open spaces

Copenhagen is a green city well endowed with open spaces. It has an extensive and well-distributed system of parks that act as venues for a wide array of events and urban life. As a supplement to the regular parks, there are a number of congenial public gardens and some cemeteries doubling as parks. It is official municipal policy in Copenhagen that all citizens by 2015 must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes. [9]

wikipedia:Parks and open spaces in Copenhagen

Towards sustainable economies

As a result of its commitment to high environmental standards, Copenhagen has been praised for its green economy, becoming the world's leading green city in the 2012 Global Green Economy Index. [10]

Urban sustainability

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The city's architectural planning authorities have given special attention to both climate issues and efforts to ensure maximum application of low-energy standards. Priorities include recycling rainwater, green roofs and efficient waste management solutions. In city planning, streets and squares are to be designed to encourage cycling and walking rather than driving.

News and comment

2019

Aug 20 How Copenhagen plans to reach carbon-neutral status in just six years [11]

2018

How do you build a healthy city? Copenhagen reveals its secrets, Feb 11 [12]

2017

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The Transition Flower Shop, Mar 21 [13]

2016

Two-wheel takeover: bikes outnumber cars for the first time in Copenhagen, Nov 30 [14]

Denmark now has a second grocery store selling expired food, Nov 28 [15]

Massive Passenger Increase After Bikes Allowed Free on Trains, Nov 14 [16]

Meteoric Rise in Bicycle Traffic in Copenhagen, Nov 4 [17]

Copenhagen's getting healthier, thanks to everyone in the city, Sep 16 [18]

Scandinavia’s First Zero Packaging Supermarket Opens This Summer, Mar 9 [19]

2014

Is this the world's best bike-share bike? October 10 [20]

Copenhagen's piles of bicycles, October 14 [21]

Copenhagen’s Cycle Snake completed, September 10 [22]

2009

Copenhagen’s Christmas tree lights to be powered by bikes, [23] December 2

Resources

See aslo

Interwiki links

Wikipedia: Copenhagen


References Template:Attrib sca ref

  1. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen
  2. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Environmental planning
  3. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Quality of living
  4. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Environmental planning
  5. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Beaches
  6. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Environmental planning
  7. ↑ wikipedia:Cycling in Copenhagen
  8. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Environmental planning
  9. ↑ wikipedia:Parks and open spaces in Copenhagen
  10. ↑ wikipedia:Copenhagen#Environmental planning
  11. ↑ fastcompany.com
  12. ↑ The Guardian
  13. ↑ transitionnetwork.org
  14. ↑ The Guardian
  15. ↑ treehugger.com
  16. ↑ copenhagenize.com
  17. ↑ copenhagenize.com
  18. ↑ The Guardian
  19. ↑ foodtank.com
  20. ↑ fastcoexist.com
  21. ↑ BBC News
  22. ↑ European Green Capital
  23. ↑ off-grid.net


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