Superkilen

Superkilen is a public park in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The park is designed to bring immigrants and locals together, promoting tolerance and unity^[1] in one of Denmark's most ethnically-diverse and socially-challenged communities.^[2] Not only is the park a meeting place for local residents, it is a tourist attraction for Copenhagen.^[3] Designed by the arts group Superflex with the collaboration of Bjarke Ingels Group and Topotek1, a German landscape architecture firm, the park was officially opened in June 2012.^[4] The almost kilometre-long^[5] park's name refers to its shape, "kilen" meaning "wedge".^[2]

Background

The park is part of an urban improvement plan coordinated by the City of Copenhagen in a partnership with Realdania, a private philanthropic organization.^[6] The objective was to upgrade the Nørrebro neighbourhood to a high standard of urban development liable to inspire other cities and districts.^[7] It is designed as a kind of world exposition for the local inhabitants, covering over 60 nationalities, who have been able to contribute their own ideas and artefacts to the project.^[4]

Nørrebro is a neighbourhood plagued by crime and areas to the East and West of the park's location were cut off from the rest of the city by two major highways.^[6] It was also the site of riots in 2006 triggered by a controversial cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad.^[8] The Copenhagen-based architects experienced the vandalism and violence of these riots in the streets outside their office, just after designing a downtown mosque, and decided to focus on creating urban spaces to promote integration across ethnicity, religion, culture, and languages.^[9]

The designers see the park as not a finite project but an "artwork in progress."^[8] The design is based on dreams that could transform into objects and is meant to make people of diverse backgrounds feel at home.^[10] It uses humour to represent the different cultures in a respectful manner.^[10]

Commissioned in June 2008, the design process lasted from January 2009 until February 2010, with construction between August 2010 and June 2012.^[2] The project cost $8,879,000 USD.^[2]

Awards and recognition

The project was rewarded with a 2013 AIA Honor Award in the Regional & Urban Design category by the American Institute of Architects.^[11] It was shortlisted for Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London^[12] as well as for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.^[13] Superkilen was also one of six winners of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture^[14] recognized for promoting integration of the various religious and ethnic groups living in the area^[15] despite tensions between immigrant and host populations,^[16] with a mix of humour, history, and hubris.^[17]

Various tourist platforms list the park as one of Copenhagen's top ten must-visit sites.^[8] Many advertisements have used the park as a background.^[8]

Features

Stretching some 750 metres (2,460 ft) along either side of a public cycle track and covering a total area of some 30,000 square metres (320,000 sq ft), Superkilen is made up of three main areas: a red square, a black market and a green park. While the red square, painted bright red, orange and pink, focuses on recreation and modern living, the black market at the centre is the classic square with a fountain where neighbours can meet, with its barbecue grills and palm trees from China, an "urban living room".^[2] The green park, literally entirely green, has rolling hills, trees and plants suitable for picnics, sports and dog-walking.^[18]^[19]

Many of the objects in the park have been specially imported or copied from foreign designs. They include swings from Iraq, benches from Brazil, a Soviet Bus Stop, a fountain from Morocco and litter bins from England.^[18] There are neon signs from throughout the world advertising everything from a Russian hotel to a Chinese beauty parlour. Even the manhole covers come from Zanzibar, Gdansk and Paris. In all, there are 108 plants and artefacts illustrating the ethnic diversity of the local population,^[20] whose backgrounds touch 62 different countries.^[2] These objects help symbolize residents' shared ownership of the park.^[6]

A plate on the ground next to each item describes it in Danish and the language of its home country,^[3] and visitors can download an app to learn more about each object.^[8]

Social impact

Superkilen has succeeded in joining two residential areas formerly divided by a fence^[21] and has reconnected the surrounding areas to the rest of the city.^[6] Pedestrian and cycling traffic has increased^[21] between two major roads^[6] and the park encourages people to become more active.^[10] It provides a stimulating environment, particularly important for children.^[10]

The park acts as a meeting place for residents of Denmark's most ethnically-diverse neighbourhood and attracts visitors from across the city and around the world.^[22] It has rejuvenated the problematic area and brought together the sixty different nationalities living nearby.^[23] In addition to the wide range of ethnicities using the park, it attracts a wide range of ages, from small children with their parents to elderly people.^[24]

Although the area has a history of vandalism, this has not been a huge issue in the park.^[24] Lighting in the area helps create a sense of security for residents.^[6] Some area residents were initially concerned that it would not be a traditional green park, but are generally pleased with gaining a meeting place and the park's high level of activity, and are proud of their neighbourhood park.^[24] Adding green space to the neighbourhood has aided water management.^[24]

Design process

Instead of designing the park with traditional public outreach catering to political correctness and preconceived ideas, the architects used extreme public participation to drive the park's design.^[3] They reached out to residents using internet, email, newspapers, and radio.^[25] The public consultation process was extensive, gathering suggestions from area residents for objects the park could contain to represent all sixty nationalities,^[3] then a local governance board selected the objects.^[2] Diversity was less a problem requiring a solution than a useful tool in the creative process of creating the park's identity.^[2]