Problem
Previously, Carl Nielsens Allé was a busy parking lot covered with asphalt. The area lacked recreational spaces and greenery, and there were issues with water from heavy rainfall in the neighborhood.
Solution
Now, the urban space has been transformed into a lush area that the local residents can enjoy every day. During heavy rain, the green oasis turns into a beautiful water basin, making the area more resilient to heavy rainfall. Carl Nielsens Allé has thus been transformed into a vibrant urban space that combines nature, city life, and climate adaptation in one of Copenhagen’s cozy neighborhoods.
With a simple architectural gesture, an oasis in the middle of the city, Carl Nielsens Allé’s traffic, environmental, and urban challenges have been turned into a strong and sensory urban space.
The oasis is intensely green and lush, consisting of a highland and a lowland area surrounded by a multifunctional edge furniture.
The oasis offers biodiversity, play, recreation, and learning for the area’s residents and users. The challenges of rainwater turn into potential and a resource for the area’s users as the oasis transforms into a rainwater collection basin during heavy rainfall.
In the future, rainwater will be welcomed and become an integrated part of the area’s identity and sensory experience.
The highland is planted with bushes that reach a height and volume emphasizing and highlighting the underlying safety terrain and creating a lush backdrop for the lowland wetlands. On the narrow gravel paths leading over the safety terrain, one can get lost in the vegetation and momentarily forget about the city around them. Emphasis has been placed on choosing plants that serve as food and habitat for insects, thus contributing to increasing the area’s biodiversity.
The lowland is planted with grasses and reeds, creating the character of a lush wetland or meadow landscape. Plants with different flowering times have been chosen to create experiences throughout the year. At the edge of the lake, water edge plants such as Iris species and reed species, which thrive in wet conditions, have been planted. In the lake itself, bog plants have been planted in the form of rooted plants, whose leaves and flowers reach the water surface, such as water lily species.
At the inauguration, Line Barfod, Copenhagen’s Mayor of Technology and Environment, expressed great satisfaction, saying:
“I am particularly pleased that we have succeeded in creating varied urban nature and space for activity and recreation, which has been high on the wish list of the locals,” and she continued:
“And I am very satisfied that we have another solution that has been created based on solid citizen involvement and which can help manage the increased rainfall due to the growing climate challenges.”
Why Carl Nielsens Allé should be awarded
Carl Nielsens Allé contributes uniquely to both climate protection, biodiversity, and aesthetics, as well as its function as a gathering point for the local community. The former busy parking lot has been transformed into a beautiful green oasis that not only protects the city from heavy rainfall but also serves as an important habitat for local biodiversity. This multifunctional urban space serves as an example of how sustainable urban planning can create spaces that protect against climate change, benefit the environment, and strengthen community bonds.
Facts about Carl Nielsens Allé
– Parts of the Oasis are located on top of an old shelter.
– The solution has been developed based on solid citizen involvement.
– The southern semicircle consists of three depressions with a permanent water-filled basin. The others will appear green but only filled with heavy rain.
Location: Carl Nielsens Alle, Copenhagen
Design year: 2017
Year Completed: 2023
