Grønningen-Bispeparken
Grønningen-Bispeparken is Copenhagen’s most radical climate adaptation project to date, integrating nature in its wildest and most beneficial form into the city. The project transforms 20,000m² of barren grassland into an undulating natural landscape with 18 natural rainwater bioswales that protect the area from flooding, enhance biodiversity, and serve as social pockets for residents.
Grønningen-Bispeparken is not a romantic promenade park but a paradigm shift in Copenhagen’s urban development: where form follows nature, and landscape architecture’s highest purpose is to create places for life – all life.
Context
Grønningen-Bispeparken is a typical 1950s social housing estate in Copenhagen owned by two social housing associations on opposing sides of a park. The task was to transform the estate’s shared public spaces from derelict, unsafe, and barren grass lawns into a new climate park that would secure the area against thunderstorms and flooding while also adding social and biological values to the neighbourhood.
Citizen Involvement as Healing Driver
From the start of the design process, citizen involvement was essential – not only to ensure relevance but also to heal division. Over the years, the park had become a physical and social barrier between the two housing associations – reinforcing separation rather than connection. We designed a years-long engagement-driven process to rebuild trust, ownership, and cohesion across the community.
We activated the full spectrum of participation: Hands-on workshops, townhalls, model studios, intergenerational “walk and talks,” 1:1 spatial drawings on the grass, pop-up exhibitions, and digital dialogue during COVID. We even had a movable ‘conversation table’ to reach the community groups less likely to attend more formal involvement activities, such as girls, young men, elderly, and vulnerable groups.
These inputs formed the foundation of a comprehensive “prerequisite report” combining community knowledge with our own deep research: From local biodiversity mapping, historic pollen analysis, and microclimate studies to cultural investigations into the iconic, neighboring Grundtvig Church and studies of Danish artist Per Kirkeby’s upbringing in the area. This led to a shared core narrative that guided all design decisions, ensuring ownership and relevance for all.
The City of Copenhagen embraced this bold approach of deep engagement and research before making any sketches. The result is a park co-designed with – and for – the people it serves: Uniting where it once divided.
Design
Building on this extensive groundwork, we designed Grønningen-Bispeparken to be Copenhagen’s most radical nature-based climate adaptation project to date.
By letting the park’s form follow nature, we created an interconnected series of 18 bioswales throughout the sloping park that can collect, contain, and infiltrate more than 3,000 m3 of rainwater falling in the park and the adjacent courtyards and streets.
The park features five main nature typologies designed according to their climate and social functions:
• Bio Oases: Wetland zones prioritizing wildlife and ecological richness.
• Between the Trunks: Small, dry biotopes for intimate play and pause.
• Common Lawns: Open meadows for sports, markets, and gatherings.
• Pocket Squares: Informal social zones nestled between buildings.
• The Bunker Hills: Repurposed Cold War bunkers become sun decks in summer and sledding slopes in winter.
By combining climate action with social and cultural opportunities, the bioswales double as ‘social swales’ – each designed and programmed together with the local community – providing the park with a host of playful, nature-rich, and safe meeting places for community and togetherness.
A meandering path of gravel and yellow tile (referencing Grundtvig Church) ties the park together and invites residents to explore its varied ecologies.
The planting scheme introduces 149 trees of 23 native species and over 4 million seeds of specially designed seed mixes. All vegetation is locally adapted to reinforce biodiversity and support resilient ecosystems.
As part of the park’s conception, the Danish Arts Council supported artist Kerstin Bergendal’s artistic intervention, Concerning a Meadow, that co-created informal experimental elements in the park. A series of wooden artwork structures emerged from this process – integrated seamlessly into the natural landscape as informal places for play, rest, and movement.
In Use
The park was inaugurated on August 31, 2024. Just five days later, a major thunderstorm flooded highways across Copenhagen. But in Grønningen-Bispeparken, the heavy rain only made the new park more sensuous and lush while the surrounding houses remained safe and dry.
All proving that in Grønningen-Bispeparken, rain is not seen as a threat – but as a natural and social resource to be celebrated.
• Other credits:
Client: The City of Copenhagen
Consultants: Niras, Kerstin Bergendal, Efterland
