Nordhavnen (Northern Harbour) is the largest metropolitan development project in Scandinavia in the years to come. Nordhavnen is located only 4km from the city centre of Copenhagen. With it’s splendid accessibility to the city core’s infrastructure and direct access to the water, Nordhavnen will become a unique city district in the Danish capital. The post-industrial harbour site will be developed over the next forty to fifty years. In the future, the site will feature a total floor area of up to 4,000,000 m2, providing living space for 40,000 inhabitants and workspace for another 40,000 people. Located at the Øresund coast, Nordhavnen will utilize it’s direct access to the sea by providing a multitude of recreational urban spaces and public facilities at the water.

Islets and canals

Building on the logic of the old harbour, the main structural concept for Nordhavnen foresees additional canals that will divide the area into a number of smaller islets. These new neighbourhoods in Copenhagen’s new district will thus be surrounded by water. This underlines Nordhavnen’s distinctive character and the quality of the site.

Identity and history

The harbour features several distinctive traces of an industrial past. These provide a strong starting point for the conversion of Nordhavnen from an industrial area into a lively and urban city district. The traces of the industrial culture that are found in the area are conceived as urban incubators for the new city district.

Five-minute city

Nordhavnen will be developed as a ‘five-minute city’. It takes five minutes to walk 400 m. In Nordhavnen, everything one needs on a daily basis – the home, schools and kindergardens, and shopping facilities – can be reached within 5 minutes from a public transport stop. Also the water or other open spaces are never longer than 5 minutes away. In Nordhavnen sustainable modes of transport, such as walking, cycling and public collective transport are thus promoted.

Blue and green city

Nordhavnen is a green and blue city district. With its basins, canals and coastlines, Nordhavnen has water as its closest neighbour. There is always a green and open area around the corner: from local pocket parks, promenades and green urban spaces to open coastal expanses, beaches and large scenic areas. All water fronts in Nordhavnen are public areas.

Energy efficient city

The new Norhavnen is planned to reduce the average energy consumption drastically without compromising aesthetics and functionality.

Intelligent grid

Nordhavnen will be developed over decades. It thus also has to accommodate the demands of the unforeseeable future. Accordingly, it will be developed in a dynamic structure governing the physical organisation of the site. The structure is sufficiently strong and robust to provide a firm framework for urban development, yet sufficiently flexible to adapt to future trends.