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Copenhagen is the capital and largest city
of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of
1,167,569 (2009) and a metropolitan area with a
population of 1,875,179 (2009). Copenhagen is
situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager.
First documented in the 11th century, Copenhagen
became the capital of Denmark in the beginning of
the 15th century and during the 17th century under
the reign of Christian IV it became an important
regional centre. With the completion of the
transnational Oresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has
become the centre of the increasingly integrating
Øresund Region with around 3.7 million inhabitants
covering an area of 20,869 km² (177/km²). With
around 2.7 million inhabitants within a 50 km
radius, Copenhagen is one of the most densely
populated areas in Northern Europe. Within this
region, Copenhagen and Malmö are in the process of
growing into one common metropolitan area.
Copenhagen is the most visited city of the Nordic
countries with 1.3 million international tourists in
2007
Copenhagen is a major regional center of culture,
business, media, and science. In 2008 Copenhagen was
ranked #4 by Financial Times-owned FDi magazine on
their list of Top50 European Cities of the Future
after London, Paris and Berlin. In the 2008
Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index, published by
MasterCard, Copenhagen was ranked 14th in the world
and 1st in Scandinavia. Life science, information
technology and shipping are important sectors and
research & development plays a major role in the
city's economy. Its strategic location and excellent
infrastructure with the largest airport in
Scandinavia located 14 minutes by train from the
city centre, has made it a regional hub and a
popular location for regional headquarters as well
as conventions. As a result, Copenhagen ranks 3rd in
Western Europe and 1st in the Nordic countries for
attracting head offices.
Copenhagen has repeatedly been recognized as one of
the cities with the best quality of life and in 2008
it was singled out as the Most Liveable City in the
World by international lifestyle magazine Monocle on
their Top 25 Most Liveable Cities 2008 list. It is
also considered one of the world's most
environmentally friendly cities with the water in
the inner harbor being so clean that it can be used
for swimming and 36% of all citizens commuting to
work by bicycle, every day bicycling a total of 1.1
million km.
Since the turn of the millennium Copenhagen has seen
a strong urban and cultural development and has been
described as a boom town. This is partly due to
massive investments in cultural facilities as well
as infrastructure and a new wave of successful
designers, chefs and architects. Travellers have
voted Copenhagen the cleanest city in Europe.
Geography
Copenhagen is located on the eastern shore of the
island of Zealand (Sjælland), partly on the island
of Amager and on a number of natural and artificial
islets in between the two. Copenhagen faces the
Øresund to the east, the strait of water that
separates Denmark from Sweden, and which connects
the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. On the Swedish
side of the sound directly across from Copenhagen,
lies the towns of Malmö and Landskrona.
Copenhagen is also a part of the Øresund region,
which consists of Zealand, Lolland-Falster and
Bornholm in Denmark and Scania in Sweden.
Copenhagen Municipality
Copenhagen Municipality is an administrative unit
which covers the central part of the actual city of
Copenhagen. It is a fairly small part of the actual
city which falls within the municipality both
because it covers a confined area and because the
enclave of Frederiksberg is an independent
municipality. Since a reform in 2006-08, Copenhagen
is divided into 10 official districts .
Greater Copenhagen
The conurbation of Copenhagen consists of several
municipalities. After Copenhagen Municipality, the
second largest is Frederiksberg Municipality which
is an enclave inside Copenhagen Municipality. Both
are contained in the larger Capital Region of
Denmark, containing most of the Copenhagen
metropolitan area.
Previously, the areas of Frederiksberg, Gentofte and
Copenhagen municipalities have been used to define
the city of Copenhagen. This definition is now
obsolete. To meet statistical the needs after the
latest municipal reform, taking place in the
beginning of 2007, an effort has been made to work
out definitions of lands (landsdele) in Denmark. A
land is basically a geographical and statistical
definition, and the area is not considered to be an
administrative unit. The land of Copenhagen City
includes the municipalities of Copenhagen, Dragør,
Frederiksberg and Tårnby, with a total population of
667,228 in the beginning of 2009.
Copenhagen and Frederiksberg were two of the three
last Danish municipalities not belonging to a
county. On the 1st of January 2007, the
municipalities lost their county privileges and
became part of Copenhagen Capital Region.
Cityscape
The city's appearance today is shaped by the key
role it has played as a regional center for
centuries. Copenhagen has a multitude of districts,
each representing its time and with its own
distinctive character, making up a dense urban
fabric. Other distinctive features of Copenhagen of
today is the abundance of water, the high number of
parks and the elaborate system of bicycle paths that
line almost every major street.
Architecture
The oldest section of Copenhagen's inner city is
often referred to as "Middelalderbyen" (The Medieval
City). However, the most distinctive district of
Copenhagen is Frederiksstaden developed during the
reign of Frederick V. It has Amalienborg Palace at
its centre and is dominated by the dome of the
Marble Church as well as a number of elegant 18th
century mansions. Also part of the old inner city of
Copenhagen is the small island of Slotsholmen with
Christiansborg Palace and Christianshavn. Around the
historical city center lies a band of congenial
residential bouroughs (Vesterbro, Inner Nørrebro,
Inner Østerbro) dating mainly from late 19th
century. They were built outside the old ramparts of
the city when the city was finally allowed to expand
beyond this barrier.
Sometimes referred to as "the City of Spires",
Copenhagen is known for its horizontal skyline, only
broken by spires at churches and castles. Most
characteristic is the baroque spire of Church of Our
Saviour with its spiralling and narrowing external
stairs that visitors can climb to the very top of
the spire. Other important spires are those of
Christiansborg Palace, the City Hall and the former
Church of St. Nikolaj that now houses a modern art
venue. A bit lower are the renaissance spires of
Rosenborg Castle and the "dragon spire" of Christian
IV's former stock exchange, so named because it is
shaped as the tails of four dragons twined together.
Recent years have seen a tremendous boom in modern
architecture in Copenhagen both when it comes to
Danish architecture and works by international
architects. For a few hundred years, virtually no
foreign architects had worked in Copenhagen but
since the turn of the millennium the city and its
immediate sourroundings have seen buildings and
projects from international star architects. In the
same time, a number of Danish architects have
achieved great success both in Copenhagen and
abroad. Buildings in Copenhagen have won RIBA
European Awards four years in a row ("Sampension" in
2005, "Kilen" in 2006, "Tietgenkollegiet" in 2007
and the Royal Playhouse in 2008). At the 2008 World
Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Bjarke Ingels
Group won an award for the World's Best Residential
Building 2008 for a house in Ørestad. The Forum AID
Award for Best building in Scandinavia went to
Copenhagen buildings both in 2006 and 2008. In 2008
British design magazine Monocle named Copenhagen the
World's best design city 2008.
The boom in urban development and modern
architecture means that the above mentioned
horizontal skyline has seen some changes. A
political majority has decided to keep the
historical center free of highrises. But several
areas will see or have already seen massive urban
development. Ørestad is the area that until now has
seen most of the development. Located near
Copenhagen Airport, it currently boasts the largest
mall in Scandinavia and a variety of office and
residential buildings as well as an IT University
and a high school. The two largest hotels in
Scandinavia are currently under construction (ultimo
2008).
An ambitious regeneration project will create a new
Carlsberg District at the historical premises of the
Carlsberg Breweries that has terminated the
production of beer in Copenhagen and moved it to
Fredericia. The district will have a total of nine
highrises and seeks to mix the old industrial
buildings with modern architecture to create a
dense, maze-like quarter with a focus on
sustainability and an active urban life. A third
major area of urban development also with a focus on
sustanibility is Nordhavn. The Copenhagen tradition
with urban development on artificial islands that
was initiated with Christian IV's construction of
Christianshavn has recently been continued with the
creation of Havneholmen as well as a canal district
at Sluseholmen in the South Harbour. A district in
Copenhagen with a very different take on modern
architecture is that of Christiania whose many
creative and idiosyncratic buildings are exponents
of an "architecture without architects".
Parks
Copenhagen is a green city with many big and small
parks. King's Garden, the garden of Rosenborg
Castle, is the oldest and most visited park in
Copenhagen. Its landscaping was commenced by
Christian IV in 1606. Every year it sees more than
2,5 million visitors and in the summer months it is
packed with sunbathers, picknickers and ballplayers.
It also serves as a sculpture garden with a
permanent display of sculptures as well as temporary
exhibits during summer. Also located in the city
centre are the Botanical Gardens particularly noted
for their large complex of 19th century greenhouses
donated by Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen.
Fælledparken is with its 58 hectars the largest park
in Copenhagen. It is popular for sports and hosts a
long array of annual events like a free opera
concert at the opening of the opera season, other
open-air concerts, carnival, Labour Day celebrations
and Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix which is a race
for antique cars. A historical green space in the
northeastern part of the city is Kastellet which is
a well-presserved renaissance citadel that now
serves mainly as a park. Another popular park is the
Frederiksberg Garden which is a 32 hectars romantic
landscape park. It houses a large colony of very
tame grey herons along with other waterfowls. The
park also offers views of the elephants and the
elephant house designed by world-famous British
architect Norman Foster of the adjacent Copenhagen
Zoo.
Characteristic of Copenhagen is that a number of
cemeteries double as parks, though only for the more
quiet activities such as sunbathing, reading and
meditation. Assistens Cemetery, the burial place of
Hans Christian Andersen among others, is an
important green space for the district of Inner
Nørrebro and a Copenhagen institution. The lesser
known Vestre Kirkegaard is with its 54 hectars the
largest cemetery in Denmark and offers a maze of
dense groves, open lawns, winding paths, hedges,
overgrown tombs, monuments, tree-lined avenues,
lakes and other garden features.
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. In line with
this policy, several new parks are under development
in areas lacking green spaces.
Beaches
Copenhagen and the surrounding areas have 3 beaches
with a total of approx. 8 km of sandy beaches within
30 minutes of bicycling from the city centre. This
includes Amager Strandpark, which opened in 2005 and
includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total
of 4,6 km 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.
Cuisine
As of 2009 Copenhagen has 13 Michelin star
restaurants, which makes Copenhagen the city with
most Michelin stars in Scandinavia. Copenhagen is
increasingly being recognized internationally as a
gourmet destination. Apart from the selection of
high end restaurants, Copenhagen offers a great
variety of Danish, International and ethnic
restaurants and it is possible to find modest
eateries with open sandwiches (called "smørrebrød"),
which is the traditional and best known Danish dish
for lunch. Most restaurants, though, serve
international dishes. Danish pastry, another local
specialty, can be sampled from the numerous bakeries
found in all parts of the city.
Copenhagen has long been associated with beer.
Carlsberg beer has been brewed at the brewery's
premises at the border between Vesterbro and Valby
districts since 1847 and has long been almost
synonymous with Danish beer production. However,
recent years have seen an explosive growth in the
number of microbreweries so that Denmark today has
more than 100 breweries, many of which are located
in Copenhagen. Some like Nørrebro Bryghus also act
as brewpubs where it is also possible to eat at the
premises.
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