📌 In Copenhagen, the well-being of residents and sustainability guide mobility and urban planning

Exploratory trip reports by the Futura-Mobility think tank, October 2024.

Renowned for its quality of life, Copenhagen ranks high among cities when it comes to sustainability. Furthermore, since 2009 it has been chasing ambitious targets to reduce its C02 emissions, through actions that embrace eco-friendly transport, renewable energy sources, and energy-efficient buildings.

Futura-Mobility’s learning expedition to the Danish capital, in October 2024, was an opportunity for participants to explore various themes linked to sustainable urban development, mobility decarbonisation, and innovation.

Decarbonation pathways & strategies

According to its Climate Act, Denmark is looking to reach climate neutrality nationwide by 2045. The country’s municipalities have themselves followed the C40’s Climate Action Planning Framework (CAPF) and taken responsibility for drawing up their own climate action plans (CAP): aiming for emissions neutrality and climate resilience through policies in all sectors, from energy and housing to industry and transport.

DK2020, a project run by Concito, a Danish think-tank focused on climate policy and the energy transition, supported by the Danish philanthropic association Realdania, and by C40 experts, has helped municipalities in this voluntary process over the years. Today all the 98 municipalities in Denmark’s five Danish regions have now adopted CAPs compatible with the Paris Agreement. “There is no national guidance on local transport decarbonisation, no government office in charge, but a lot of bottom-up initiatives,” confirm Søren Have, programme director and Nicolas Francart, climate change analyst, Concito. Taken together, all these CAP targets, if reached, should result in a 76% reduction of Danish emissions in 2030 compared to 1990. “There is now strong momentum for these municipalities to work on, which this is really important,” points out Mr Francart.

When it comes to decarbonation, Copenhagen has always stood out. Back in 2009, the Danish capital proved itself a pioneer, both nationally and internationally, by announcing a bold zero emissions goal for 2025. At that time, no other city or even country was aiming for net zero on such a short timescale. And while defaulting on this promise, “the 2025 target won’t be reached,” acknowledges Kristine Munkgård Pedersen, programme director, Department for Climate and Urban Development, Københavns Kommune (City of Copenhagen), the municipality still achieved a 74% decrease in C02 emissions between 2005 and 2024. So there are no regrets. “The higher the target, the higher you go,” points out Ms Munkgård Pedersen.

A new climate plan 2035, due to enter into force on 1 January 2026, seeks to further reduce the city’s C02 emissions and, importantly, includes a yet unproven pillar for action:  tackling emissions linked to consumption. In practice this will involve addressing Copenhageners’ consumption of electronics, clothes, food, and travel, and the construction of new infrastructure and housing. Encouraging more sustainable lifestyles in these areas is expected to cut the global CO₂-emissions they generate. “Educating people will play a big part in the success of this new CAP,” anticipates Ms Pedersen. “Another particular challenge going forward will be coping with heavier rainfall and flooding due to climate change.” Indeed, according to Adaptation approaches in Danish municipalities’ climate action plans (published by Concito and Realdania, February 2024) annual precipitation in Denmark has already increased by around 100mm over the past 100 years. Going forward, rising temperatures are also expected to cause more frequent rain events up to 2100. The means sea levels are increasing and will continue to do so far into the future, leading to far more storm surges than are occurring today.

Sustainable Urban development – Putting people in the picture

Subtle, systemic, and sustained changes may well be what keeps Copenhagen on the sustainable path and maintains its appeal as a ‘liveable city’. Gamechangers like the Danish architect urban planner Jan Gehl have also proved pivotal. A pioneer of the “designing places for people” movement, his convictions and work over the past decades have helped transform Copenhagen into a human-centred city that puts walking, cycling and social interaction first. Gehl, his urban design, architecture and research agency, follows the same people-orientated guiding principle. “Design is what it looks like and also what it does!” points out Henriette Vamberg, partner & managing director, Gehl. “Ask yourself how it addresses people’s concerns.”

Data collection is crucial to Gehl’s work assessing the real impact of urban planning on people’s lives and use of public space. “A street is also a public space with more than just the function of moving people around.” points out Andreas Røhl, mobility lead, Gehl. Tools developed by the agency to support this approach include its Public Life App, used to collect eye-level data on pedestrian, cyclist and public transport user behaviour, while the cornerstone methodology Public Life Public Space, applied in over 250 cities worldwide, serves to translate data collected into pertinent policy recommendations and urban strategies.

Also important is the iterative design approach, whereby urban developments are constantly, tested, analysed, and improved based on data collected and feedback. “Having good data is just so important,” insists Ms Vamberg.

The Holmene project, protecting the coastline and extending Danish territory

Less immediate yet following the same sustainable urban development path, the Holmene project seeks to effectively extend Danish territory by building an archipelago of islands dedicated to energy, green tech, leisure, well-being, and biodiversity off the coast of the city.

Project leader Arne Cermak Nielsen, architect and partner, Urban Power, explains how this zone, 10km south of the capital, was developed from wetland into an industrial hub in the 1970s. Key industries installed here included (and still do for the time being) Ørsted power and heat plant and BIOFOS waste water utility. In its heyday, in 2018, there were 379 companies and 9,000 employees on the 4 million 500,000 square-metre site.

Today, the Holmene land reclamation islets, to be built from surplus soil derived from the region’s subway and building projects, reflect the changing needs of the city and its region: growing demand for sites for knowledge-intensive industry, fossil-free energy production, and a flood barrier to secure both existing and future areas. In addition, it will create a vast, public-accessible natural area for sports, leisure, and biodiversity. “The flood barriers will be developed as a recreative coastline, for instance,” points out Mr Nielsen.

Impressive indeed, yet this ambitious vision is taking time to get off the ground. First presented to the City of Copenhagen five years ago, firm decisions are still pending. Since the project involves reaching out into the sea, so effectively extending the size of Denmark, a new law needs to be passed. This represents a major event and so is taking time. Plus environmental impact assessments must be carried out before any green light is given. The timeline is now 2040 or beyond.

Mobility & urban planning – hand in hand

With its reputation as a pioneering cycling capital, Copenhagen has invested heavily in high-quality cycling infrastructure to build a coherent and safe network of bike paths separated from car traffic. Yet surprisingly, Copenhagers don’t define themselves as cyclists. “Biking isn’t in the Viking blood! It’s the result of how we plan our cities,” says Marie Kåstrup, an urban strategic consultant at consultancy firm Urban Creators. People cycle in the city because it is fast and easy, good for health, convenient, and cheap. Environmental concerns are the least of their concerns. Reliability is a key factor: in the winter bike use only drops by 25% because, despite the weather, it simply makes sense. “You’re more in control of your travel time,” explains Ms Kåstrup.

Awareness that cycling isn’t just for city centres but extends beyond is another reason why bikes are so popular. For longer journeys to and from the suburbs, commuters can use the ‘Cycle Superhighways’. By providing user-friendly routes, this network covering over 400km is designed to encourage the use of bikes over cars for such trips.

In addition to the ongoing focus on intelligently planned and consistent cycling infrastructure over the years, multimodal integration has also proved fundamental to the bike’s success. Copenhagen’s transport system is designed to integrate walking, cycling and public transport as seamlessly as possible. An effort that seems to have paid off:  80% of Copenhageners go to work or education by walking, cycling or public transport.

“To develop cycling, intermodality with public transport is super important,” says Ms Kåstrup. Yet for the Danish capital, this thinking is nothing new; it dates back decades. In 1947, the ‘Finger Plan’ was adopted to guide spatial development of Greater Copenhagen. It subsequently saved the city from sprawl in all directions and led to structured urban growth along the ‘fingers’, centred on S-train commuter rail lines extending from the ‘palm’. Between the ‘fingers’, green wedges are prioritised.  Ever since, a ‘car-free, car-light’ vision has been the starting point for creating new districts in Copenhagen. Such is the case for Jernbanebyen, a former railroad yard in the city centre currently being transformed into an innovative green district. It will include car-free neighbourhoods with areas for cyclists and pedestrians instead of the traditional street model.

Part of the Jernbanebyen design team, Marie Kåstrup and Filip Zibrandtsen, founding partner, Urban Creators, enthuse about “mobility with joy”. Bringing health, well-being, sensory experiences, social inclusion, safety, and experiences to the fore, they believe in the importance of designing living cities that offer a high quality of living, with people in motion, both physically and mentally. “We focus on the non-technical aspects of urban development and mobility. Like the link between public health and mobility, for instance.”

Nevertheless, it’s not all plain sailing. Challenges for the future of mobility in Copenhagen, do of course exist.  Rising car ownership means the number of cars in Copenhagen is increasing. Meanwhile cycling is decreasing nationwide (see slide below). Other ongoing issues include the need to provide bike parking facilities at stations to encourage intermodal train-bike travel, or safety concerns over mixing micromobility (e-scooters and mopeds) and e-bike traffic flow.

In Copenhagen, infrastructure and facilities are genuinely dedicated to cycling

To discover and understand first hand why the Danish capital is renowned for its cycling-friendly, urban planning and design, the Futura-Mobility delegation took a guided bike tour through the city with Emil Maj Christensen, urban planner and political consultant, Danish Cyclists’ Federation, and founder of 21^st Century City micro-consulting.

Overall exhilarating, stress-free and seamless, despite the rain, the tour revealed how Copenhagen’s cycling infrastructure, with wide one-way lanes and dedicated traffic lights, imitates that traditionally built for cars. “Traffic patterns are sometimes designed so that the journey from point A to point B is shorter by bike than by car,” points out Mr Christensen. It was noticeable too how everyone, both young and old, seems to be on a bike. Also surprising, and greatly appreciated, cars generally tend to respect cyclists. Furthermore, trains, buses and the metro are bike friendly (except during rush hours on buses and the metro). Last but not least, many efforts – like access ramps, elevators, and bike parks – are made to easily combine cycling with using public transport.

Living labs, collaboration et experimentation – innovation to the fore

Copenhagen encourages innovation through structures like the DOLL Living Lab, where businesses, research institutions, and public authorities can test smart urban solutions in real-life conditions. “The right mindset to innovate is collaborate – engage – contribute,” says innovation manager Ben Cahill.

Today, technologies like digital twins are playing an increasingly important role in urban planning and management. At DOLL, digital twins are used to model and analyse data collected in urban areas, thus enabling its partners to simulate and test their smart city solutions in a virtual environment, optimise decision-making through the use of real-time data, and enhance their innovation by visualising not just one but multiple scenarios.

The solutions being tested by DOLL’s partners are inspiring. Macq proposes intelligent cameras with integrated IA that provide 99% reliability; Green Urban Sights, recognising trees as infrastructure as important as mobility or telecoms, helps cities manage them; the Social Tech Projects proposes AI-driven cycle lane monitoring by involving cyclists in data collection; DTU Skylab is an innovative space for incubating startups designed to support innovation and entrepreneurship at Technical University of Denmark.

Another innovation influencer is BLOXHUB, located on Copenhagen’s harbourfront, This ecosystem of companies, organisations, research institutions, and public bodies is on a mission to “co-create desirable urban futures,” explains Martine Reinhold Kildeby. director, global networks & partnerships. The emphasis is on providing an entry point to knowledge and innovation through collaboration and exchange. Solutions being explored by startups here include decarbonising local deliveries (Wolt); software based on data collection and AI to accelerate financial decision making (Enorra), smart charging (Enkel), 3D urban modelling (Citywelft), and simplifying the payment process for public transport in multiple European cities (Skipit), and a green transport reward system (Earth Miles).

Just like Futura-Mobility (see Étude Futura-Mobility & JC Louvain : impact des mobilités sur les limites planétaires et les dimensions sociales du Donut de Kate Raworth, une approche innovante), BLOXHUB’s urban vision is inspired by Kate Raworth’s doughnut economic model – which envisions a world where economic development happens within the ecological limits of the planet while meeting the basic needs of all people – and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). “Cities are systems. Cities are nature. Cities are communities,” insists Ms Kildeby.

With the City of Copenhagen one of its founding partners, BLOXHUB is mainly funded by the philanthropic association Realdania, together with fees from network members that include EIT Urban mobility, Andler, Arup, C40 Cities, a,d the Institute for Future Cities.

Another important ecosystem also in Copenhagen is the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping. This not-for-profit, independent research and development centre is looking to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero future for the maritime industry. With bold ambitions and the means to match, it is working to support the whole maritime value chain.

“All we do is published and accessible to all on our website,” points out Kiki Larsen, academia & funding manager. “We then take our knowledge and use it to advocate. Our Centre’s currency is impact. We have no ships.”

Futura-Mobility in Copenhagen – REPLAY

The holistic approach

In Copenhagen, cycling really does play a central role in local mobility. This is largely down to urban planning, and more specifically infrastructure choices. Meanwhile, public transport is built around cycling to complement and facilitate travelling by bike, especially between the urban centre and outlying areas.

The spirit of innovation and methods are also central, including in the field of urban planning, with an ongoing ‘test & learn’ approach. Data is used to serve people, not for its own sake.

By focusing its approach on well-being, over the years Copenhagen has become the capital of quality of life in Europe, and continues to work on this objective.