In the summer, we hang out at the waterfront and have our dinners out in city parks and squares. In the winter time, we hibernate and rush through the urban spaces seeking warmth indoors. But can we create an urban space and activities that can also foster urban life in winter? “The Winter City” exhibition showed how to utilise the city’s spaces in new ways during the winter months.

In Denmark, we make really good use of our urban spaces during the summer months. There are numerous cultural events and the squares, the docks and the streets are used extensively for a wide variety of activities – the same cannot be said for the Danish winter months. How can we move beyond the indoor comfort-culture and create some urban spaces which can be used for much more than just passing through in the winter? By rethinking the materials, light and heat sources we use, winter urban spaces can also create new communities and venues with some entirely different characteristics than those we know from the summer.

The exhibition “The Winter City” asked why we are not utilising the opportunities that winter brings to a greater extent and thereby creating a more vibrant city in the cold months. The exhibition portrayed several examples of how other cities in the northern hemisphere have developed ‘winter urban spaces’, with a wealth of inspirational solutions. From there, the exhibition took us back to Denmark and on a trip through the city, where new and exciting winter initiatives are fortunately already well under way.