Is It Sustainable?
Bring your class on a city walk in Copenhagen’s Inner Harbour, where students explore new architecture and public spaces with a focus on sustainability, climate, and the urban development of the future.
Investigate and evaluate the striking new architecture of the Inner Harbour, guided by one key question: Is it sustainable?
Are you interested in sustainability, climate, and innovative thinking? And would you like to learn more about how modern urban planning works with long-term durability, diversity, and the city’s public spaces? Then join this engaging city walk, where we investigate and assess five different recent buildings and urban spaces along Copenhagen’s harbour.
Copenhagen’s Inner Harbour has undergone a major transformation since the end of the last century. Cultural institutions, bridges, and new residential neighbourhoods have emerged—but are they future-ready, diverse, and sustainable?
Together, we’ll unpack what we mean by sustainability and put the projects to the test by discussing sustainable urban development and the visions shaping Copenhagen today.
Teaching alternates between short case introductions and group-based assessment. The new insights will equip you to take a critical view of the public spaces you move through—and inspire you to help influence the cities of the future in a positive direction.
For school classes: Practical details
Meeting point and route: The south-east entrance of the Royal Danish Playhouse (near the harbour bus by Nyhavn). Approx. 3.5 km—ending at BLOX.
Duration: 2.5 hours
Target group: Upper secondary education
Price: DKK 975
Language: Danish and EnglishPhoto: Dansk Arkitektur Center (DAC)
During the programme, we work with
- Understanding sustainability: We use the concept of sustainability to assess contemporary buildings and public spaces.
- The sustainability triangle: We use the triangle’s three dimensions to evaluate quality and long-term resilience.
- Sensory experience: We analyse architecture through observation and experience during the walk.
- Critical reflection: You develop language for debating and reflecting on sustainable urban development.
- Architecture and urban development: We explore the links between building, sustainability, and the city’s development.
Materials for preparation and follow-up
Before the city walk with DAC
You can use our materials to prepare for the theme of sustainable urban development. The materials include articles on the concept of sustainability, the Brundtland Report, and selected sections of the City of Copenhagen’s action plan for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Dive into specific SDGs—for example No. 6 Clean Water and Sanitation, No. 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, No. 13 Climate Action, No. 14 Life Below Water, and No. 15 Life on Land—to understand concrete projects that can contribute to the goals.
After the city walk with DAC
You can create your own sustainable city walk in your local area and transfer the tools and knowledge you’ve gained to your everyday environment.
Is It Sustainable? can also be part of a longer project-based course—for example in collaboration with other subjects such as interdisciplinary study skills, visual arts, biology, design and architecture, geoscience, history, innovation, physical geography, and social studies.
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