copenhagen – News – What’s New at AIANY and the Center for Architecture.

The line of people that stretched down LaGuardia Place to attend “Cities by Water: Solutions from Copenhagen and New York” on 04.08.14 was a testament to the fact that in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers have become acutely aware of the threat that climate change poses to their city. The program, related to the “Copenhagen Solutions” exhibition currently on view at the Center for Architecture, compared and contrasted approaches to the water-related challenges facing New York and Copenhagen.

Bjarke Ingels, founder of the Copenhagen- and New York-based architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), and Tina Saaby, City Architect of Copenhagen, fielded the first questions posed by AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA, who guided the evening’s discussion. Bell asked Ingels and Saaby to comment on the extent to which political leadership, policy, and the relationship between the public and private sectors determines what is possible in Copenhagen. Saaby explained that in Copenhagen there is both a top-down and bottom-up approach implemented simultaneously, resulting in long-term visions for city planning coupled with short-term actions. Continue reading “Cities by Water: Solutions from Copenhagen and New York”

As the clamoring to address climate change grows louder – just last week, the American Association for the Advancement of Science issued a straightforward, dire warning – it’s striking to compare how cities are either choosing to become greener, or not. Copenhagen has become the model of a city that’s embraced large-scale, civic green design that permeates almost every aspect of public infrastructure.

The Center for Architecture’s exhibition “Copenhagen Solutions” explores how Copenhagen came to be the world’s greenest city, and its plans to become CO₂ neutral by 2025. While the city’s success has been mostly localized, it hopes that its model will trigger designs in other cities; because it is the first to take on so much, success can only be improved upon. Singapore and Hamburg, for instance, are capitalizing on Copenhagen’s bold pioneering. Continue reading “Learning from Copenhagen”