Superkilen

A park wedged in the middle of a multicultural neighbourhood, Superkilen is designed as a place to connect these diverse cultures and bring in activities to this once neglected and unused space. The design acquired a lot of suggestions and from the community that built up this unique park. Like any large city, Copenhagen is home to diversely cultured neighbourhoods, ones where social and economic mobility are limited. Superkilen park is located in the neighbourhood of Norrebro, just north of the city centre. The wide range of inhabitants are composed of first and second generation immigrants from a wide range of countries. This park which loosely translated means super wedge is literally a tight empty space in between the housings of Norrebro. Compared to other central parts of the city, Norrebro has a relatively low socioeconomic profile. A design competition was held by the Municipality of Copenhagen and the strategic foundation Realdania in 2007, which ended up with the winners a collaboration by architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark), landscape architecture firm Topotek1 (Germany), and arts group Superflex (Denmark). An intensive process of participatory meetings the local inhabitants met directly with the design team to choose the cultural objects and furniture used in Superkilen. A rubbish bin from London, outdoor speakers from South Africa, an octopus slide from Japan, soil brought from Palestine, and a bull statue from Spain are among the things that the community chose to be brought into this park. These things mix in the site to create a riot of culture in the landscape. In this sense, the designers created this landscape not only by having their personal vision, but also by listening to what the site is calling for, and literally listening to what the local inhabitants envision. The most significantly used in this project is the patterns and strategies lens, which really shows in how human intervention by community driven design can really create a sense of belonging and connect all the different cultures together. In my opinion the park has done well to engage with its community needs and create a safer and more sustainable neighbourhood in the city of Copenhagen.