Alright, I'm cheating you all a little in this one because this week's field studies didn't actually happen on Wednesday, unlike what the title would suggest. Wednesday I was sleeping-in until late, made myself some left over chicken and headed to town to meet some friends which ultimately ended up in discovering a cute cafe and going to a great exhibit about sustainability at the Architecture Center. But that is besides the point. This week's field studies were all about community.
Denmark has managed to crawl is way to the top as being one of the happiest countries. When asked why they are happy, Danes usually give two reasons. First, they point out that most of their society is not created for the upper class. And how foreign yet logical that is. Nearly all things are catered to the middle class. There has been little of the 1% versus the 99% debate here besides the small stickers I sometimes see on the basement of alternative bars and hip places. Second, the welfare state. This comes at a price—extremely high taxes. Correction: extremely high everything. But it turns out high taxes have another benefit. People tend to decide on an occupation based on what they like and not based on earning potential. Here is where I can call out all of those college students in the U.S who are doing engineering because they "want to make money." Incomes are somewhat comparable across the country so that a garbage collector lives in the same kind of neighborhood as a doctor. As a general rule, prestige is not so important: the garbage collector gets the same kind of respect as the doctor for a job well done. This creates happiness as well. Either way, both of these reasons point to a sense of community, which is relevantly present in Copenhagen. Community keeps selfish impulses in check. Specially in architecture. Denmark gave birth to the concept of co-housing. Which pretty much is the idea of designing a community of different private dwellings and public spaces where the residents plan, own and manage the space. This is environmentally, economically, and socially friendly. It's a win-win for all. It is Denmark's response to the impersonality of the city.
Here is what I experienced this week:
Denmark has managed to crawl is way to the top as being one of the happiest countries. When asked why they are happy, Danes usually give two reasons. First, they point out that most of their society is not created for the upper class. And how foreign yet logical that is. Nearly all things are catered to the middle class. There has been little of the 1% versus the 99% debate here besides the small stickers I sometimes see on the basement of alternative bars and hip places. Second, the welfare state. This comes at a price—extremely high taxes. Correction: extremely high everything. But it turns out high taxes have another benefit. People tend to decide on an occupation based on what they like and not based on earning potential. Here is where I can call out all of those college students in the U.S who are doing engineering because they "want to make money." Incomes are somewhat comparable across the country so that a garbage collector lives in the same kind of neighborhood as a doctor. As a general rule, prestige is not so important: the garbage collector gets the same kind of respect as the doctor for a job well done. This creates happiness as well. Either way, both of these reasons point to a sense of community, which is relevantly present in Copenhagen. Community keeps selfish impulses in check. Specially in architecture. Denmark gave birth to the concept of co-housing. Which pretty much is the idea of designing a community of different private dwellings and public spaces where the residents plan, own and manage the space. This is environmentally, economically, and socially friendly. It's a win-win for all. It is Denmark's response to the impersonality of the city.
Here is what I experienced this week:
1. For my Danish Architecture History class we visited two community complexes on Prags Boulevard. One was a community center and another a sports complex. Playful and Community-Enhancing architecture at best!
2. For my European Urban Design Theories we visited an urban development project called Sluseholmen at the very end of the Copenhagen Harbor. The community is centered on the human scale and a has set of cute little inner courtyards that make is feel like a dynamic city block.
3. The train can be infamous for Danes being too quiet and everyone passively minding their own business. Very very different from the NY subway where you don't really know what kind of funny and weird character will be getting on in the next stop, or the D.C metro where you sense the urgency of suited people trying to get to work and the infinite conversations that arise. On Thursday, the train was having major issues. Trains were delayed, stops were being skipped and time tables where non existent. I boarded the train heading back home which was packed with people whose train the previous train had skipped. So packed that we had to squish into each other to fit. I thought it was going to be one of those awkward train rides where everyone just stands there not talking. Like in some sort of scary movie or as if we are all in the set of some Utopian metropolis of the future where we are all agents of the unconscious and efficient system. It wasn't like that at all. You saw people forced to apologetically say "excuse me" and give a smile as they got off the train. People were smiling at each other, helping people on and off the train, making space, cracking jokes I didn't understand... It was neat to experience that when Danes come together, they really embrace it. It made me think that there really is a place in design and social theory for the architecture and urban planning I had studied earlier. Designing places that force social interaction and activity. Because of this, I'm counting the train ride as a field study too!