Vesterbro study area

Note: Over the past few days I've been posting sections of the project I've been working on. I hopefully should have one more section to put up by the end of the week. Perhaps I should find some way to organize on the blog these so they're not just mixed in with my personal posts here?

Vesterbro Study Area

Historic Development

In the years when Copenhagen was a fortified city several roads radiated out from the city, one from each of the city gates. These roads were important travel routes leading to the different parts of the kingdom, but they were also key to the taxation of trade goods. A limited number of entry and exit points from the city, with its port, ensured easy measurement and control of imports and exports. Along the routes were inns and roadhouses for travelers, however no masonry structures were allowed outside the city walls within a distance of several kilometers.

When the ramparts came down, these roads, paved with cobblestones and already with basic support infrastructure, were the core structures from which new growth could branch out. The cobblestones of the trunk roads, called brosten, leant their name to these neighborhoods, which are called collectively the brokvarter. Vesterbro, my next study area, is one of these neighborhoods.

Industrialization accelerated in northern Europe in the latter half of the 19th century, and people from the countryside flocked to cities for work and economic opportunity. The brokvarter neighborhoods accommodated much of this rapid growth in Copenhagen as the population rose from 150,000 to 400,000. [need source] During this period the enormous need for housing was met by construction of dense multi-family housing on a massive scale. These apartment buildings share many characteristics, and were themselves based on the models developed after the rebuilding of Copenhagen in the early part of the century. This type of building, which I will call the “Industrial Era apartment” is detailed in the next section.

Vesterbro and similar neighborhoods continued to fill in well into the 20th century. Electric tram service was introduced in the 1890’s and expanded in the first decade of the 20th century, replacing horse-tram lines which had been running along main roads since the 1860’s. As transportation improved, it allowed upper and middle class families to move further from the city. Housing built for industrial workers degraded over time and these neighborhoods saw a lack of investment in their infrastructure and building stock.

By the 1950’s Vesterbro and other brokvarter neighborhoods of the city were seen as in need of serious intervention. One city-sponsored effort that took place around this time was the demolition of courtyard buildings. Some street-fronting buildings were demolished as well and replaced with subsidized social housing. These developments tended to reflect modern architecture and planning’s emphasis on large, centralized facilities, unprogrammed open space, mechanized construction methods, and lower population densities.

In the 1990’s the city began a new approach to addressing areas of high crime and shrinking populations and tax bases through a program of urban renewal through investment in neighborhood services, public spaces, and building refurbishment. One of the first neighborhoods targeted by this program was Vesterbro. The program succeeded in its goals by significantly increasing the number of families and higher income residents choosing to living in the neighborhood. It has become one of the most attractive in Copenhagen, with thriving schools and well designed, popular parks. However, significant displacement also occurred to the preexisting population of the neighborhood, and backlash caused by this displacement has lead the city to re-examine its approach to urban renewal in low-income neighborhoods.

Study block

Streetscape

The chosen study block for Vesterbro is located between Matthæusgade (north), Istedgade (south), Oehlenschlægersgade (west) and Saxogade (east) streets. A streetcar route formerly ran along Istedgade, which has an 18 meter right of way, with 4 meter sidewalks on both sides . The other three streets all have rights of way of about 12 meters, with 2.5 meter sidewalks on both sides.    

Istedgade is unusual among arterial streets in Copenhagen in that it lacks complete bikelanes. Non-roadway space is occupied by wide sidewalks, parking and partial bikelanes, with a small amount of cafe seating in the sidewalks. Sidewalks are paved with cobblestones and concrete blocks, while roadways, parking areas and bikelanes are paved with asphalt.
The smaller streets accommodate one lane of traffic with automobile (and bicycle!) parking on both sides of the street. Sidewalk bulb-outs shorten crossing distances in some of the intersections.

Block Size

The study block forms an irregular quadrangle, with sides 56, 68, 162, and 125 meters long on N, S, W, E sides respectively, for a total perimeter length of 412 meters. Building frontage is continuous along this entire length, meaning the inner spaces of the block are fully enclosed. The block occupies an area of approximately 8,760 m2.

Parcels

There are twelve parcels on the study block, all of which include street frontage and a rear area for a courtyard and backbuildings or wings. Although the street-fronting sections of the parcels are mostly uniform in width, in the courtyard areas some parcels are much wider than others.
Most parcels appear to have changed little since the area was first developed in the late 18th century. The one significant change has been the combination of a number of lots on the north-east corner of the block for the creation of a social housing complex, which was completed in 1982.

Buildings

There are fourteen buildings on the study block. Of these, eleven were constructed between 1883 and 1885, which are located along Oehlenschlægersgade and Istedgade. Three buildings (or three segments of a single building) were constructed in 1982 as social housing along Saxogade, replacing a number of older buildings of the same type as to those on Oehlenschlægersgade.
The older buildings on the block are consistent in scale and style, and it is possible they were constructed by a single firm. They are all five stories tall with basements and dormers, with the exception of the south-west corner building, which is six stories tall. They range in width from 16 to 36 meters, and have ornate decoration around the windows, especially on the middle floors, and have painted stucco facades. These buildings are iterations of the “Industrial Era apartment” type which proliferated in this and similar neighborhoods from the 1870’s to the 1910’s and is detailed in detailed in the next section.

The social housing buildings are shorter than the others but are significantly longer. They could be considered one continuous building, but are being treated as three separate buildings due to variations in height. They have a continuous, unadorned brick facade and are clearly the work of a mechanized production and construction processes. These buildings are a late form of the “welfare state apartment” type which will be detailed later.

Streetwall

The appearance and interest of the exterior face of the block is enhanced by a number of practical and decorative elements. These include windows, doors, facade treatments and exterior ornamentation. Entrances and windows to shops add another degree of complexity. The block face along Oehlenschlægersgade exhibits a degree of variation in ornamentation, facade treatment and color within repeating patterns. The block face along Istedgade has a high density of shops with entrances and windows, despite the lack of variation in decoration of building 116-122.

Open Space

The entire inner area of the block forms a single courtyard of 4,500m2; other open space on the block is negligible. This courtyard is not necessarily accessible to all residents of buildings on the block, and may have fences dividing it into sections for each building. The largest section of the courtyard is accessed from the social housing complex.

The building coverage for the block is 48%. This represents a significant decline from the 85% seen in aerial photography from 1945. At that time eight apartment blocks were present on the east side of the block in the area now occupied by the social housing buildings and their associated courtyard. There were also several courtyard several backbuildings in the west side of the block which have since been demolished.

Density

There are 206 dwelling units on the study block, yielding a block density of 235 DU per hectare or 95 DU per acre. The current average household size in Denmark is 1.7 [cite] leading us to an estimate of 161.5 residents per acre.

If the density of the demolished buildings was the same as that of existing Industrial Era apartments, the block would have had about 295 dwelling units in 1945. This would translate to 337 DU per hectare or 136 DU per acre.  

Parking

There is no on-site parking on the study block. There is parallel street parking along all four streets surrounding the study block, for a total capacity of about 50 spaces, or 0.24 spaces per unit.

Traffic

Rents/Unit value/tenancy

Seven of the Industrial Era apartment buildings on this block are co-operatively owned. The remaining four are privately owned by a single entity and rented out or are owned as condominiums. The social housing buildings are owned and operated by KAB, the largest social housing provider in Denmark.

Nearby Industrial Era apartment buildings are quite similar to those on this block, and are listed between $360,000 and $870,000, or $5,600/m2 and $8,870/m2. Social housing rents on this block vary from $900 per month to $1200 per month. This range includes units in co-operatives as well as freehold flats.