Christiania

Christiania is one of Copenhagen’s most famous neighborhoods. It is an autonomous community within Copenhagen in former military base on the south-eastern side of the city harbor. The former barracks and ramparts were occupied in 1971, and in the decades since a remarkable autonomous community has developed. Cars are prohibited, city authorities do not enter, and cannabis is freely sold.

Much of the building stock in Christiania is made up of former military buildings, some dating from the late renaissance when the defensive ramparts were first constructed. These have been liberally converted and adapted by artists and builders, both residents and visitors to the community. They serve as residences but also concert and meeting halls, studios, workshops, and bars and restaurants. The leafy walking paths between homes and common areas give a strong feeling of an enclosed, protected, unique place, while the lively plaza on the southern end is popular with outsiders and tourists for its relaxed atmosphere and food, music, booze and bud.

The occupation of Christiania marks a clear rejection of the trends of increasing government intervention, spatial scale, mass-production and top-down planning of both multi-family housing and the rapidly expanding tracts of single-family houses in the suburbs of the 1960’s and 70’s. In Christiania no two buildings are alike, things are made by hand, simple technology rules, capitalism is viewed warily and decisions are made at the lowest level possible, with only the most important matters elevated to the community as a whole for a consensus-based decision.

With a population of 850 occupying about 34 hectares (84 acres) Christiania has a population density of only 25 per hectare (10 per acre). Property is not bought or sold, but when a new space opens up the community decides who to invite. In a way this process, relying on social rather than financial capital, is similar to the many housing co-operatives in more conventional parts of the city where rent and buy-in costs are affordable, but openings can be hard to come by.