Urbanisation is a still growing trend throughout the world. According to the WHO, this trend is not ideal for people’s well-being or for the environment. Converting city streets into green spaces is one of the solutions on the rise, but it’s not without conflict.
By Diego Leong & Joakim Lundgren Tryk
Surrounded by buildings, housing apartments, shops, and restaurants, sits a square in rapid development. Vesterbro Torv is its name.
In the heart of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city with a population over 300.000, urban planning is coming alive and unfolding into urban development. What used to be a hub for car traffic is now in the process of becoming a green space: a place for city dwellers to get a break from the bricks, asphalt, and concrete that makes up Aarhus. This urban development has both positive and negative effects on the overall environment as well as on the people who spend much of their time at the square.
This trend of closing streets and the like has been emerging throughout western cities, all the way from San Francisco to Barcelona and up through Europe to Denmark.
During the 2020 lockdowns, many American cities such as San Francisco, closed many streets to car traffic in order to create more public spaces for social distancing. This also happened across Europe. However, it seems that the pandemic led to a new appreciation for green spaces within cities, which consequently might have led to a new focus on green spaces.
Urban development in Europe
In some bigger European cities such as Barcelona, “superblocks,” or the combination of several housing blocks into one big block, have emerged. Barcelona is a big city with its 1.62 million inhabitants and a higher need for green space. What about smaller, yet highly urbanised western cities?
Turning our heads north, we find Denmark, a country known internationally for its green ambitions and pedestrian and cyclist friendly city infrastructure.
“One good thing that is happening in Denmark, which comes out of a bad thing, is the reaction to climate change with adaptation projects,” says Jonna Ekholm, a project manager, architect, and urban planner at Gehl, an international urban design and research consultancy.
“Hopefully, this can lead to more (much needed) greenery in the cities as well as a little bit less space for cars in the streets.”
When it comes to cities in Denmark, the country is of course most known for its capital, Copenhagen, a city that, like Denmark itself, is viewed as green and with good infrastructure. However, Denmark is more than its capital city, which is why we turn to the city of Aarhus instead.
The City Council of Aarhus is currently working on several development projects in order to improve the city and its infrastructure. As a university town consisting of a large student population who are less likely to own cars, a more walking and cycling friendly development seems like an obvious match.
The square of Vesterbro Torv
One such project currently in development is the reinvention of Vesterbro Torv.
Vesterbro Torv, an old square situated in the city centre of Aarhus, has been a focal point for debate as of late. The square used to be a hub for traffic, but city officials decided to close down a stretch of road at the old square, expand the square, and develop a new and bigger green space in its place.
The new square opened to the public a few weeks ago. It is still not green and is right now looking more like a big pétanque course; however, come this time next year, the square will be unrecognisable. In the official plans for the square, the aim of the municipality is to create a beautiful and attractive urban space with an emphasis on making it a green and peaceful space.
“The situation right now is that the square is ready for use for now, but the installation of green elements will happen in 2025,” says Morten Skou Nicolaisen, Head of the Department for Mobility in Aarhus.
People of Vesterbro Torv
People are living and working around the square and are affected by all the changes happening in the development process and the final result.
One of them is Stine Precht Jensen, who works at a café and ceramics studio situated on the now closed down stretch of road that used to run through the square. The closure of the street in front of the café came somewhat suddenly to her and her coworkers as well as the manager, who were informed of the construction when a municipality representative came by and told them that the street would close and be made into a park.
During the initial construction, the café was almost completely hidden behind fences and wooden boards.
“Normally we can see everything that’s going on outside, but we were totally closed off,” Jensen says.
But even before the construction began, the location was not ideal because the heavy traffic on the street created a lot of noise and a general bad environment, she explains. However, now after the street has closed down, the café now has a park right in front with the possibility of outdoor seating for the guests at the café and people in general.
“It’s way calmer today. I can see people sitting outside enjoying the sun, waiting for their appointment at the café and such. That’s so nice,” adds Jensen.
Andreas Düring Nielsen, the owner of a thrift store, is another person affected by the changes at Vesterbro Torv.
“People had mixed feelings about the conversion of the square: people driving cars were annoyed, while people walking or biking were happy about the changes,” he says.
Nielsen himself has not been bothered by the changes, and he likes the park aspect and the lessened traffic around his store. The store is situated at the end of the square, where there is still an active road. Originally, the municipality made it into a one-way street, but due to traffic difficulties, they have had to open it up completely again.
“More traffic might be better for me, more people seeing my stuff when they drive by, but I like the park aspect, and the closure of the streets is nice for foot traffic,” Nielsen tells.
The construction of the park as well as some slight traffic chaos have been big issues for people at the square. Now that the dust has settled, the now open square is welcomed with open arms. Jensen calls the new square “calm and cosy,” with Nielsen saying that he likes the park, calling it nice, and looking forward to its further development: “I hope I can do some store related events here and some flea markets outside at some point.”
Aarhus develops in greener directions
Besides Vesterbro Torv, Aarhus is seeing several different, but similar green projects unfolding or about to unfold in the near future to make urban spaces more attractive. This will also lead to an urban environment better suited for vulnerable road users, i.e. non-motorised road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.
“On a slightly smaller scale, Fredens Torv is a project that has lived on a temporary basis, where 20 parking spaces have been removed in order to create a green urban area,” Morten Skou Nicolaisen, Head of the Department for Mobility in Aarhus tells. “If we go up a bit in scale, a principal decision has been made in the City Council to close down a stretch of Frederiks Allé in order to combine the two parks on each side of the street into one big park.”
Frederiks Allé is a heavily trafficked street in the city centre of Aarhus, right next to the City Hall. As of right now, the particular stretch of Frederiks Allé that will be closed from traffic, has a park on each side: the City Hall Park and the Concert Hall Park. The road is already closed down often in connection with different events, but the agreed upon plan will see the road closed permanently and the two parks converted into one.
Urbanisation and the environment
According to the World Cities Report 2022 from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) about three-quarters of Europeans live in cities. That is roughly 550 million people.
That is not a problem in and of itself, however, urbanised areas are especially vulnerable to certain effects of climate change and other environmental stressors such as pollution, noise, and soil contamination, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA) – the EU agency that provides independent information on the environment.
“People living in dense urban areas are faced with several challenges, which may be more outspoken than the surrounding more rural areas,” says Ine Vandecasteele, expert on urban adaption at the European Environment Agency. “For example, they will experience greater impacts of climate change, as increasing temperatures are even further increased by the local urban heat island effect, making urban centres up to 10-15 degrees hotter.”
People’s health might be at stake
Environmental issues are a big reason behind the development of green spaces in otherwise heavily urbanised areas. However, other concerns are also trying to be met when planning green development in cities.
Urbanisation and urban living affect people in an array of different manners. Most notably, living in urbanised areas affect mental and physical health through increased stressors such as overcrowding. This can create a lack of space, resulting in less opportunities for active lifestyles and pollution in many forms: noise, water, and soil contamination, to name a few.
In general, urban living is not ideal for humans, however, urbanisation is, according to the World Health Organisation, one of the leading global trends of the 21st century that has a significant impact on health.
“In addition to environmental issues, urban areas often have higher inequality and social exclusion, rates as well as higher air and noise pollution and increasingly issues with housing affordability in larger cities,” says Vandecasteele.
With that said, urbanisation and urban living also has a lot of good qualities that should not be forgotten, and especially good planning and development of outdoor spaces can increase these qualities.
“If planned well, urban areas can make you meet different people, which can increase people’s acceptance to differences,” says Jonna Ekholm. “Such areas also make it easier to meet new people in general, and to share things and to live a varied life.”
The potential side effects of green urban development
Green spaces within cities are seen by many as an overall good thing – for the people living in the cities as well as for the environment in general. However, in a 2023 study published in Global Change Biology, a group of scientists investigated the effects city development has on the environment. The study shows that green spaces developed in cities are sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the intensity of these emissions is increasing because of processes in the ground that are changing when new green spaces are built. In other words, the study shows that the development of green spaces within urban settings can exacerbate climate change through changes in soil emissions.
Through the study, city planners, politicians, and other decisions makers can get insights into which direction they should go when planning and developing new green spaces in their respective cities. According to the researchers behind it, sustainable urban planning strategies could help reduce emissions, improve the environmental quality overall, and are crucial in combating climate change.
It might be an overlooked aspect in some urban development plans, but talking to city planner and architect MAA, Sara Wille-Garvin, it is clear that it is an issue at least some in the field of urban development are aware of.
“We are very conscious of finding the right level of care in our projects,” says Wille-Garvin, who is also the Head of Urban Development and Mobility at Gottlieb Paludan Architects as well as a Project Manager. “It is about giving trees the right growth conditions and creating varied plant compositions also in small green spaces in the cities.”
Having this in mind, green urban planning and development can combat environmental and health related aspects of urbanisation.
This can be done in many ways, but something prevalent in Denmark as well as in other western countries is the development of green spaces.
Though Denmark is seen as an environmentally friendly country and a pioneer when it comes to liveable cities and green solutions in most aspects of life, such as city development, there is still room for improvement.
“Climate adaptation is a must and when done smartly, it can also push the transformation of nice streets and places in urban areas and cities of different scales,” says Jonna Ekholm.