The Harbour Park, Copenhagen
following the opening of a swimming pool in the
harbour in front of the park.
The idea of the informal is seen in the choice of
gravel as pavement and the partly broken alley of
cherries, and it suits both the old harbour environ-
ment and the impression given by the provisional
park. The informal is today obvious and appropriate
but it belies the amount of professional time and
skill that has gone into its creation, not least in
the survey and assessment of the condition of the
existing site and the possibilities it presented. This
effort has been entirely justified and has given the
site an authenticity which would have been very dif-
ficult to attain with a completely new construction.
The many references to Berlin, Paris and Barcelona
have been incorporated by the landscape architects
in such a way that they fit the context of the Harbour
Park, which required adaptation and redesign. For
example, the distance between the trees in the
alley of cherries is the result of many considera-
tions, but the final proportions of the alley allowed
the designers possibly to break the line at certain
points without disturbing the general impression.
The lighting of the park alludes both to railway sid-
ings and to the uplit squares of Barcelona.
The relatively long period that the design process
has taken has provided the time to listen closely to
the residents and the park has been adapted as it
has been built. For example, it allowed time for the
skaters’ needs to be included and for the decision
to build a marketplace rather than construct more
flowerbeds.The Harbour Park is a new form of park for the
1990s, which met the needs of the city at the time
of its creation. The residents who since the 1980s
had been fighting for better living conditions on
Islands Brygge have seen one of their main goals
fulfilled. The Harbour Park is thus an exemplar and
inspiration for other groups fighting for better envi-
ronmental conditions and proves that perseverance
can be rewarded. The authorities will recognise the
virtues of supporting a local initiative when the argu-
ments for it are persuasively made.