Urban Parks

Today we had an independent class where we visited four urban parks in order to compare them to the fortification parks we went to on Tuesday.  The first park was attached to Frederiksberg Palace as the gardens for the royal family until 1869 when it was later given to the Danish Army Officer School.  It was a huge greenspace with lots of trees, water features, elevation differences, and sittable space.  It was a beautiful day today in Copenhagen (about 73 degrees Farenheit) so everyone was out getting as much Vitamin D as possible.  If there's one thing I've learned about the Danes, it's that they relish the sun whenever they can get it because their winters are so dark and cold.  Although this was a considered an urban park, it was much older than what I expected.  It was an island of green paradise in the bustling neighborhood of Frederiksberg.  Although it was an urban park, it is also considered a historic one.  The majority of the space was grass separated by small footpaths (no bikes) with a moat/river intersecting the outside paths of the park.  It was much like the parks we saw on Tuesday in that it was mainly used for recreation and relaxation. There seemed to be mostly adults there with the exception of a small children's playground area.  Young and old adults were drinking, playing soccer, picking flowers, or just relaxing in the sun.  In general, it was a relaxed atmosphere in comparison to the more modern urban park that I will discuss next.

A very different kind of park was called Superkilen in the residential area of Nørrebro.  It catered more to young children or those wanting to really recreate instead of relax.  This contemporary park had three distinct parts that we believe were used to separate the ages of users.  The first two parts of this park were definitely different than the beautiful green space of Frederiksberg Gardens because they were covered in pavement!  I think it was a special type of pavement but it still made the space look more urban and modern than a traditional garden.  There were modern structures that children could play on or with (I loved the black octopus slides, see photo).  There were many more families watching over their young children instead of couples sunbathing.  This park specifically was not my favorite, but it was an interesting contrast to the elegance of Frederiksberg.