Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
PhD Fellow
Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University
and The Danish Centre for Urban History, Aarhus, Denmark.
The Danish slum clearance and urban renewal policy is an example of a state-led urban planning topic,
which was introduced in the years around the Second World War. In this paper it is explained how this
topic was under a strong influence from modernist urban planning ideals, which reached Denmark
through a transnational flow of urban planning ideas in the Western world. The paper explains how the
topic developed from the adoption of the first Danish Slum Clearance Act in 1939. Furthermore it
explains how modernism as the result of another transnational flow of ideas in the 1960s and 1970s was
met with criticism, which resulted in a new policy and in the adoption of a new Urban Renewal Act in
1983. The paper is placing Denmark in a Northern European context, and it has its main focus on cases
from the two biggest cities of Denmark, Copenhagen and Aarhus.
The modernist breakthrough in Denmark
If the citizens of the Danish capital Copenhagen in the 1940s had gone for a walk through the
Adelgade-Borgergade neighbourhood in the central parts of the city close to the Royal Palace
Amalienborg, they would have seen a neighbourhood where big changes were taking place. In
Borgergade and Adelgade old houses from the 17th century – originally built in the era of
absolute monarchy as homes for the king’s high officials – were demolished. The lack of
modernisation during centuries had changed the neighbourhood from a residential area for the
elite to a slum area. The Copenhageners could now see how the demolishing gave space for a
completely new modernist cityscape never seen before in Copenhagen. In the years 1942-54
the old three-four storey half-timbered houses were replaced by modern nine storey apartment
blocks with healthy and functional apartments. Outside the blocks the streets were made
wider, and green lawns were planted. What the Copenhageners witnessed was the
breakthrough of international modernist architecture in Denmark. This breakthrough came as
a result of the establishment of a modern urban planning system in Denmark during and in the
decades after the Second World War.
Modernism as an architectural concept was developed in the interwar period under the
leadership of the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier (originally named Charles-Édouard
Jeanneret). The modernist movement focused on form and functions of houses and urban
spaces, on large-scale planning and on a rational localisation of urban functions. Modernist
ideals soon spread all over Europe as a transnational flow of urban planning ideas. In
Denmark modernism was introduced after the adoption of the first modern body of laws
concerning urban development in 1938-39. The main laws of this body were The Urban
Planning Act of 1938, The Act of State Loans to House Building of 1938 and The Act of
Housing Inspection and Slum Clearance of 1939 colloquially called The Slum Clearance
1
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
Act.1 Soon modernism was implemented in the new planning system, which could find its
setting in these laws. It happened when planners and politicians wanted to create new
neighbourhoods, but it also happened when old ramshackle neighbourhoods were cleared and
a new healthy cityscape was created.
Modernism had a breakthrough in the Borgergade-Adelgade neighbourhood in Copenhagen, when
half-timbered houses and densely built-up backyards were cleared and replaced by new nine storey
apartment blocks in the years 1942-54. (Photo on the left from Den Gamle By’s collection, Aarhus.
Photo on the right by Kristian Buhl Thomsen, 2008).
Until the 1940s the Adelgade-Borgergade neighbourhood had been characterised by densely
built-up backyards behind houses with small back buildings and sheds. The neighbourhood
contained 800 small homes for families typically with many children, as well as a lot of small
industries in the backyards. During the day a lot of noise could be heard everywhere from
machines and from people who were talking and shouting.2 This chaotic mix of functions and
poor housing conditions were seen by local politicians and urban planners in Copenhagen as a
disfiguring element in the cityscape, and they therefore welcomed the adoption of the new
Slum Clearance Act. The clearance of the neighbourhood became the first major example of a
modernist redevelopment project in Denmark. This would be far from the last one. Many
other projects all over Denmark would later follow.
The inspiration for such renewal projects in Denmark mainly came from other Northern
European countries, in particular Sweden, where modernist planning had an earlier
breakthrough than in Denmark. Often the modernist large-scale planning with efficient and
functionalist solutions was seen as a symbol of progress and as the only rational way to create
modern housing conditions, green lawns and space for functions that could be a benefit of the
towns such as office buildings, welfare institutions and traffic corridors. Thus the introduction
of modernism also had a very close connection to the development of the Danish welfare state
and to the increasing wealth in the 1960s.
However, modernism was not the only idea, which was crossing national borders. Also an
increasing criticism against modernism made its progress in the Western world. Despite
sympathetic intentions from planners and politicians, citizens in Denmark – like in other
1
2
”Lov om Boligtilsyn og Sanering af usunde Bydele”, Rigsdagstidende, 1939, pp. 1250-1260.
Hjort, Angelo: De fædrelandsløse, p. 74.
2
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
countries – began to protest against the massive demolishing of old neighbourhoods.
Especially from the 1960s and 1970s citizens argued that the new modernist cityscape of
concrete and prefabricated buildings was destroying the cultural-historical and aesthetical
value in the existing cityscape.
Slum clearance
On 9 September 1950 the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet published an article with the
headline “The most evil street of Denmark”. This name was given to the 50 meter long street
Nygade in Denmark’s second biggest city Aarhus. In Nygade the news reporter had seen
prostitutes on the street and he had visited some of the 20 illicit bars localized in the short
street with only 31 addresses. He had also seen a street characterized by a pre-modern
cityscape with cobblestones, a gutter for rain water and small ramshackle houses, which were
the homes of some of the poorest families of Aarhus living without any modern facilities. His
presence in the street was not welcomed by the inhabitants. Especially criminals hiding from
the police did not want him to show photos of them in his article. The visit finally ended,
when angry men wanted to beat him, because they did not want him to interfere with their
businesses. Luckily for the reporter he escaped before he was beaten.3
The cityscape of Nygade in Aarhus was changed, when illicit bars and poor housing conditions in the
1960s were demolished and replaced by modern apartment blocks. (Photo on the left from Den Gamle
By’s collection, Aarhus, early 20th century. Photo on the right from 1975, from danskebilleder.dk).
Nygade was an example of the kind of slum, which could be found in several Danish towns
and cities in the middle of the 20th century. The local authorities in Aarhus found the
conditions completely unacceptable and often imposed fines to the owners of the illicit bars.
However, it did not help much. The visibility of the social problems would first disappear
after a clearance of the street more than a decade later. The degeneration of such
neighbourhoods into slum was the result of a long process of migration of people from the
countryside to the towns and cities. In Denmark this urbanisation – like in the rest of Europe –
began in the 19th century and especially increased during the heavy industrialisation in the last
decades of the century. New neighbourhoods were founded outside the old town gates and old
neighbourhoods in the centre of the towns and cities were overpopulated. During the
economic crisis of the interwar period and in particular during the German occupation of
Denmark from 1940 to 1945 the living conditions were worsened, since necessary
improvements of housing conditions were absent. This situation was the main background for
the adoption of the body of urban development laws in 1938-39. The purpose was to create
3
Ekstra Bladet 9 September 1950.
3
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
new healthy neighbourhoods to an increasing urban population, but also to the existing urban
population who could move away from poor homes in the city centres to new homes with
modern facilities. The result was that ramshackle houses in the old neighbourhoods could be
demolished. As part of this process The Slum Clearance Act made it possible for local
municipalities to obtain state loans to the payment of up to 75 % of the expenses when a slum
clearance project was carried out.4 Later acts from 1959 and 1969 continued this policy. The
possibility to obtain state loans was used for the first time by the municipality of Copenhagen,
when the Adelgade-Borgergade neighbourhood mentioned in the beginning was cleared.
During the preparatory work of The Slum Clearance Act a politically assigned committee of
specialists in the late 1930s had given a report with an exposition of the slum clearance policy
in different European countries in the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century.
The report concluded that slum clearances gave the best results in countries with an active
public involvement such as France and The United Kingdom, where initiatives were already
made in the last half of the 19th century, and in countries where laws made it possible for the
political authorities to give a fair economic compensation for compulsory acquisition of
property.5 It was then evident that the inspiration for the administrative and legal system came
from other countries in the north-western parts of Europe. The inspiration for the architectural
ideals, however, was not mentioned in the report or in The Slum Clearance Act. The
dominance of modernism was nevertheless evident. Outside Denmark it had early been
pointed out by leading modernist architects that modernist ideals could be a good – or perhaps
the only – proper way to get rid of overcrowded slum areas. In 1933 the modernist
international organisation CIAM (Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne) had
organised a conference on board the ship SS Patris II. While sailing from Marseille to Athens,
the participants had formulated the main elements of modernism. These ideals were later
published by Le Corbusier in Le charte d’Athene (Athens Charter, 1943) and by the CatalaneAmerican architect Josep Lluís Sert (also known as Josep Lluís Sert i López) in Can our
Cities Survive? (1942). A main point of the modernist architecture was pointed out to be, that
form should follow function, meaning that the shape of a house or and urban space had to be
based exactly on its intended function. The focus on functions gave a smaller focus on
decorative details. Decorations should be eliminated and instead an expression of simplicity
would be preferred. Another ideal of modernism was segregation focusing on the best
localisation of functions in zones separated from each other. One zone of a city would for
instance be planned as residential area, another for industrial production and again another for
service such as shops, schools and libraries etc. The best way to carry out the planning was, as
it was agued, through large-scale planning, where numerous factors could be taken into
account.6 In Scandinavia the focus on functionalism in the interwar period led to the
development of a local version of modernism called funkis. Like modernism the ideal was that
form should follow function. But whereas modernism had a focus on the use of modern
building materials such as concrete and new insulating materials, supporters of funkis
accepted a compromise with the use of more traditional construction methods.7
As explained earlier, the redevelopment of the Adelgade-Borgergade neighbourhood in
Copenhagen in many ways followed the new modernist focus. Also in Aarhus the
4
Lov om Boligtilsyn og Sanering af usunde Bydele, §§ 24, 33 og 34.
Cf. Betænkning afgivet af Indenrigsministeriets Saneringsudvalg, 1938.
6
Sert, J.L.: Can our Cities Survive?, pp. 15, 57 and 72.
7
Lorentzen, Anne Cathrine: Funkis indtager Den Gamle By, pp. 2-3.
5
4
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
municipality wanted to make similar redevelopment projects of slum areas through the raising
of state loans. Among these areas was Nygade. From 1940 to 1960 Aarhus Municipality
bought all houses in the short street, but the houses were not demolished until the late 1960s.
Then from 1970 to 1979 new two-three storey residential houses of brick stones and concrete
were built. The houses followed the ideals of an elimination of detailed decorations and were
instead given a simple – some today would say boring – architectural expression. As a result
there was not a single sign left from the former overcrowded built-up area, and instead it was
made possible to create a huge open space behind the houses.
Large scale renewal as a symbol of progress
Social considerations were clearly the main reason for the implementation of huge renewal
projects, but these considerations were not always the only reasons. The creation of a
modernist cityscape could also reflect local ambitions of a promotion of the towns and cities.
Old buildings from the pre-industrial and early-industrial society were often seen as remnants
from a poor time. Thus new modernist buildings that would replace such old houses were
seen as symbols of progress or as symbols of the newly established welfare state. A
demolishing could for instance give space for functional traffic solutions, for welfare
institutions and for office buildings.
A significant large scale project following this way of thinking was the City Plan Vest project
from 1958 in the Vesterbro neighbourhood of Copenhagen. Although the plan was never
completely carried out, it is however interesting to study the modernist ideals of the plan.
Vesterbro was originally a working class neighbourhood consisting of mainly five storey
housing blocks built in the late 19th century outside the former western gate of Copenhagen.
In 1950-51 professor of architecture, Steen Eiler Rasmussen, and a group of Danish and
international students at the School of Architecture of Copenhagen made a survey of the
housing conditions at Vesterbro. The group concluded that poor housing conditions and a
high density of habitation characterized the neighbourhood. In continuation hereof the group
made a proposal for a redevelopment of the neighbourhood including a thinning out of
backyard buildings between the housing blocks to make space for green lawns, light and fresh
air.8 The sympathetic ideals of the proposal were, however, never adopted as an official plan,
and soon new planning proposals completely changed the ideals.
In 1958 when the City Plan Vest was presented, the ambitions of thinning out were now
replaced by ambitions of making a large scale renewal, which did not leave any space for
dwellings and green lawns. All of Vesterbro were to be demolished and instead tall modernist
office buildings and administrative headquarters were to be built. In addition a motorway
(Roskildemotorvejen) from the west were planned to go through the district. The motorway
was intended to continue along the four lakes of Copenhagen and should be connected to
another motorway (Helsingørmotorvejen) from the north. This part of the plan was soon met
with criticism, since many citizens thought it would destroy the recreational environment near
the lakes.9
8
9
Cf. A Survey of a Part of Vesterbro with a Proposed Redevelopment, The International Study Group 1950-51.
Gaardmand, Arne: Dansk byplanlægning 1938-1992, 1993, pp.169-170.
5
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
With City Plan Vest from 1958 politicians
and urban planners wanted to promote
Copenhagen as a modern metropolis with
skyscrapers and motorways through the
city centre. Inspiration came from similar
projects in other Northern European
metropolises. However, the giant project in
Copenhagen was never successful, and the
plan was abandoned after 15 years of
discussions. Only the SAS Hotel, seen as a
tall dark building at the right corner, was
built.
(Illustration p. 170 in Gaardmand, Arne:
Dansk
byplanlægning
1938-1992,
Arkitektens Forlag, Copenhagen, 1993).
The cityscape in the ambitious City Plan Vest was a complete break with the traditionally low
skyline of Copenhagen. The purpose was to make Copenhagen look like a “real” metropolis,
and the inspiration clearly came from other Northern European metropolises, which
politicians of Copenhagen might have seen as competitors. During the next 15 years different
versions of the plan were discussed. In 1969 the contemporary director general for planning in
Copenhagen, Kai Lemberg, mentioned that he had found inspiration in Stockholm in the
Neighbourhood Hötorgscity at Norrmalm.10 From 1955 to 1966 this area was demolished and
replaced by five 19 storeys office buildings called Hötorgsskraporna. Hötorgsskraporna was
not the only significant project in the neighbourhood. Another major project was the
construction of Sergels Torg – a new functionalist square characterized by a traffic separation
with a sunken pedestrian plaza. It was finally completed in 1974.11 In Copenhagen Kai
Lemberg claimed that only at Vesterbro was it possible to make space for similar plans for a
modern business district, which could promote Copenhagen. Hence the plan, he further
claimed, ensured a preservation of other neighbourhoods in the historical inner centre of the
city, where large scale clearances would not be necessary. Kai Lemberg had earlier in his
career worked with urban planning questions in Oslo. Some of his inspiration for the project
in Copenhagen therefore also came from the Pipervika neighbourhood in Oslo.12 In the early
20th century parts of this neighbourhood were demolished to make space for the later Oslo
City Hall (built 1931-50). Later in the 1950s and 1960s the project continued in the western
part of the neighbourhood, called Vestre Vika, where a total clearance gave space for a
modern business district with headquarters for insurance companies, financial businesses and
shipping companies.13
10
Lemberg, Kai: ”City Plan Vest – en københavnsk city-udbygningsplan”, Stads- og havneingeniøren, 1969, p.
105.
11
Nilsson, Lars (editor): Staden på vattnet, volume 2: 1850-2002, 2002, s. 272; William-Olsson, W.: Stockholm
– Structure and Development, 1960, pp. 80-82.
12
Lemberg, Kai: ”City Plan Vest – en københavnsk city-udbygningsplan”, Stads- og havneingeniøren, 1969, p.
105.
13
Benum, Edgeir: Oslo Bys Historie, volume 5, 1994, pp. 146-149.
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Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
In such giant projects it was often difficult to find the necessary financing. In Copenhagen this
would soon be the case with the City Plan Vest project. The mayor of Copenhagen, Urban
Hansen, had hoped to receive state support especially to the motorway project. But in 1973
the Minister of Transport rejected to give any economic support to the project, and this
became the end of City Plan Vest, which was abandoned in 1974. With only a few exceptions
nothing in the ambitious plan was ever carried out. The only part of the new modernist
skyline, which was built, was the SAS Hotel building by architect Arne Jacobsen. It was built
in 1960 in front of Copenhagen Central Station. Architect Arne Jacobsen found the inspiration
to the hotel building in the Lever House – the head quarter for the British soap company
Lever Brothers on Manhattan in New York. He created a beautiful example of modernist
architecture following the so-called curtain wall style where the bearing walls are hidden,
which makes it possible to place the windows in horizontal belts. It then looks as if each floor
is flying. The hotel with 22 floors is sometimes called the first “skyscraper” of Copenhagen.
The rest of Vesterbro later in the 1990s went through a renewal, where new urban ideals led
to the preservation and restoration of the housing blocks.
Large scale renewal in the provinces
Likewise in other towns and cities of Denmark was it possible to find plans for modernist
large scale renewal, which followed the same belief in progress as in Copenhagen. In Aarhus,
for instance, the politicians and urban planners during the 1950s and 1960s were planning a
massive demolishing of the central historical neighbourhoods of the city to make space for a
new traffic boulevard. One of the motivations for the project could be found in the local
administrative situation; at the time Aarhus Municipality only comprised the central parts of
the city, and all of its suburbs were independent municipalities. As a result Aarhus
Municipality needed space for future development, which could only be found through a
redevelopment of the existing cityscape.
The boulevard – called The New Main Street (Danish: Ny Hovedgade) – should connect the
southern part of the city centre with the northern part. The starting point should be at the
central square in front of the city hall from where it should follow a strict line through old
neighbourhoods with a medieval street structure. Like in Copenhagen only minor parts of this
ambitious plan were carried out. The first discussions about the project took place in the years
1935-44, where as many as 11 different proposals from municipality authorities and from
local citizens appeared.14 Thus in 1945 the city council decided to set up a commission that
should make a survey, which could be the setting for the further planning. In 1954 the
commission reported the results of the survey. The commission recommended the clearance
of the old neighbourhoods and the construction of new functionalist buildings with up to 12
floors along The New Main Street.15 No one asked if the existing pre-industrial built-up area
possessed any cultural-historical or architectural value. The neighbourhoods were seen as
unstructured, and it was pointed out that the density was too high. Instead The New Main
Street would be well-organized, the report agued. The need for slum clearances was hardly
discussed in the report. Out of 112 pages it was not mentioned until page 68 that some houses
might be ready for demolishing. One could suggest that this was one of many fabricated
arguments to justify the significant plan.16
14
Ny hovedgade i Århus, 1954, pp. 23-28.
Ny hovedgade i Århus, 1954, appendix p. 81.
16
Ny hovedgade i Århus, 1954, p. 68.
15
7
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
The report did not indicate whether any inspiration came from other cities abroad like it had
been the case in Copenhagen, where a direct inspiration was found in specific cases in
Stockholm and Oslo. The explanation might have been that Copenhagen because of its size
(in 1960: 1.28 million citizens) could only find relevant cases in metropolises abroad with the
same size and not in the small Danish provincial towns and cities. Thus modernism first
reached Copenhagen, and from there it spread in Denmark and reached the provinces.
However, the type of redevelopment project in Aarhus was not unknown at the time.
Inspiration for the project in Aarhus could for instance have been found in the city of Odense
on the island of Funen, where a similar boulevard project was proposed. In Odense the
proposal was carried out during the 1950s and 1960s, which led to the demolishing of
hundreds of houses and the construction of a wide street (Thomas B. Thriges Gade) directly
through the city centre. When the project was finally completed in 1975, the result was a
heavily trafficked street surrounded by car parks and tall functionalist office buildings. A
point of criticism had been that the street was passing closely by the historical neighbourhood,
where the world famous fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen spent his childhood. The
city engineer, however, had answered the criticism by saying that it is only possible to make
an omelette when you break the eggshell. In this case old houses were seen as eggs.17
Back in Aarhus it would soon turn out to become difficult to carry out The New Main Street
project. Right from the beginning it was a main problem for The New Main Street project that
the economic setting was very unsecure. The municipality was dependent on financial support
from the state for the demolishing of buildings and for the construction of the new street.
Furthermore, the construction of new buildings along the street was dependent on private
initiative, but the local banks hesitated to give the necessary loans to developers. Already in
the late 1950s members of the City Council asked critical questions about whether the project
was still desirable.18 During the 1960s it became evident that also the newly elected mayor,
Bernhardt Jensen, disliked the project. The discussions finally ended in 1965 when a majority
of the City Council decided to abandon the project.
Ideological changes
The fall of the great plans in Copenhagen and Aarhus can be seen as a result of an ideological
change, where the focus on a modernist cityscape as valuable was replaced by the view that
the pre-industrial and early industrial cityscapes were valuable. This suddenly ideological
change was not something unique for Denmark. It was an unexpected global trend spreading
all over the Western world in the 1960s and 1970s. In America, for instance, the publishing of
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by urban planning debater Jane Jacobs in 1961
was seen as a turning point for the views on modernist planning.19 In the book, Jane Jacobs
made an attack on modernist urban planning, which she saw as misanthropic. Instead she
preferred functional diversity, where functions were not spread in different zones; urban
spaces should be characterised by different shops and activities, which would give liveability
to the neighbourhoods during all times of the day. She also preferred neighbourhoods with a
high density, a mix of new and old houses and a structure with short and open streets. It was
not the first time that modernism in the Western world was met by criticism, but it was
undoubtedly the first time that such a well-formulated criticism had a resonance. Earlier
17
Gaardmand, Arne: Dansk byplanlægning 1938-1992, 1993, pp. 62-63.
Meetings in the City Council 11th February 1954 and 28th May 1959.
19
Jacobs, Jane: The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House, New York, 1961.
18
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Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
critics did not have the same success, whereas Jacobs now in the 1960s saw a lot of support
from citizens. It is interesting that Jane Jacobs did not have an education in urban planning as
her setting. She was just an ordinary New York citizen concerned about the development.
In Denmark criticism was early seen. Already during the clearance of the AdelgadeBorgergade neighbourhood in Copenhagen in the 1940s, museum officials had pointed out
that one of the houses in the neighbourhood, The Mintmaster’s Mansion from 1683, was of a
cultural-historical value. From 1683 to 1752 the mansion had been the wealthy home of the
royally appointed mintmasters. This, however, did not make the planners and politicians
change their slum clearance plans. The Mintmaster’s Mansion could not be preserved in the
neighbourhood, but instead the museum officials were given the possibility to move the house
piece by piece with a view to rebuilt it at another location as a museum attraction. This
rebuilding first began as late as 1995 at Den Gamle By, the Danish national open air museum
of urban history in Aarhus.20 Another example of early criticism could be found in the late
1940s in the provincial town Viborg, where the town council in 1948 was ready to adopt a
plan about the total clearance of houses from the 18th and 19th century in the long street Lille
Sct. Mikkels Gade. The clearance should make space for a traffic corridor and a new hospital
building made of concrete. Although the street had long been a residential area for the poorest
families of the town, local citizens led by bourgeoisie groups wanted to preserve the street. At
a protest meeting they argued that the small half-timbered houses and the cobblestones on the
street were idyllic remnants from the pre-modern past. But the politicians had made up their
minds and the protests did not help. During the 1950s the slum clearance plan was carried
out.21
The early criticism, such as the two examples from Copenhagen and Viborg above, is barely
examined by researchers. Instead research has more often focused on the breakthrough of
criticism in the 1960s and 1970s. The reason might be that the protests in these decades were
successful, but also that the protests more often had a rebellious expression. As a result of the
youth rebellion of 1968 new groups appeared in the conflict. One of these groups was the
squatters, in Danish called Slumstormerne. Squatter groups were especially active in the
neighbourhood Christianshavn in Copenhagen, where in the late 1960s they occupied the
empty housing block Sofiegården. Christianshavn was an old 17th century neighbourhood,
which mainly had a working class population. In the 1960s many families moved to new
suburbs, and in the neighbourhood they left houses, which were now ready for clearance. That
was the background for the occupation of Sofiegården. The occupation ended in 1969, when
the police forced the squatters to leave the block during a dramatic confrontation. Afterwards
Sofiegården was cleared to make space for a new modern block. Although this could look like
a failure for the squatters, the incident had given attention to the value of other old houses of
the neighbourhood. Thus further plans for massive clearances were later abandoned.
How to understand the conflict
To describe the conflict between modernist supporters and modernist critics it can be useful to
set up a model, which can localise the different groups. Different sources of inspiration can be
found; one source could for instance be the Dutch historian Harm Kaal, who has made an
20
Cf. Ravn, Thomas Bloch: The Mintmasters Mansion : from New Copenhagen to Den Gamle By in Aarhus,
2009.
21
Thomsen, Kristian Buhl: “Gaden, der forsvandt – Saneringen af Ll. Sct. Mikkels Gade”, Viborg Bogen 2009,
pp. 25-34.
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Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
analysis of the modernist breakthrough in Amsterdam from the 1950s to 1970s. He sees the
conflict between modernist supporters and modernist critics as an ideological battle between
two main groups: The Modernists and the Romanticists. The modernists were the politicians
and urban planners, who wanted to promote Amsterdam as a modern metropolis, and the
romanticists were the citizens of Amsterdam, who wanted what they called a liveable city.22
Harm Kaal has found his inspiration in the French urban theorist Françoise Choay, who uses a
model consisting of groups, who she calls Progressists and Culturalists.23 A similar model is
used by the north German historian Britta Hegeler in an analysis of the rebuilding of Lübeck
after the Second World War, where Modernists preferred modernist urban ideals, and
Traditionalists preferred a reconstruction of the original historical cityscape.24 In Lübeck the
traditionalists were victorious, and as a result the city centre of the modern Lübeck today
looks like an old historical city.
At first it could be suggested that this model of two main groups could also be used in a
Danish and Scandinavian context. Analysis of cases in Denmark and the other Scandinavian
countries, however, show that the groups there were not as homogenous as suggested above.
The Norwegian historian Ola Svein Stugu for instance uses a model, which gives a more
fragmentary picture of the groups in the Norwegian city Trondheim. On one side he finds
groups, who supported growth and modernisation. These groups were mainly members or
voters of the Norwegian social democratic Arbeiderpartiet, but also private developers and
investors could be found in this category. They had different reason for their support of
modernist planning. For Arbeiderpartiet modernism was a way to develop the new welfare
state, whereas modernism for private investors was connected to the ambitions about making
“Big Business.” On the other side of the conflict Stugu finds three groups: 1) Environmental
idealists, 2) A group with an anti-capitalist suspiciousness and 3) A group of historical and
aesthetical defenders. The first group criticised modernist planning for not being
environmentally compatible. The second was a socialist left wing oriented group, who
consistently was suspicious of political suggestions from non-socialist parties, especially if
plans involved private investments. The third and last group consisted of historians and others
with a cultural-historical interest. This group found the pre-modern cityscape valuable for the
liveability of the citizens.25
The description of conflicts in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Viborg gives a similar fragmentary
picture like in Norway. By going through more cases in Denmark, new groups will appear,
and the picture becomes even more complex. This complexity can be shown by placing the
groups in a system of coordinates consisting of an axis of the political right and left and an
axis of modernism critics and modernism supporters. See below.
22
Kaal, Harm: “The quest for livability: Amsterdam 1950s – 1970s, 2008, pp. 2 and 7.
Choay, Françoise: The Modern City Planning in the 19th Century¸ 1969, pp. 31 and 102.
24
Hegeler, Britta: “Prinzipien des Wiederaufbaus” in Oddey, Markus und Thomas Riis: Zukunft aus Trümmern,
2000, p. 129.
25
Stugu, Ola Svein: Trondheims historie, volume 6, 1997, pp. 160-161.
23
10
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
Modernism critics
The squatters
(Slumstormerne, BZ)
Museum officials
Local citizens
Mayor of Aarhus (1960s)
The bourgeoisie of Viborg
Left
Mayors of Copenhagen
(1960s-1980s)
Right
Urban planners
Private investors and developers
Modernism supporters
As the system of coordinates clearly shows, the modernism supporters and modernism critics
were not homogenous entities at all. The relations between different groups seemed very
chaotic. The bourgeoisie groups of Viborg, for instance, were politically opponents of the leftwing squatters, but in the conflict concerning modernism they were on the same side. The
mayor of Aarhus, Bernhardt Jensen, and the mayors of Copenhagen, among them Urban
Hansen, all belonged to The Social Democratic Party and therefore were politically allied. But
in the conflict concerning modernism they were opponents. If time as a third factor was put
into the system, it would in addition show that groups and persons could change their point of
views from one decade to another. An example of this is the mentioned director general for
planning in Copenhagen, Kai Lemberg. In the 1960s he was known as a modernism supporter
in relation to the City Plan Vest project. Later after his retirement he has become an active
supporter of planning that shows respect for the preservation of old neighbourhoods. He has
even called the abandoned City Plan Vest a horrible plan.26
On the left: Slum conditions in Christianshavn neighbourhood, Copenhagen. Photo from the 1960s
from Copenhagen City Archive. On the right Møllestien in Aarhus after its renewal. Photo from 2000
from danskebilleder.dk).
26
Lemberg, Kai: “Til fods på Torvet”, Information, 3 January 2000.
11
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
The Urban Renewal Act of 1983
Protests were not the only reason for the ideological shift. Economic conditions, too, had an
influence. This became evident when the oil crisis of 1973 led to economic recession and
unemployment in Western Europe. Under these economic conditions it suddenly became very
hard to find the necessary financing for huge redevelopment projects, and many
municipalities in Denmark now put the large-scale planning on standby. A new slum
clearance act had been adopted by the Parliament in 1969. Although this act still had a focus
on the clearance of neighbourhoods, it also gave a new possibility for private non-profit
companies to obtain loans to the restoration of houses. Soon on the local political level this
new policy was accepted. In Viborg, for instance, a new preservation plan was adopted in
1972 with a view to preserve neighbourhoods with old houses from the late 16th century to the
19th century. The same year the town council of another provincial town, Elsinore
(Helsingør), adopted a so-called centre-plan, which had a focus on the localisation of office
buildings and shopping centres in the outskirts of the town. As a result it was made possible to
preserve the historical town centre.
In Aarhus the shift was seen in the small street Møllestien not far away from Nygade
mentioned earlier. Since the late middle age Møllestien had been the residential area for poor
families. In the middle of the 20th century the houses were very ramshackle, and thus Aarhus
Municipality in the years 1961-63 cleared half of the houses in the street. When the next stage
of this clearance should have been carried out in the early 1970s, the need for a clearance had
suddenly disappeared. In the years after the first stage of the clearance well educated and
creative groups had bought the remaining houses, which they found valuable, and they had
made restorations and modernisations. The local politicians respected this private renewal and
abandoned the clearance plan. A similar development could be seen at Christianshavn in
Copenhagen; an example from this neighbourhood is the clearance plan of the small street
Amagergade. Also at Amagergade private groups in the 1970s bought and restored the houses
with the result that the clearance plan was abandoned.
The development slowly changed the point of views of politicians on the national level, and in
1983 the Parliament adopted a new Urban Renewal Act. This act did no longer use the term
‘slum clearance’. Focus was now on economic support and loans to preservation and
restoration projects, and only minor demolishing was now accepted. The ideological shift
could not be more visible. Maybe modernism did not die because of this significant change,
but it was weakened. The new urban renewal policy instead gave space for more diversity in
the urban planning.
Conclusion
This paper has shown how modernist urban planning ideals reached Denmark around the
Second World War as an input from abroad, and how this input was implemented in the
Danish slum clearance policy after the adoption of the first Danish Slum Clearance Act in
1939. The urban planners of Copenhagen clearly found direct inspiration in modernist
renewal projects in other Scandinavian metropolises, whereas urban planners in the provincial
towns and cities mainly found inspiration in local Danish cases. Thus modernist ideals first
reached Copenhagen and afterwards they spread to the provinces. However, whether an urban
renewal projects was carried out in Copenhagen or in the provincial towns and cities, the
projects clearly followed modernist ideals concerning form and function, expression of
simplicity, segregation and large-scale planning. Thus the breakthrough of modernism in
12
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
Denmark seems to have been a typical Northern European example of the time. Yet,
differences between Denmark and other countries in Northern Europe could also be found. In
Denmark modernism was mainly successful in projects with a social perspective, which
reflected a close connection to the creation of welfare. The clearance of poor housing
conditions in slum areas and the construction of new apartments with a high standard were
seen as a success for the new welfare state. This same success was not found in large-scale
renewal with promotion of the city as its goal. Whereas planners and politicians in Stockholm
and Oslo were able to create new business districts through large redevelopment projects in
the city centres, the planners and politicians in Copenhagen and Aarhus in the 1960s had to
abandon similar large-scale renewal plans. The fall of these plans seems to have been the
result of another international input, namely criticism against modernism. Modernism was
early met with criticism, but this criticism was not successful until the 1960s and 1970s, when
the American urban planning debater Jane Jacobs attacked modernist urban planning by
publishing her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In Denmark the criticism
became visible when citizens were debating at protest meetings or when squatters confronted
the authorities directly by occupying houses. The conflict between modernism supporters and
modernism critics together with economic recession in the 1970s finally resulted in a political
shift, when a new Urban Renewal Act was adopted in 1983.
13
Kristian Buhl Thomsen
Modernism and Urban Renewal in Denmark 1939-1983
11th Conference on Urban History, EAUH, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012
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