Frederik and his partner, a two-man army from CPH Shelter, have set out to solve the urbanization challenges of Copenhagen by creating a new neighborhood called CPH Village
facilities such as a café, a vegetable garden, etc. When you say “permanent housing at a temporary location”, what does that entail?
To alleviate affordable housing shortage in Copenhagen, we need to take action now. At the moment, there are plenty of uninhabited areas in Copenhagen that are supposed to be used for permanent city development 10-15 years from now. So, we asked ourselves:
“Isn’t there a way to build permanent housing and still include the element of mobility?”
Frederik, can you tell us about the concept of CPH Village?
First of all, it is a concept that seeks to address the need for affordable housing for students in Copenhagen. We have created a new way of looking at urban development, because – at least in our opinion – the traditional paradigm is not going to alleviate the housing shortage for students anytime soon. We see CPH Village as a company that solves societal issues in terms of dealing with the urbanization challenges by creating affordable, permanent housing at a temporary location. The students are going to live in recycled shipping containers, where they will have access to their own space with kitchen and shared bathroom with one other person. It comes at a price of approx. DKK 4,000, but also include a community house and other shared
Based on Lean Thinking, the shipping containers are turned into homes at a factory, which means that containers are assembled into city-like structures on site, and not constructed on site where people get in the way of one another all the time and where the project is delayed due to bad weather. Think of it as LEGO bricks – the containers are mobile and can be assembled into different structures – then separated again and eventually moved from one location to another easily. So, in 10-15 years when one of these locations are going to be used for conventional housing, we’ll move the village to a different, uninhabited location in Copenhagen. How has this concept been received?
Actually, it has been very well received. Everyone we have spoken to about this has been very open minded and positive about the concept – both politicians, local communities, homeowners’ associations, etc. The only issue in this project has been the legislation. Based on the positive feedback we got, we never thought that there would be any issues, but because this is a flagship project, The Planning Act in Denmark did not provide
a possibility for such a project to be carried out. So, before we could move forward in the process, we had to change the legislation. It was a long process, but luckily, The Planning Act was changed this summer. How is the project received by the students?
We have recently closed the application process, and actually gotten 2,231 applications for the first 170 rooms. Based on the quantity of applicants, the students are very positive about the idea. They apply with a motivated application, and many of them literally mention that they appreciate the idea of living in a different way and that they are drawn to the new approach of ‘living in the city’.
We want to support the residents in actively selecting the community over spending their time alone, so we have hired a community officer to assist the residents if they want to host an event, a concert, a talk or something similar. CPH Village is going to be an anticurling community, so the community officer is more of a sparring partner, and definitely not a parent, but we also want to build a community where the residents choose togetherness and look out for one another.
With that many applicants, how are you going to choose the residents of CPH Village?
It is decided by lot, mainly based on gender and educational background. The ambition is to ensure a diverse community, representative to the population as much as possible, which means that the decision is also based on other parameters such as country of origin, so international students are also in the running of becoming CPH Village’s next residents. That is an active choice of ours. If you were to describe CPH Village in three words, what would they be?
I would say space, community and convenience. The amount of private space is reduced in order to create more common areas. We definitely strive to foster a community where togetherness is a priority, which is why we are building a community house – kind of like Absalon on Vesterbro where we for instance will dine together and enjoy each other’s company.
With the community that we are going to build, comes certain advantages at what we call “the power of numbers”. Fundamentally, we want to see the residents spending time together, so for instance we are going to assist them in collective grocery shopping, so that they can save time and money on shopping and cooking, and instead use that time together. We’re also going to assist in making great deals concerning bike repairs, hairdresser appointments, insurance packages, etc., where these will come to CPH Village instead of the residents spending much of their time outside the community.
What is in the pipeline for CPH Village?
The first CPH Village is launched on November 1, where 170 out of 250 units are ready for move-in. The rest will be available from spring 2018. It is our intention to create an impact on society and alleviate as much of the housing shortage as possible – not just domestically, but also outside the country. At the moment, Denmark is in need of 25,000 student residences, but in Sweden the shortage amounts to 300,000 student residences. So, there is a huge demand that we are trying to meet one step at a time each day. By the end of 2020 it is our goal to have built 2,000 student residences in eight villages around Copenhagen.
Thanks for sharing, Frederik! We cannot wait to see CPH Village!