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Copenhagen: Living in a Glass House

article for jack magazine oct. 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photo via photo via arcspace

According to Danish media, Copenhagen perennially tops some European or world-wide survey: best city to do business in, design capital of the world, most attractive city for foreign investors, most internet savvy, most likely contender for Nordic capital of Europe– the list gets longer every day.

It’s as if the Danes still need to convince themselves and the rest of the world that Copenhagen is no longer the capital of nice and boring. Despite a higher international profile, Copenhagen continues to be a bit of an insider city, the equivalent of a good stock tip. I still often get the question, “Why do you live in Copenhagen?” - mostly from Danes, but also from people who haven’t been to Copenhagen and who haven’t witnessed the city’s metamorphosis from dowdy welfare utopia to another kind of utopia: sleek, fashion-forward, and wired.

The changes are still rocking the cityscape: immigrant ghettos Nørrebro and Vesterbro are competing for sleek sushi bars, designer boutiques and ethnic restaurants. Staunchly industrial Islands Brygge, another former worker’s enclave, is seeing its entire waterfront turned into a hotbed for futuristic housing; and the two hundred plus years old Royal Theatre just pocketed a gleaming new opera house where its thirty-four year old director stages acclaimed avant-garde productions.

Copenhagen is catching up quickly these days and in some ways it is a pioneer for a new kind of cosmopolis. Copenhagen is as cool and sleek as London or Paris, but it is fiercely protective of a casual, family-like atmosphere that other, less well-designed European capitals can’t match. The Danes call it “hygge”. The term can’t be translated, but it roughly stands for “warm” and “cozy”. “Hygge” runs through every aspect of the capital’s social, cultural and even economic life. It underpins the ‘we’re all equal” homegrown attitude that, ironically, has become a trademark of the low-key Danish royal family. It’s why CEOs bike to work and it’s why everyone you meet seems to own the latest iPod - even hipness is distributed equally. Add to this the city’s flawless infrastructure of bike lanes, minimum traffic, digitized public services and immaculate parks, and the result is something pretty unique: city life without the hassle of a city.

Copenhagen has smartly coupled its small size heritage with being world class, a concept the Danes are now applying to everything. Take the nightlife: it’s all within walking distance, but clubs such as Culture box, Umami and Basement, stage hip, experimental events that verge on the outrageous. Danes love to shock. Once I attended a series of Russian nights staged by Basement, which featured decadent, red velvet couches, modern dancers cavorting among club goers, a different Russian band every night, and a performance artist who spent five minutes throwing up sour milk. 

Going to queasy extremes is perhaps a way of breaking out of the city’s safe and protected lifestyle. In general though Copenhagen’s partying doesn’t smash any taboos. I discovered quickly that the real hub of Copenhagen’s social life is, surprisingly, the home. Danes are very likely to stay in and have hygge parties, especially in winter, when going out is an endurance test. Copenhagen being fairly small, many here know each other since childhood and that breeds a certain indifference to newcomers. This makes it difficult for visitors or foreigners to crack the tightly knit social circles. But if you can manage it (try meetthedanes.dk), get yourself invited to a party or dinner to experience how Danes huddle and socialize, usually in streamlined apartments filled with aromatic candles and designer furniture: Klimt lamps, Arne Jacobsen chairs, and superelipse tables by Piet Hein.

After a round of hygge and drinks, you’ll notice that the Danes are not that reserved after all. They have a sharp humor and a lot of opinions, and if they’ve had enough drinks, they’ll share them with you. But be warned: Danes are blunt and have a knack for unwittingly offending people who are not used to their direct, sarcastic comments. Beware also of social relations and Danish dating practices – Copenhageners are very casual (democratic?) about who sleeps with whom and the city’s Christmas company parties have a reputation for being bed-hopping events. In general, however, you can expect Copenhageners to be blond, obscenely well educated, a little spoiled and keen on design.

The native design mania is really what put Copenhagen on the international map. It catapulted the city to mecca status for a new type of consumerism. Copenhageners are design fetishists – the city flows over with textile designers, architects and graphic designers – and they like to scout for new, interesting pieces in places like Illum’s bolighus, Casa shop, and the antiques boutiques that line Nørrebro’s Ravnsborggade.

In architecture too, design is having an impact. Copenhagen has been better than most cities at integrating the new with the old. The city is preserving its quaint, 16th century core but is supplementing it with bold, new structures. Danish mortgage bank Nykredit has built itself a giant glass cube with conference rooms suspended in a transparent void. Looking through it on clear days you can see right to the other side of the canal. Not far from it, and designed by the same architects, squats the Black Diamond, a slab of black marble and glass that looks menacing from the outside, but is surprisingly light and airy inside. Big glass cubes are now proliferating though, and there are raging debates whether this new architectural style is at all bold or groundbreaking enough, a discussion that culminated with the controversial new opera house “Operaen”, which some consider spectacular and others lament as being tame and uninventive.

To get an idea of what is fueling the design debate, take a walk. It’s simplest to just randomly walk or bike around the city, or maybe pay a visit to Kunstindustrimuseet, which houses contemporary and traditional Danish design. Generally, walking around is the best way to get a feel for the city – even for those who live here. Don’t worry too much about where you’ll end up. When I walk around the city I always find it feels a bit like you’ve landed in a layout for Wallpaper*. Copenhageners have a very distinct style that is currently setting the pace in fashion - but you won’t see too many suited men or women in chic two pieces. Here urbanites dress up with a twist: they dress down. Copenhageners have perfected a deceivingly casual, layered look, that more than anything expresses the “no one’s better than anyone else” national credo of understatement. Much of it is sheer pragmatism; if you’re biking in snow, rain and sleet, you can’t afford elegance. You need comfortable, sporty clothes that can stand up to the unpredictable weather. Whatever the case, that understated fashion sense is now selling like hot cakes outside Scandinavia too, where designers like Birger Mikkelsen, Malene Birger, Rutzou and Filippa K are starting to give the Italian fashion elite a run for its money.

Don’t expect any customer service to come with your shopping though. That same democratic attitude that dictates fashion and hygge, is seriously hampering the service industry. The concept of offering service is still loosely linked to slavery in the Copenhagen cultural psyche; and while you’ll find the occasional superbly friendly waiter or shop assistant, you’ll often be left to wait, find yourself ignored by shopkeepers, or asked to fetch your own water and food in cafés.

This always strikes me as very strange from a city that is in many ways consumption and convenience driven, and that has state of the art technology resources. Copenhageners jump on the newest technology. The Swedes used to be the world’s early adopters, but the Danes have beaten them to it and they take their technology seriously here. It’s not just a hobby for gadget fiends: it is part of a government strategy for keeping the capital’s economy roaring. The Danes are racing to reinvent themselves as an unrivalled knowledge economy with Copenhagen as the tech capital of Europe.

All this democratic hipness comes at an undemocratic price tag – Copenhagen is one of the world’s most expensive cities, with a cost of living that closely tails Tokyo and London. Considering salaries are much lower than what young professionals can take home in cities like London, and taxation rates are at 50% or higher, I always wonder: how does anyone survive in Copenhagen? There’s no clear answer, but it seems to be a combination of cheap mortgages, lots of social benefits (free education, health insurance) and probably some tax evasion techniques no one talks about.

For now, everyone’s still willing to pay the price, and Copenhagen is well on track to Nordic diva status.  Thanks to low unemployment, a solid economy (one of the few in Europe that is picking up pace) and soaring real estate prices, Copenhageners are flush with the spending power to indulge a sophisticated lifestyle; American-style brunches at Glyptoteket and Delicatessen, spas, food specialties from tiny Vaernedamsvej. Most Copenhageners don’t have any reason to trade their green capital for the chaos of London or Paris - just yet.

People are invariably blown away by the efficiency of this squeaky clean, urban machine, but many of my visiting friends are also skeptical. They often ask me whether this kind of utopic living is sustainable. It’s a question that is rattling the Danes as well. Below the funky, easy-going façade, there are plenty of not so utopic rumblings. The Danes have introduced some of the most stringent immigration laws in Europe, laws that some have called a human rights violation. The high taxation rate that finances welfare benefits, deters many foreign professionals from working in Copenhagen; and the surplus of order and security has its flip side in a sometimes virulent isolationism and a lack of spontaneity that strikes many Mediterraneans as rigid and at times tedious. Don’t expect to be served dinner after ten pm, when kitchens shut down for the night, or talk yourself out of a police ticket. It won’t work. But Copenhagen works in every other way and it won’t leave you cold or bored.