Cities are places of frictions. Streets, and public spaces in general, need to accommodate a variety of people and needs, which can be contradictory. Designing inclusive places, where all the different publics can cohabit, is a major challenge and there is no simple answer. We can name one example to…

On our quest to research and map common spaces, we dive into specific sites and take a look at the reality of common space makers. Located in the heart of Copenhagen, STORM20 is a publicly funded multi-functional space, combining a café, a shop and a makerspace. Its purpose is to contribute to a vision of making History and Arts more accessible to all and to facilitate Museums’ collections as a resource for creativity. The aim is to do this at the street level and on a daily basis.

While the market prospect for smart city solutions is still huge, more and more voices are raising to the fore to undermine the concept. Within the last days, CityLab published an interview with Jan Gehl advocating for cautiousness, when it comes to smart solutions. Similarly, Le Monde gave an article with the title “The Smart City is not effective anymore” while Maddyness explains “Smart city: why the computer city is not a desirable future”. And we could go on with several other examples. The smart city was being praised to the skies ; is it now on the way to becoming the new evil? We need to find a middle way!

A cultural third place in Copenhagen — What is a museum and what purpose should it serve? And how does it create an experience that speaks to a wide diversity of audiences? Those are only some of the questions that Jane Sandberg is addressing as the director of ENIGMA, the Danish Museum of Post, Tele and Communication…

You must have noticed them: concrete blocks invading our public spaces the last couple of years. They appeared in the aftermath of the terror attacks in several European cities, in an attempt to protect civilians against other vehicle-ramming attacks. — Terrorism has become a reality of our times and addressing security challenges is a top political agenda. However, with our streets, parks and other public spaces evolving durably to meet this issue, we need to think critically about their materiality and the kind of societies they contribute to shaping.

BLOX is a new venue and a co-working space dedicated to creative professionals involved in urban development, construction, architecture and design. It is launching in Copenhagen in May, with the ambition to “innovate urbanization”. We went to hear about their vision and have a sneak peek of the inside. — Copenhagen BLOX is both a co-working space (the “Hub”), a cultural window on architecture, urban planning, design and, generally speaking, a meeting place as well as a playground for those who make the city of tomorrow. Designed by architecture firm OMA and financed by Danish foundation Realdania, the glassy and…

“Oh no, the construction work is finished!” is the title of a workshop Sharing.Lab attended just before the Christmas break. Focusing more specifically on renovation and construction of new schools in Denmark, the event highlighted big challenges for the Danish capital and paved the way to innovative services and processes both for the building industry and the civil society as a whole. — The workshop was facilitated by Smith Innovation as a part of BloxHub’s program. BloxHub is a building under construction in Copenhagen, whose goal is to become a hub for all urban actors (architects, urban planners, urban tech organisations, etc.) in Copenhagen. Sharing.Lab …

Tech startups abound in smart cities, who showcase their number in order to prove how innovative they are. Creating a good environment for these startups contribute to cities’ economic development and can play a part in tackling pressing urban challenges. However, we face a situation where tech solutionism and startup model risk to cannibalise other forms for innovative approaches, which may be more able to solve the social, environmental and economic challenges our societies face. We don’t need app for everything, do we?

Smart cities have been a mega trend for several years now and their prospect for growth is still huge. — According to the latest projections, the market is expected to grow by 20% per year from over $300bn in 2015 to over $750bn in 2020. In the EU-28 only, 240 cities have “significant and verifiable smart cities´ activities”…