New Danish Architecture Policy Is Putting People First

The Danish government is initiating a new architecture policy focusing on citizen involvement, environmental and social sustainability and the maintenance of buildings in rural districts. The architectural policy has been developed in close cooperation between a number of ministries and stakeholders. It will be launching 64 specific initiatives in various ministerial fields of responsibility.

The Danish Minister for Culture, Marianne Jelved, says:

“Architecture is for people. It sets the framework for our lives, and it affects us with its values and ideals. Therefore, we must create towns and sites where it is pleasant to live, where people can meet each other in stimulating surroundings and where the buildings are, at the same time, part of the solution to the challenges of growth, energy and migration. Moreover, we must give children and young people the opportunity to understand even better the possibilities in architecture. That is why, among many other reasons, we are initiating an educational effort to improve the architectural understanding of children and young people and to sharpen their appetite for involvement in architecture.”

Some of the initiatives in "Putting People First" focus on enhancing citizens’ experience of architecture and their participation in democratic processes. Other initiatives focus on how architecture can promote sustainability and quality of life - environmentally, socially and culturally. Other initiatives are focused on education and innovation, on architecture as a growth industry and on Danish architecture’s international potential.

Focus areas in the new Danish architecture policy:

1. Children, young people and adults are provided with a better opportunity to encounter architecture with a number of new teaching and dissemination efforts that are adapted to new media and platforms.
2. Municipalities are offered a number of facilities and advice for developing their own local architecture policies. Emphasis will be placed on how architecture policy in municipalities can help take care of the challenges municipalities are facing in terms of attracting new citizens and combatting social imbalance as vulnerable residential areas arise.
3. The government will focus on architecture and sustainability – environmentally, socially and culturally – by developing a strategy for sustainable urban planning and initiating a number of model projects that will demonstrate how architecture can support sustainability throughout the entire country.
4. The government will focus on the value creation of architecture, architectural quality and the overall economy of building and construction projects. There will also be a focus on exports and the international promotion of Danish architecture.

Download the architecture policy here. 
Press images attached - below text.  

Contact:
Sune Blicher, Press Advisor, the Danish Agency for Culture, sub@kulturstyrelsen, +45 3374 4562
Julie Haagen, Senior Advisor, the Danish Ministry of Culture, juh@kum.dk, +45 3373 3362

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