UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture Copenhagen 2023

Nothing makes me prouder than working for my city. Therefore, it has been a pleasure to help The City of Copenhagen with the development of the core story "Copenhagen in Common", which will gather all of Copenhagen around the hosting of UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 2023. In addition to the core story, as part of the creative collective andel in collaboration with The Future it is, we have also helped The City of Copenhagen with development and implementation of the partnership platform for the architecture year, hereunder we have facilitated a number of development workshops for a wide range of museums, festivals, companies, associations, organizations etc.

Copenhagen in Common

World Capital of Architecture 2023 is a celebration of all the things we have in common, looking back, and all the things we can do together, looking ahead. We have the city in common. We have Copenhagen in common.

We have history in common

Squares and mansions. Courtyards and castles. Craft and industry. In 2023 we invite locals and visitors to explore the city’s history to learn about who we are and find a common path to a more sustainable future.

We have everyday life in common

The daily grind. Social housing and suburban streets. Bike paths and parks. Schools and kindergartens. Supermarkets and construction sites. Ordinary and extraordinary city settings. In 2023 we focus on everyday life and debate how we can develop a city that is welcoming to all.

We have nature in common

Green oases and blue water. Flora and fauna. But also, an urgent crisis. Cloudbursts and drought. Imbalances and transition. In 2023, we demonstrate innovative solutions and discuss the tough compromises required to live, dwell and build with respect for nature and our planet.

We have architecture in common

Architecture forms the setting for everything we do. A good place to live, work and study. A pleasant place to be. A safe place to explore. In 2023 we invite you all to explore our architecture and be a part of Copenhagen.

Connecting Liveability and Sustainability at World Urban Forum 2020

What happens if we can’t create cities that are both liveable and sustainable? This was moderator Mike Ameko Lippert’s opening question to a panel of global experts at the inaugural ‘For Abu Dhabi’ networking event that took place during the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in February 2020.

“Liveability” and “sustainability” are popular concepts for urban planning and general public discourse, largely because they are representative of values, priorities, and behaviours to which many people and institutions subscribe. Although both liveability and sustainability play important roles in urban policies in major cities around the world, there is often a world of difference between the two concepts, especially as they do not directly orchestrate each other.

While sustainability implies moving towards long-term welfare of economic opportunity, environmental quality and social equity, liveability, on the other hand, is achieved through short term interventions and is constructed by the sum of the physical and social characteristics experienced in places—including the natural environment and a walkable and mixed-use built environment, economic potential near diverse housing options, and access to a broad range of services, facilities, and amenities—that add up to a community’s quality of life (as defined by Meghan Z. Gough).

In this sense, liveability risks constraining sustainability, and vice versa. Although sustainable urbanization is beyond doubt the highest priority of mankind, the “For Abu Dhabi” initiative believes it is imperative for urban development professionals to discuss how we ensure that sustainability is connected with liveability in practice - for the pursue of the common goal of creating sustainable cities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and to live good lives.

It’s all about community!
Although the panel represented different professional approaches, one thing commonly outlined their response to the overall agenda of connecting liveability and sustainability: The importance of creating the right conditions for communities to be able to flourish and take action themselves in pursue of a meaningful development of the city. Furthermore, this clear focus on the core role of community engagement to overcome some of the most pressing challenges in today’s urban development was also echoed among event participants as well as in many other discussions at the World Urban Forum.

C40 World Mayors Summit 2019

The time is now. For climate action as everyday choice.
For living better lives with with smaller footprints.

The future belongs to all of us. It is shaped by how we live. The food we eat. The clothes we wear. The things we use. The way we move. The spaces we share. The cities we build. How we play, teach, learn and listen to each other. There is no way around it. There is no one else to do it. There is no Planet B. Let’s unite in Copenhagen and show that climate action can be a way of life. A way of innovating. A way of designing. A way of planning. Let’s find human solutions to global challenges. Let’s live like tomorrow.

www.liveliketomorrow.dk

Living is Giving - Copenhagen as Guest City at Beijng Design Week 2018

In 2018 Copenhagen was guest city at Beijing Design Week – the biggest design event in Asia.

The City of Copenhagen and its main organising partners, The Royal Danish Embassy and Danish Cultural Center, appointed a team from andel and Norm Architects as curator for the guest city participation: Mike Ameko Lippert, Signe Bjerregard, Britt Engelhardt Gundersen, Linda Korndal and Peter Eland.

The curator team was repsonsible for the guest city main exhibition in an old gas tank in 751 D-park as well as the high-level opening symposium and workshops on smart cities and sustainable architecture in collaboration with EMGdotART, Next Architecture and 2050 Urban Regeneration.

Following the event in Beijing, the curator team was asked by Beijing Design Week organisers to further develop the guest city concept and introduce it as an lifestyle exhibition at Zhuhai Design Week 2018.

The guest city participation was all about sharing a mindset that celebrates living as giving as an invitation to create cities where what we give to each other and to nature is much more than what we take. 

Give kids the opportunity to thrive
赋予孩子成长机遇

Give community a place to unfold
赋予社区延展空间

Give new life to what has once been used
赋予旧物全新生命

Give nature a place in the heart of the city
赋予城市自然景观

Give tradition a new meaning
赋予传统全新意义

Give attention to what is local
赋予当地更多关注

Give a green city to generations to follow
赋予世代绿色城市

Give yourself a break
赋予自己闲暇时光

CIRCULARITY UNIVERSITY - Strategy for Green Growth based on Circular Economy

What if we created a campus with a circular mindset where green is about much more than just minimizing and reducing the buildings’ impact on the environment?

This was the opening question to leadership at the National School of Business Management (NSBM) in Colombo, and over a period of five months a new mutual understanding of green was developed and strategized with the help of Mike Ameko Lippert.

The Sri Lankan government has made a substantial investment in a new prestige university campus for NSBM, which was inaugurated in 2016. The government has envisioned NSBM as a green university where both green thinking and green practice is a central part of the institution’s profile.

The institution’s new strategy for green growth based on circular economy addresses the further development of NSBM’s green profile, with the aim of transforming the institution into a world-class sustainable university within a period of ten years. The strategy consists both of an elaborate directional framework and essential recommendations for initiatives to implement within the next ten years, although some are to be initiated immediately, and are expected to show substantial results by 2020.

Furthermore, the strategy document provides a sound introduction to circular economy including business cases and triggers, and throughout the catalogue of initiatives, the circular economy paradigm is unfolded and made relevant for all focus areas of NSBM.

Thus, the ambition is that NSBM will become the world’s first Circularity University that defines a new understanding of sustainability by working with 100% good goals instead of just reducing and minimizing the environmental footprint. The goals target every aspect of the institution, from operation to teaching, learning and innovating. From the built to the grown environment.

The bold vision is that a Circularity University will inspire everyone to create a better society. That is why NSBM is the institution where future generations of change leaders will be dedicated to showing the world how a prosperous Sri Lanka and a generous Sri Lanka go hand in hand as part of the same sustainable business practice.

If you would like to know more about the project, you are always welcome to get in touch.

松临城下 The City of a Billion Pines

What will happen when the built and the grown environment meet to create a whole new city?

The City of a Billion Pines presents a nature-based vision for Beijing's development. The aim of the exhibition and the symposium is to provide us with a concrete understanding of what a city can be when nature becomes a complementary part to the built environment. Thus, a complete city.

The City of a Billion Pines also invites guests of the exhibition to adopt the exhibited trees, which will later be planted out in the Chinese metropolis. In this way, the citizens of Beijing can take action and work together to create the future of their city.

The City of a Billion Pines is part of a new initiative called ‘A New Welfare’, developed by SLA Architects, a platform for dialogue and collaboration in continuation of on the SLA curated Danish participation to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014 called 'Empowerment of Aesthetics’.

Think Tank on 'Climate Adaptation & Urban Nature'

What is urban nature? How can it contribute to climate adaptation, and why do we need it in our built environment? The City of Copenhagen asked Mike Ameko Lippert and SLA to facilitate an interdisciplinary think tank to discuss and define Copenhagen’s green identity and climate adaptation plan based on city urban. The think tank included experts from different fields such as biodiversity, urban ecosystems, rainwater management, architecture, behaviorial science and citizen involvement.

As a result of the think tanks work, we conceptualised 'The Copenhagen Model’ on how to use nature based climate adaptation as a frame for Copenhagen’s entire cloudburst plan. The Copenhagen Model is based on ecosystem services that ensure that all of nature’s inherent utility values and amenity values will be present in all of Copenhagen’s 300 cloudburst projects that will be carried out in the comming years. We also developed a set of recommendations that is to ensure the implementation of *The Copenhagen Model' in a complex municipal administration.

Read 'Climate Adaptation and Urban Nature' booklet.

Putting Nature and Art at the Heart of Urban Development

Facilitating a new vision for Ørestad City based on nature and art, development of strategy plan and creative urban interventions. (2012-2014).

Facilitating the founding vision for Ørestad City (2005).

SLADNA - Core Story for the Planet's Leading Nature Based Architectural Lab

SLADNA was implemented in the award winning climate adaption proposal for Hans Tavsens Park, 'The Soul of Nørrebro' (2016), and in proposals for 'Fredens Park' (2015) as well as in the pivotal project in Copenhagen's Climate Neighbourhood, Skt. Kjelds Square & Bryggervangen' (2015).

Read the entire SLADNA in the 'Cities of Nature' magazine, conceptualised and edited by Mike Ameko Lippert for SLA.   

Exhibition Platform, Showroom and Meeting Point in Nordhavn - The Sustainable City of the Future

The capital’s new neighbourhood emerges from the old industrial harbour, between the sea and the sky. Expansion is necessary because Copenhagen’s population will increase by 100 000 inhabitants by 2025. This requires space, jobs and housing. 

How do we present the overall story of the city’s expansion into what used to be industrial harbour areas? How do we create a temporary space, where you can experience the totality of the future city district that is being built over the coming years? 

The exhibition has been set up in the old DLG silo, which is Nordhavn’s prime landmark. Here, we present models and plans for Nordhavn’s future development in the preserved raw industrial silo spaces. Over the next five years, the exhibition will be the central platform for CPH City & Port Development’s sales and communication activities.

梦想城市 Welfairytales - National Vision for Sustainable Welfare Based on Cultural Generousity and Green Growth

A welfairytale is when lifestyle, consumption and growth go hand in hand with sustainability and social consideration. Welfairytales are stories about what we are good at in Denmark, namely to act holistically with an eye for both the human factor and the global implications.

Welfairytales was more than a traditional exhibition pavilion. It was an opportunity to try out the city life that we are talking about. You could jump on a city bike and meet the Danes, their lives and dreams. You could let the children loose on the nature playground. You could enjoy an organic picnic and dip your toes in the water by The Little Mermaid. 

With Welfairytales, we wanted to show that welfare is not just about wealth. It is the opportunity to live a life that is humanly as well as environmentally coherent.

Nordic Lighthouse - Common Platform for Business and Cultural Exchange in a Refurbished Warehouse

This project had no brief, only ambitions. In collaboration with the Consulate General of Denmark in Shanghai, we developed the strategy for the Danish Trade Council’s largest project ever: 

Nordic Lighthouse, a mixed cultural and commercial facility in a refurbished warehouse in Shanghai with over 200 stakeholders including Nordic companies, business organisations, cultural and educational institutions, as well as government representatives. 

We were commissioned as the project’s lead consultants and were responsible for the overall creative concept of the entire project, including the spatial development of three floors that each had its own program. The first floor comprised a permanent Lifestyle exhibition. The second floor housed a gallery for art and cultural events. The third floor was a conference, business and networking facility.