Why Copenhagen Makes Sustainability Look Easy
I’ve been so inspired by this one student from UPenn, who traveled to Copenhagen on the SNF Paideia Dialogue Fund grant to see sustainable design at work. What she found was a city where sustainability is simply life. At Copenhill, a waste-to-energy plant that doubles as a ski hill and hiking trail, she saw how infrastructure integrates itself into daily life. Reffen, a restaurant complex made out of re-used shipping containers, showed her how reuse could be infused into social life that are full of activity and community.
The culture was most surprising to her. Sixty-two percent of Copenhageners commute by bike to work or school. The city makes it easy, with hundreds of miles of dedicated bike routes and transport that complement cycling perfectly. Houses are built in a way so solar panels and low-energy windows can be installed. Even mundane routines include this mindset. Trash is sorted into eight types in their apartment rental, which seemed intimidating at first but eventually became second nature. Children are taught climate responsibility in school. Neighbors and families treat these habits not as chores, but as integral to ordinary life. The Danish hygge, which gave a sense of comfort and togetherness, held her journey together.
She taught us that sustainability in Copenhagen was not so much a list of commandments but a kind of creating spaces where human beings may live in good company. Someday, I wish to see this dream sustainable city.
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