Copenhagen city centre saved from unsightly high rises

Copenhagen’s City Council is set to vote against its mayor, Ritt Bjerregaard, and prohibit the building of high rises within the centre of the city. The mayor has been fighting hard to allow high rises to be built in the inner city, but many residents and council members protested that this would be a blight on Copenhagen’s historic skyline.
Bjerregaard, who is a member of the Social Democrats, wants to create a loophole for special building cases, but the rest of the city council wants a complete ban on high rises within the medieval inner city. Pia Allerslev, a member of the Liberal Party and deputy mayor for culture, was pleased with the overwhelming support against developing tall buildings in the city centre. “The Middle-Ages part of town has its own distinct character, which we have a duty to protect, both now and for the future,” she told the Copenhagen Post.
Anne Vang, the spokesperson for the Social Democrats, said her party was disappointed by the council’s vote. “We never had the intention of plastering the Middle-Ages section of town with high-rise buildings, but we wanted to keep the door open should a fantastic project come along in the future,” she said.
Berlingske Tidende newspaper reports that the building ban will cover an area from Tivoli Gardens in the west, to Farimagsgade in the north as far out as Kastellet, and will include most of Christianshavn to the south.
However, the banned area does include Axeltorv near Tivoli Gardens or Kroyers Plads on Copenhagen’s harbour front. These parts of Copenhagen have plans in the works to build controversial high rises despite massive opposition from local residents.