Denmark

Denmark’s urban population is concentrated in six major urban areas. Copenhagen is both the capital of Denmark and the centre of the Øresund Region, which is the largest metropolitan region in the Nordic countries. The urban area of Copenhagen has a population of more than 1.2 million inhabitants. As Denmark is almost surrounded by large bodies of water, the six major urban areas are spread across the country but closely located to both nature and sea.

The global trend of urbanisation with a population shift from rural to urban areas is an increasing challenge for the Danish municipalities. It gives rise to housing problems in the biggest cities were the demand for housing is much larger than the rate at which new housing is build, thereby increasing living costs and pushing marginalised groups further towards the periphery of the major urban areas. At the other end the worst hit rural areas are experiencing a dilution of the population and the coverage of public services, as increasing costs leads to the closing and centralisation of schools, hospitals, etc.

Simultaneously there is an increasing focus on working with smart and integrated sustainable urban planning both on a local, regional and national level in order to meet the current and future challenges of the society.