Inside look at controversial artificial storm-absorbing peninsula plans for Copenhagen

One of Denmark’s most ambitious and contentious infrastructure projects to date, the 50-year project will be started in January 2022 by a group of developers, architects, and environmental consultants: a 271-acre artificial peninsula built to protect Copenhagen from sea level rise.
According to real estate developer By & Havn, the cape-like Lynetteholm design is crucial for safeguarding the port city because of Copenhagen’s long history of catastrophic flooding and deadly storms. During a site visit, Hans Vasehus, the company’s plant manager and harbor master, stated, “(Climate) predictions are not getting better.” “We must, if at all possible, change.”
However, the $439 million environmental project has come under fire, mostly and ironically from individuals who are concerned about the climate.
Opponents of Lynetteholm are concerned that the building of the peninsula is already causing habitat damage and contaminating nearby waters, polluting the city’s harbors, and upsetting the finely balanced salinity of the Baltic Sea.
Public indignation, protests, and even attempted legal action followed the parliamentary vote that authorized Lynetteholm in June 2021. Demonstrators from the 16,000-member Facebook group “Stop Lynetteholm!” arrived in sheep costumes and with placards outside the Danish parliament. Climate advocacy group Klimabevaegelsen submitted a petition to the European Parliament in June 2021, alleging that the Danish government had violated EU law by neglecting to conduct a sufficient assessment of Lynetteholm’s environmental impact (the European Commission dismissed the complaint in September).
Copenhagen’s mayor Sophie Hstorp Andersen, the city’s transport minister Benny Engelbrecht, and the CEO of By & Havn Anne Skovbro were mobbed by demonstrators when they ceremoniously shoveled the first mounds of dirt for Lynetteholm in January 2022. During the photocall, one protester even laid on the ground, according to the neighborhood newspaper Copenhagen Post.
A man-made shoreline will extend into the Resund.
A man-made shoreline will extend into the Resund. Credit: Arkitema and Tredje of COWI Natur
increased sea levels
The global sea level is expected to increase by 9 to 12 inches by 2050, in addition to the 8 to 9 inches it has already risen since the industrial revolution, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Research indicates that Copenhagen, which is already a few feet above sea level in certain areas, will be among the regions most impacted by sea level rise.
Vasehus predicted that “significant portions of Copenhagen and the neighboring areas will be flooded.” “In the worst situations, the metro (subway) would be flooded, and they will be out of business for a year. The damage to Copenhagen would be severe.”
Plans for Lynetteholm show a batwing-shaped peninsula with a tiny western dam protecting the city’s port, however there isn’t much to see just yet. An artificial coastline will front the channel of water known as the resund, which connects to the Baltic Sea. Landscape architects anticipate this will be an example of “adaptive design” as opposed to the usual concrete sea-wall, which can be changed in the future. Designers anticipate Lynetteholm’s man-made shoreline will absorb and dissipate oncoming waves, just like a naturally occurring beach may cushion and reflect strong wave energy. The vast and intentionally irregular shoreline, according to architects, will be far simpler to support and even raise if sea levels rise over predictions.
Ole Schrder, a partner at Tredje Natur, one of the architecture companies working on the project, said “we go wide rather than vertically high.”
If the sea levels rose on top of it with waves, he said, “If it were a vertical wall, it would become fragile.” “But here, with a beach setting that absorbs them with a more natural approach, we can better gather the waves.”
In the meantime, landscape architects are hoping that the project’s shoreline, which they have imagined as a so-called “process landscape,” will encourage biodiversity over the course of the next 10 to 30 years with its combination of flatlands, woodland, and beaches.
The goal, according to Schrder, “was to somehow maintain the original form of nature that was here before we came.”
On the flatlands of Lynetteholm, 35,000 new residences are planned, and while the IPCC warns against new constructions in “exposed coastal locations,” it also suggest building initiatives that prioritize protecting ecosystems. In order to develop conditions for fish, shellfish, and seagrass, we are establishing habitats, either naturally or artificially, according to Schrder. It’s actually developing a process that will change through time, not a design.
On the plains of Lynetteholm, 35,000 houses are expected to be constructed.
On the plains of Lynetteholm, 35,000 houses are expected to be constructed. Credit: Tredje Natur and Arkitema for COWI
The issues
The proposal has received a variety of criticisms, with those opposed to Lynetteholm highlighting worries that the peninsula will serve as an example of maladaptation (a term used to describe architecture that is built to address climate change but itself causes significant environmental damage).
Its placement has already drawn criticism for potential risks to the area’s delicate saline balance, which might kill indigenous creatures and destroy habitats. After demonstrators claimed that depositing the excavated earth in the city’s harbors may contaminate the waters and harm animals, By & Havn was also forced to change its building plans.
On a group video conference with the Stop Lynetteholm! movement, protester Kathrime Hammich stated, “We cannot exactly tell you what is hazardous in the sludge.” “However, we are aware that a portion of the project will be developed on land where there have previously been shipyards, and there are paint and (old ship) components (buried) in the harbor.” Vasehus acknowledged that his company’s initial suggestion for disposing of soil was “not in fashion anymore,” despite his firm’s insistence that the removed soil will be “uncontaminated.”
Another concern raised by detractors is the project’s erratic budget. According to reports, the initial building phase was estimated to cost 300 million Danish kroner (about $43 million), although By & Havn acknowledges the price will probably be more than 10 times that amount. The whole project budget is currently 70 billion Danish crowns ($9.9 billion).
According to Nicholas Woollhead, another protest group member, the young people opposed to the initiative “feel their agency is being taken away.” The plans being created, he continued, “connect them to a budget for the next 70 or 100 years.”
Another demonstrator, Marcello Morns, said, “We chose to live in Copenhagen (because) it’s a great place to live in. “And now it will somehow involve construction. For the rest of my life, Copenhagen will be unclean and noisy.”
New climate design era
There are other similar projects in Copenhagen besides Lynetteholm. In fact, in the upcoming years, a full artificial archipelago is planned to be constructed in the port. The proposal was created by MAST, an architectural firm that is currently developing a prototype of floating pavilion platforms they believe can one day be used to build residences on water. This project was also made with rising sea levels and urban flooding in mind.
CPH-1, the first islet, was finished in 2018.
A rendering of Copenhagen’s future “parkipelago” of floating islands by MAST.
A rendering of Copenhagen’s future “parkipelago” of floating islands by MAST. Credit: MIR/Airflix
It’s another proof that a new trend in climate-conscious building is starting to take shape. More and more businesses are choosing recycled materials to lessen the effects of the environmental emergency or testing out cutting-edge construction methods like MAST to better adapt to changing environmental conditions. Adaptive architecture is becoming more and more common among landscape architects, like those behind Lynetteholm, to deal with the shifting effects of climate change.
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Lynetteholm’s first phase of development is already on pace to be finished by early 2023, so it appears there is no turning back at this point, but persuading the public will be one of the project’s major obstacles. In an effort to address the growing concerns, developers By & Havn stated in November that they will have meetings with 66 members of the public from Copenhagen and the surrounding area.
Vasehus continued, “I still believe that the legislature and the municipality are on our side overall. “Undoubtedly, there is a large portion of the Danish population that opposes us; these people may have their own opinions. I can understand why some residents of this area don’t view this as attractive.”