With a share of over 20% creative businesses, the area is a city hotspot especially for media and marketing-related businesses but it is also a home to many artists, carpenters, vocational schools and food industries. 

 

The CENTRINNO team set out to interview local businesses on what attracts them to this area, their needs for space, affordable rents and their challenges as urban transformation rolls out. 

 

What have we learned? First of all, several local businesses point out that they stay in Nordvest because they have had businesses there for several generations while recently arriving companies mention Nordvest as the economically most obvious option to find larger spaces in a city with rapidly increasing prices. It is not only the fairly good accessibility to larger workshop spaces that makes Nordvest interesting. A lot of attraction also boils down to the special atmosphere of the area.

 

 The Copenhagen Pilot's interviews with local businesses and stakeholders reveals a mixed picture of people's experience of development in the area. While some are satisfied with their premises and the current level of rental prices which they still perceive as lower compared to other areas in Copenhagen, other actors are concerned about the development in the area with rising rental prices and a lack of access to suitable spaces, which they themselves highlight as a determining factor in their having to move to other areas further out of the city in the coming years. Several businesses highlight the need of larger and more suitable spaces e.g. located on the ground floor but that they prefer to stay in the neighborhood for as long as possible due to the more central location, the local affiliation and the creative atmosphere of the area.

 

This diverse and active street is in the midst of one of Copenhagen’s most challenged neighborhoods, given that Bispebjerg has lower education rates, higher poverty rates [5,6]. This comes together with citizens in Bispebjerg experiencing 1-2 years of shorter lifespan compared to greater Copenhagen, with higher scores in stress and lifestyle diseases. 

Tackling these complex social and economic challenges, Bispebjerg is set to undergo a comprehensive urban renewal process during the next five years. In close cooperation with its citizens, stakeholders, and all the municipality's administrations and professional experts, a proposed area renewal plan focuses on creating new attractive urban spaces to support local communities e.g  new green connections for pedestrian mobility and a redevelopment of run-down houses.  Acknowledging the social conditions of the area, the renewal plan also focuses on cultural and social projects that aims to strengthen the area's institutions and communities and create better life chances for children and young people, for example by getting more young people involved in the neighborhood's cultural and leisure communities[7].

 

Questions remain for the Nordvest area: How can we overcome the challenge of retaining and improving access to affordable spaces for creatives as urban renewal plans roll out? How can we ensure urban renewal is not only socially inclusive but also regenerates the local economy and community in a circular way?

 

During the last months, we identified a few possible pathways and opportunities for a local sharing economy that further connects and strengthens the local creative industry in Nordvest.  These opportunities partially build on already existing projects in the area and will be explored by us further during the coming months.