Highrise in Brande—highlighting change in Danish urban planning

ABSTRACT

In recent decades, we have witnessed a move towards a further protection of central urban cores through introduction of retail planning in Denmark. Recent changes in legislation have significantly changed these principles through a planning reform as proposed by the liberal government and adopted by Danish parliament in 2017. The change in legislation fits with a longer trend of liberalization of spatial planning in Denmark since the mid-2000s. 4th of June 2019 it was announced that the building of a high- rise tower and accompanying shopping district was put on hold by the developer. A project proposed for outside the town of Brande, which due to its radical appearance had caused a stir in architectural- and urban planning communities. Before the 2017 planning reform, such a project would be impossible due to the retail planning sections in the Danish planning act. This purpose of this article is to unfold the project in Brande, the change in legislation, which made it possible, and the precedence it sets for Danish urban planning. The change in planning legislation and practice is contextualized with a historical background for Danish urban planning, and the change in planning principles is set in an international- and theoretical context.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban planning
• retail planning
• planning legislation
• regional planning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. “Directive on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment” and “Directive on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment” respectively.

2. The Danish planning system pre-2007 could at the regional planning level be described both regional, since there is a trans- municipal coordination, and sub- national, since the regional planning also had to take national directives into account. For the sake of simplicity and compliance with the categories of ESPON (2018a, 2018b), “sub- national level” will be used throughout this article.

3. ESPON (2018b), table 3, pp. 19–26.

4. For a more thorough introduction to the Danish planning system, see Galland & Enemark (2015)

5. DA: Landsplandirektiv. Articulated as ’moratorium’ but in de facto ministerial decree.

6. DA: Bymidte hhv. bydelscentre

7. DA: Dagligvarebutik

8. DA: Udvalgsvarebutik

9. DA: Aflastningsområde

10. As outlined in Planning Act (2017 § 29, 1).

11. “Bekendtgørelse om landsplandirektiv for udvalgsvarehandel i tilknytning til en større virksomhed (Bestseller) i Brande med særlig erhvervsmæssig betydning” https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=150134

12. Planning Act (2017, § 29, 1) regarding municipal plans (DA: Kommuneplan) & § 29, 3 regarding local plans (DA: Lokalplan).

13. Danish Business Authority – DA: Erhvervsstyrelsen

14. As described on the homepage of the Danish Business Authority (in Danish) https://planinfo.erhvervsstyrelsen.dk/bymoenster [accessed 4^th of June, 2020].

15. Primary urban areas in Fingerplan 2019 of which State Planning Directive (SPD) (2019) is a part of. (In Danish, the “fingerplan” works with the metaphors of the palm (DA:“Håndfladen”) and the fingers (DA:’Byfingre’). Those two are the categories chosen for the illustration.

16. Source: Statistics Denmark, Table FOLK1A – 2019 Q1 (Greater Copenhagen Area) – all other Statistics Denmark, Table BY1 – 2019. [Accessed on 8th of October 2019] https://www.statistikbanken.dk/

17. Municipalities of Jammerbugt, Læsø, Lemvig, Samsø, Fanø, Ærø, Langeland, Nordfyn, Kerteminde, Odsherred, Stevns, Lejre & Møn. Lejre and Stevns municipalites are still part of the capital area as defined in ‘Fingerplan 2019ʹ.