Copenhagen's Wetland Debate: To Build or Preserve?

Copenhagen needs wetlands more than it needs a new neighborhood. That’s the message coming this week from Danish political party Enhedlisten (aka Red-Green Alliance) after party members called for the city to scrap plans to build on a piece of open land near the city center.

The land in question is a scrubby tract of marsh by the name of Amager Fælled (“Amager Common”). It was first slated for partial development in the early 1990s, and a portion of it is the site of a new neighborhood called Ørestad that has already proved controversial (more on that later). Now Enhedlisten, a minority partner in the city’s ruling coalition, says further development must cease. The initial decision to build was made under duress when the city was close to bankruptcy and needed to offset the cost of a new metro line through the area, they say. But the city’s fortunes have changed, and party members say it’s far more important to save the area’s plants and birdlife.