Waterways

In the autumn of 2023, the Danish Association of Architects, in collaboration with the Dreyer Foundation, launched the development project Agenda Earth. The project’s three tracks—nature, materials, and transformation—resulted in a series of events, debates, exhibitions, collections of examples, recommendations, and publications. I had the pleasure of leading the Waterways project under the nature track, which focused on the question: What would Denmark look like if water were allowed to flow more freely, and we returned to a natural hydrology? What would this mean for settlement, use of the open land, and for nature itself? And what would it take to achieve this?

Although the pre-industrial landscape, where water flowed freely, can hardly be recreated, the aim of the project was to pave the way for a new balance between protected nature, food production, and settlements. The project explored the opportunities that arise from new strategic nature restoration, where protection and use go hand in hand. This includes the development of new recreational infrastructures that can more tightly connect cities to the surrounding nature, while new forms of food production support both nature and culture.

The first step in the project was, in collaboration with experts from Aarhus School of Architecture and GEUS, to create a series of ‘Blue Denmark Maps’ that illustrate the dynamic connections in nature and show how the country would look with unregulated hydrology. In the second phase, three interdisciplinary teams led by SLA, Tredje Natur, and Schønherr landscape architects were asked to develop two scenarios for 2030 and 2050, with respectively 30 % and 50 % protection in three selected case areas: the Grenå River catchment, Ramsødalen near Roskilde, and the entire Skjern Å system. The result was three comprehensive projects that show how the specific landscapes may appear in the future if water is allowed to flow freely. These projects illustrate the impact on food production, settlement, biodiversity—and our future narrative about the Danish cultural landscape.

The illustrations shown above are made by: Katrina Wiberg et al., Aarhus School of Architecture, team Tredje Natur, team SLA, and team Schønherr.

The material can be downloaded from the Danish Association of Architects’ website.