The district of Amager in Copenhagen will be the future site of one of the world’s largest urban parks, the Environment Ministry has announced.
The ministry, in co-operation with the city property development agency By & Havn and the councils of Copenhagen, Tårnby and Dragør, will develop and unite the existing natural areas in Amager into one large park under the name Naturpark Amager.
“Few people think about how amazing and diverse the nature is in Amager," Ida Auken (Socialistisk Folkeparti), the environment minister, said in a press release. "That will become apparent to citizens, tourists and foreign investors when we unite the areas into the Naturpark Amager.”
A 3,000-hectare green metropolis
Naturpark Amager will include the protected Kalvebod and Amager Fælled nature areas, Kongelunden forest and the coast stretching from Kongelunden up to Dragør. The park will total 3,000 hectares, compared to the 1,100ha Dyrehaven forest park and the 340ha of New York City's Central Park.
“Copenhagen can be renowned worldwide for being a green metropolis,” Auken said of the plans.
In the future, the area will be expanded to ensure natural development and create additional new space for outdoor life. But for now, a strategy has been laid and one of the first items on the agenda will be to make it easier to access the park, including via a new bicycle superhighway.
"Over the past 15 years, we have seen the number of visitors to Dyrehaven double to close to eight million people a year and there is no reason that we can't achieve that out here in Amager,” Hans Henrik Christensen, the forest manager for the capital area’s nature agency, Naturstyrelsen Hovedstaden, told Berlingske newspaper.
Here is an overview of the park plan (in Danish)
