New climate-resilient neighbourhood in Østerbro, Copenhagen

The municipality has a vision of a new way of managing rainwater – by creating scenic canals in the widest streets in our district which can feed the water out to the sea, where it cannot cause any damage. Extending the sewer network so that it can accommodate all types of rain will be an expensive solution requiring excavation of large parts of the town. This will paralyse traffic in Copenhagen for years.

The municipality wishes to find innovative technological solutions which at the same time resolve our challenges with large water volumes and make our urban area greener, for the benefit of the area and its residents. We must find sustainable solutions as to how to manage rainwater as effectively as possible in the district, both on an everyday basis and in the event of cloudbursts.

The ambition is to be able to divert from the sewer 30% of the everyday rain which falls by reviewing new solutions in both the urban area and the courtyard area.

The first ground for the initial projects will be broken in 2013. The project will end in 2015/2016 with an international conference where various solutionsfor climate adaptation problems will be presented in order to inspire the rest of Copenhagen and other major cities.

See more here (in Danish).

Photos