The 50-Year Plan to Save Copenhagen From Flooding

[Music] this is copenhagen known for its beautiful waterways cobbled streets and for being one of the world's happiest cities apparently but despite the pleasantries not everything's rosy in the danish capital according to authorities the population is growing but it's running out of room and with sea levels on the rise around the old port city flooding is also becoming a big concern while many cities are facing similar issues and have come up with their own answers some of them quite radical the danes like to do things differently as we've seen before instead of separate projects to hold back the water and create new housing copenhagen is constructing an entire new island off its shoreline that it hopes will fix both of its problems when you think of places that are vulnerable to rising sea levels and flooding this little corner of scandinavia might not immediately spring to mind you're more likely to imagine cities like jakarta which is now sinking or venice with its aqua altar phenomenon that has tormented citizens and tourists for centuries these aren't just well-known examples of cities with major water problems there are also places that have come up with some of the most extreme ideas to solve their issues over in the nordics things aren't quite as bad but there's still been a need to take drastic action made up of hundreds of islands denmark is a low-lying nation and coastal areas like copenhagen are already at risk of flooding in the event of a big storm surge with sea levels set to rise by at least half a meter before the end of this century and extreme weather becoming more common the danish capital now finds itself a bit exposed with little in the way of protection the response is this the construction of a massive artificial island it was approved by mps in june 2021 and is going to cost about 3 billion yes land reclamation has always been part of copenhagen's history but it's nothing like what we're about to see here called lynette holm the project involves adding 2.6 square kilometers of new land to the existing port area that's about the size of 400 football pitches and it's a task that's going to take around 50 years to complete the perimeter of the island is going to be built with rock dams to help block storm surges coming in from the north as well as reefs sandy beaches and a green coastal landscape on the east side now because the seabed is very soft a layer of it will need to be removed and replaced with sand before the dam material can be laid to ensure stability the idea is to take a nature first approach meaning the land will be given time to become established with plants and wildlife before the main development begins once finished lynette home will offer space for some 35 000 people to live and work with a ring road tunnels and metro station linking it all back to the rest of the city to make all of this happen some 80 million tons of soil gathered from other projects across the region will need to be transported here with development company bayern havan leading the construction it's a process that's being done in two phases starting with the perimeter first to keep the water out and the land in along with an access road and a facility where the soil will be weighed and checked in the meantime material has been placed in temporary landfill over on the north harbour ready to be shipped across to the phase one area once it's ready that's due to start in 2023 and take around two years after which the remaining material will start getting trucked in from elsewhere in greater copenhagen 2025 is also when the perimeter is due to finish so by that point it'll already be offering surge protection if all goes to plan with the rest of the project then land reclamation will be all done by 2050. the developers really aren't kidding when they call it a long-term project as for when you'll be able to see the island fully finished and populated well set your alarm for 2070. one reason for the lengthy timeframe is the effort that's needed to get all that material to the site an environmental assessment predicted that as many as 350 lorry loads would need to pass through copenhagen every day to reach this target that's in a city which is much smaller than most other european capitals and that already suffers from traffic congestion let's just say the reaction to this news from locals hasn't been overwhelmingly positive but according to the developers studies using trucks is less carbon intensive than getting barges involved like we've seen on similar projects they also say the number of lorries shouldn't be too different to what's already being seen across copenhagen which has experienced a lot of construction over the past decade including the extension of the north harbour but concerns about the net home aren't just limited to the roads there's been opposition from environmental groups too including one that's accused the project of greenwashing they believe the environmental assessments weren't thorough enough and even launched a lawsuit to try and stop it from happening others argue that the whole idea is just a bit overkill they agree the city needs some form of flood defense but that just an artificial reef or something similar would do the job much quicker and wouldn't require nearly as much construction work or money as for the housing pledge again not everyone's convinced it's what copenhagen really needs the main issue right now is a lack of affordable housing and whether the new district would help solve this or just deliver more properties out of most people's budgets is still unknown why is that well plans for the urban development and infrastructure for the net home haven't yet been finalized that 2021 approval by parliament was only for the construction of its foundations as for what will go on it and those connections to wider copenhagen that's all going through another environmental assessment which is set to complete in the summer of 2022 after a period of public consultation all possible environmental impacts both good and bad are being looked at from the potential for new plants and wildlife habitats to any negative effects on soil and water quality another challenge is making sure they don't accidentally build over historic artifacts buried in the seabed which is required working closely with local archaeologists overall if lynette holm can deliver on what it promises then in time it could become the new district that copenhagen needs to secure its future in multiple ways but that's the thing it's gonna take time lots of time and a great deal of work to get it done and win over the doubters they might be happy now but let's hope that by 2070 when this is finally finished the people of this great city are still smiling if you enjoyed this video and you want to learn more about where construction is headed make sure you subscribe to tomorrow's build you

Channel: Tomorrow's Build

Views: 222,671

Keywords: construction, architecture, engineering, Tomorrow's Build, tomorrowsbuild, TomorrowsBuild, tomorrows build, B1M, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, future, denmark, copenhagen, scandinavia, lynetteholm, nordics, artificial islands, land reclamation, venice, flooding, flood defence, seawalls, megaprojects, energy island, rising sea levels, climate change, floods, storm surges, housing, rising populations, urban planning, nordhavn

Id: XcGrLSC-uGI

Length: 6min 53sec (413 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 18 2022