
People on the streets are either on their way to work, going home or simply not there. Everything is new. The architecture is breathtaking with its harmless balance of water, wood, concrete, steel and glass. It’s like strolling inside a 3D visualization years before it’s finished.
But then
Nobody really want to be here, they don’t want to spend time in Ørestad Nord, they want to spend it with people, and the streets of Ørestad Nord is how they get there. It’s just not a destination with good places.
A good place is easy to see and easy to get to — people want to see that there is something to do, that others have been successfully enticed to enter.
Good places
I just completed a questionnaire from the Ørestad Nord group. They’re doing what 50% of other people in this region of Copenhagen are doing, too: Asking people how insert-project-name-in-Ørestaden is doing. It’s an industry in itself.
In the questionnaire respondents choose between ten things they’d like to see in the area. One of them is more parking spaces. Two more about cars. Another one about street lights. And then, a cafe.
Of all the options, I remember only one option that could be described as a place: A cafe.
And this is Fred Kent.

He works for Project for Public Spaces, talks about what he calls placemaking.

I’m sure the Ørestad Nord group knows about him, but if you, the curious reader, don’t, this could be interesting for you as well. Even, well, more so if you’re a web developer of some sorts.