I learned with shock today, that the decision has been made to eradicate Christiania from the map of Denmark’s capital Copenhagen. You don’t know what Christiania is? Then read here:
Christiania, also known as the Freetown Christiania, is a partially self-governing neighbourhood in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, which has established semi-legal status as an independent community. It is located at 55.674° N 12.6024° E.
Torey, TImo, Michel, and I went to Copenhagen in August of 2004 and spent some time in Christiania. Seeing this experiment of alternative living vanish now is truly heart-breaking. It looks like the government in Denmark has decided to remove the unsightly community and replace it with new buildings.
Here’s the report from BoingBoing:
Copenhagen to replace squatter town with condos, 1000% rent-hikes
Christiania, Copenhagen’s glorious, venerable self-governed squatter town, will be razed by the city and replaced with condominiums. Residents of the settlement will face 1000 percent rent increases.
After coming to power in 2001, the government has taken an increasingly harder line on Christiania and its estimated 850 residents, closing its open-air hash market, Pusher Street, in 2004, and threatening to bulldoze the colony entirely.
The new construction could add as many as 400 new residents to Christiania’s population.In addition, current residents of Christiania will be forced to become members of a public housing organisation, and will likely have to begin paying a normal rent on their properties. Currently, adult residents pay DKK 250 per month to live in Christiania. The new rent would be between DKK 2500 and 4600 for a 50 sq. m apartment.
