Copenhagen is hot - again

Recently, Monocle magazine voted Copenhagen one of Europe's hottest cities. Now German magazine Der Spiegel has done the same.

It started with a survey carried out for the city of Hamburg, which wanted to fine-tune its own strategy: The survey sought to identify the European cities that are most advanced in making the transition from industrial to knowledge-based economy, writes Berlingske Tidende, quoting Der Spiegel.

Of five cities studied, the survey notes that Copenhagen is strongly positioned when it comes to high gross income, the percentage of the population with further education, the share of technology heavy companies, tax advantages for research, labour market flexibility and a sizeable creative class.

One tangible thing is the current focus on the biotech sector, which presently numbers some 200 companies and 36,000 employees in and around Copenhagen, and the IT sector, which numbers approximately 100,000 workplaces. But equally important are the more intangible values, which are essential if a city is to develop and maintain its position at the top. A modern city requires "opposites, a balance between chaos and order," says the British sociologist Charles Landry, a leader within city research.

And just as diversity is a quality in its own right, which together with safety and good infrastructure can attract and stimulate the creative environments, Christiania is as highly esteemed as the Opera and the Royal Ballet, while the Roskilde Festival is mentioned together with Nyhavn, the BRIC biotech centre, Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport and a flexible public administration.

The other elected cities in Hamburg's survey are Barcelona - which receives top grades for tolerance - Amsterdam, Dublin and Vienna. However, Europe's large metropolises, such as London and Paris, are not included: "As soon as a city has reached a certain size, its productivity starts to fall," says Mario Pezzini from the OECD. Experts place the size limit at six million inhabitants, beyond which living costs and infrastructure become a strain.

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Copenhagen Capacity, 27 August 2007