ABSTRACT
Copenhagen's "condition of postmodernity" was untypical since in contrast to many other European cities welfare state powers were not dismantled. As the capital city of a Scandinavian welfare state Copenhagen has been governed by strong public authorities since the mid twentieth century. Copenhagen's version of rebuilt perimeter blocks was a "prefabricated new tenement" with sparse neo-historical elements. They were erected in large numbers during the 1980s and to date stick out by their conspicuous serial design, which is reminiscent of East Berlin's prefabricated inner-city residences. Over the centuries it has been built up with different industrial facilities and since the 2000s it has been increasingly redeveloped for housing and commercial use. Waterfront development is thus a big theme in the Danish capital. In the 1990s inner-city areas came to be in demand. Densification and the curbing of urban sprawl on the periphery became mainstream ideas among Danish politicians.
