ABSTRACT
The social geography of today's Copenhagen can only be understood by a careful investigation of its origin, that is, in a historical perspective. The term 'social geography' is used as an expression for the socio-spatial pattern, which appears as the final outcome of a myriad of decisions taken by organizations, authorities, private firms as well as the millions of people who have lived in or near the city during centuries. The core of the region, the city of Copenhagen, has half a million inhabitants and a strong concentration of state functions as well as universities, government departments, national organizations and business headquarters, leisure and so on. The national government decided in the late 1980s to relocate the navy from its historical location in the center of Copenhagen harbour. The overall unemployment level for Metropolitan Copenhagen was 4.2 percent, but several times higher in parts of the central city and western suburbs.
