ABSTRACT
In Denmark, there has long been an emphasis on outdoor learning as a means of developing an individual’s creativity, and respect for the natural world, which would subsequently encourage a cultural identity. N.F.S. Grundtvig’s ideas for folk schools in the early nineteenth century and C.T. Sørensen’s designs for junk playgrounds in the 1930s, together with early green infrastructure and a human-centered scale for Denmark’s capital city, Copenhagen, provided experiential learning experiences. Recreation in the outdoors introduced construction techniques, hydrology, and natural systems to the public, while forging human connections. What is sometimes called soft infrastructure—the preservation and development of green spaces within an urban fabric — has been an integral part of the development of Copenhagen since the early twentieth century. This chapter examines how such outdoor opportunities are featured on several new “hard” infrastructure projects completed in the last several years such as the Sølrogård Wastewater treatment plant, the Køge Water filtration park, and Copenhill, a new waste to energy plant designed by Bjarke Ingels’ firm BIG. It examines Danish attitudes toward education, recreation, and play, in order to contextualize these new hybrid infrastructures, which produce clean water, heat, and electricity, while offering experiential learning and accidental encounters with the natural world.
