ABSTRACT
This earliest ‘social’ housing project included shops, a library, a community centre, a nursery and gardens – features that were common to most of the initial social housing experiments in Europe but which only in Denmark became a common, and then a required, feature. This early scheme was still occupied in 19J0, when it came under threat of urban renewal. The Danish housing companies were influenced by the British garden city movement, though inner-city building also continued, modelled on the private tenements. Gardens, balconies and allotments were very important aspects of all social housing developments and the vast majority of Danish social housing was built with balconies. An essential element of the developing social housing societies was the relationship between the housing organisation and residents. The co-operative origins of the movement influenced the shape of many companies, making the participation of residents appear natural and logical.
