Bicycle Ride into Euro-Sprawl

I took a bicycle ride into suburbia today. And although the suburbs here are incredibly similar to those in the U.S., I couldn't help but observe subtle differences. For one, I COULD ride a bicycle from the center of Copenhagen to the suburb of Taastrup (20km west of the City). The bicycle lane runs adjacent to the highway and past car dealerships, shopping malls and gas stations. As I left the city, the road widened, a grassy median emerged and the speed limit increased.


Eventually, I made my way to two architect-designed projects in the suburbs, one at Albertslund and the other at Høje Taastrup. The Albertslund project was more interesting I thought—featuring an extremely active 1960's era town center and surrounded by high-density, low-rise dwellings. Some of these housing areas are definitely more successful than others, but the town center was really fantastic, although the architectural articulation is a bit monotonous.


The town center includes a train station, library, movie theater, performance venue and many shops. Several housing developments are within walking distance. Pedestrians were shopping, chatting, passing through, sitting on benches and even eating fresh popcorn from a street vendor.

The Høje Taastrup project seemed less successful—a traditional urban neighborhood was built next to a train station, but the scale was much too large (by Danish standards) and the buildings all looked the same. The streets were practically empty. I think everybody was at the indoor shopping mall in Taastrup.

These master-plan projects represent the chief strategy architects have used to intervene in the suburban landscape. More recent techniques advocated by the New Urbanists include form-based codes. What other strategies exist?