For centuries, the density of Copenhagen within the walls had grown. People lived very close together in dark, unhealthy backyards and stinking alleys. In the summer of 1853, the city was ravaged by a violent cholera epidemic which cost the lives of 5,000 Copenhageners in just a few months. It was obvious that new, airy urban planning was needed.
Healthy row houses
Already before the epidemic had subsided, a group of doctors had taken the initiative to build a new housing estate on the then isolated common of Oestre Faelled. They wanted to create healthy, inexpensive housing for the working class. In the spring of 1854 the first blocks were ready to be inhabited: yellow and white row houses in two storeys with small front gardens and green areas. The inspiration was to be found in the houses of Italian rural workers.
Kindergarten and library
Brumleby is one of the earliest examples of a housing development that opens the urban space and sends light and air into the houses. Furthermore, in the following years the houses were equipped with a range of common facilities: kindergarten, public bath, assembly hall, library and the first co-operative shop of Copenhagen.
Model for posterity
In this way, Brumleby marks a shift in the way of perceiving housing in Denmark. Brumleby represents architecture based on the well-being of human beings. And it was conducive to the ideas of social sustainability which are the core of the Danish welfare state and which have developed into a model for the world.
Jeppe Villadsen is a freelance journalist and editor of the magazine KBH.
Housing estate of the Copenhagen Medical Association Photo: Simon Ladefoged