Forward-Thinking Climate Parks

SLA, the renowned Danish nature-based design studio, has completed Grønningen-Bispeparken — a transformative 20,000-square-metre climate park in Copenhagen's Nordvest neighbourhood.

Grønningen-Bispeparken reimagines a derelict social housing estate's outdoor areas as a lush, biodiverse, and playful urban nature sanctuary. The project addresses multiple challenges simultaneously. It secures the area against thunderstorms and flooding while adding social, natural, and cultural values to one of the city's most socially and ethnically diverse communities. The design takes inspiration from the values of the original green areas, conceived by legendary landscape architect C.Th. Sørensen, and updates them to meet the needs of a modern city.

By letting the form of the climate park follow the processes of nature, SLA created an interconnected series of 18 bioswales throughout the sloping terrain that can collect, contain, and infiltrate more than 3,000 cubic metres of rainwater.

Image Credit: