Promoting Choice and Wellbeing Through Thoughtful Urban Planning and Design

Denmark consistently ranks highly on the World Happiness Report, where factors such as a robust welfare state, accessible higher education, and enduring low unemployment paint a rather happy picture of Danish society. While these metrics play a significant role in explaining the general contentedness of Danes, it’s in their cities and towns where you’ll discover the conditions that cultivate a unique brand of ‘everyday happiness’.

Proximity breeds choice and choice breeds agency

Delve into any self-help book, and you’ll inevitably find a chapter dedicated to the concept of agency. The level of agency we possess over our daily lives is a strong predictor of our overall wellbeing. Although cities and urban planners can’t directly bestow agency upon individuals, they can help facilitate it by creating choice in how we access, move between, and engage with different destinations and people. They do this with a holistic approach to the urban layout, spatial density, and diversity of functions within an urban district, as well as the degree to which neighboring districts integrate and complement one another. These factors influence the proximity people experience to the places and amenities that constitute their daily lives. The human-scale, mixed-use functionality that is so strongly associated with Danish cities results in a physical proximity to common resources, that in turn, provides convenience, choice, and agency amongst local people. This manifests as the choice to commute using various modes of transportation, knowing that even if circumstances change, reaching one’s intended destination won’t be an arduous task. It can also be the choice to combine the school run with grocery shopping at the local store, or the choice to find a moment of tranquillity at a nearby park instead of traveling to a larger green space further away.

The devil’s in the detail

From spatial proximity that dictates the locations we frequent to the urban design encountered on our journeys and at our destinations, the impact of thoughtful urban design on one’s mental and physical wellbeing can be profound. The strong notions of ‘comfort’ frequently cited by visitors to Danish cities can be traced back to the core principles of Danish design, including nature, simplicity, functionality, and elegance. These principles permeate furniture and lighting design, and Danish architects and planners continue to translate them into the public realm. Every aspect, from space, volume, materials, color, light, and sound, is considered from a user’s perspective, resulting in subtle details that enhance comfort and make going about urban life that little bit easier.

Influencing civic behavior

When this design approach is combined with civic infrastructure, such as Copenhagen’s integrated bike lane network, small features like supportive handrails at intersections and bike lane-to-sidewalk ramps that enable cyclists to stop without impeding others, sends a clear message: the city cares. It is precisely these details that distinguish Danish cities, fostering a sense of inclusivity and encouraging a collective ethos that contributes to moments of connection and joy, even during the morning rush hour.

This article was a contribution to the white paper: Creativity as a driver for quality of life, curated and published by Creative Denmark.