With one of Denmark’s new ‘super’ hospitals being built on the periphery of the Favrholm site, developer Propreco was challenged to plan a new urban district accommodating 4000 housing units and office space for 10,000 workers. Creating this critical mass of people and activity called for a master plan framework to guide the area toward a complete neighborhood, providing access to both community, nature, and urban life – a trio of conditions that are common in aspiration for greenfield site developments, but hard to embed in practice.

Favrholm Stadium Quarter is a new urban district focused on people, health and movement. From the onset, the Gehl team looked at how communities can be created through shared spaces that encourage residents and visitors to interact as a natural part of their daily lives, across age groups, education, social, and economic backgrounds. Intuitive access to existing nature and differential scales of landscaping are the basis of a spatial plan that will enable chance encounters and strong social relations, providing the green spaces and routes where people can come together on a day to day basis.

With world class sports facilities on site, and direct proximity to open spaces, the new neighborhood will live and breathe sports and movement, be it organized or spontaneous. This represents a step away from the status quo ‘drive in ‘n’ out’ suburban life. By coordinating the design proposals for amenities and residential typologies, the master plan framework boasts a 30% reduction in space dedicated to car parking: a 30% increase in space for public life to flourish.