{"id":5880,"date":"2015-03-22T13:26:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T12:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=5880\/"},"modified":"2017-01-20T22:15:17","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T22:15:17","slug":"new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/","title":{"rendered":"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is there an alternative culture in Copenhagen? What about authenticity? And what ever happened to Copenhagen\u2019s \u201ccool\u201d neighbourhoods? These questions will be raised at a summer course at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) in 2015.<\/p>\n

It thereby taps into the growing interest for urban studies and will engage critically with the debate about what Copenhagen is, and what it should be.<\/p>\n

According to Assistant Professor Rasmus Christian Elling from the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (TORS), he and colleagues in the so-called Urban Culture Lab Initiative <\/a> had discussed the idea after the journal Monocle announced that Copenhagen was \u2018The World\u2019s Most Liveable City\u2019. <\/p>\n

“We were watching the 5-minute video Monocle had produced in order to justify the award. It basically showed a sunny Copenhagen full of white people with impeccable taste in clothing, all blonde and beautiful, and essentially rich, being able to dine at Noma and just hang out and enjoy the culture of the city\u201d, Rasmus explains.<\/p>\n

Commodification, gentrification<\/h2>\n

“I thought to myself: that\u2019s not the Copenhagen I know \u2013 or at least, a lot of things are missing in the picture. Or maybe Copenhagen has become something that I cannot recognize anymore”. <\/p>\n

Copenhagen\u2019s claimed ‘livability’ and its international brand turned into a more comprehensive discussion: Who defines Copenhagen? Is Copenhagen culture for all or only the select few? Is there an alternative culture in Copenhagen? Or as Rasmus Christian Elling puts it:<\/p>\n

“Are the spaces for this culture being diminished by the onslaught of neoliberal commodification of public space? How about authenticity and the victory of gentrification in Copenhagen\u2019s ‘cool’ neighbourhoods?”<\/p>\n

Alternative events organisers<\/h2>\n

Rasmus himself has a background as a DJ and event organizer on the Danish electronic music scene. His colleague Frederik Birket-Smith organized underground raves in the 1990s with Rasmus, and in 2003-2013 the annual electronic event RAW. Frederik has a degree in urban geography, and has published on the relationship between pirate radio stations, geography and urban culture in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor RAW and other events, Frederik has always had a keen eye for identifying overlooked spaces in the city; and when events like RAW grew too big for existing locales, we would experiment with creating new spaces\u201d, Rasmus explains. \u201cOne example is how we started using 40-foot shipping containers to build a \u2018festival city\u2019 for when RAW had reached 10,000 participants a year and we simply couldn\u2019t find any buildings to accommodate it in Copenhagen\u201d. <\/p>\n

Now, Frederik is the head of the Str\u00f8m festival, which draws the global electronic music scene to Copenhagen each year. It uses everything from underground caverns to empty parking lots and turns the Copenhagen Metro into one huge electronic concert, Str\u00f8m has experimented with using the spaces of the city in new ways. <\/p>\n

Copenhagen should not be ‘Eurovision song contest’<\/h2>\n

Str\u00f8m was therefore an obvious partner for the summer school, Rasmus explains. <\/p>\n

The summer school will coincide with the festival in August: It will be an open laboratory for studying the theories of urban culture empirically, out in the field. <\/p>\n

Another partner is Steen Andersen and the co-creative community PB43. <\/p>\n

“Like Str\u00f8m, PB43 represents a Copenhagen that I think we should also ‘brand’ the city with, rather than only the mega-events such as the Eurovision Song Contest”, Rasmus says.<\/p>\n

There IS something special about Copenhagen<\/h2>\n

“The sort of do-it-yourself, open source urban development and grassroots-level community organization that PB43 is involved in is the way forward for cities. Thanks to people like those in the PB43 network, Copenhagen has a lot of potential to grow in this direction,” Rasmus says.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully, this summer school will draw on the creative energy and innovative thinking of Str\u00f8m and PB43 to show students from around the world that there is something special going on here in Copenhagen; something that the whole world of cities can learn from”.<\/p>\n

Who should define Copenhagen? Read a featured comment by Rasmus Christian Elling here.<\/a><\/p>\n

universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n

Like us on Facebook <\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events. Follow us on Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories. Sign up for the University Post weekly newsletter here<\/a>, and then follow the University Post on Instagram here. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sunny Copenhagen full of blonde, beautiful, people with impeccable taste in clothing, and rich. This is the official brand. But a new course at UCPH is to dig deeper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A sunny Copenhagen full of blonde, beautiful, people with impeccable taste in clothing, and rich. This is the official brand. But a new course at UCPH is to dig deeper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-20T22:15:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2309\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4df0b22f9be3943039e58e94c400606\"},\"headline\":\"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen\",\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-20T22:15:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":713,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/\",\"name\":\"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-20T22:15:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4df0b22f9be3943039e58e94c400606\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg\",\"width\":2309,\"height\":1732,\"caption\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/\",\"name\":\"University Post\",\"description\":\"Independent of management\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4df0b22f9be3943039e58e94c400606\",\"name\":\"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6c147fc36e92c08c95515aba962dbc89107ed33613c690182f7e243d0c0a2ab?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6c147fc36e92c08c95515aba962dbc89107ed33613c690182f7e243d0c0a2ab?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6c147fc36e92c08c95515aba962dbc89107ed33613c690182f7e243d0c0a2ab?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/author\\\/migrated_articles\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen","og_description":"A sunny Copenhagen full of blonde, beautiful, people with impeccable taste in clothing, and rich. This is the official brand. But a new course at UCPH is to dig deeper","og_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/","og_site_name":"University Post","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis","article_published_time":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-20T22:15:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2309,"height":1732,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Uniavisen","twitter_site":"@Uniavisen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/"},"author":{"name":"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/b4df0b22f9be3943039e58e94c400606"},"headline":"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen","datePublished":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-20T22:15:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/"},"wordCount":713,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/","name":"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","datePublished":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-20T22:15:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/b4df0b22f9be3943039e58e94c400606"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","width":2309,"height":1732,"caption":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New course to look at the gritty, alternative Copenhagen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/","name":"University Post","description":"Independent of management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/b4df0b22f9be3943039e58e94c400606","name":"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6c147fc36e92c08c95515aba962dbc89107ed33613c690182f7e243d0c0a2ab?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6c147fc36e92c08c95515aba962dbc89107ed33613c690182f7e243d0c0a2ab?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6c147fc36e92c08c95515aba962dbc89107ed33613c690182f7e243d0c0a2ab?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"MIGRATED_ARTICLES FROM_OLD_SITE"},"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/author\/migrated_articles\/"}]}},"advancedCustomFields":{"layout_group":[{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":true,"headline":"","style":"default","highlighted_words":"","text_size":"medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":5883,"id":5883,"title":"urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1","filename":"urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/new-course-to-look-at-the-gritty-alternative-copenhagen\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1\/","alt":"","author":"0","description":" ","caption":" ","name":"urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":5880,"date":"2017-01-19 05:51:29","modified":"2017-01-19 05:51:32","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2309,"height":1732,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-480x360.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":360,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-1280x960.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":960,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1536,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-290x218.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":218,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-700x525.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":525,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-990x743.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":743}},"style":"screen","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":false,"alternative_caption":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"","text":"A sunny Copenhagen full of blonde, beautiful, people with impeccable taste in clothing, and rich. This is the official brand. But a new course at UCPH is to dig deeper","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":false,"contributors":[{"use_registered_user":false,"user":false,"contributor_name":"Mike Young","contributor_title":" ","contributor_image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Is there an alternative culture in Copenhagen? What about authenticity? And what ever happened to Copenhagen\u2019s \u201ccool\u201d neighbourhoods? These questions will be raised at a summer course at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>It thereby taps into the growing interest for urban studies and will engage critically with the debate about what Copenhagen is, and what it should be.<\/p>\n<p>According to Assistant Professor Rasmus Christian Elling from the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (TORS), he and colleagues in the so-called <a href=\"http:\/\/hum.ku.dk\/forskning\/tvaergaaende\/urban\/\" target=\"_blank\">Urban Culture Lab Initiative <\/a> had discussed the idea after the journal Monocle announced that Copenhagen was \u2018The World\u2019s Most Liveable City\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>“We were watching the 5-minute video Monocle had produced in order to justify the award. It basically showed a sunny Copenhagen full of white people with impeccable taste in clothing, all blonde and beautiful, and essentially rich, being able to dine at Noma and just hang out and enjoy the culture of the city\u201d, Rasmus explains.<\/p>\n<h2>Commodification, gentrification<\/h2>\n<p>“I thought to myself: that\u2019s not the Copenhagen I know \u2013 or at least, a lot of things are missing in the picture. Or maybe Copenhagen has become something that I cannot recognize anymore”. <\/p>\n<p>Copenhagen\u2019s claimed ‘livability’ and its international brand turned into a more comprehensive discussion: Who defines Copenhagen? Is Copenhagen culture for all or only the select few? Is there an alternative culture in Copenhagen? Or as Rasmus Christian Elling puts it:<\/p>\n<p>“Are the spaces for this culture being diminished by the onslaught of neoliberal commodification of public space? How about authenticity and the victory of gentrification in Copenhagen\u2019s ‘cool’ neighbourhoods?”<\/p>\n<h2>Alternative events organisers<\/h2>\n<p>Rasmus himself has a background as a DJ and event organizer on the Danish electronic music scene. His colleague Frederik Birket-Smith organized underground raves in the 1990s with Rasmus, and in 2003-2013 the annual electronic event RAW. Frederik has a degree in urban geography, and has published on the relationship between pirate radio stations, geography and urban culture in London.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor RAW and other events, Frederik has always had a keen eye for identifying overlooked spaces in the city; and when events like RAW grew too big for existing locales, we would experiment with creating new spaces\u201d, Rasmus explains. \u201cOne example is how we started using 40-foot shipping containers to build a \u2018festival city\u2019 for when RAW had reached 10,000 participants a year and we simply couldn\u2019t find any buildings to accommodate it in Copenhagen\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Now, Frederik is the head of the Str\u00f8m festival, which draws the global electronic music scene to Copenhagen each year. It uses everything from underground caverns to empty parking lots and turns the Copenhagen Metro into one huge electronic concert, Str\u00f8m has experimented with using the spaces of the city in new ways. <\/p>\n<h2>Copenhagen should not be ‘Eurovision song contest’<\/h2>\n<p>Str\u00f8m was therefore an obvious partner for the summer school, Rasmus explains. <\/p>\n<p>The summer school will coincide with the festival in August: It will be an open laboratory for studying the theories of urban culture empirically, out in the field. <\/p>\n<p>Another partner is Steen Andersen and the co-creative community PB43. <\/p>\n<p>“Like Str\u00f8m, PB43 represents a Copenhagen that I think we should also ‘brand’ the city with, rather than only the mega-events such as the Eurovision Song Contest”, Rasmus says.<\/p>\n<h2>There IS something special about Copenhagen<\/h2>\n<p>“The sort of do-it-yourself, open source urban development and grassroots-level community organization that PB43 is involved in is the way forward for cities. Thanks to people like those in the PB43 network, Copenhagen has a lot of potential to grow in this direction,” Rasmus says.<\/p>\n<p>“Hopefully, this summer school will draw on the creative energy and innovative thinking of Str\u00f8m and PB43 to show students from around the world that there is something special going on here in Copenhagen; something that the whole world of cities can learn from”.<\/p>\n<p>Who should define Copenhagen? <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/article\/comment-who-should-define-copenhagen\" target=\"_blank\">Read a featured comment by Rasmus Christian Elling here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n<p><em>Like us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\"> Facebook <\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events. Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\"> Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories. <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for the University Post weekly newsletter here<\/a>, and then <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/universitypost\" target=\"_blank\">follow the University Post on Instagram here. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":42,"name":"Education","slug":"education","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":42,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":661,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11488,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/urban_culture_course_image_flikr_cc-1-1280x960.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5880"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32502,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions\/32502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}