A Local’s Guide to Copenhagen, Denmark

Architect and bike-centric urban planner Lasse Schelde runs Moving Spaces, a Copenhagen-based consultancy offering design solutions to help create sustainable cities.

This interview is part of The World Made Local, a global collaboration between the seven international editions of Condé Nast Traveler in which 100 people in 100 countries tell us why their home turf should be your next destination.

How does your work relate to Copenhagen?

Copenhagen is my input machine; it’s where a lot of my work for Moving Spaces derives from. My consulting is based on how our city works, focusing on sustainable mobility and urban planning with great emphasis on bicycle planning and behavior. This gives us a unique approach where we work with both analysis, the built urban fabric, behavioral aspects, and traffic solutions that together make up a whole.

What do you love most about living in Copenhagen?

Copenhagen is geared for individuals to get around by bicycle. This is supported all the way around through cycle lanes, special lights for bicycles in intersections, cycle streets, and cycle bridges, such as across the harbor. This creates a very lively city with people in the streets around the clock. A bicycle gives you the ability to stop wherever and whenever you like to enjoy urban life. This creates a great vibe, and very positive, outgoing people.

What are your top cycling routes in the city?

Definitely Nørrebrogade and its side streets. It is the busiest cycle street in Copenhagen and a real experience in how big the bicycle culture really is here. In the morning rush hour, you can’t cross the intersection at Dronning Louise's Bridge before the second or third green light because of the bicycle congestion. Mind you, the cycle lane is 14.5 feet wide! Also crossing the inner harbor bridges is a great experience. When riding a bicycle in Copenhagen, stick to the right and sign to stop and turn—this is very important.

Can you share some of your all-time favorite city addresses?

Jægersborggade and the quarter around it used to be very tough but now has been turned into a thriving eating, shopping, and drinking area. This has been done through the bold and careful planning of the cooperative housing association in the street attracting, among others, top chef Christian Puglisi. I like to go for coffee at the Coffee Collective or a local beer at Mikkeller around the corner.

What do you think Copenhagen is doing well in terms of being a sustainable city? 

Copenhagen is doing well on sustainability partly because we had a major cloudburst in 2011, resulting in 5.3 inches of rain. This was a wake-up call and cost 4.88 billion DKK [$771.36 billion]. So from then on, the climate—specifically rain mitigation—has been an integrated part of urban planning in the city. This can be seen in Enghaveparken by Danish architects Third Nature. The park, which is well worth a visit, converts to a giant pool that can hold a whopping 798,100 cubic feet [5.97 million liters] of rain.

What excites you about Denmark right now?

After Covid-19, it is clear that Copenhagen has passed the test of being a city for people. I have never seen so many residents walking and cycling. We were allowed to go outside during lockdown, and the city provided excellent spaces for this. Who is causing a buzz? The Danish national football team. They encompass everything we treasure in Denmark: empathy, teamwork, feelings, power, and great, great potential.

Outside Copenhagen, where are your favorite places in Denmark?

Without a doubt the island of Bornholm. I jokingly call it the Capri of the North. I go there every summer and it is the most magical place: bathing off the cliffs, eating smoked herring, concerts at Gæsten, sailing…I cannot recommend it enough. You never run out of options on where to go and you have never seen everything. On top of all that, the island is the perfect cycling destination.

Tell us a secret about Copenhagen that we might not know…

One overlooked place in Copenhagen is Valbyparken, a gorgeous park that has around 15 themed gardens, a massive playground, and a new beach.

Follow Lasse Schelde on Instagram @Lasseschelde