Kritisk By – Critical City: The Success and Failure of the Danish Welfare City (ed. Kristoffer Lindhardt Weiss, Arkitektens Forlag, 2019) debates welfare in the Danish context with leading architects and urbanists.
Paradoxically, the Danish welfare city has proved both a historical success and – perhaps – an even greater failure in the late modern era. While cities like Copenhagen and Aarhus bask in international attention and admiration over the high quality of life they offer, cities in general are facing serious economic imbalances and long-term structural challenges that hamper their economic and sustainable development. Within a short period of time, the Danish ‘welfare cities’ have developed into ‘well-off cities’ for the affluent.
Critical City is a debate book that uses essays, images and interviews with leading architects and urbanists to discuss the Danish welfare city anno 2019.
The text is in Danish and English. The book is illustrated with photographs and other visual material.
