From Shipyard to Cityyard

Refshaleøen is not a blank slate. It is a landscape shaped by water, industry, labour and continuous transformation. Rather than erasing the island’s industrial identity, the proposal builds directly from its existing structures, productive environments and cultural ecosystems to create a newmodel for resilient urban development.

The proposal explores how future city making can move beyond extraction, replacement and consumption and instead become adaptive and productive. Existing halls, docks and industrial spaces are reactivated as shared civic infrastructure supporting culture, craftsmanship, production and experimentation. Green passages and productive landscapes establish a flexible urban framework capable of evolving over time while maintaining a strong spatial identity.

The proposal explores how green transition and development within planetary boundaries can become a structuring principle for future urban development.

At the core of the proposal lies the ambition to reconnect urban life with production, nature and resource awareness. Climate adaptation, biodiversity, mobility and public life are not treated as separate systems, but as interconnected layers shaping the city across all scales.

Docks and industrial structures are transformed into adaptive public spaces capable of supporting both everyday life and climate resilience. Green passages connect neighbourhoods, coastlines and public spaces while supporting biodiversity, water management and microclimate. Existing productive environments and local actors become active drivers of future urban life rather than remnants of the past.

The proposal also introduces the idea of Refshaleøen as a living urban workshop. A place where circular construction, local production and future building practices can be tested, developed and integrated directly into the ongoing transformation of the city itself.

Rather than proposing a fixed end state, the masterplan establishes a robust yet flexible structure capable of accommodating future change, uncertainty and evolving needs over time. Urban structure, nature, mobility and public life are conceived as interconnected systems designed to strengthen both environmental and social resilience.

By working strategically across scales, from territorial landscape structures to local neighbourhood identities, the proposal aims to demonstrate how future urban development can create long term value while responding actively to climate realities and planetary boundaries.