GELLERUP AND TINGBJERG: NEW BOOKS EXAMINE THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

A research project about the two iconic residential areas has resulted in two major books that, for the first time ever, comprehensively present the visions, developments and latest initiatives.

22.01.2020

‘Gellerup is the most radical New Town i Danmark. The cases Tingbjerg and The Gellerup Plan are central to understanding and influencing future developments in public residential areas in Denmark’, says Sidse Martens Gudmand-Høyer, PhD and postdoc at Aarhus School of Architecture and co-author of the book about Gellerup.

Together with nine of her colleagues she has been researching the history and development of the two areas over the past years. This summer, the research project will result in two major publications, each of which presents a broad and detailed picture of the history and development of respectively Tingbjerg and Gellerup.

Gellerup is currently undergoing a major planned transformation. Photo: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen

Tingbjerg. Photo: Jens Martin Lindhe.

Gellerupparken was designed by architects K. Blach Petersen and Mogens Harbo and built by Brabrand Boligforening between 1968 and 72. Photo: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen.

‘Tingbjerg has for a long time had a bad reputation outside the area. And the neighbourhood has often received negative press coverage. One of the goals of the book is to challenge the common perception of Tingbjerg to help create a new and more nuanced narrative that can inspire the transformation processes of other housing associations’, says Professor Mogens A. Morgen, Aarhus School of Architecture, who is responsible for the publication about Tingbjerg.

Covering all the aspects

The books treat the visions for the residential areas as vital aspects of the development of the welfare society in the 1960s. But they also deal with later developments, subsequent problems, and the most recent attempts to transform the areas.

‘Until now, descriptions of Gellerup have either been brief or have focused on particular aspects. With ‘the big book about Gellerup’, we want to cover all the architectural aspects’, says Professor Tom Nielsen from Aarhus School of Architecture.

Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen, PhD and postdoc at Aarhus School of Architecture and co-author of the book about Tingbjerg, adds: ‘The same goes for Tingbjerg. Although there have been many small publications, the 1975 wish of C.Th. Sørensen [who was landscape architect on the Tingbjerg project] for a book about “the little town inside the city” will only be fulfilled with the release of the upcoming book.’

The books are expected to be released before and immediately after the summer holidays in 2020. They will contain a wealth of illustrations depicting the areas in the past and today. The publications and are aimed at specialists as well as non-specialists.

Facts

The book about Tingbjerg is published by Strandberg Publishing; the book about Gellerup is published by Arkitektens Forlag
The project is supported by The National Building Foundation and the housing associations Brabrand Boligforening, fsb and SAB/KAB
The book about Tingbjerg is supported by The Dreyer Foundation, Bergiafonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Fond, and the Danish Arts Foundation
The book about Gellerup is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, The Dreyer Foundation, and Bergiafonden