Mind the Gaps! Density, Urban Infill, Parastic Architecture and... Shopping Malls

Mikael explores density and talks about how we need to look in the places right under our nose in order to bring back the density that we need in our cities. Also, what about shopping malls and exploiting the massive space on the roofs? So much potential, right there in front of us if we choose to see it.
Mikael looks at all the gaps in his own neighbourhood of Frederiksberg and two shopping malls in Copenhagen - Fisketorvet and Frederiksbergcentret - where nobody parks on the roof anyway. So why not use that space?
0:00 Density Now!
5:22 Frederiksberg Urban Infill
7:43 Fisketorvet Shopping Mall
14:02 Frederiksberg Center
14:43 Nordhavn

[@innsj6369]

Cheesy idea, but maybe they could recreate the market that used to exist in the Fishing Square, charge people rent to set up market stalls on the roof? I honestly think that malls should be gutted and turned into small business organic marketplaces.

[@msmoniz]

As a life long Hamilton Ontario resident, I couldn't agree more with your comments. Our lack of vision to me seems to stem right from the council chamber at city hall. From there it trickles right down to the developers mindset. They are given no incentive to be more daring and creative in use of space. And what's even more frustrating, as I'm sure you noticed when you did your episode here, those that think outside the conventional urban-ism box, tend to be stifled by city hall in one way or another! Even more galling is when something different or progressive does finally get accomplished, IN SPITE of city hall, not because of it, they are quick to claim credit for ushering these bold new initiatives, after fighting or trying to stymie them! Artcrawl, Supercrawl and James St North renewal spring to mind. Thankfully we a ton of passionate residents and now a few new city councillors that are keeping the fight going and not giving and inch, to many old guard councilors frustration. Good!

[@elcarrerdelsgaivots1152]

I would love to see a video on urbanism for thinly populated areas... I know it's almost opposite to the term "urbanism" itself, but I'm sure a lot of people already thought and wrote about how we can build a better countryside!

[@jonahs4819]

In the US there are plenty of smaller cities which (thankfully) never experienced “urban renewal” and didn’t rip apart their downtowns in the 1960s-70s. This quirk of history is why cities like Lancaster, Pennsylvania are nearly PERFECT today. Lancaster’s density is the highest in the state of Pennsylvania, even higher than Philadelphia. Lancaster looks like someone took a dense neighborhood in Brooklyn, picked it up into the air, and then plopped it down in the middle of Pennsylvania amish country. It’s so nice. And while the city itself only has 55,000 inhabitants in an area around 4 sq miles, the whole county has a population of over 500,000. This means the city limits are teaming with restaurants and shops to accommodate influx. And since every square inch of the city is mixed use, every single resident is within a 5-15 minute walk of anything they might need.

[@uffeheimdal6648]

Imagine the mall making a football field or whatever on the roof and putting a barcode scanner by the entrance, which would provide 12 hour access to the facilities upon scanning a barcode on a receipt from any of the stores in the mall. Maybe it would even induce growth for some particular shops

[@jdillon8360]

Thanks for another great video Mikael. So much wasted space on that rooftop, amazing. It's a failure any way you look at it.

[@fredericduhau7669]

If they are repeating mistakes it is because they have a lack of visions and critiques. If we don't speak Danish they don't let us work in their companies... I really believe that multicultural teams in urbanism, architecture or city development would bring so much! I'm studying urbanism in Denmark and almost all the international students are without an internship for this reason, this is quite sad.

[@robenglish416]

What was the producer of that Finnish self-sufficient house? Sounds really interesting!

[@geertbuis154]

Rooftop bar with a view of the city!

[@gallesina]

Mikael, when I see such sealed surfaces I think, besides the clear heat-generating surfaces, the increase of rainwater which must be directed elsewhere. At least they could install photovoltaic panels or, the better, mix the panels with gardens. The one you showed in this video could be transformed into a beautiful garden, which could potentially attract more visitors/buyers to the shopping mall. Greetings from Italy!

[@giancarlomartini2133]

Ciao, Io pensavo la stessa cosa. Control runoff by providing temporary storage and retention within a a green roof and roof top garden.

[@pauls6895]

The tiny housing is already a demanded thing in Europe. I live in Prague and the housing prices have skyrocketed over last few years, but I can see that the same thing happens in many European cities. I ask my friends in other countries, I go to Reddit and see the same thing all over Europe (often in the North America too) - housing is becoming unaffordable. I see many people doing flatshare because of this, so they technically have some 20-30 sq m. of their own space, so why wouldn't we create more individual units of this size?

[@MrMakabar]

Most real estate is being priced by square footage and smalle units cost more to build(baths and kitchen cost more then say bedrooms). So developers build big luxury apartments. Then most singles do not buy the place they live in. If you hope to meet a partner and/or start a family buying a small space is not a good idea. Same goes for an old person who might have lost their family, to death and the children leaving. Now developers often are not investors, who own and rent out space, but prefer to sell. Somebody who buys a home once in their life goes a lot more on feeling then an investor, who will only look at the money he can make. Also aging population and likely the biggest reason. No idea about Prague, but in Germany square footage per capita is rising. You know you start a family, buy a nice single family home, big flat etc. Then the children leave and most folks do not leave their way to big place as they often own it outright and it is their home.

[@TheSharkasmCrew]

Wow, I came here to research infill development SPECIFICALLY with hamilton in mind. Small world.

[@hehr1319]

Love your videos and would really appreciate if you could put your sources in or under the video when you talk about, for example "25 % car ownership" in Copenhagen.

[@wavygravy1945]

In Canada, I live in a 10 minute city. IT IS FANTASTIC! Especially now that gas is so expensive, plus general inflation.

[@toastsandwich2862]

UNLEASH THE LAND VALUE TAX

[@johnfife3062]

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA -- progressive, but it's a well-kept secret. Not even most residents know: ADUs authorized, we call them mother-in-law units and that's a key demographic for them; parking strip farming authorized; wind turbine towers in residential back yards authorized; sun view rights enacted -- put up PV panels and your sun exposure can't be violated without compensation, like in Tokyo. We have bike lanes and a long-term plan, but it's anemic and folks still ride on the sidewalk beside a bike lane. Sometimes progressive city planners can be way ahead of residents who are slow to awaken to possibilities, but for those who are tuned in, the freedoms are there.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

Huh interesting. Is there a curb or other barrier between the bike lane and the car lane? Maybe cyclists use the sidewalk because they feel safer there.

[@johnfife3062]

@@bramvanduijn8086 Yes, you're certainly correct. There are very few protected bike lanes -- they're "experimental." : D There are lots of painted, unprotected bike lanes. Curious and irritating: In residential areas, walkers and joggers will use the bike lanes instead of the sidewalks. In business districts, bikes use sidewalks -- even where illegal -- instead of adjacent bike lanes.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@johnfife3062 Heh, typical. The concept of desire lines is very applicable here: It sounds like the pedestrians and cyclists have shown what they prefer, so switch the location of the two modes of transport around and you will have a lot of happy people, which will draw in more users of those paths. This will reduce the number of cars in the road so it will improve safety as well.

[@wilfdarr]

“I think if you possess so much valuable space, so many valuable square meters in the heart of a densely populated city that needs the extra space, a certain level of responsibility exists” Never mind the responsibility to your share holders!? You know how hard it is to get a field during prime time in the city center? This is completely wasted real-estate that could easily be utilized, and simultaneously increase foot traffic to the mall. Someone's not doing their job in managing that investment.

[@ginaslevinsky8906]

and THIS is the argument that would convince developers

[@Sergio_Loureiro]

I have an idea for the rooftop. If you have ever been in Viseu, Portugal you may have visited a big shopping mall named Palácio do Gelo, which literally translates to Palace of Ice. This is second incarnation of it. In the first one it had inside, in the middle of one of its floors a big ice rink, where people did ice skating and ice hockey. In the second, they made the mall bigger and reduced the size of the ice rink. It is more commercial and less sporty. People lost interest in the ice rink. I doubt it is even big enough to play ice hockey. So my suggestion is, in the middle of the parking, build a covered ice rink "house", and use the rest has parking space.

[@williambunting803]

You’ve asked for comment? The pilot for inclusive malls has got to be West Edmonton mall in Canada. These guys invented the mall day out for the whole family. But if you’ve got spare roof space you can rent this out. On my www.cgrpt.com site is a student flat for two designed as a relocatable to occupy 28 sqM including side access (3D model up on Grabcad design for construction from fridge panelling). 14,000 square metres = 400 such dwellings with accommodation for 800 students and a rental return of some 48,000 per week. Just saying. To digress as an Australian living near Rotterdam, I have noticed how few road accidents I see here. I went for some 11 months without personally witnessing a single accident in the mop upstage. In Sydney Australia I would see that at least once a week, and often every day. I finally figured out why that is. Its because every one in the Netherlands rides bikes daily very young through school and into adulthood. Riding bikes build mobility knowledge, they learn the rules and how to behave whilst on the roads from very young, so when they get their driving licenses they already understand sharing the road, and it shows. Of course there are still plenty of accidents but no where near as many as in other cities by my observation. You can’t do a straight out numbers comparison as many accidents are not reported, especially in Australia. Finally for a pretty awesome cycling intersection have a look at De Snelbinder in Naaldwijk NL.

[@carriegroulx5608]

Love the idea of roof top gardens.

[@oscarsusan3834]

From experience(it’s a sound concept) but humans being the politically minded power hungry animals that they are there’s always that HOA / Body Corporate mentality that kicks in and just screws it for everybody.

[@fredericduhau7669]

ØsterGRO in Østerbro is a very nice example of how to transform a parking roof into an urban farm! Or Lüders garage in Nordhavn into a playground! very inspiring

[@tgrace019]

I wonder how the incentive structure is designed that makes such inefficient decisions "attractive." In the U.S. for example, I know the mindless embrace of sprawl has a lot to do with how our taxation and financing systems are designed...

[@ArchAnime]

Great video.

[@oscarsusan3834]

Docklands ,Melbourne ,Australia is the example of the city just going the greed option . A decent stadium (Marvel) and high rise apartments squashed to the maximum with dark cold uninviting wind tunnels and a wharf thats collapsed after 20 years with zero parks,schools,medical or recreation features.Its that bad I can’t recall any boutique hotels or backpackers near the place.Obligatory night spot of course.Mind you plenty of cheap souvenir shops ,concrete and unrealistic walls and bollards in a no go business security mindset with cyclone mesh fences.Why go there? Basically greed just screwed one of the biggest opportunities the city had in a century. Went there over its 20 years of existence maybe 5 times.

[@jdillon8360]

Same here. I'm also from Melbourne. I avoid Docklands like the plague. It's a disaster.

[@theotron3000]

probably a case of groupthink amongst developers ... in the Berlin neighbourhood of Neukölln, they put a club/lounge on top of the central mall (Klunkerkranich), which used to be very popular before Covid.

[@ElectricityTaster]

Looks like we need big legos to make life-sized lego houses.

[@oscarsusan3834]

It exists already.Check out the demountable stadium the UAE are building for the FIFA World Cup-made of shipping containers.!.

[@ElectricityTaster]

@@oscarsusan3834 I was thinking more along the lines of James May's lego house.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

How do you create your heat maps etc, What programmes do you use?

[@mauribonada2425]

En esa terraza pondría un centro de estudios de la biomasa marina, para que no se pierda la cultura pesquera.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

I always wished that the big O, the Montreal olympic stadium, would be one of those giant indoors wave pools and beach resort, remove the seats and instead put in tiny motel cabins. A summer resort out of the cold. Save so much jet fuel to fly to miami or Florida for the winter.

[@ginaslevinsky8906]

What a great idea! Plus people from Nunavut would actually be able to afford a "beach vacation"

[@wilfdarr]

Unfortunately you'd use the same amount of fuel or more heating it.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

@@wilfdarr We got cheap clean hydro.

[@wilfdarr]

@@dragonskunkstudio7582 Yup, but if you use it up instead of selling it, then someone down the coast is burning diesel to make up for the short fall. And what the Americans pay you for your hydro supplements your taxes so you can afford to travel instead of having to go to Montreal for all your vacations. Energy is neither created nor destroyed...

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

@@wilfdarr We can make a shat ton of electricity.

[@mdhazeldine]

I have to comment on one thing you said: "people want smaller houses". Do they want smaller houses because they like having less space or because prices have become so unaffordable that they've lowered their ambitions and will go for a smaller property in the city that they can afford rather than move out and commute in? I think if you took prices out of the equation, most people wouldn't go for very small homes. Many also wouldn't go for huge homes even if they could afford them. I think there is a range of space which is "ideal" for most people and it is bigger than many of the cramped apartments developers are building in UK cities. We used to have different space standards in the UK back in the 70s where apartments were more spacious, with big windows and they had green areas around them. They are still popular now for that reason. Then there were the Victorian and Edwardian houses with their high ceilings which are also very in-demand. Developers now seem to be building smaller and smaller in the UK, trying to cram in as much as possible into a tiny space and I'm sorry but it's crap. I don't know why anyone would "demand" that unless they were forced to because of unaffordability.

[@ginaslevinsky8906]

I think interior design trends factor into apartment (and other built space) sizing. Idk about the 70s in UK, but in North America it was all about rooms and doors. Contemporary trends are open plan, so when a person moves into a 70s place and tears down as many walls as possible, the space leftover seems much bigger.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

The social consensus here is that everyone should have a 120m2 house, I currently have a 70m2 appartment and I am quite happy with it. I could lose 20m2 without losing any happiness though, my dream house is about 50m2. Why? Because I wouldn't use the extra space. I used to rent a house with a friend of about 150m2, we didn't use the entire top floor for most of our time there. If that floor hadn't been there we would have been just as happy with the house. That makes 100m2 for 2 people = 50m2 per person, with as only caveat that you need 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms if you want independent living. I honestly think 75% of single people would be perfectly happy in 60m2 homes., and at least one third of those would be just as happy in 40m2, especially so since that saves rent/mortgage and cleaning work. With the exception of families with kids, most people I know that live in more than 50m2 per person, just fill their house with stuff. Not even fun stuff they use, but just stuff they bought and haven't gotten around to throwing away yet.

[@mdhazeldine]

@@bramvanduijn8086 I live in a 60m2 2 bed apartment with my wife and 2 young kids and no direct access to a garden. It's nowhere near enough. By your measure we should have nearly 4x the space! So, yeah, I'm definitely not demanding smaller housing. Give me all the space I can get please! haha

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@mdhazeldine 60m2 for 2 adults with kids is not enough, agreed. Kids don't need as much space as adults, I would say you need 120m2 for the four of you. But we are talking about the massive increase in singles, the singles don't want 120m2 but they are practically forced to here, because smaller is very rare and usually more expensive because of the location. If the choice is between 100+ m2 and unaffordable, then everyone will get used to 100 m2, but when given the choice a lot of people just don't want 100 m2, it is just more cleaning work and more places to fill with stuff.

[@mdhazeldine]

@@bramvanduijn8086 Yeah that makes sense. Before my wife and I had kids, 60m2 was more or less ok for the 2 of us. It might have been nice to have an actual house with a garden, but on the up side there was no maintenance, so an apartment suited us ok.

[@mdhazeldine]

For the mall: A roof top park/garden, playground, terrace, food court with views. You could even build homes on top. So many options. My question is: What is the financial incentive for developers to sit on or waste valuable land like this? Surely they'd make more profit by selling or renting out every available inch of space, especially in a city where space is so in demand that they're reclaiming the sea. Developers are not dumb, so there must be some financial/business reason why they waste space or a planning restriction/rule preventing them from doing so, right?

[@oscarsusan3834]

This is why you need a vacancy tax that kicks in after a certain time period.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

" Developers are not dumb" Citation needed. Everyone is incompetent and I can prove it: We all have between 5 and 10 skills, except for the rare individual that has 1 or 20 skills. There are tens of thousands of skills. That means we are all 99.9% incompetent. You can safely round that up to 100%

[@jacobhansen7694]

Genius 🤘 Density is king ("Green Metropolis")

[@dawidgolinski]

Być jak Kopenhaga...in polish 🇵🇱👍 Hilsen fra Jylland 👋

[@christill]

We definitely need smaller homes and apartments everywhere. In my town, we really don’t have small, affordable, sustainable housing. I am a bit wary of the craze of tiny houses on wheels though. As the climate crisis continues to worsen rapidly, the thought of having a home that’s potentially at the mercy of high winds is not an appealing prospect.

[@MrMakabar]

Considering rising sea levels having wheels on your home, seems like a good idea.

[@wilfdarr]

Even if all the ice in the world melts, it will only raise ocean levels by a couple meters at most (water world was a movie; sorry to disappoint). There's a couple low lying countries in the world (Holland and Micronesia come to mind) that will be devastated by a 2m rise, but for 99.999% of the world, your tiny home doesn't need wheels. Wheels are simply a way to skirt municipal laws that have failed to keep pace with modern technology and social developments, and as Chris pointed out, they do in fact make these tiny homes unnecessarily more dangerous.

[@MrMakabar]

@@wilfdarr r/woosh and lets hope that we do not get the 60m sea level rise of melting all ice and the 13 K warmer earth, which it would require.

[@simonbauer83]

Never visit Helsinki then. It's horrible, since here are mostly single buildings. A shame, that must change.

[@vaiyaktikasolarbeam1906]

14:33 i want swimming pool but too heavy

[@robertm.9515]

I don't think so... Cars are heavy, dirt is heavy, roads are heavy... I wouldn't count it out.

[@xxfgsdfgadgsgsrgfdsg]

Why call it parasitic (spelled "parastic" in the title)? Call it complementary. Those infills should fit together with the existing architecture.

[@Zestrayswede]

Thing is, modern infills seldom fit in with old buildings ('cause most architects today either shun or just don't know the aesthetic architectural principles of pre-WW2 architecture), thus parasitic.

[@TheSharkasmCrew]

Can I ask what books you have on your desk there?

[@mauribonada2425]

Life-sized city its the name of those books, one in english and the other in polish, hi wrotes them. Sorry for the late.

[@harlansilva8935]

The arrogance of space, here in brazillian big cities is reoresented a lot by the parks of shoppings malls and football stadiums

[@janganliatchannelini]

I wonder why so many urban designer angry everywhere while developers are building everywhere, did developer never ask for advices to urban designer?, and what is goverment role for making better cities?

[@LifeSizedCity]

Developers usually live in their own world and don't engage urban designers as much as they should.

[@3DGEM3]

Any comments reguarding living in an urban area and riots constantly taking place all night. Im glad to no have bought a condo in the downtown opting to live two miles from the core in a house, but I feel for those who have to deal with all the yelling, broken windows, and tagging.

[@MrMakabar]

Bad police and also check out Medellin. They seem got crime done a lot by good urban design choices. But in the end it really comes done to the community.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

Where do you live? I don't know any cities that have constant riots, riots are rare everywhere.