Aalborg
With 198,000 inhabitants, Aalborg is the third largest municipality in Denmark, and is, as the regional capital, an important dynamo in North Jutland.
Aalborg continues to see an increasing number of businesses being established within the service and knowledge sector. In recent years Aalborg has undergone considerable change. Industry along the harbourfront and in central urban areas has moved away and resulted in large urban areas becoming prime spots for regeneration. The development from industrial city to a city characterised by knowledge and culture has gone hand in hand with Aalborg University’s expansion to around 14,000 students. This strategy of expansion is supplemented today by linking creative courses of study and cultural projects in the centre of the city, with the objective of enriching urban spaces and cultural meeting points within the city.
The new waterfront plays a central role in the transformation of Aalborg from industrial city to experience and knowledge city. One of the aims of this transformation is to link recreation, education and culture in the harbour area that runs adjacent to the centre of Aalborg. This includes institutions such as Nordkraft, the city’s former power station, which has been converted into a centre for culture and leisure, where art, sport, music, theatre, film and restaurants are all combined under one roof, the Utzon Center, an international exhibition and knowledge centre, and in 2013 the House of Music. In addition, Aalborg University will be concentrating its creative programmes of study in the area, including architecture & design and media, which represent a total of some 2,000 students.
The City of Aalborg has been a member of the Nordic City Network since 2005.
3 important projects in Aalborg
Relevant Urban Spaces
The project designated "Relevant urban spaces - for different user groups and more people" is a pilot project designed to develop new knowledge and good examples of how to create usable, relevant and accessible urban spaces. The project takes its starting point in two urban spaces in Aalborg and is supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Eternitten
With the current urban regeneration of the almost 20-hectare former factory site, “Eternitten”, the objective is to create a mixed urban area which boosts Aalborg’s position as a knowledge city. The central location and the “particular poetry of the site” are to be exploited to the full. Optimum settings are to be created for modern life with its blurred transitions between work, leisure, home, shopping and other experiences.
New University Hospital
In collaboration with partners such as the City of Aalborg, the North Denmark Region is in the process of planning the largest building in the history of the region, with North Jutland due to become the site of a new, high-tech university hospital during the next decade. The new university hospital is expected to have a floor area of approximately 205,000 m2 and will employ around 5,200 personnel.