Christiania

Christiania is a social experiment in communal living sanctioned by the Danish government when a group of folks started squatting in a set of abandoned military barracks on the east side of Copenhagen in the early 70‘s.  It currently is home to just under 900 inhabitants and covers an area of 85 acres.

Christiania has had a historically contentious relationship with the police and has struggled to prevent violence associated with the overt sale of illegal drugs.

Officially, “Christiania’s purpose is to build up a self-governed society where each individual can freely thrive under the responsibility of the community.  This society shall be self-sufficient economically and common goal must be constantly to demonstrate that psychological and physical pollution can be prevented”.

The flag of Christiania:

My experience was vastly different from both the mission statement above and the several photojournalistic books written on Christiania.  In a nutshell, I found it to be best explained as a community situated somewhere between Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ and ‘Lord of the Flies’.

I skirted roving dogs and waded through the overflowing trashheaps.  It was at this point I had the distinct impression that the best thing that could happen to Christiania might be the business end of a bulldozer.  Had I ventured farther I might have found the remarkable community I had heard of, but the hooded men giving us the once-over clustered around oil-barrel fire pits convinced me that I had seen enough.

Rather than a self-sufficient economic system, it seemed that it survived on the merits of being situated smack in the middle of one of the trendiest areas in Copenhagen (I couldn’t swing a cat on the streets outside Christiania without hitting a Dolce&Gabbana suit) and its associated teenagers looking to rebel during the day and return to six- and seven- figure apartments at night.

I hope that the reality of Christiania is much different than my experience there; but unfortunately a catchy mission statement does not a sustainable community make.  That said, perhaps Christiania lies in the subset of communities that are intentional, yet not intentioned to be sustainable.  It might have already served its purpose to the original residents and is now set adrift to succeed or fail as it will.

My advice to those who want to keep Christiania viable would be to align their vision with visitors’ experience.  Let people freely thrive, but where is the line drawn?  It may be that it was a reaction to an overly oppressive/wasteful/content city (none of these adverbs seem to fit Copenhagen, one of the world’s happiest, healthiest, and safest locations).  The architects of Christiania may have strayed too far in the direction of personal freedom, and suffer a tarnished public image and political leprosy as a result.  My guess is that without this transformation Christiania soon won’t exist as ‘Lord of the Flies’ OR The Garden of Eden.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania

http://www.christiania.org/