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/

New Belgium Brewery

The New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins, CO makes great beer.  We went there for a tasting and got to chatting with one of the folks that worked there.  When we mentioned our project she showed us a wall full of souveniers and holiday decorations that were made from recycled materials – bike gears, six-pack bottle holders, old t-shirts, etc. promoting New Belgium.  They employ 350 people and it seems that most bike to and from work; many of the trinkets they had around were New Belgium-themed bicycle tire patches, water bottles, and winter cycling resources.  She also described how employees from management down to greeters were trained in communication methods with to avoid misunderstandings among coworkers and resolve conflicts productively.  When we tried to get a couple of posters at the register they wouldn’t take any money and told us to “spend the money on beer instead”.  I’m sold.
http://www.newbelgium.com/

We shared our tasting with a good friend who works in a youth drug and alcohol treatment program.  Prior programs he’s worked with focused on taking the youth out of their unhealthy environments, giving them instruction and tools largely through wilderness programs, and then sending them back.  Unfortunately, many of the students were often not held responsible by their caretakers and community once back and relapsed.  The program he is working with now focuses on service and learning within their communities to build job skills and interpersonal tools so that there is not so much of a loss in the transference between the treatment program and their lives afterward.  In his words, a much more sustainable approach.