City Walks: Community Garden / “Kolonihave”

The Danish community gardens date back to the 1880s where the aim was for workers to get out of their crowded and polluted living quarters and grow their vegetables. Over the years they have developed into diverse micro-cosmoses of Danish culture.

A “kolonihave” is a tiny garden you buy and rent. Think of a community garden as a place to escape from your everyday worries. You will find the small gardens on the outskirts of larger cities or on Spaces Left Over by Planning (SLOPS) often near infrastructure. They are separated from each other by hedges, and in almost every garden you will find a tiny house. On this your we’ll “Haveforening Ermelunden”.

In and around Copenhagen, often hidden from sight, clusters of “kolonihavehuse” abound – both big and small cottages. There Danes spend days or entire months during the season from April through September.