Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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governments and the majority of local governments engaged in stimulating
indigenous economic activity, promoting employment within their areas and
securing a higher level of taxable income. Danish regional policy has been
described as a form of decentralised industrial policy, and economic growth
and competitiveness has almost exclusively been pursued by a network of
small single-function development bodies (Halkier, 2004).
From the early 1990s, Denmark adopted the cluster approach to regional
economic development focusing on large sectoral clusters
(building/construction, bio-health, ICT and food). This policy concentrated
on more specific industry clusters, such as industrial design. Clusters, as a
policy instrument, are now lower on the national agenda, but regional-led
initiatives have been pursuing clusters through ―regional growth
environment‖ programmes, described as ―a co-operation between
companies, research and educational institutions, distributors of
technological knowledge and other relevant actors” (Jensen, 2004: 3). A
regional growth programme was funded by central government from 2002
(DKK 10 million per county over three years) with funding matched by
regional collaborators.
…and urban renewal policy has become less top down-oriented and
more area-focused
Over the last decades, urban renewal policy in Denmark has undergone
substantial change. Since the beginning of the new millennium, it has
involved local stakeholders and citizens, and used targeted and holistic,
rather than universal, sectoral programmes. Increasing use is made of intergovernmental
contracts as a form of policy regulation. An example of this
new approach is the neighbourhood improvement scheme, Kvarterloft,
launched in 1997 to solve a wide range of problems in selected
neighbourhoods in different parts of the country. 1 It builds on new forms of
citizen participation and the involvement of business, organisations and
local associations, with the comprehensiveness of urban problems as a
starting point, and thus requires close co-operation between the different
authorities and sectors of public administration. Specific targets are
established through consultation between central and local governments;
funding takes place in so far as progress is made. There has been a strong
emphasis on inspiration and learning processes. Specific area-based
initiatives were acknowledged as experimental. Many resources were put
into relatively few projects, to serve as examples for later projects. The
experiences of the Kvarterloft programme have been incorporated into the
Urban Renewal Act of 1998. The vision of an urban renewal was pursued
through promotion of quality in urban living, via densification, regeneration,